Departmental Unit № 1
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering
100% Full Funding Guaranteed (5 Years)
Funding Package: Full tuition fellowship + 12-month living stipend (~$42,500/yr) + comprehensive health insurance guaranteed for 5 years through McCormick School 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 Environmental Engineering (Thesis Option)
RA Eligible on Research Track
Funding Reality: Research-thesis MS students can be funded if sponsored by a faculty member's active research grant.
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 (2 Profiles)
Prof. Aaron I. Packman
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Director, Center for Water Research
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
He studies the underwater boundary where river beds meet underground aquifers, uncovering how flowing river water filters through gravel to wash away toxic contaminants.
Core Research Topics: Surface water-groundwater interactions, hyporheic zone hydrology, urban flood resilience, waterborne contaminant transport, water quality.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: Director of the Northwestern Center for Water Research. Directs multi-institution initiatives deploying real-time environmental water quality sensors and hydrodynamic models to track flash flood inundation and chemical pollutant plumes in urban river networks.
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: Hyporheic exchange hydrodynamic modeling, flume water experiments, real-time water quality sensor networks, GIS watershed mapping, Python.
Recruiting Context: Director of premier university water center with substantial funding lines.
Candidate Match:
HydrologyFlood ModelingWater QualityEnvironmental PollutionGIS
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Discussing your interest in surface water-groundwater interactions and urban flood resilience, referencing his leadership of the Center for Water Research."
Prof. Jean-François Gaillard
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
He uses giant synchrotron particle-accelerator X-ray beams in the laboratory to examine toxic lead and heavy metal atoms in water, discovering why old pipes leak poison into drinking supplies.
Core Research Topics: Environmental aquatic chemistry, trace metal speciation (lead, zinc, mercury), molecular pollutant mechanisms, synchrotron X-ray spectroscopy, water testing.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: Investigates molecular speciation and biogeochemical transformation of toxic heavy metals in aquatic sediment systems and municipal drinking water pipes using synchrotron X-ray absorption spectroscopy.
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: Synchrotron X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), analytical wet-lab chemical titration, atomic absorption spectrometry, aquatic chemical equilibrium modeling.
Recruiting Context: Runs high-precision environmental chemistry laboratory. Direct fit for candidates with chemistry and water lab analysis background.
Candidate Match:
Environmental PollutionLab Water TestingWater QualityEnvironmental Chemistry
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Connecting your hands-on laboratory experience in water pollutant testing and chemical titration with his research on heavy metal contaminant speciation in aquatic systems."
Departmental Unit № 2
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
PhD in Earth and Planetary Sciences
100% Full Funding Guaranteed (5 Years)
Funding Package: Full tuition fellowship + 12-month stipend (~$42,500/yr) + health insurance guaranteed for 5 years.
Fall Priority Deadline: December 15
GRE Policy: Not required
English Minimums: TOEFL iBT 90 or IELTS 7.0
MS in Earth and Planetary Sciences (En route to PhD)
N/A
Funding Reality: Admissions are directly to the fully-funded 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. Daniel E. Horton
Associate Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
He investigates atmospheric rivers and massive rainstorms, discovering why certain monster storms dump several feet of water in just hours and trigger catastrophic floods.
Core Research Topics: Hydroclimatic extremes, extreme precipitation events, atmospheric rivers, air pollution meteorology, climate change impacts on water systems.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: Leads the Climate Change Research Group at Northwestern. Investigates the meteorological triggers behind unprecedented extreme rainfall and flooding events using climate model ensembles and satellite precipitation datasets.
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: WRF regional climate modeling, statistical extreme value analysis, satellite precipitation datasets (GPM, TRMM), Python spatial data science.
Recruiting Context: Well-funded group at the intersection of climate extremes, flood meteorology, and environmental data science.
Candidate Match:
HydrologyFlood ModelingClimate HazardsGISPython
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Discussing extreme precipitation modeling, atmospheric circulation patterns driving severe regional floods, and your GIS/python spatial analysis background."