Departmental Unit № 1
Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP) / Department of Civil and Urban Engineering
PhD in Civil and Urban Engineering
100% Full Funding Guaranteed (5 Years)
Funding Package: Tuition waiver + 12-month stipend (~$42,000/yr) + health insurance covered via Tandon Fellowships and research assistantships.
Fall Priority Deadline: December 15
GRE Policy: Not required / Waived
English Minimums: TOEFL iBT 90 minimum or IELTS 7.0 minimum
MS in Applied Urban Science and Informatics (CUSP)
Merit Scholarships / Mostly Self-Funded (Target PhD)
Funding Reality: Offers partial merit scholarships; guaranteed full funding is on the PhD track.
Application Deadline: January 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 (1 Profiles)
Prof. Debra Laefer
Professor of Civil and Urban Engineering and CUSP
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
She uses aerial laser scanners flown on airplanes to shoot billions of laser beams at cities, building hyper-accurate 3D maps that show where floodwaters will pool during superstorms.
Core Research Topics: Urban remote sensing, airborne and terrestrial 3D LiDAR, laser scanning, 3D spatial modeling, subsurface-surface environmental vulnerability.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: Pioneers ultra-dense aerial LiDAR data collection and automated spatial point cloud processing to create high-resolution 3D models of urban environments to evaluate flood inundation and infrastructure risk.
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: Airborne LiDAR, 3D point cloud processing, GIS 3D spatial analysis, voxel models, high-performance computing.
Recruiting Context: Leading figure in 3D laser remote sensing and urban spatial modeling with active federal grants.
Candidate Match:
Remote SensingGISSpatial AnalysisFlood Modeling
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Discussing high-resolution LiDAR point cloud processing, 3D terrain modeling, and spatial flood vulnerability assessment in GIS."
Departmental Unit № 2
Department of Environmental Studies
PhD in Environmental Studies (Joint Track)
100% Full Funding Guaranteed (5 Years)
Funding Package: Full tuition fellowship + 12-month stipend (~$45,000/yr) + health insurance through the MacCracken Fellowship.
Fall Priority Deadline: December 15
GRE Policy: Not required
English Minimums: TOEFL iBT 100 or IELTS 7.5
MS in Environmental Studies
Partial Scholarships / Self-Funded (Warning)
Funding Reality: MS track has limited aid; direct PhD application provides guaranteed MacCracken full funding.
Application Deadline: January 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 (1 Profiles)
Prof. Sonali McDermid
Associate Professor of Environmental Studies
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
She investigates how huge farming projects and river irrigation change local weather and rainfall, revealing how human land use unintentionally shifts regional droughts and floods.
Core Research Topics: Land-atmosphere interactions, agricultural water use, regional climate modeling, irrigation hydrology, climate impacts on water resources.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: Studies how massive agricultural irrigation and land-use change alter regional rainfall, monsoon cycles, and surface hydrology using global and regional climate models coupled with hydrological schemes.
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: General circulation models (GCMs), agricultural water balance models, satellite precipitation datasets, GIS spatial climate analysis.
Recruiting Context: Actively directs NASA-funded climate and agricultural hydrology projects.
Candidate Match:
HydrologyGISClimate HazardsEnvironmental Science
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Connecting your environmental science and geography coursework with her research on agricultural water usage and land-atmosphere hydrologic feedbacks."