University of Colorado

THE UNIVERSITY OF Colorado at Boulder (CU) is the flagship university of the University of Colorado system. CU has produced a number of astronauts, Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, and other notable individuals in their fields.

The Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (ATOC) is an interdisciplinary program that provides an educational and research environment to examine the dynamic, physical, and chemical processes that occur in the atmosphere and the ocean. A major theme is the establishment of a physical basis for understanding, observing, and modeling climate and global change. At the undergraduate level, approximately 2,000 students are pursuing baccalaureate degrees in environmental studies, environmental biology, environmental engineering, environmental law, geological sciences, geography, environmental policy, and other subjects. Several hundred graduate students are also pursuing advanced degrees involving research on environmental topics at CU

ATOC is coordinated with the environmental program at the University of Colorado. Interdisciplinary education and research opportunities exist with the hydrology program and the environmental policy program. Interdisciplinary research opportunities also exist with the Cooperative Institute for Environmental Studies, the Institute for Arctic and [Page 1023]Alpine Research, the Center for Complexity, and the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. Graduate students, research staff, and faculty work together on a wide range of research projects. ATOC has extensive computer facilities and laboratories in remote sensing, chemistry, and hydrodynamics. The presence of leading laboratories in the environmental sciences in Boulder, including the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Environmental Research Laboratories, provides additional opportunities for a rich educational experience.

Climate research at the University of Colorado is driven by the goals and broad objectives that have been articulated by the World Climate Research Program and the U.S. Global Change Research Program, which are to develop the fundamental scientific understanding of the climate system and climate processes that is needed to determine to which extent climate can be predicted, as well as the extent of mans influence on climate. The program encompasses studies of the global atmosphere, oceans, sea and land ice, and the land surface, as well as their coupling. To achieve these goals, climate research at the University of Colorado plans to design and implement observational and diagnostic research activities that will lead to a quantitative understanding of significant climate processes, including the transport and storage of heat by the ocean; the exchange of heat, moisture, and momentum between atmosphere, ocean, and sea ice; and the interaction among cloudiness, radiation, the land surface, and the global hydrological cycle. Research in global and regional models capable of simulating the present climate and, to the extent possible, of predicting climate variations on a wide range of space and timescales are also being actively pursued.

CU is known internationally for its interdisciplinary research on a variety of global change issues. Working closely with Boulder-based federal research laboratories, CU research centers such as the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences, the Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research, and the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics have successfully brought together a variety of academic [Page 1024]disciplines to work on global change issues, which cross traditional disciplinary and departmental lines. On the policy side, the Natural Resources Law Center and the Environmental Policy Program have brought together lawyers, economists, historians, and political scientists to study global change and other environmental issues. Unique interdisciplinary education programs in climate change are being developed at the University of Colorado through a partnership of the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences and the Environmental Studies Program, overcoming the disciplinary and departmental barriers that exist in many university programs.

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