yale university phd

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Yale University

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Graduate & professional study.

Yale offers advanced degrees through its Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and 13 professional schools. Browse the organizations below for information on programs of study, academic requirements, and faculty research.

Graduate School of Arts & Sciences

Yale’s Graduate School of Arts & Sciences offers programs leading to M.A., M.S., M.Phil., and Ph.D. degrees in 73 departments and programs.

School of Architecture

The Yale School of Architecture’s mandate is for each student to understand architecture as a creative, productive, innovative, and responsible practice.

School of Art

The Yale School of Art has a long and distinguished history of training artists of the highest caliber.

Divinity School

Yale Divinity School educates the scholars, ministers, and spiritual leaders of the future.

David Geffen School of Drama

The David Geffen School of Drama graduates have raised the standards of professional practice around the world in every theatrical discipline, creating bold art that engages the mind and delights the senses.

School of Engineering & Applied Science

The Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science is at the cutting edge of research to develop technologies that address global societal problems.

School of the Environment

The School of the Environment is dedicated to sustaining and restoring the long-term health of the biosphere and the well-being of its people.

Jackson School of Global Affairs

The Jackson School of Global Affairs trains and equips a new generation of leaders to devise thoughtful, evidence-based solutions for challenging global problems.

Yale Law School hones the world’s finest legal minds in an environment that features world-renowned faculty, small classes, and countless opportunities for clinical training and public service.

School of Management

School of Management students, faculty, and alumni are committed to understanding the complex forces transforming global markets and building organizations that contribute lasting value to society.

School of Medicine

Yale School of Medicine graduates go on to become leaders in academic medicine and health care, and innovators in clinical practice, biotechnology, and public policy.

School of Music

The Yale School of Music is an international leader in educating the creative musicians and cultural leaders of tomorrow.

School of Nursing

The Yale School of Nursing community is deeply committed to the idea that access to high quality patient‐centered health care is a social right, not a privilege.

School of Public Health

The School of Public Health supports research and innovative programs that protect and improve the health of people around the globe.

Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS)

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences is composed of the departments and academic programs that provide instruction in Yale College and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Centers & Institutes

A number of our centers and institutes offer additional opportunities for graduate and professional study.

Programs of Study

The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences offers a wide range of programs leading to Master of Arts, Master of Science, and Doctor of Philosophy degrees. Some master's degrees are awarded en route to the PhD, while others are offered as terminal degrees.

Looking for a different type of program?

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Showing 69 of 69 Programs

• Application Deadline: December 15*
• Social Sciences
• Combined PhD
• Application Deadline: January 2
• MA - Master of Arts
• PhD - Doctor of Philosophy
• Physical Sciences & Engineering
• Application Deadline: December 15
• MS - Master of Science
• Application Deadline: December 1
• Biological Sciences
• Application Deadline: PhD - December 15 MS - January 2
• Application Deadline: See Combined Program
• Application Deadline: January 2*
• Application Deadline: December 1*
• Application Deadline: MS - December 1 PhD - December 15*

Ph.D. Program

Make an impact: The intellectual rigor from researchers associated with Yale Economics drives innovations in domestic and international policy.

• Requirements

Yale's Department of Economics offers a challenging and rigorous academic program, a distinguished and accessible faculty, and a friendly, supportive environment for study.

Our core teaching faculty of 66 is supported by a diverse group of visiting professors and graduate student teaching assistants, making it one of the largest economics departments in the United States with one of the highest teacher/student ratios for the 130 Ph.D. students in residence.

The Department of Economics also has close ties with professional schools in related fields, such as the Yale School of Management, the Yale School of the Environment, and the Yale School of Public Health, where many of its secondary faculty members teach. It also works with affiliated centers, including the Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, the Economic Growth Center, and the newly created Tobin Center for Economic Policy . 

• The Program
• Prospective Students
• Milestones and Timeline
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Our Program

Yale's economics faculty embraces a broad range of research and teaching interests. Courses and seminars span a wide spectrum of economics, from dynamic structural models to field experiments. Our students apply econometric and data analytic methods to a variety of subjects in macroeconomics, labor economics and finance. Our courses examine critical economic policy issues, including antitrust and environmental regulation. Our focus is global, spanning the United States and developed economies to the developing nations of Latin America, Asia and Africa. Whatever your interest, our faculty is ready to guide you through a wide offering of more than a hundred regular courses, seminars or workshops, combined with individually tailored reading and research courses to best prepare you for your Ph.D. research and dissertation.

Our faculty is eclectic in methodologies and views of economics. There is no Yale dogma or school. You will acquire a critical perspective on the full range of approaches to macroeconomics. You will be well trained in neoclassical theory and in the theory of public choice, externalities and market failures. You will master the skills of sophisticated modern econometrics and understand pitfalls in its applications. You will gain respect for the power of contemporary mathematical models and also for history and for the insights of the great economists of the past.  

Fields of Study

Important dates.

Dec. 21, Wed. Fall Term ends, Winter Recess begins.

Dec. 22 Thurs. Date of December degree award

Jan. 12, Thurs. Add/drop period opens, 8:30 am

Full calendar

• Academic Programs
• Doctoral Program
• Doctor of Philosophy — PhD

The doctoral program cultivates scholars who are equipped to understand and develop solutions to complex environmental challenges.

On This Page

Program overview.

Doctoral students work with the school’s world-renowned faculty to collaboratively design cutting-edge research projects that engage them in scientific discovery, policy, public discourse, and action.  The five-year program is fully funded and independent of any faculty research grants, allowing doctoral students the intellectual freedom to explore the environmental issues that most inspire them. Students also have access to a broad array of resources across Yale University and its professional and graduate schools, including its faculty and library system.  Graduates complete the doctoral program having gained disciplinary depth and strong leadership skills that enable success in any career path — academic, government research, policy, nonprofits, and the private sector.

Doctoral students at YSE receive five years of guaranteed funding, independent of any faculty research grants, allowing doctoral students the intellectual freedom to explore the environmental issues that most inspire them.

Doctoral Program Handbook

Combined Doctoral Degree Programs

Combined PhD — Yale Anthropology Combined PhD — New York Botanical Garden

Degree Awarded

Doctor of Philosophy — PhD

Program Duration

Required credit hours, additional program options.

• Combined PhD — Yale Anthropology
• Combined PhD — NY Botanical Garden

Why YSE Doctoral Programs?

Research Independence and Funding

Doctoral students at YSE receive five years of guaranteed funding , independent of any faculty research grants, allowing doctoral students the intellectual freedom to explore the environmental issues that most inspire them.

• Current Dissertation Titles
• Funding Information

Acclaimed Faculty

Working closely with some of the top experts in their fields is one of the advantages of a YSE doctoral degree. Our faculty are committed to mentoring the next generation of environmental leaders to tackle the world’s most urgent problems.

• YSE Faculty

Student and Alumni Spotlights

Tracking Environmental and Infrastructure Damage in Ukraine

As co-leader of Black Marble, NASA’s light dataset, Eleanor Stokes '18 PhD is currently tracking the effects of Russian military strikes on Ukraine’s infrastructure and climate-induced natural disasters across the world. NASA’s Black Marble science team, which uses data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite aboard NASA’s Suomi NPP satellite spacecraft  to map  disaster impacts in vulnerable communities , was awarded the 2020 NASA Group Achievement Award for helping realize the vision of the  NASA-ESA-JAXA COVID dashboard  and enabling international partnership in a time of need.  “Humanity is facing major global risks from extreme weather and rising sea levels,” Stokes says. “It’s very important to have a satellite record that can speak to the human piece of the puzzle.

Redefining Human-Wildlife Conflict

In the Tibetan Plateau, Yufang Gao ’14 MESc, ’23 PhD interviews, observes, and travels with Tibetan herders and Buddhist monks. He sets up camera traps and collects scat to analyze the diet of snow leopards. And he has hiked a mountainside 15,000 feet above sea level — all in pursuit of data for his dissertation focused on the quest for harmonious coexistence between people and large carnivores. What is needed for human-wildlife coexistence is a different perspective about conflict, Gao says. “Conflict,” he has found, “is part of coexistence.”

• Master of Environmental Science - MESc

Tracking Forest Inventory

Richard Guldin ’76 MFS, ’79 PhD  has helped reinvent the U.S. Forest Service’s Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program by integrating new sampling designs, field procedures, and innovative software to create an annual inventory that has become a global model. His work earned him the Society of American Foresters’ Sir William Schlich Award.

• Master of Forest Science — MFS

Contact the Doctoral Program

Elisabeth Barsa is the contact for students interested in the YSE doctoral program.

Elisabeth Barsa

Doctoral Program Coordinator

Admissions and Funding Information

Our doctoral program offers scholars from diverse backgrounds the opportunity to pursue a highly individualized area of inquiry under the mentorship of a YSE faculty member. The research conducted by YSE PhD candidates spans global and disciplinary boundaries — and what’s more, it is fully funded.

Doctoral students at YSE receive 5 years of guaranteed funding. Funding packages consist of a stipend , full tuition coverage, and health insurance. For more information on funding and benefits for doctoral students at Yale, visit the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences' stipend payments and financial support pages.

Apply to the PhD Program

Related Items

• PhD Student Directory
• Doctoral Admissions

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Department of Psychology

You are here, overview of the program.

These are remarkable times for psychology. Scientific breakthroughs concerning the biological, emotional, cognitive, and social basis of normal and abnormal behavior are reported in the media almost daily. The faculty associated with the Department of Psychology at Yale University represents the cutting edge of research and scholarship in this broad and exciting field.

The primary goal of graduate education in psychology at Yale University is the training of researchers, for academic and applied settings, who will broaden and deepen the knowledge base on which the science of psychology rests. The graduate program in the Department of Psychology annually enrolls about 15 new Ph.D. students. When applying to the Department, each potential graduate student indicates one of five areas of concentration, and usually has a “home” in a particular lab, but it is also possible to collaborate with faculty and students in other labs and participate in programs that cut across these traditional areas (e.g., cognitive, affective and social neuroscience; health sciences).

Our Department has an illustrious history, but, more important, continues to reinvigorate itself by recruiting the most outstanding scholars we can identify in clinical psychology, cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, neuroscience, and social-personality psychology, with special efforts to attract those whose interests bridge these areas. These scholars include faculty, research scientists, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and undergraduates in Psychology and other programs (e.g., the School of Management, Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program).

A primary objective of our graduate program is to encourage research that follows from an understanding of the substantive and methodological bases of scientific psychology as well as from other social and biological sciences. We encourage students to appreciate the multiple historical and theoretical contexts from which the field has emerged, and to create an environment that facilitates student and faculty interest and participation in research activities. Moreover, many members of the faculty are committed to exploring the impact of their work on individual, community, and societal problems. Consequently, faculty and student interests and research often bridge basic science to issues of public policy, providing opportunities for students to develop broad areas of expertise.

We are deeply committed to graduate education and are eager to work closely with students to help them take advantage of the rich offerings of our Department and University in ways that suit their interests and talents. Our department is a thriving and diverse intellectual community that is committed to a culture of inclusiveness. The relatively small size of our graduate program and the large number of primary and affiliated faculty ensure that each student receives extensive attention in following an individualized curriculum. Over the years, we have cultivated a supportive environment that provides rigorous training. Our program is an active, exciting, flexible, and challenging setting in which qualified students who share our interests thrive. We welcome your application.

Department of Statistics and Data Science

Ph.d. program.

Fields of study include the main areas of statistical theory (with emphasis on foundations, Bayes theory, decision theory, nonparametric statistics), probability theory (stochastic processes, asymptotics, weak convergence), information theory, bioinformatics and genetics, classification, data mining and machine learning, neural nets, network science, optimization, statistical computing, and graphical models and methods.

With this background, graduates of the program have found excellent positions in universities, industry, and government. See the list of alumni for examples.

Department of History

Ph.d. programs.

The Department of History’s doctoral degree program seeks to train talented historians for careers in scholarship, teaching, and beyond the academy. The department typically accepts 22 Ph.D. students per year. Additional students are enrolled through various combined programs and through HSHM.  All admitted Ph.D. students receive a  full  financial aid package  from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. 

History of Science and Medicine

The  Program in the History of Science and Medicine  (HSHM)  is a semi-autonomous graduate track within the Department of History. HSHM students receive degrees in History, with a concentration in the History of Science and Medicine.  There is a separate admissions process for students interested in the History of Science and Medicine. For more information, please see the  HSHM website . 

Combined Doctoral Programs

Joint ph.d. programs.

• Contact Us!

Department of Physics

You are here, apply to the yale physics phd program.

The Yale Department of Physics welcomes applications to our matriculating graduate class of 2024 beginning around August 15th, 2024. The General GRE and Physics GRE scores are Optional for applications received by the December 15, 2023, submission deadline.

We recognize the continuing disruption caused by COVID-19 and that the hardship of taking GREs falls unequally on individual students. We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment for all; therefore, we do not require these standardized tests for admission to our program. All applications are reviewed holistically, and preference will not be given to students who do or do not submit GRE scores.

Frequently Asked Physics Questions General Application Questions Application Fees and Fee Waivers* Accommodations for Applicants Facing Extenuating Circumstances

Need more information before you apply? Join us for our Fall 2023 Webinar Series

Physics Only Webinar Watch Recording Here , Slides

Physics & Astronomy - Joint Webinar Watch Recording Here , Physics Slides , Astro Slides

Physics & Applied Physics - Joint Webinar Watch Recording Here , Physics Slides , Applied Physics Slides

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Recordings of Past Webinars

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PhD Program in Nursing

Mentoring nurse scientists of the future is our priority.

PhD Program

Financial support.

Meet the Students

Focus on Clinical Research

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The reason I chose to come to YSPH for my PhD is due to the interdisciplinary nature of the school itself. We work very closely with the School of Medicine… Getting those varied perspectives can really make your research more holistic.

PhD in Environmental Health Sciences

PHD environmental health students will contribute new knowledge in understanding the impact of environmental stressors - physical, chemical, and biological - on human health and comfort. Students are skilled in research, assessment, and evaluation of the impact of environmental stressors; they identify potentially adverse environmental agents, assess their exposures, determine their impact on health, and estimate the consequent risk. Students can develop expertise and conduct independent research in a variety of environmental health-related areas including epidemiology, toxicology, occupational health, respiratory physiology, thermal physiology, exposure assessment, psychophysics, air quality, and risk assessment. Programs of study are planned on an individual basis to provide students with the specialized knowledge required for their selected research area as well as to provide breadth in related areas of epidemiology and public health. Courses are chosen from those available in the department and elsewhere in the University. Students entering the doctoral program typically have a strong background in undergraduate science and frequently have a master's degree in public health. (A master’s degree is not required to apply for this program.)

This program does not accept General GRE test scores.

Requirements

Two research rotations during the first academic year in EHS laboratories able to accommodate students are required for each student, one in the fall term and one in the second term. In consultation with the student’s advisor, an additional rotation may be offered during the summer between the first and second years. Research rotations will be available for both “dry” (i.e., statistical analysis) and “wet” (i.e., bench) laboratory research groups. The student will meet with the EHS graduate faculty member at the beginning of the rotation for an explanation of the goals and expectations of a student in the laboratory. The student will become familiar with the research models, approaches, and methods utilized by the research group through interactions with other laboratory/research personnel and from laboratory manuscripts. The student is expected to spend at least fifteen hours per week working in the laboratory or research group and to present a rotation seminar at the end of the rotation period.

Research projects in this department cover a broad range of environmental health research in areas of epidemiology, toxicology, occupational health, respiratory physiology, thermal physiology, exposure assessment, psychophysics, air quality and risk assessment.

Recent Dissertation Projects

• Evaluating Exposure to Unconventional Oil and Gas Development and Childhood Leukemia Risk
• The Effect of Phenols on Reproductive Function and the Urinary Metabolome
• Identifying the Role of Glutathione Biosynthesis in Pancreatic β Cell Function
• Interplay Between Oxidative Stress and Pax6 in the Development of Microphthalmia
• Ambient Temperature, Humidity, Air Pollution and Renal Disease Risk
• Molecular Mechanisms of Colon Cancer: Interaction Between Aldehyde Dehydrogenase 1B1 and the Wnt Pathway
• Characterization of the Chemical Exposome using Fresh Air Samplers
• Ambient Air Pollution, Gestational Weight Gain and Fetal Growth Trajectories: A Longitudinal Birth Cohort Study

Learn more about the Department of Environmental Health Sciences

• Degree Requirements - PhD in Environmental Health Sciences
• Career Outcomes and the YSPH Career Management Center

MyYSPH.Yale.Edu

The PhD specialization in Accounting prepares students to become accounting scholars engaged in research and teaching at the highest levels in the general areas of financial information and contracting within and across organizations. 

Yale SOM’s specialization in accounting is designed to develop strong theoretical and empirical skills. There is a heavy emphasis on original research to form a base for sustained scholarship. Co-authored research, with both faculty and fellow PhD students, is encouraged and supported.

Yale’s accounting program is small (matriculating one to two students each year), and involves informal and spontaneous frequent interactions with faculty. The program maintains a 1:1 faculty-to-student ratio. Students interact with emerging research in a host of ways, from conferences held on campus to weekly seminars where faculty and fellow PhD students present and discuss their work.

Candidates tend to pursue a broad range of research interests, helped by courses in accounting as well as in various areas of management, Department of Economics, Yale Law School, and other parts of the University. They develop fruitful relationships with other Ph.d. students, especially from the Finance PhD program.

Examples of research submitted as dissertations by students in the program:

• Intended Benefits and Unintended Consequences of Improved Performance Disclosure
• Asymmetric Inefficiency in Market Response to Non-earnings 8-K Information
• Real Earnings Management in Nonprofit Organizations
• How Does More Frequent Reporting Reduce Information Asymmetry?
• Real Earnings Management in the Financial Industry
• Accruals and price crashes
• Customer-base concentration: Implications for firm performance and capital markets
• The Treatment of Special Items in Determining CEO Cash Compensation
• Strategic Decentralization, Bargaining, and Transfer Pricing in Supply Chain Efficiency
• Keynesian Beauty Contest, Accounting Disclosure, and Market Efficiency
• Labor Unions and Management’s Incentive to Signal Declining Profitability
• Investor Expectations, Earnings Management, and Asset Prices
• Limiting Outside Directors' Liability through Charter Provisions: An Empirical Analysis
• Nickels Not Pennies: Explanations and Implications of Granularity in Analysts’ EPS Forecasts
• Auditor’s Pre-Negotiation Information, Accuracy of Financial Reports and Consulting Services
• Taxes, Debt, and Firm Value: New Evidence

Examples of research co-authored with faculty and other students:

Publications.

• Management of reported and forecast EPS, investor responses, and research implications (Management Science
• Placebo Tests of Conditional Conservatism (The Accounting Review)
• Orphans Deserve Attention: Financial Reporting in the Missing Months When Corporations Change Fiscal Year (The Accounting Review)
• Why do EPS forecast error and dispersion not vary with scale? Implications for analyst and managerial behavior (Journal of Accounting Research)
• More Evidence of Bias in the Differential Timeliness Measure of Conditional Conservatism (The Accounting Review)
• The Effect of Litigation Risk on Management Earnings Forecasts (Contemporary Accounting Research)
• Friction in Related Party Trade when a Rival is also a Customer (Management Science)
• The Joint Determination of Audit Fees, Non-audit Fees and Abnormal Accruals (Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting)

Working Papers

• Rethinking Determinants of Trading Volume at Earnings Announcements
• Auditor Change Disclosures as Signals of Earnings Management and Risk
• Individual Investor Overextrapolation
• The Value and Information Effects of Initial Loan Contract Strictness
• The Information Quality Effect of Accruals-Based Benchmark Beating: Evidence from the CDS Market
• On the Contemporaneous Reporting of Income Increasing and Income Decreasing Special Items: Initial Evidence
• Conditional conservatism: the case of goodwill impairments under SFAS 142
• The power of firm fundamentals in explaining stock returns

Claire Albert, Ph.D.

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Understanding the Risks of Surgery in Older Adults

A q&a with yi wang, yi wang, phd.

Yi Wang, PhD , a postdoctoral associate (geriatrics) at Yale School of Medicine, researches health disparities after major surgery in disadvantaged older persons. As the lead author of a recent study , Wang worked alongside co-senior authors, Thomas Gill, MD , Humana Foundation Professor of Medicine (Geriatrics), and Robert Becher, MD , associate professor of surgery, to estimate the rates of hospital readmissions within 30 and 180 days after major surgery for older adults.

In a Q&A, Wang discusses the inspiration behind his research, the importance of recognizing frailty and dementia in older persons before surgery, and his goal of helping older adults maintain health and independence.

What inspired you to study readmission rates after surgery for older adults?

We know that many older Americans undergo surgery. In our previous research, we found an increased risk of mortality within one year after major surgery for persons aged 65 years or older.

Until now, there has been little information on hospital readmission after major surgery in older persons, especially concerning longer-term readmission. This is concerning because hospital readmission is an important metric in evaluating hospital performance. The National Institutes of Health and the American College of Surgeons have argued that evaluating longer-term outcomes following surgery is critical to assessing surgical quality and safety.

Did you discover anything surprising?

In this study, we found that nearly one in eight community-living older U.S. residents were readmitted to the hospital within 30 days after having a major operation, and more than one in four were readmitted within 180 days. The likelihood of hospital readmissions within 180 days after a major surgery was higher among older persons who were frail or had probable dementia.

Surprisingly, our findings suggested that readmissions after major surgery are expected not only in the short term but also in the longer term.

Another surprising discovery we made is that nonelective surgery is associated with an increased risk of hospital readmission within 30 days but not within 180 days, suggesting that these patients’ comparative vulnerability doesn’t escalate over time. These findings indicate that older patients undergoing nonelective surgery represent a distinct group compared with those undergoing elective surgery.

What can older adults—and others—take away from this study?

This new information highlights the frequency of hospital readmissions among older adults after undergoing major surgery and the potentially negative downstream consequences of these readmissions, such as functional limitations.

Our findings also stress the importance of preoperatively identifying frailty and dementia in older persons to inform decision-making and set realistic expectations for recovery. Discussions with patients and their families before major surgery are critical to anticipating short- and long-term needs.

What do you hope the impact of this study will be?

We hope that more research and interventions, such as frailty screening and social support, will be dedicated to the postoperative care of these patients to reduce readmission rates and, ultimately, help older adults maintain health and independence after major surgery.

Yale School of Medicine’s Department of Internal Medicine Section of Geriatrics strives to improve the health of older adults by providing exceptional patient care, training future leaders and innovators in aging, and engaging in cutting-edge research. To learn more about their mission, visit Geriatrics .

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Featured in this article

• Yi Wang Postdoctoral Associate
• Thomas M. Gill, MD Humana Foundation Professor of Medicine (Geriatrics) and Professor of Epidemiology (Chronic Diseases) and of Investigative Medicine; Director, Yale Program on Aging; Director, Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center; Director, Yale Center for Disability and Disabling Disorders; Director, Yale Training Program in Geriatric Clinical Epidemiology and Aging-Related Research
• Robert Becher, MD, MS, FACS Associate Professor of Surgery (General, Trauma & Surgical Critical Care)

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Poynter Fellowship in Journalism: “Media Matters: Aging and the Press”

The Poynter Fellowship in Journalism presents

Paula Span, Columbia Graduate School of Journalism: 

“Media Matters: Aging and the Press.”

Paula Span is a veteran journalist. Formerly a longtime Washington Post reporter, she has written the New Old Age column, about aging and caregiving, for the New York Times since 2009. In 2017, she added a second Times column, Generation Grandparent, and has adapted those essays for the audiobook “The Bubbe Diaries,” released by Audible in 2021. She is currently at work on a book about octogenarians, tentatively titled “The Ninth Decade,” to be published in 2026 by Penguin Random House.

An alumna of the alternative press and Boston University, she is the author of “When the Time Comes: Families with Aging Parents Share Their Struggles and Solutions,” published by Hachette in 2009. Her freelance articles have appeared in dozens of newspapers and magazines, including the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, Philadelphia Magazine, New York Magazine, the Washingtonian, Glamour, Redbook, Esquire, Smithsonian and others.

Since 1999, she has helped prepare the next generation of journalists at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.

Zoom Session .   RSVP to dana.limone@yale.edu

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How can we make PhD training fit for the modern world? Broaden its philosophical foundations

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Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Tirupati, India.

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You have highlighted how PhD training assessment has stagnated, despite evolving educational methodologies (see Nature 613 , 414 (2023) and Nature 627 , 244; 2024 ). In particular, you note the mismatch between the current PhD journey and the multifaceted demands of modern research and societal challenges.

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Red Hawk Student Investment Fund Shines at Global Finance Conference: Garnering Recognition Among 120+ Universities

Posted in: Accounting & Finance , Feliciano School of Business

Students from our Red Hawk Student Managed Investment Fund along with faculty members  Michael Radin, CFA  and  Duygu Zirek  joined undergraduate and graduate students from more than 120 universities including Yale, Temple, Washington University at St. Louis, University of Miami, Pace, and Fairleigh Dickinson at Quinnipiac University’s Global Asset Management Education (GAME) Forum, the world’s largest student-run financial conference.

The conference included keynote speakers and sessions tailored to enhance the skills of these students and professors as fund managers. Teams were ranked and recognized in various categories based upon calculated Sharpe Ratios of brokerage account activities. Our students also competed in the Poster Session.

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Campus as lab: at malone center, yale taps into a ‘zero-carbon’ future.

The Malone Engineering Center is the starting point for a new, networked geothermal exchange system that will eventually serve lower Hillhouse Avenue. (Photos by Dan Renzetti)

As students and faculty toil away on research projects in the laboratories and classrooms of the Malone Engineering Center, the building itself is playing a key part in a university-led experiment.

Malone, located at the intersection of Prospect and Grove streets, is the starting point for a new, networked geothermal exchange system that will eventually serve all of Yale’s buildings on lower Hillhouse Avenue, an area that is slated to undergo a transformation over the next 10 to 15 years. The facilities, between Trumbull and Grove streets, are all going to be renovated or replaced as part of a historic series of investments in the Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science.

Sustainability is an integral part of that vision. The networked geothermal system, part of the university’s ambitious plans to achieve “zero-carbon” status on campus by 2050 , will tap the earth’s relatively constant temperature to heat and cool piped-in water that can then be used to heat and cool the buildings. Additionally, the university plans to electrify all the laboratory and humidification equipment in these facilities.

Malone will provide proof of concept and key lessons learned.

“ The Malone project is an opportunity to demonstrate to our community of scientists, researchers, and innovators that they are not going to feel an impact on their work as a result of these infrastructure changes,” said Julie Zimmerman, Yale’s vice provost for planetary solutions. “This is a demonstration that we can do this so that we can then go confidently to scale delivering world class research facilities while meeting our climate goals for the university.”

Later this year, drilling rigs will show up outside Malone to begin digging some 70 bore holes as deep as 800 feet into the ground. By the time the project is completed, likely in summer 2025, Malone and all the equipment within will be completely electrified.

“ This Malone electrification project will stand alone for many years but will ultimately be tied into a greater effort in the lower Hillhouse area,” said Anthony Kosior, associate vice president for facilities and campus stewardship. “While geothermal is an essential aspect of it, the electrification of the entire building is another key aspect and represents one of the largest challenges.

“ We have to take this all the way — we can’t just electrify the heating component,” he said.

‘ You’re just using the earth’

Three years ago, Yale announced it would reduce actual carbon emissions on campus to zero as soon as possible and no later than 2050. Achieving that goal will require a continued shift toward energy efficiency and clean energy. A key part of the strategy is the creation of centralized geothermal plants and electric heat pumps.

Currently, centralized energy plants on campus burn natural gas to generate and supply steam and electricity to buildings. The steam is used to heat buildings, as well as to support specialized process needs within some buildings like humidification and washing equipment.

Geothermal systems don’t require the use of fossil fuels. Rather, they utilize a network of piping to circulate water through the deep boreholes in the ground, taking advantage of the relatively consistent temperatures found underground to act as a heat “sink” in the summer and a heat source in the winter.

Geothermal heating and cooling systems aren’t new to campus. Kroon Hall, the flagship home of Yale School of the Environment, built in 2009, was the first building on campus to install geothermal wells. Geothermal systems are also in place at the Greenberg Conference Center and at Pauli Murray and Benjamin Franklin colleges, Yale’s two newest residential colleges. There are also plans to install geothermal systems as part of the redevelopment of upper Science Hill that will eventually serve new and existing buildings in the area. The lower Hillhouse project, however, will be one of the university’s first networked systems that serves multiple buildings simultaneously.

While the systems vary in design, Malone will use what are called closed-loop geothermal wells. Pipes filled with fluid will go down into the ground in each borehole, form a “U” at the bottom and loop back up to the surface.

“ You’re just using the earth and whatever water might be available as a heat exchanger,” said Julie Paquette, Yale’s director of engineering and energy management and the project planner.

A type of electric heat pump called a heat recovery chiller located on Malone’s penthouse floor will push and pull water through the looped system, providing both hot water for heating and chilled water for cooling.

“ This heat recovery chiller will be dedicated to Malone, but in the future, there are going to be multiple units that will be installed in a central location, 19 Hillhouse, which isn’t built yet,” Kosior said. “Once it gets fully integrated into the greater network, this heat recovery chiller will likely become a backup to those other machines.”

The facilities team decided to start with Malone, which was built in 2005, for several reasons, Paquette said. They were very familiar with the building’s workings because they’ve done considerable energy conservation work there. It is a relatively new building compared to others on that block so it can be optimized more easily.

And while it has both wet and dry labs, the building is fairly modest in size compared to some other research facilities.

“ Malone offers a more manageable scale,” Paquette said, “but the full spectrum of challenges.”

Laboratory and research facilities are especially tricky to convert. One reason, Paquette explained, is that they are highly energy intensive. They need to pull in high volumes of outside air to adequately exhaust spaces with chemical and biological hazards. And that air must be conditioned for comfort, as well as to maintain stable temperature and humidity levels in research areas.

These buildings also use steam directly for washing and sterilizing equipment, and for humidification. Considerable research and testing will be required to replace that equipment with equally effective equipment that does not use steam directly.

A third challenge, related to hot water temperature, is one shared by many Yale buildings. Currently, building heat is primarily provided by 180-degree hot water. But geothermal heat pumps don’t easily generate water that hot. They can, however, deliver water heated to 140 degrees or lower.

As a result, “every building will require slightly different modifications to use lower temperature heating hot water,” Paquette said. “It might mean new windows or insulation to reduce heating needs, it might mean resizing heating coils in mechanical equipment so that it can deliver the same amount of heat with lower-temperature hot water, and in almost every case, it means eventually decommissioning steam to hot water heat exchangers.”

Challenges to overcome

The Malone project is currently in the pre-design phase, as the Office of Facilities team establishes the feasibility and scope of work. Still under study is where to locate the boreholes, and what type of drilling methods to use.

The planning team initially thought the boreholes could be located beneath the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail, which runs alongside Malone, said Mike Ghilani, a senior mechanical engineer working on the project. But there turned out to be too many obstacles, including underground utilities and rights of way. Now they are considering a small plot of sparsely wooded land on the far side of the canal. But due to the spacing requirements for the wells, Ghilani said, “it will be a challenge to get all 70 wells in there.”

It’s a puzzle the university will face throughout lower Hillhouse, an urban environment without much open land. One potential solution being considered is the use of a drilling method developed by the oil industry that involves sending a drilling rig into the earth from a single drill point (about the size of a single parking space) and, once more than a hundred feet down, digging  about 20 wells shooting out diagonally and in a 360-degree ring.

“ Now you’re accessing land well underneath existing buildings which you would not have been able to access otherwise,” Kosior said.

The work that will be required inside of Malone is no less daunting. The team has to figure out where to put all the piping that will run from the boreholes to the heat recovery chiller on the fifth floor.

Then there is the matter of electrical capacity. Electrifying the entire building means it will need more transmission capacity. That, the project team says, will require adding a transformer outside.

And various pieces of equipment that currently rely on the piped-in steam will have to be replaced. A steam generator located in the penthouse, for instance, humidifies a small laboratory space. It will be replaced with an electric adiabatic humidifier, but that technology will require longer pipe lengths, which presents yet another spatial puzzle given the maze of piping that already fills the penthouse.

Finally, there is the matter of the building’s two autoclaves and two glassware washers, which use steam for heating and sterilization. The four pieces of equipment sit side by side in a narrow room with little space to spare. Paquette said they are meeting with researchers to talk through electric options for the washing equipment, which must have adequate capacity but also be able to fit in the limited space.

Ultimately, the Malone experiment will demonstrate crucial pathways forward for creating state-of-the-art innovation spaces and research facilities at Yale Engineering in ways that also help drive the university toward its zero-carbon goals. When conversion of the district is complete, it will be worth about 5,500 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, which roughly equates to annual CO2 emissions from 720 homes.

“ The lower Hillhouse ambitions are huge,” Paquette said. “To be able to take a road that’s so beautiful and historic to a zero-carbon state? That’s really, really exciting.”

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