Postgraduate Courses

An introduction to the fundamentals of physical, chemical, geological, geochemical, and biological oceanography. It unveils the mystery of the oceans including the formation of the continents, oceanic circulation, and formation of precious minerals in the deep oceans; discovers ocean resources from phytoplankton to fish. The course will lay the foundation for sustainable use of the oceans and discuss human threats such as global warming, overfishing, and coastal pollution.

This course introduces the Earth surface system in the watershed. It provides fundamental knowledge, theory, and methodology for the Earth surface processes that link with atmosphere and coastal ocean. The course content provides not only basic training on the Earth surface processes but also cross-interdisciplinary training on the interactions between physical and biogeochemical processes among land, sea, and air. We aim to train the students to possess interdisciplinary and comprehensive skills to tackle the challenges in the changing Earth system.

This course presents fundamental geophysical fluid dynamics in the ocean and atmosphere system by introducing governing concepts and principles in ocean and atmospheric circulation as well as the exchanges of buoyancy, energy and momentum fluxes in the interface between air and sea.

The biogeochemical cycle in the ocean is not only governed by the chemical and biological processes, but also regulated critically by the physical processes in the ocean. The topics of this course cover ocean circulation and biogeochemical dynamics, marine phytoplankton and zooplankton, biogeochemical response to circulation dynamics in the ocean.

The course covers major processes and interactions of Earth system components and introduces the related numerical modeling concepts and techniques. It provides hands-on modeling projects to explore ideas of designing, constructing, and applying models to test hypotheses and enhance understanding of the Earth system processes and their response and feedback to the climate.

This course introduces the fundamental principles and processes that govern the Earth’s atmosphere, covering a broad range of topics including atmospheric thermodynamics, radiative transfer, cloud formation, atmospheric circulation, weather systems, and climate variability. These core concepts provide the foundation for understanding the role of the atmosphere in the global energy and water cycles. The course also synthesizes these topics within the context of pressing societal challenges such as extreme weather events, air pollution, and climate change.

This course provides fundamental knowledge of how carbon flows through the land-ocean-atmosphere continuum and how carbon interacts with the cycling of water and other essential biogeochemical elements to regulate the Earth’s climate. It provides insight into human activities altering the carbon cycle, the global climate, and ecosystem dynamics. It also explores nature-based solutions or eco-engineering strategies for achieving carbon neutrality and mitigating adverse climate and ecosystem changes.

This course addresses foundational theories, knowledge, and current challenges within the broad and interdisciplinary field of watershed biogeochemistry, focusing on the biogeochemical, hydrological, and ecological connections across the land-air-water continuum in watersheds. General themes will be explored through lectures on basic theories and discussions of recent literature. More specific questions and methodological approaches will be introduced using hands-on practices and excursions to field sites. This course will enhance students' understanding of water, carbon, and nutrient cycling along the terrestrial-aquatic interface.

This course is designed to provide postgraduate students with the opportunity to practice speaking and presenting their research in front of scientific audiences. Students will select research topics and organize presentations within the interdisciplinary studies of ocean-atmosphere-land interactions for faculty and other students.

This course explores the sources, impacts, and control measures for different types of environmental pollutants, covering topics such as air pollutants, drinking water pollutants, and soil pollution (including organic pollutants and heavy metals), etc. Students will gain the knowledge and skills necessary to design and implement effective pollution control measures for diverse environmental challenges.

This is a seminar style course discussing selected topics in contemporary global environmental challenges, covering scientific understanding, technological and policy solutions. Cutting-edge high-impact interdisciplinary publications in the nexus of earth sciences and sustainability literature, reports, classical textbook chapters, policy documents, etc. will be provided for students to read before the class for in-class discussions. The course will cover topics including the planetary boundary framework, human-earth complex systems, trans-environmental media reactive nitrogen pollution, land use change, biodiversity loss, transboundary air pollution, co-mitigation of air pollution and climate change, international trade and environmental justice, and application of AI to earth sciences.

Selected topics of current interest in emerging areas and not covered by existing courses. May be repeated for credit if different topics are covered. May be graded by letter or P/F for different offerings.

Study on selected topics in the Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences under the supervision of a faculty member.

Master's thesis research supervised by co-advisors from different disciplines. A successful defense of the thesis leads to the grade Pass. No course credit is assigned.

Original and independent doctoral thesis research supervised by co-advisors from different disciplines. A successful defense of the thesis leads to the grade Pass. No course credit is assigned.