What
Makes EES Different?
Most PhD programs in environmental economics are either disciplinary in nature (with little added environmental science) or multidisciplinary, typically in Schools of the Environment, (where depth in economics is sacrificed so that breadth in environmental science may be achieved). The EES program takes a third path: students receive a deep education in economics and a substantive understanding of the natural science that underpins the environmental problems they study.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has described multidisciplinary PhD programs as falling into two basic types: "PhD-plus" program and "interdisciplinary" programs. In a PhD-plus program, students take the equivalent of a full disciplinary PhD and supplement it with training in a complementary area - the "plus." In an interdisciplinary program, students study a "new" field that is located at the intersection of two or more traditional fields. Neuroscience is often cited as the quintessential interdisciplinary field - a melding of psychology and biology.
The EES Program is a PhD-plus program. Students receive a deep education in economics, whether the student is from the Economics Department or the Bren School. Our philosophy is that a professional environmental economist can only benefit from knowledge of the environmental science underlying the problems we study.
Students in the EES program are rigorously trained in economics, as rigorously as they would in any top doctoral economics program. In fact, economics training is at the core of the EES program, and there are no compromises in the depth of the economics education. But EES students also receive advanced training in an area of environmental science.
This is different than virtually all the other Ph.D. programs in environmental and resource economics in the U.S. The EES program is unique in taking the third path of a "PhD plus."
Though EES students will clearly not have as deep an understanding of their chosen area of natural science as PhDs in that field, the natural science training of EES students will be substantive and advanced, so that students feel comfortable within the research culture of the natural science field. Students will not only have an understanding of the substance of their chosen area of natural science, but will understand and appreciate research methods, the main sources of data, and how knowledge is created in that field.
The EES program is more than the sum of separate training in economics and a natural science. EES students are expected to have a deeper understanding of environmental problems because they understand both the natural science and economics underlying these problems. This broader understanding can only help develop research ideas and find new and innovative solutions to problems; few possess this broader understanding. It is our intent that EES graduates will be at a distinct comparative advantage in the academic and non-academic job market.
Although job opportunities for EES graduates are varied, we expect the majority of graduates to take positions in academia, consulting firms, industry, government and non-governmental organizations. The PhD is a research degree and we are training students to conduct original research.