Departmental Unit № 1
Department of Environmental Health and Engineering (EHE)
PhD in Environmental Engineering / Environmental Health Sciences
100% Full Funding Guaranteed (5 Years)
Funding Package: Tuition waiver + 12-month stipend (~$43,000/yr) + health, dental & vision insurance guaranteed via Research/Teaching Assistantships.
Fall Priority Deadline: December 15
GRE Policy: Not required / Waived
English Minimums: TOEFL iBT 100 minimum or IELTS 7.0 minimum
MSE in Environmental Management and Economics / Environmental Engineering
Research-Thesis MS can receive RA funding
Funding Reality: Research-track master's students can be supported through PI grant funding; professional tracks are self-funded.
Application Deadline: December 15
Admissions Advisory: If full funding is required and MS is self-funded, students are strongly advised to apply directly to the PhD track.
Vetted Matched Scholars (3 Profiles)
Prof. Ciaran Harman
Associate Professor of Environmental Health and Engineering
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
He tracks the hidden clock of water inside landscapes—discovering whether rainwater running into rivers fell yesterday or was trapped deep underground for years holding toxic chemicals.
Core Research Topics: Landscape hydrology, watershed contaminant transport, streamflow generation, transit time distributions, critical zone science, water quality.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: Directs the Landscape Hydrology Lab at JHU. Uses mathematical theory and chemical water tracer experiments to determine how long water stays stored in hillslope soils before flowing into streams carrying agricultural and industrial pollutants.
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: Transit time distribution (TTD) modeling, chemical isotopic water tracers, watershed hydrologic models, spatial GIS terrain analysis.
Recruiting Context: Supervises funded graduate researchers in watershed hydrology and solute transport.
Candidate Match:
HydrologyWater QualityEnvironmental PollutionGIS
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Connecting your spatial hydrology and water analysis background to his work in transit time distributions and watershed contaminant flux modeling."
Prof. Carsten Prasse
Associate Professor of Environmental Health and Engineering
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
He runs state-of-the-art laboratory testing to identify invisible toxic drug molecules and industrial chemicals in municipal drinking water and rivers, inventing chemical filters to clean them.
Core Research Topics: Environmental chemistry, emerging organic contaminants (PFAS, pharmaceuticals, tire wear particles), analytical wet-lab spectrometry, water purification.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: Directs the Prasse Environmental Chemistry Lab at JHU. Investigates the chemical transformation and toxicity of emerging pollutants like pharmaceutical residues and PFAS during municipal wastewater treatment and river transport.
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: High-Resolution Orbitrap Mass Spectrometry, solid phase extraction (SPE), bioassays, analytical titration and chemical spectrometry.
Recruiting Context: Runs a large, well-funded wet laboratory. 100% exact match for candidates with environmental science wet-lab analysis training.
Candidate Match:
Environmental PollutionLab Water TestingWater QualityEnvironmental Science
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Highlighting your hands-on laboratory experience in water pollution testing and interest in the fate and transformation of emerging chemical contaminants."
Prof. Scot M. Miller
Associate Professor of Environmental Health and Engineering
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
He analyzes satellite pictures of the atmosphere to act as a planetary detective, pinpointing exactly which factories and oil wells are illegally leaking toxic gases into the air.
Core Research Topics: Satellite remote sensing of greenhouse gases, atmospheric emissions modeling, geostatistical inverse modeling, spatial environmental data.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: Directs Greenhouse Gas and Environmental Modeling Group. Uses satellite data (OCO-2, TROPOMI) and spatial geostatistics to locate major leaks of methane and greenhouse gases across industrial and natural landscapes.
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: Geostatistical inverse modeling, satellite Earth observations, atmospheric transport models (STILT), Python and R spatial statistics.
Recruiting Context: Leads well-funded projects in satellite remote sensing and spatial data analytics.
Candidate Match:
Remote SensingGISSpatial StatisticsPython
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Expressing enthusiasm for satellite remote sensing and spatial geostatistical data modeling of environmental emissions."
Departmental Unit № 2
Morton K. Blaustein Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences (EPS)
PhD in Earth and Planetary Sciences
100% Full Funding Guaranteed (5 Years)
Funding Package: Tuition waiver + 12-month stipend (~$43,000/yr) + health insurance for 5 years via Krieger School fellowships and assistantships.
Fall Priority Deadline: December 15
GRE Policy: Not required
English Minimums: TOEFL iBT 100 or IELTS 7.0
MA in Earth and Planetary Sciences (En route to PhD)
N/A
Funding Reality: Admissions are directly into the PhD program.
Application Deadline: N/A
Admissions Advisory: If full funding is required and MS is self-funded, students are strongly advised to apply directly to the PhD track.
Vetted Matched Scholars (1 Profiles)
Prof. Benjamin Zaitchik
Professor and Department Chair of Earth and Planetary Sciences
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
He uses NASA satellites to track droughts and severe floods from space, helping vulnerable farming regions predict water crises before crops fail.
Core Research Topics: Hydroclimatology, surface hydrology, drought & flood extreme modeling, NASA satellite Earth observations, water resources vulnerability.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: Department Chair. Extensive research utilizing NASA satellite missions (GRACE, GPM, SMAP) to predict regional hydrological droughts and flood extremes across North America and East Africa.
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: NASA Land Data Assimilation Systems (LDAS), satellite precipitation/soil moisture products, hydroclimatic statistical modeling, GIS spatial risk mapping.
Recruiting Context: Department Chair with prominent NASA and NSF research grants in satellite hydrology.
Candidate Match:
HydrologyFlood ModelingRemote SensingGIS
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Discussing satellite remote sensing of surface hydrology and hydroclimatic extreme modeling using Earth observation data."