River-Coastal Science and Engineering, PhD
The River-Coastal Science and Engineering program is an effort by faculty and students to understand a key component of the Earth system—the linked environments of river basins, deltaic river mouths, and coastal ocean systems. Much of our focus surrounds the nexus issue of water: water exerts a strong control over landform evolution and ecosystem health, and is a priority human need for agriculture, industry, and health.
Tulane requires 48 credit hours of graduate coursework (typically comprised of 16 courses each carrying 3 credit hours) as part of the PhD requirements. For students entering with a Master’s degree, the RCSE graduate advisor may approve up to 24 credits of graduate coursework toward the PhD total—this classwork can be earned in SSE or externally. To maintain maximum flexibility in tailoring an interdisciplinary program to the RCSE PhD student, required coursework will be limited to research and writing skill augmentation, as well as typical registration (e.g., dissertation research) required when a student reaches candidacy. To support this tailored program and to rapidly transition decision-making away from the RCSE graduate committee in these matters, we have chosen to institute a very early dissertation committee composition (end of the first semester of matriculation). The PhD student will be required to submit a full program of study (including classwork) approved by their dissertation committee to the RCSE graduate committee by the end of the 2nd full semester of matriculation.
- PhD students can transfer up to 24 credit hours from previous graduate-level coursework to the degree. The RCSE Graduate Advisor must approve all transfer credits.
- Students hoping to transfer graduate credits should prepare and submit the paperwork at the start of their second semester at Tulane. SSE will only transfer credits when the student has completed one semester (it is at that point that a Tulane transcript is available).
- RCSE PhD students will be anticipated to be supported through fellowship, scholarship, or other of the various kinds of assistantships. Hence, they will be required under SSE rules to be registered for at least nine hours of graduate credit until admitted to candidacy to maintain full-time residence status. These nine hours of graduate credit, following SSE standards, may be a combination of course work and research or solely research credit.
- Approved academic graduate electives from other departments can be applied to the degree up to a limit of 12 credit hours. All other courses must originate from RCSE. If a class is not on the approved list, a student may petition the Graduate Advisor for it to be accepted as an elective.
- Note that PhD students must register for credits during the summer due to health insurance reasons
- Unless students have been exposed previously to the material offered, thesis committees will strongly urge students to take two introductory technical course offered by RCSE—the existing RCSE 6800 Intro to River Science & Eng (3 c.h.), and RCSE 6802 Introduction to Coastal Science and Engineering (3 c.h.).
| Course ID | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| RCSE 6010 | Fluid Mechanics | 3 |
| RCSE 6020 | Hydraulics | 3 |
| RCSE 6030 | Hydrology | 3 |
| RCSE 6040 | Coastal Marine Geology | 3 |
| RCSE 6660 | Special Topics | 1-3 |
| RCSE 6710 | Open Channel Flow | 3 |
| RCSE 6800 | Intro to River Science & Eng | 3 |
| RCSE 6802 | Introduction to Coastal Science and Engineering | 3 |
| RCSE 6810 | River and Stream Restoration | 3 |
| RCSE 6820 | Introduction to River-Coastal Hydrologic and Hydraulic Modeling | 3 |
| RCSE 6830 | River Mechanics & Management | 3 |
| RCSE 6840 | Methods in River Sampling | 3 |
| RCSE 6850 | Estuarine Processes | 3 |
| RCSE 6860 | Environmental Data Analysis in the Anthropocene | 3 |
| RCSE 6865 | Sea-Level Change | 3 |
| RCSE 6870 | Hydroclimatology | 3 |
| RCSE 6875 | Ecohydrology | 3 |
| RCSE 6900 | Independent Study | 1-3 |
| RCSE 7020 | Research Skills, Information Literacy and Scientific Writing | 3 |
| RCSE 7100 | Seminar in River Coastal Science and Engineering | 1 |
| RCSE 7940 | Transfer Credit- Graduate | 1-12 |
| RCSE 9990 | Dissertation Research | 3 |
PhD students must enroll in three semesters of the 1 credit Seminar course (RCSE 7100 Seminar in River Coastal Science and Engineering (1 c.h.)). The goal of this is to expose students to state-of-the-art research topics and methodologies in concert with the departmental seminar series. They must also enroll in RCSE 7020 Research Skills, Information Literacy and Scientific Writing (3 c.h.), a course that is offered each Fall. Generally students take this class in their third semester.
Additionally, students must enroll in 3 credits of Dissertation Research (RCSE 9990 Dissertation Research (1 to 3 c.h.)) over two semesters (6 credits total). This is a requirement to advance to candidacy. The student may register for more Dissertation Research credits if desired in previous semesters; however, these credits do not count toward the 48 course credits necessary for the degree. Dissertation Research credits are an additional and different type of credit, and they bring the total credits up to 24+6=30. Note that if all other credit requirements are met, the student can enroll in ONLY 3 hrs of Masters Research to maintain enrollment, i.e. this maintains full time enrollment.
- PhD students must undertake a general (preliminary or qualifying) examination by the beginning of the third academic year of study (5th semester). Following SSE guidelines, a student who fails to take the test within a reasonable length of time will be judged not to be making adequate progress towards the degree and will be advised by RCSE not to continue graduate study. Prior to scheduling the examination, the student will give an in person preliminary dissertation prospectus presentation to their committee where they outline the proposed topic of original research, a background of the state of knowledge of the topic, and the progress to date in their work.
Following successful completion of the oral qualifying examination, the student will prepare a dissertation prospectus that focuses on the individual novel research projects that will result in dissertation chapters and eventual peer-reviewed publications. This document will be approved by the dissertation committee for submission to SSE, at which point the student will be advanced to candidacy. Preliminary drafts of this prospectus will be produced in the required RCSE 7020 Technical Writing course.
At the time of submission of dissertation for approval by the committee, a PhD student will be required to have submitted at least one, and preferably two manuscripts for peer-reviewed publication as supervised by their dissertation committee.
Program String and Field of Study: SEPHD_GR, RCSE
For more information, contact the Department of River-Coastal Science and Engineering.