Graduate Study
Sustainability
Program Overview
The Ph.D. program focuses on sustainable production systems — systems that create goods and services using processes that are: non-polluting; conserving of energy and natural resources; economically viable; and safe and healthful for workers, communities, and consumers. Coursework and research takes a systems level and interdisciplinary approach to solving seemingly intractable sustainability problems, as opposed to single disciplinary and locally optimized approaches destined to yield marginal positive impacts.
Students will have the opportunity to work with multidisciplinary faculty and researchers in numerous research centers, including GIS’ National Center for Remanufacturing and Resource Recovery (NC3R) , an internationally-recognized leader for applied research in remanufacturing, the Center for Sustainable Production (CSP) dedicated to enhancing the environmental and economic performance of products and processes, the Center for Sustainable Mobility (CSM) focused on the evaluation of environmental and economic impacts of alternative fuel and vehicle propulsion technologies, the Systems Modernization and Sustainment Center (SMS) that develops technologies for optimal life-cycle design, management, and modernization of large equipment systems, the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute (NYSP2I) focused on enhancing the development and implementation of pollution prevention techniques, and the NanoPower Research Labs (NPRL) dedicated to the creation and utilization of nano devices and materials for power generation and storage.
Curriculum Review
Students must complete a minimum of 99 quarter credit hours of combined coursework and research. This includes a minimum of 60 quarter credit hours of electives and 27 quarter credit hours of research. Six core courses are required:
5001-802 Fundamentals of Sustainability Science,
5001-804 Industrial Ecology,
5001-803 Economics of Sustainability,
5001-805 Technology, Policy, and Sustainability,
5001-806 Understanding Risk from a Sustainability Standpoint, and
5001-808 Multicriteria Sustainable Systems Analysis.
Elective courses are selected in consultation with the student’s advisor from a wide variety of courses offered by GIS or one of RIT’s eight colleges. Graduation requirements include the successful completion of the Qualifying Exam, Candidacy Exam, and Final Examination of the Dissertation. The program’s teaching, publication, and residency requirements also must be met.
Admission Requirements
An earned baccalaureate degree including at least one year of college science, one year of college mathematics (including calculus and statistics) is required. Admission decisions will be based on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), official transcripts, grade point average, recommendation letters, academic background, and TOEFL score for applicants whose native language is not English, and interviews with members of the faculty.