|
FOR
MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
|
Field-Based Research in a
Pristine Natural Laboratory
Global climate change is one
of the
most pressing scientific issues of
our time, and has created an acute need for well-trained scientists
versed
in the complexity of the Earth's climate system. The Global
Climate and Environmental Change program at University of California,
Riverside, offers a two-year, field-based, graduate program that is
radical in its conception and new in its kind. GCEC immerses
students in the first principles of studying and interpreting the
actual record of climate change using the Sierra Nevada Mountains of
California as its laboratory. From the modern glaciers to ancient
bristle cone pine trees, the oldest living organisms on Earth, the high
Sierra contains one of the best records of continental climate in North
America.
Keeping the Science in the Global Climate Debate
The
decisions about climate change society makes in the next decade will
determine the habitability of our planet. Those decisions can only be
as good as the scientific understanding of climate change that they are
based on. Society needs more scientists to undertake this work.
The
Global Climate and Environmental Change Graduate Program at UCR was
created to meet this need by providing a unique immersion in the
record, techniques of analyzing and theory of climate change leading to
a Masters degree. This program provides the scientific skill and
understanding necessary to begin a career in this important field.
UCR, in the Sierras
The GCEC Program
has direct and
convenient access to the
Sierras. The broad diversity of environments and climatological history
in a small region provides the best and most diverse record of
continental climate in North America. The GCEC program utilizes this
readily accessible natural laboratory for its teaching program with
field camps, research projects and field seminars.
|
