Graduate & Postdoctoral

Graduate Research

PhD students and postdoctoral scholars play a critical role in RDCEP research efforts, and the program offers research assistantships for graduate students working on relevant research.

RDCEP also sponsors a new NSF-funded graduate traineeship program on "Data Science for Energy and Environmental Research", which supports U. Chicago PhD and MS students doing interdisciplinary research in relevant areas. Trainees under this program participate in two years of workshops, practicum courses, skills training, and professional preparation while receiving tuition and stipend support. Current trainees come from diverse departments such as Geophysical Sciences, Ecology and Evolution, Statistics, and Computer Science, as well as the Harris School of Public Policy; MS students in thesis-based master's programs are also eligible.

For more information about the traineeship program or working with RDCEP in general, contact Seth Severns. Affiliated graduate students generally attend either or both of two weekly workshops: the Environmental Data Science lunch on Thursdays at noon, or the Energy and Climate Lunch-and-Learn on Mondays at 12:30.

Sponsorships to Conferences and Summer Schools

For current RDCEP students, we offer sponsorships to attend conferences, workshops, and summer schools. Annual meetings that students often attend include:

AGU: The American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting includes presentations on a wide variety of topics, including climate and the physical and socioeconomic impacts of climate change. The 2019 Fall Meeting will be Dec. 9-13 in San Francisco, CA. Abstracts are due in August.

AEA: The American Economic Association (AEA) holds an annual meeting for the Allied Social Science Associations (ASSA). The 2020 Annual Meeting is Jan. 3-5 in San Diego, CA. Paper submissions are due April 1, 2019.

AMS: The American Meteorological Society (AMS) annual meeting. In 2020, the 100th iteration of the AMS meeting will be held in Boston on Jan. 12-16.

CI: The Climate Informatics workshop combines climate science, machine learning and statistics, and will next be held in Paris, France on Oct. 2-4, 2019.

If you are a current RDCEP student and would like to apply for travel funds to go to a conference or summer school, please contact Seth Severns.