MS in Climate | Columbia Climate School

The Master of Science (MS) in Climate is a two-year, 50-credit professional degree that gives graduates from diverse backgrounds an in-depth training in specific areas of climate expertise and prepares them to be climate leaders at community, state, national, and international levels.

Apply

The STEM-designated MS in Climate is a two year program that blends foundational climate science with specialized expertise tailored to today’s most pressing climate challenges. Students gain hands-on experience through applied learning and practice-based opportunities and engage in collaborative and interdisciplinary learning. Critical dimensions of climate justice and equity are woven into the curriculum. Through the Advanced Certificates, students can specialize in climate systems and analytics, climate and food systems, or climate and disaster management—preparing them to lead at the forefront of global climate solutions.

Mingfang Ting, Professor of Climate; Co-director, MS in Climate; Co-Senior Director for Education

Jason Smerdon, Professor of Climate; Co-director, MS in Climate; Co-Senior Director for Education

Climate Core Curriculum

The program’s climate core curriculum centers on scientific understanding of climate, advanced quantitative methods, mitigation pathways, adaptation strategies and policies, justice frameworks, and societal impacts. These foundational courses provide students with essential tools to collaborate on, design, and communicate pathways for societies to reduce and adapt to the many facets of climate change. Below are short descriptions of each core course.

Dynamics of Climate Variability and Change

This course provides an in-depth study of how climate science links to societal impacts, with a focus on understanding the physical mechanisms that govern the climate system. Students will learn to interpret climate forecasts, understand the uncertainties involved, and critically assess the suitability of different types of climate information for societal questions. The course also emphasizes the importance of communication, teaching students to clearly articulate climate-related issues to a variety of audiences. By the end of the course, students will be able to engage fluently in discussions about climate variability, change, and their societal implications.

Climate Change Adaptation

This course examines climate adaptation policy through an interdisciplinary lens, focusing on how international development and disaster risk management contribute to resilience in the face of climate change. Students will explore global inequities and how these shape vulnerability to climate risks. By analyzing case studies, students will gain insight into effective governance strategies for climate adaptation. The course emphasizes active participation and the practical application of key concepts, equipping students with the analytical tools needed to assess climate resilience and sustainable development efforts globally.

Climate Change Mitigation

This course focuses on tools and strategies to address climate change and provides a broad survey of technologies, policies, and market structures that can mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Through scenario planning, students will explore decarbonization pathways across economies, considering both technical and behavioral changes necessary for net-zero transitions. Case studies from low-, middle-, and high-income countries will illustrate the complexities of climate mitigation, including risks and opportunities. The course's interdisciplinary nature blends STEM and social sciences to focus on the practical application of these tools in real-world scenarios and explores both the end goals of net zero and the transition needed to achieve them.

Climate Justice: Theory, Practice, and Policy

This course delves into climate justice by examining the ways climate change disproportionately affects historically marginalized communities. It focuses on understanding the social, political, and economic drivers of this inequality and how they shape communities' ability to adapt. Drawing on research, policy, and advocacy, students will analyze how climate impacts intersect with issues of social justice. Through discussions, readings, and exercises, students will develop critical thinking, collaboration, and self-reflection skills while exploring equitable solutions to climate change.

Quantitative Methods for Climate Applications

This course provides the quantitative skills needed for analyses of climate datasets and evidence-based decision-making under uncertain climate conditions. The class covers basic statistics and probability theory and an introduction to more complicated subjects like extreme value theory, multiple regression, and geospatial analyses. The lab component serves to provide hands-on experience working with climate datasets and skills applications, including the use of the R-programming language.

Applied Climate I and II

This yearlong practicum course is a core requirement for all students in the MA in Climate and Society and MS in Climate programs. Through team-based engagement with prior capstone projects, students apply classroom learning to real-world contexts while developing key professional competencies in stakeholder engagement, systems thinking, communication, and project management. The course prepares students to successfully undertake their own capstone projects and culminates in the creation of a personal mission and values statement to guide their professional practice.

Quantitative Core Selective

MS in Climate students are required to take an additional quantitative course as part of the core, chosen from a curated list of courses that build on quantitative skills gained in year one. Selective options include:

GIS for Climate Data Analysis
Machine Learning for Climate Science and Environmental Sustainability
Regional Climate Science and Forecasting
Advanced Quantitative Methods for Climate

Second Credential

A defining feature of the degree is a required second credential, which students can satisfy through a New York State-level advanced certificate or a dual degree. The second credential equips students with a specialization in a targeted field of their choosing and prepares them to succeed professionally in that area.

Advanced Certificates: MS in Climate students receive targeted expertise and training through a New York State-level Advanced Certificate. Current certificate options include Climate Systems and Analytics, Climate and Food Systems, and Climate and Disaster Management. See Advanced Certificates below for more information.

Dual Degrees: MS Climate students may also pursue a dual degree in lieu of an advanced certificate. Students interested in this option must apply to the dual degree in advance. See “Dual Degree Option” below for more information.

Practical and Applied Experiences

Students participate in collaborative, interdisciplinary learning and practice, both inside and outside the classroom, including:

Case-based learning embedded in coursework
Applied Climate seminars focused on skill-building, applied learning, and professional development
A summer practicum, either an internship or research experience, that provides professional work experience with a climate-related organization and/or in a climate-related role
A capstone on a real-world project in a student’s chosen area of focus during the last semester of the program

MS in Climate students can develop specialized interdisciplinary expertise with a dual degree option in lieu of an advanced certificate. Dual programs award two degrees in less time than pursuing the degrees separately. Students who wish to enter the dual program must apply to each participating program and be admitted to both.

The Climate School offers the following dual degree program options:

Dual with the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP), which awards a MS in Climate and a MS in Architecture and Urban Design
Dual with the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), which awards a MS in Climate and a MS in Carbon Management.

Learn More

The MS in Climate’s curriculum prepares students to be climate practitioners. Graduates will be qualified to communicate the value and impact of climate-related initiatives, build and steward partnerships to accelerate action and progress, and apply analytical and systems thinking skills that will qualify them for a range of jobs and sectors.

The Career Management Office supports Climate School students as they prepare for and obtain professional opportunities. From enrollment to employment, our staff provide services and programming that contribute to the growth and development of each student. Career management staff are also continually forging strategic industry partnerships so that students are exposed to a broad range of opportunities in climate.

Advanced Certificates

Climate Systems and Analytics

Large farm equipment in a field of crops

Climate and Food Systems

Climate and Disaster Management

Certificate Director: Radley Horton

This 18-credit certificate embedded in the MS in Climate degree provides the skills and understanding to interpret and analyze climate and weather data, understand climate model predictions and projections, assess climate-related risks to human and natural systems, and develop strategies for mitigating these effects.

The program provides training in evidence-based decision-making and advanced quantitative strategies for climate adaptation and mitigation.

The certificate focuses on developing the following specific skills:

Climate data analysis
Climate impact assessment
Climate risk analysis
Climate communication and visualization

Understanding climate system science and analytics is essential for advancing knowledge of climate change, assessing risks and impacts, informing policy decisions, supporting adaptation efforts, and effectively communicating climate science to multiple audiences.

As the urgency to address climate change increases, there is a growing demand for individuals with expertise in climate data analysis, interpreting model experiments and simulations, and generating insights to inform climate-related decision-making at local, state, and national levels.

Some of the roles in which climate analytics skills are relevant include: climate data analyst, climate risk analyst, sustainability consultant, and policy advisor.

Required courses (12 credits):

Climate Risk Assessment (Radley Horton)
Computing and Research Methods for Climate Data Science (Dan Westervelt)
Introduction to Climate Modeling (Ben Cook)
Advanced Quantitative Methods for Climate (Chia-Ying Lee)

Selective courses (6 credits): Students choose from a list of certificate-specific selectives to satisfy these credits. Examples below:

GIS for Climate Data Analysis
C2: Climate and Carbon
Machine Learning for Climate Science and Environmental Sustainability
Extreme Weather Events and Climate Change
Regional Climate Science and Forecasting
And more

Certificate Director: Michael Puma

This 18-credit certificate, embedded in the MS in Climate degree, focuses on the intersection of climate with food systems, food production, and human livelihood.

Students learn how to apply evidence-based approaches to food-system transformation, gaining critical skills and knowledge for professional pathways in this emerging field, including:

Foundational understanding of food systems
Domestic and international food and climate policy processes
The impacts of climate mitigation and adaptation pathways on food security
Applied skills to analyze food and climate challenges

There is a growing demand for individuals with expertise at the intersection of food systems and climate. This certificate prepares students for professional positions in various settings, from international organizations and federal agencies to non-profit organizations and innovative start-ups.

Graduates will have the skills and expertise to work with decision-makers on informed policy decisions to achieve healthy, equitable, and environmentally sustainable food systems.

Required courses (12 credits):

Food Systems and Climate Interactions (Lewis Ziska, Jessica Fanzo)
Spatial Analysis of Food Security (Sari Blakeley)
Global Food Trade & Climate Related Food System Shocks (Michael Puma)
Methods for Food System Analysis (Jonas Jagermeyr)

Selective courses (6 credits): Students can choose from a list of certificate-specific selectives to satisfy these credits. Examples below:

Water Governance
Agriculture and Climate Resilience
C2: Climate and Carbon
Climate and Sustainable Water Systems
And more

Certificate Director: Jeff Schlegelmilch

This 18-credit certificate embedded in the MS in Climate degree provides students with the foundational knowledge and skills needed to conduct and apply research in various intersecting disciplines relevant to managing disasters.

Students will gain new insights into disaster management, particularly in relation to preparedness, response, recovery, and long-term resiliency best practices.

Disasters are manifesting with increasing frequency and severity, and climate change's role is increasingly evident, necessitating a new kind of disaster management education. All courses in this certificate emphasize an applied, practical, and case-based approach, focused on:

Climate and disaster management
Equity and community engagement
Post-disaster economic and housing recovery
Research methods
Leadership and communications
Disaster finance
Special topics such as disaster policy, supply chain management, organizational change, mental health, and more

This certificate prepares students for careers in research such as academic, peer review, or field-focused humanitarian research; non-profit management or community groups active in disasters; local, state, national, international governance on disasters; disaster policy; private sector consultancies; and more.

Required courses (12 credits):

Climate Change and Disaster Management (Jeff Schlegelmilch)
Disaster Research Methods (Jonathan Sury)
Post-Disaster Recovery: A Focus on Housing and Economic Sectors (Thomas Chandler, Josh DeVincenzo)
Building Equitable Community Partnerships in Disaster Risk Management (Jeff Schlegelmilch)

Selective courses (6 credits): Students can choose from a list of certificate-specific selectives to satisfy these credits. Examples below:

Disaster Finance
Extreme Weather Events and Climate Change
Climate Change Decision-Making
Global Food Trade & Climate Related Food System Shocks
And more

Learn more in this State of the Planet interview with certificate director Jeffrey Schlegelmilch, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at the Columbia Climate School.