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  • Human Behavior and Sustainability Sciences, PhD

Human Behavior and Sustainability Sciences, PhD

2023-2024 Edition

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Admissions to this program begin Fall 2024.

The persistent failure to integrate the social, behavioral, and cognitive sciences with ecological and geophysical sciences is a critical friction point reducing the viability and effectiveness of sustainability solutions. Therefore, a degree program that combines training in psychology with the ecological and geophysical sciences will produce boundary-breaking scholars who can accelerate sustainability solutions that are robustly informed by the results of scientific research. The proposed curriculum integrates degree requirements from existing PhD programs in psychology and marine and environmental sciences (sustainability sciences concentration), with the addition of a set of specialized core courses and integrated cross-disciplinary research training. It also allows students broad latitude in designing their specialty within the parameters of the program.

The PhD in Human Behavior and Sustainability Sciences program provides students with the following advanced coursework and training. Students must pass two examinations during the course of their graduate studies to achieve candidacy:

  1. A qualifying paper that the student will write and present to their dissertation committee. 
  2. A proposal defense presented to the student's dissertation committee that explains the research areas that the student proposes to work in.

At the end of the program, students will defend their written dissertation, which consists of a public seminar, public question-and-answer period, and private defense of their work to their dissertation committee. Dissertation committees consist of at least four Northeastern University faculty and one external faculty member.

A cumulative grade-point average of 3.000 is required for graduation. The PhD will be awarded following submission of a dissertation, approved by the candidate’s dissertation committee, to the College of Science.

Complete all courses and requirements listed below unless otherwise indicated.

Milestones

Annual review
Dissertation committee
Qualifying paper and presentation
Dissertation proposal and presentation
Candidacy
Dissertation/dissertation defense
Teaching experience

Core Requirements

Course List
Code Title Hours
EEMB 7103Seminar in Sustainability Sciences2
EEMB 8103Readings in Sustainability Sciences2
ENVR 5450Applied Social-Ecological Systems Modeling4
PSYC 5180Quantitative Methods 13
PSYC 5181Quantitative Methods 23
PSYC 7210Seminar in Cognition3

Research 

Course List
Code Title Hours
Complete two semesters from the following: 6
PSYC 8401
Research Project
or EEMB 8984
Research

Electives

Course List
Code Title Hours
Complete 8 semester hours from the following:8
Psychology Breadth Courses
PSYC 5100
Proseminar in Psycholinguistics
PSYC 5110
Proseminar in Cognition
PSYC 5120
Proseminar in Sensation
PSYC 5130
Proseminar in Perception
PSYC 5140
Proseminar in Biology of Behavior
PSYC 5150
Proseminar in Clinical Neuroscience
PSYC 5160
Proseminar in Personality
PSYC 5170
Proseminar in Social Psychology
Sustainability Breadth Courses
EEMB 5130
Population Dynamics
EEMB 5506
Biology and Ecology of Fishes
EEMB 5516
and EEMB 5517
Oceanography
and Lab for EEMB 5516
EEMB 5518
Ocean and Coastal Processes
EEMB 5522
Experimental Design Marine Ecology
ENVR 5115
Advanced Topics in Environmental Geology
ENVR 5150
Climate and Atmospheric Change
ENVR 5260
Geographical Information Systems
ENVR 5350
Sustainable Energy and Climate Solutions
ENVR 5600
Coastal Processes, Adaptation, and Resilience
ENVR 5700
Streams and Watershed Ecology
ENVR 5750
Urban Ecology
ENVR 5800
Climate Adaptation and Nature-Based Solutions
ENVR 6150
Food Security and Sustainability
ENVR 6500
and ENVR 6501
Biostatistics
and Lab for ENVR 6500
INSH 5301
Introduction to Computational Statistics
INSH 5302
Information Design and Visual Analytics
INSH 6300
Research Methods in the Social Sciences
INSH 6406
Analyzing Complex Digitized Data
INTL 5100
Climate and Development
PHTH 5214
Environmental Health
PPUA 5246
Participatory Modeling for Collaborative Decision Making
PPUA 5249
Sustainable Urban Coastal Policy
PPUA 5261
Dynamic Modeling for Environmental Decision Making
PPUA 5267
Climate Policy and Justice
PPUA 5268
International Environmental Policy
Psychology Depth Courses
PSYC 7210
Seminar in Cognition
PSYC 7240
Seminar in Biology of Behavior
PSYC 7250
Seminar in Clinical Neuroscience
PSYC 7270
Seminar in Social Psychology
PSYC 7300
Advanced Quantitative Analysis
Sustainability Depth Courses
EEMB 7101
Seminar in Marine Sciences
EEMB 7102
Seminar in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
EEMB 7103
Seminar in Sustainability Sciences
EEMB 7104
Seminar in Geosciences
ENVR 6102
Environmental Science and Policy Seminar 2
LPSC 7312
Cities, Sustainability, and Climate Change
POLS 7334
Social Networks
PPUA 6101
Environmental Science and Policy Seminar 1
PPUA 7346
Resilient Cities
SOCL 7267
Environment, Health, and Society

Dissertation

Course List
Code Title Hours
Please enroll in either EEMB 9990 or PSYC 9990 for one semester after achieving candidacy. In the following semester, please enroll in either EEMB 9991 or PSYC 9991.
EEMB 9990
Dissertation Term 1
or PSYC 9990
Dissertation Term 1
EEMB 9991
Dissertation Term 2
or PSYC 9991
Dissertation Term 2

Program Credit/GPA Requirements

31 total semester hours required

Minimum 3.000 GPA required 

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