Future Plans The central rationale for the Department of Environmental Sciences and graduate program is that many environmental problems spillover the traditional boundaries of academic disciplines. This recognition has implications for the way universities attract national funding, conduct academic research, and train students for environmental careers. First, there is a consensus among government officials and researchers that environmental problems today are very complex, requiring an interdisciplinary approach to understand and solve them. Thirty years ago, the focus was on improving environmental quality by simply limiting discharges of specific chemicals. Today’s environmental problems are categorized as “second” and “third-generation” types. Second-generation problems are those that are “one step removed” from their original sources, such as the discharge of a particular pollutant from a drainage pipe or smokestack. These problems often involve the interaction of multiple contaminants, creating larger threats to ecosystems and human health. Second-generation environmental problems include leaking abandoned hazardous waste dumps, pollution from military installations and Superfund sites throughout the nation. Third-generation problems are even further removed from the activities that created them. Examples of third-generation environmental issues include global warming, ozone depletion, and deforestation. These issues stress the increasing importance of interdisciplinary approaches in environmental research and graduate education. Second, major funding agencies for university research, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) increasingly call for environmental research proposals requiring interdisciplinary teams of investigators. Recently, for example, research on the social, economic, and health effects of Superfund sites was requested. In addition, these organizations are calling for interdisciplinary research on economic incentives as policy alternatives to traditional regulations, and for new environmental education approaches for the general public. Third, the existing M.S. and proposed Ph.D. program would build upon the University’s Department of Environmental Sciences’ mandate for interdisciplinary teaching and research and provide increased focus for environmental efforts at LSU. Stable ties already exist between the Department and other academic units at LSU in the form of adjunct faculty appointments, cross-listed courses, and shared areas of concentration at the M.S. level. The proposed Ph.D. would enable the Environmental Sciences faculty to reach out further to professors from a variety of disciplines and units throughout LSU to help build a comprehensive and rigorous Ph.D. program of study. The academic units contributing courses would include the Colleges of Agriculture, Arts and Sciences, Business Administration, and Engineering, as well as the School of Veterinary Medicine. Through this interaction, the Ph.D. program would serve to coordinate and enhance interdisciplinary environmental research and teaching at LSU. Fourth, many of the nation’s leading Research I universities have developed similar interdisciplinary Ph.D. programs in environmental sciences. These include several of the University of California campuses, such as Davis and Santa Barbara, as well as Duke University. These programs are thriving – producing graduates who are accepting teaching and research jobs at universities throughout the nation. The demand for Ph.D.-trained professionals in environmental sciences is driven by an increasing number of interdisciplinary academic environmental programs at colleges and universities throughout the nation. Furthermore, by focusing the efforts of faculty and attracting enthusiastic students, these programs are very helpful in building strong, well-funded environmental research programs at these universities. However, none of these programs address environmental issues unique to the Gulf coast and mid-continent of this country. The program offered at LSU addresses programs of study not addressed by the Ph.D. Programs at Duke and UC Santa Barbara. The Duke program evolved from their graduate forestry programs, and focuses on the environmental issues in upland forest ecosystems, The UC Santa Barbara program addresses urban encroachment on fragile Pacific coastal habitats. The LSU program will be oriented to environmental issues affecting industrialized deltas and major continental river systems. Fifth, a clear demand exists for current M.S. and the proposed Ph.D. program graduates. Over the past decade, many graduates of the Environmental Sciences M.S. program have left LSU and Louisiana to pursue doctorates at other universities. In recent years, roughly 15 - 20 % of graduates have entered out-of-state environmental science Ph.D. programs, largely because no such degree exists at LSU or within the state. This percentage is even higher for our international M.S. graduates. These individuals have taken considerable effort and expense to come to LSU and most would prefer to stay here for their doctoral education. Thus, a pool of potential Ph.D. students is already on the LSU campus today. The Department of Environmental Sciences recruiting position is strengthened further through offering the M.S. degree to students at other campuses and a long-term, cooperative teaching arrangement with Southern University. In addition, there are significant opportunities for recruiting new students from throughout the state and region, given the absence of similar programs and the broader context of the region’s on-going environmental challenges.