Departmental Unit № 1
Department of Environmental Sciences (Laney Graduate School)
PhD in Environmental Sciences
100% Full Funding Guaranteed (5 Years)
Funding Package: Full tuition fellowship + 12-month living stipend (~$37,000–$40,000/yr) + comprehensive student health insurance guaranteed for 5 years through Laney Graduate School Fellowships.
Fall Priority Deadline: December 1 (Priority Deadline)
GRE Policy: Not required / Waived
English Minimums: TOEFL iBT 85 minimum or IELTS 7.0 minimum
MS in Environmental Sciences (Thesis Track)
Merit Aid / TA Available on Thesis Track
Funding Reality: Thesis MS students can secure departmental TA support; full 5-year funding is guaranteed on the PhD track.
Application Deadline: December 1
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. Eri Saikawa
Professor and Chair of Environmental Sciences
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
She discovered that industrial slag and toxic lead were silently poisoning the soil in neighborhood backyards, forcing the federal EPA to declare an emergency cleanup, and combines laboratory chemistry with mapmaking.
Core Research Topics: Environmental pollution, soil heavy metal contamination (lead, arsenic), air pollution emissions modeling, community environmental science, wet-lab soil testing.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: Department Chair. Discovered massive industrial heavy metal (lead and slag) contamination in residential urban soils across west Atlanta, leading to federal EPA Superfund emergency cleanups; combines X-ray fluorescence spectrometry testing with GIS spatial mapping.
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: Portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectrometry, analytical wet-lab soil/water digestion, chemical titration, GIS spatial contamination modeling, atmospheric models.
Recruiting Context: Department Chair with prominent environmental pollution projects. Exceptional match for candidates with environmental testing and GIS backgrounds.
Candidate Match:
Environmental PollutionLab Water TestingSoil AnalysisGISEnvironmental Science
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Connecting your environmental science laboratory testing (chemical titration, spectrometry) and GIS mapping skills with her research on urban heavy metal soil and water contamination."