The Center for Environment at Harvard University of Cambridge, Massachusetts, is composed of faculty and students from across the university from diverse fields, such as earth and planetary sciences, biology, public health and medicine, government and the law. Harvard ranked first or second in worldwide rankings for environmental science programs, with cutting-edge research such as early tree growth patterns attributable to climate change. The focus is on collaborative investigation, raising the quality of environmental research and providing a quality environmental education. The Environmental Fellows Program allows graduate students to work with leading faculty across research disciplines and schools on environmental issues. In addition, the Graduate Consortium on Energy and Environment is open to doctoral students who have completed at least a year in their home department.
The College of Natural Resources at the University of California at Berkeley ranked in the top 10 world universities for environmental studies. The college offers multiple graduate degrees across a number of fields, including agriculture and resource economics, environmental science, policy and management, and an affiliate program, the Energy and Resources Group. Research fields at the college range from conservation, environment and agricultural economics to natural resource management and nutrition. The Division of Ecosystem Sciences offers a Ph.D. with an emphasis on science and technology studies that includes training in the social studies of science, technology and medicine. The program prepares graduates to address a wide range of environmental conservation challenges, from political movements, genomics, access to medicine for the poor, and multiple other timely problems affecting the environment.
The Center for Conservation Biology at Stanford University of Stanford, California, ranked among the world’s top 10 for environmental programs. The mission of the center is to conduct research and public outreach on biodiversity and Earth's life-support systems, harmonizing conservation and human needs. The center offers master's, doctoral and postdoctoral studies in conservation biology. The center's research investigates broad and very specific problems, such as developing an integrated theory of cultural evolution, while the policy research emphasis is on “big picture” issues, such as patterns of consumption.
The Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at Massachusetts Institute of Technology at Cambridge is part of an institution that ranked in top 12 world universities for its environmental science programs. The department examines the depths of Earth's interior to the outer reaches of the galaxy, and the natural systems surrounding it, for clues to the course of our future. The work includes geology, geochemistry, geophysics, geobiology, atmospheric science, oceanography, astronomy and planetary science. The program focuses on developing outstanding scientists at the Ph.D. level, with concentrations, such as planetary science or geophysics. There are four broad research programs, seven centers and numerous facilities, including the Wallace Observatory and the MIT Paleomagnetism Laboratory.