Program Category: PhD Programs

Director of Graduate Studies: Jeremy Dauber

• Visit the Germanic Languages Department's Website
• Visit the History Department's Website
• Visit the Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures' Website
• Visit the Religion Department's Website

The graduate program in Yiddish Studies began at Columbia in 1952 under the leadership of the renowned linguist Uriel Weinreich and reached international acclaim as the most important and influential center of research into the Yiddish language, Yiddish literature, and Yiddish culture. Under Weinreich and his successor, Marvin Herzog, Yiddish Studies at Columbia were located in the Department of Linguistics and were offered in close conjunction with the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. As of 1989, graduate studies in Yiddish literature, linguistics and culture are directed by an Interdepartmental Committee on Yiddish Studies.

Columbia University offers the MA, MPhil, and PhD degrees in Yiddish Studies. Applicants to the program must apply for admission to, and register as students in, one of the participating departments, usually the Department of Germanic Languages. Other participating departments are History, Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures, and Religion; in these departments students will be required to satisfy degree requirements set by the departments as well as those set by the Interdepartmental Committee; in Germanic Languages, only the Interdepartmental Committee’s requirements must be met. Upon admission, each student will be assigned an advisor from the Interdepartmental Committee who will consult with the student about his or her individual program of study.

Special Admissions Requirements:

Students are expected to have a high degree of proficiency in reading, writing, and speaking Yiddish and English; previous work in Hebrew, German, and/or a Slavic language is highly recommended, though not required. Applicants are admitted as candidates for the MA degree and as potential candidates for the MPhil and PhD degrees. Continuation of study beyond the MA degree is not automatic, but must be authorized by the Interdepartmental Committee

Deadline to apply: See participating department’s specific deadline.

The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2020 Alumni Awards, which celebrate the superior achievements of GSAS master’s and doctoral graduates.

Caroline Alexander (’91PhD, Classics) and Camilo José Vergara (’77MA, Sociology) have received the Dean’s Award for Distinguished Achievement. Nina Ansary (’13PhD, History) and Andrew Freedman (’09MA, Climate and Society) have been honored with the Outstanding Recent Alumni Award.

“Through our annual Alumni Awards, GSAS celebrates graduates who have advanced not only their academic fields, but the larger world as well,” said Carlos J. Alonso, Dean of GSAS. “These alumni serve as exemplars to all who aim to have a lasting impact on society.”

Dean Alonso also presented the first-ever Dean’s Award for Lifetime Achievement to General Brent Scowcroft (‘67PhD, International Relations) in recognition of his decades of dedication to the national security of the United States.

“Surely few alumni of the university once led by Dwight Eisenhower have put their scholarly training to such profoundly important real-world application,” Dean Alonso wrote in General Snowcoft’s citation. “Our pride in your career has been undimmed as you rose from assistant air attaché in Embassy Belgrade into an extraordinary 29-year military career, becoming a lieutenant general and serving twice in the White House as assistant to the president for national security affairs.”

Due to the uncertain and evolving conditions of COVID-19, the GSAS Annual Awards Dinner has been postponed from its originally scheduled date of May 28, 2020. The Graduate School cherishes this annual opportunity to celebrate our alumni, and intends to hold the dinner at a later date when we can safely gather together again.

About the Honorees

Caroline Alexander (’91PhD, Classics)
Dean’s Award for Distinguished Achievement
Dr. Alexander is an author and journalist. She attended Somerville College, Oxford, as a member of the first class of female Rhodes Scholars and subsequently established a small department of classics at the University of Malawi. She then obtained a PhD in Classics at Columbia as a Mellon Fellow in the Humanities. In 2015, she became the first woman to publish a full-length English translation of Homer’s Iliad. She is the author of the bestselling book The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition, which has been translated into thirteen languages. Dr. Alexander was a contributing writer for National Geographic Magazine for many years, and has also written for The New Yorker, Outside, and Smithsonian, among other publications; this work has appeared in a number of anthologies of literary non-fiction. Her National Geographic Magazine cover story “The Invisible War on The Brain” was praised for exploring the effects of blast-induced trauma on modern soldiers and was nominated for a Kavli Science Journalism Award. Dr. Alexander is a member of the American Philological Association, the Royal Geographical Society, the Explorer’s Club, and the Directors Guild of America. She currently lives in Holderness, New Hampshire.

Camilo José Vergara (’77MA, Sociology)
Dean’s Award for Distinguished Achievement
Mr. Vergara—a New York-based writer, photographer, and documentarian—earned his MA in Sociology at Columbia. He cites his sociology training as critical to the development of his approach to photographing urban landscapes. Mr. Vergara uses photography to “track time,” and makes us look closely at how the urban decay of America’s inner cities changes in small and large ways. He also documents the creativity of people residing in ruined neighborhoods as they indicate what matters to them by creating powerful murals and by adapting old buildings to new purposes. Other themes in his work include the presence of churches and religion, and the dramatic desolation and beauty of an almost-empty city at night. He has won a MacArthur Fellowship winner and a National Humanities Medal. Mr. Vergara has written eight books, the most recent of which is Harlem: The Unmaking of a Ghetto. The Library of Congress in Washington, DC, is the permanent home of his photographic archive.

Nina Ansary (’13PhD, History)
Outstanding Recent Alumni Award
Dr. Ansary, an Iranian-American historian and author best known for her work on women's equity in Iran, earned her MA in Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies and a PhD in History at Columbia. Her research has countered conventional assumptions of the progress of women in Iran while continuing to advocate for full emancipation. She is also the President of the Ansary Foundation, which dedicates its services to education, healthcare, child care, youth-related problems, adult literacy, and other public welfare causes. Dr. Ansary is an alumna of Barnard College, as well as a member of Barnard’s Board of Trustees of Barnard. She received the Joan Rivers Trailblazer Award in 2018.

Andrew Freedman (’09MA, Climate and Society)
Outstanding Recent Alumni Award
Mr. Freedman, a graduate of the MA program in Climate and Society, is an editor for the Capital Weather Gang at The Washington Post, where he focuses on climate change, extreme weather, and the environment. In 2018, he was a recipient of an award from the Society of Environmental Journalists for Outstanding Explanatory Reporting.

Viviana Rivera-Burgos (’20PhD, Political Science)
Campbell Award
Ms. Rivera-Burgos specializes in American public opinion and political behavior, particularly as they relate to ethnoracial minorities. She has served as co-chair of the Students of Color Alliance, graduate student mentor to undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds in the Leadership Alliance Summer Research Program, and graduate student representative in the Political Science Diversity and Equity Committee. She was born and raised in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.

Meet with a career advisor to discuss your career goals, review your job search materials, or prepare for an upcoming interview.

The guidelines and policies below will help you get the most out of your career advising appointment, and also ensure that we can serve as many students and recent alumni as possible.  

What is your current role/job title?
Deputy Weather Editor, The Washington Post.

What are you working on now?
Between climate change, extreme weather events, COVID-19, and more, I've been more of a crisis reporter and editor lately. But more generally, I focus mostly on covering weather in the context of climate change, reporting on the government agencies involved in weather and climate research, and preparing for what looks to be an unusually busy hurricane season.

What drew you to your field?
I've always been fascinated by weather—since I was a little kid—and later became interested in politics and journalism. Through my undergraduate classes at Tufts, I realized that climate change offered a way to unite all of my interests, and I set out to be a journalist focused on climate science and politics.

What lessons from graduate school have you found useful in your professional life?
Columbia’s Climate and Society program gives students such a solid foundation in understanding both human-caused climate change and natural variability, and has made me a better reporter, since I was taught to be both curious and upfront about what I don't know. There's uncertainty in science, but that often collides with the demands of headline writing, so it's a constant struggle to find the right balance. I also learned how to read scientific papers like a scientist and as a journalist; before the program, I could do only the latter.

What skill has unexpectedly helped you in your career?
I'm not sure this is a skill, but I left the program with such a deep infatuation with El Niño, and every other ocean-atmosphere cycle that affects hundreds of millions around the world. Through my work-study program at Columbia, I also learned about the psychology of climate change and how we perceive short-term and long-term risks. That has helped shape my approach to storytelling more than anything else, I think.

What is your favorite memory from your graduate years?
Going to a party where someone had ordered an El Niño–themed cake, which had a decorative map of sea surface temperature anomalies on it. Also, all the trips to the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, where I got to know many great scientists who are now sources for stories.

What are your passions outside of your work?
I've been an improvisational comedy performer and teacher for more than a decade, and spent two years in Chicago focused solely on improv and sketch comedy. Post-COVID—depending on how that looks—I look forward to returning to the now-bustling improv scene in Washington, D.C.

What is your advice for current GSAS students?
Invest in your relationships with fellow students, as they will become your professional network for years to come. Also, don't be too hard on yourself for not yet figuring out your exact career path after graduate school. It will become clearer as time goes on.

What is next for you professionally?
In journalism, you're only as good as your next story, so I am planning out short- and long-term reporting projects. I'm also doing what I tried to do in grad school: to find people who are smarter than I, and collaborate with them. That's harder with the transition to a virtual newsroom, but it's still possible.

What motivates you to give to Columbia?
Without Columbia, I don't think I'd be the climate reporter that I am today. I needed a foundation in science while also staying connected to policymaking and politics in order to be prepared for my eventual career.

DISSERTATIONS DEFENDED

Anthropology
Montero Castrillo, Fernando. Martial love: Articulation and detachment in the Moskitia's military occupation (Nicaragua/Honduras). Sponsor: Claudio Lomnitz.

Applied Physics
Brooks, John. Active feedback control of MHD modes and plasma rotation using currents driven from a bias electrode array. Sponsor: Michael Mauel.

Astronomy
Blancato, Kirsten. Decoding starlight with big survey data, machine learning, and cosmological simulations. Sponsor: Melissa Ness.

Zorrilla Matilla, Jose Manuel. Extracting cosmological information from small scales in weak gravitational lensing data. Sponsor: Zoltan Haiman.

Biomedical Engineering
Altoé, Mirella. Diffuse optical tomography imaging of chemotherapy-induced changes in breast tissue metabolism. Sponsor: Andreas Hielscher.

Melki, Lea. Electromechanical wave imaging in the clinic: Localization of atrial and ventricular arrhythmias and quantification of cardiac resynchronization therapy response. Sponsor: Elisa Konofagou.

Robinson, Samuel. Bone mechanobiology of modeling and remodeling and the effect of hematopoietic lineage cells. Sponsor: X. Edward Guo.

Sayseng, Vincent. Toward clinical realization of Myocardial elastography: Cardiac strain imaging for better diagnosis and treatment of heart disease. Sponsor: Elisa Konofagou.

Biomedical Informatics
Chau, Michelle. Leveraging social media in nutrition interventions for young populations. Sponsor: Olena Mamykina.

Cellular, Molecular, and Biomedical Studies
Su, Steven. Characterization of primary cilia and Intraflagellar Transport 20 in the Epidermis. Sponsor: Ellen Ezratty.

Chemistry
Fiala, Tomas. Polymer supported probes and drugs for targeted brain imaging and pharmacology. Sponsor: Dalibor Sames.

Hughes, Isaac. Expanding Silane-mediated coupling methodologies for the formation of medicinally relevant structural motifs. Sponsor: Luis Campos.

Mohd, Noushad. Efforts towards the synthesis of silanes for their use as catalysis and molecular wires. Sponsor: Tomislav Rovis.

Peurifoy, Samuel. Organic electronics via molecular contortion. Sponsor: Colin Nuckolls.

Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
Morgantini, Marcello. Structural damage assessment through parametric and non-parametric models. Sponsor: Raimondo Betti.

Classics
Simone, Caleb. Enchanted bodies: Reframing the culture of Greek Aulos performance. Sponsor: Nancy Worman.

Computer Science
Mahajan, Kunal. Performance and pricing of container deployments in cloud computing. Sponsor: Vishal Misra.

Shokri Razaghi, Hooshmand. Statistical machine learning & deep neural networks applied to neural data analysis. Sponsor: Liam Paninski.

Earth and Environmental Engineering
Doss-Gollin, James. Sequential adaptation through prediction of structured climate risk. Sponsor: Upmanu Lall.

Earth and Environmental Sciences
Jin, Xiaomeng. Observing the distributions and chemistry of major air pollutants (O3 and PM2.5) from space: Trends, uncertainties, and health implications. Sponsor: Arlene Fiore.

East Asian Languages and Cultures
Rogers, Joshua. Enchanted texts: Japanese literature between religion and science, 1890-1950. Sponsor: Tomi Suzuki.

Tsering, Sonam. Role of texts in the fomration of the Geluk school in Tibet during the 14th and 15th centuries. Sponsor: Gray Tuttle.

Yi, Yuan. Malfunctioning machinery: The global making of Chinese cotton mills, 1877-1937. Sponsor: Eugenia Lean.

Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology
Quebbeman, Andrew. The big effects of small-scale environmental variation: Exploring spatial patterns of tree community composition and greenhouse gas production in a tropical forest. Sponsor: Duncan Menge.

Economics
Huynh, Khanh Ngoc Han. Essays in experimental economics. Sponsor: Mark Dean.

Electrical Engineering
Fleischer, Daniel. Electrochemical noise limits of femtoampere-sensing, CMOS-integrated transimpedance amplifiers. Sponsor: Kenneth Shepard.

English and Comparative Literature
McIntyre, Katherine. Fugitive poetics: Ecological resistance in the Plantation Era. Sponsor: Branka Arsić.

Stevens, Jeremy. Secularization and the British lyric in the twentieth century. Sponsor: Sarah Cole.

Environmental Health Sciences
Kramer, Sarah. Forecasting influenza in Europe and globally: The role of absolute humidity and human travel, and the potential for use in public health decision making. Sponsor: Jeffrey Shaman.

Nigra, Anne. Arsenic exposure in US drinking water: Spatial patterns, temporal trends, and related mortalities. Sponsor: Ana Navas-Acien.

Epidemiology
Cohen, Gregory. Equity and efficiency tradeoffs in the prevention of heart disease - Concepts and evidence. Sponsor: Sandro Galea.

French and Romance Philology
Burns, Raphaelle. The stories we tell: Novellas, news, and the uses of casuistry in early modern Europe. Sponsor: Pierre Force.

Burton, William. On the origin and end of sex: Social construction from Monique Wittig to Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Sponsor: Joanna Stalnaker.

Genetics and Development
Joseph, Sarah. The role of SMARCAD1 during replication stress. Sponsor: Alberto Ciccia.

Nambiar, Tarun. Leveraging DNA damage response pathways to enhance the precision of CRISPR-mediated genome editing. Sponsor: Alberto Ciccia.

History
Katz, Jordan. Jewish midwives, medicine and the boundaries of knowledge in early modern Europe, 1650-1800. Sponsor: Elisheva Carlebach.

Somotan, Titilola. 'In the wider interests of Nigeria': Lagos and the making of federal Nigeria, 1941-76. Sponsor: Mamadou Diouf.

Italian
Delfino, Massimiliano. Terrorism and the body: Representations of political violence in Italian film and literature during the early Anni di Piombo. Sponsor: Elizabeth Leake.

Latin American and Iberian Cultures
Acosta, Santiago. We are like oil: An ecology of the Venezuelan culture boom, 1973-1983. Sponsor: Graciela Montaldo.

Marín-Cobos, Almudena. Beyond Desencanto: Challenging the archivization of the Spanish transition (2010-2018). Sponsor: Alberto Medina.

Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies
Cohen, Matan. Disengaged lives? Israel-Palestine and the question of surplus humanity. Sponsor: Gil Hochberg.

Music
Fort, Anthony. Rhythm in modernist classical music sounds different depending on how you move. Sponsor: Joseph Dubiel.

Neurobiology and Behavior
Kaufman, Alexandra. Noncannonical circuit members of reward signaling in the hippocampus. Sponsor: Attila Losonczy.

Long, Laura. Neural mechanisms of language perception in human intracranial neurophysiology. Sponsor: Nima Mesgarani.

Odean, Naomi. Information routing for decision making. Sponsor: Michael Shadlen.

Nursing
Song, Jiyoun. Analyzing risk factors for healthcare-associated infections using multiple methodological approaches. Sponsor: Elaine Larson.

Zheng, Katherine. Developmental assets in adolescents with chronic illness and co-morbid depression. Sponsors: Jean-Marie Bruzzese and Arlene Smaldone.

Operations Research
Gao, Wenbo. Convex optimization and extensions, with a view toward large-scale problems. Sponsor: Donald Goldfarb.

Oh, Min-hwan. Sequential decision making with combinatorial actions and high-dimensional contexts. Sponsor: Garud Iyengar.

Qian, Huajie. Efficient uncertainty quantification in simulation analysis. Sponsor: Henry Lam.

Yang, Shuoguang. Optimization and revenue management in complex networks. Sponsors: Daniel Bienstock and Van-Anh Truong.

Pathobiology and Molecular Medicine
Yang, Young Joo. Understanding autophagy from the perspective of the autophagosome. Sponsor: Ai Yamamoto.

Philosophy
Britto, Arthur. Brentanian continua and their boundaries. Sponsor: Achille Varzi.

Martin, Laura. The social ontology of systemic oppression. Sponsor: Frederick Neuhouser.

Rivat, Sébastien. Representations and realism in the age of effective theories. Sponsor: David Albert.

Yaure, Philip. To reforge the Nation: Emancipatory politics and Antebellum black abolitionism. Sponsor: Robert Gooding-Williams.

Physics
Chiriacò, Giuliano. A theoretical study of out of equilibrium phases of matter. Sponsor: Andrew Millis.

Political Science
de la Paz, Alexander. The problem of human shields in war. Sponsor: Robert Jervis.

McAlexander, Richard. The politics of anticolonial resistance: Violence, nonviolence and the erosion of empire. Sponsor: Virginia Page Fortna.

Slough, Tara. Essays on the distributive politics of bureaucracy. Sponsor: Michael Ting.

Sutherland, Joseph. Three essays on the study of nationalization with automated content analysis. Sponsor: Robert Shapiro.

Psychology
Lee, Won. Behavioral, neurobiological and physiological plasticity of mice living in social hierarchies. Sponsor: James Curley.

Social Work
Bochicchio, Lauren. "Home away from home": Affirmative care practices among leading LGBTQ+ organizations serving youth. Sponsor: Susan Witte.

Sociology
Fox-Williams, Brittany. Trust matters: Race, relationships, and achievement in NYC public schools. Sponsor: Thomas DiPrete.

Urena, Anthony. From risk to reality: Race, class, and HIV in an age of uncertainty. Sponsor: Shamus Khan.

Sustainable Development
Lee, Ruiwen. Essays on the regulation and remote sensing of natural gas flaring. Sponsor: Geoffrey Heal.

Varela Valera, Ana. Floods and inequality: Implications for sustainable development. Sponsor: Wolfram Schlenker.

TC / Applied Anthropology
Dubuisson, Darlene. Place-making in a fractured academic landscape: Haitian intellectual exile & academic diaspora homecomings. Sponsor: Herve Varenne.

Zhang, Michelle. What are friends for?: The arts of making do and working out in Beijing, China. Sponsor: Herve Varenne.

TC / Clinical Psychology
Jackson, Devlin. The nature, motives, and perceived consequences of therapist dishonesty. Sponsor: Barry Farber.

TC / Economics and Education
Yanagiura, Takeshi. Equity and higher education: Essays on performance-based financial aid, community college degree completion, and dual enrollment. Sponsor: Jordan Matsudaira.

TC / Social-Organizational Psychology
Merriweather Woodson, Tarani. A [k]ink in the armor: How the intersection of racial and gender prototypicality affect perceptions of Black women aspiring to be managers. Sponsor: Caryn Block.

Theatre
Kuntz, Emily. Transformed within, transformed without: The enactment of religious conversion in medieval and early modern European saint plays. Sponsors: Eleanor Johnson and Julie Peters.

DISSERTATION PROPOSALS FILED

Anthropology
Fitoussi, Margaux. The lives of the Quartier Lafayette: A historical anthropology of French colonial-era architecture in the Tunisian present.

Mitchem, Alexandria. Cultivating a new scientific order in 18th and 19th century America: Excavating the roots of Bartram's botanical gardens.

Thompsett, Fern. Civilization's discontents: The politics of world-making against colonial capitalism in the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

Architecture
Vanable, Ife. Tall tales: Hybrid, high rise schemes for housing New York’s Black urban middle – Mitchell-Lama low-moderate-/middle-income housing, 1955-1980.

Biomedical Engineering
Blumenfeld, Nicole. Engineering technology for accessible precision therapeutics and diagnostics.

Brudnicki, Philip. Development of a fibrous, collagen-based analog of the extracellular matrix.

Sachar, Chirag. Investigating mechanosensing within the dynamic phases of T cell activation.

Chemical Engineering
May, Richard. Obtaining a molecular-level description of the solid electrolyte interphase on Lithium metal.

Mayilvahanan, Karthik. Development of physics-based models aided by data science tools to understand limiting physical phenomena in secondary batteries.

Padash, Azin. Bubble rise in complex fluids.

Pang, Xueqi. Design principles for membraneless electrolyzers for production of fuels and chemicals.

Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
Russ, Jonathan. Computational design of structures for enhanced failure resistance.

Classical Studies
Farrior, Mary-Evelyn. Greek epigraphy in the urban landscapes of Rome: Communication and communicator.

Classics
Petrella, Erin. Herba Sanabit: Botanical Latin and the healing of bodies and texts.

Pletcher, Charles. Economies of knowledge and deception in Sophocles' Electra, Philoctetes, and Odeipus at Colonus.

Computer Science
Joseph, Tyler. Approaches for investigating microbiome dynamics.

Earth and Environmental Sciences
Bock, Nicholas. Evaluating the role of small euakryotes in the structure and function of marine microbial communities.

Trinh, Rebecca. Microbial ecology and particulate organic carbon export of the West Antarctic Peninsula.

East Asian Languages and Cultures
Hao, Tenggeer. The Xin medium: Towards a philosophy of media.

Tan, Chun Kiang. Cultures of blood: Science, empire, and mass media in twentieth-century Japan.

Germanic Languages
Tedford, Laura. Unstageable plays: Tieck, Kleist, Goethe.

Vaughn, Chloe. "Das Volk bilden": The pursuit of Volkstümlichkeit in the long 19th century.

History
Blatchford, Barrie. Fashion victims: An environmental history of the American Fur Trade, 1870-2006.

Quijano, Carolyn. Spectacle, disorder, and the foreigner in the medieval Italian city-states, 1200-1475.

Rivadeneira, Stephanie. A journey towards the sacred: Nahua pilgrimages in colonial New Spain.

Ryuk, Sohee. Weaving "oriental carpets" into the Soviet Union: Handicraft and folk art at the intersections of nations, commodity, and labor, 1928-1982.

Wilkinson, Conor. A social history of plant and insect use in Africa's Great Lake Region: From early times to the nineteenth century.

Italian
Colleluori, Tylar. Moderata Fonte's Floridoro and Renaissance chivalric epic: Revising the genre.

Mechanical Engineering
Bhattacharya, Smiti. A preclinical biomimetic platform to study podocyte physiology.

Zhang, Zhixing. Affinity micro and nanosensors for continuous glucose monitoring.

Philosophy
Botti, Martina. Metaphysical information.

Gurdon, Molly. Neo-Aristotelian absolute prohibitions.

Marsh, Anthony. Aquinas and Teresa of Ávila on higher knowledge and how it makes us happy.

McCarthy, William. Indefinite extensibility and modal logic: A defense of modal pluralism.

Richmond, Andrew. Computational theories and the theory of computation.

Psychology
Naft, Michael. Extending the rejection sensitivity model to the stigma of criminal status: Trauma and coping in the age of mass incarceration.

Sociomedical Sciences
Green, Sharon. Social and health impacts of remittances: Evidence from panel data in Kerala, India.

Urban Planning
Nguyen, Minh. The remaking of Southeast Asian American spaces across the Bay Area region

What is your current role/job title?
Independent documentary producer.

What are you working on now?
Two projects: my free online film festival (running through mid-October 2020) and a fictional screenplay adaptation of a documentary that I produced.

What drew you to your field?
I found a professional outlet for my passion for seeking truth and exposing injustice after I saw the 1954 CBS telecast featuring Edward R. Murrow's exposé of Sen. Joseph McCarthy. I had been enrolled at the University of Iowa's Writers Workshop, but that broadcast transformed my novelist/author career aspirations into dreaming of producing documentaries for Murrow. After years of doing everything I could to make that dream a reality, and a CBS News fellowship at Columbia University GSAS, in 1964 I became a staff producer at the CBS unit originated by Murrow and Fred Friendly.

What lessons from graduate school have you found useful in your professional life?
The courses I enrolled in at GSAS helped to organize my thinking about how the federal government works, and how to most effectively communicate to the public through my documentaries. At CBS, that led to my producing a documentary about Robert Kennedy's first campaign for political office and another about how “hawks and doves” were dividing American politics during the Vietnam War. And my experience at CBS later led me to independently produce several documentaries investigating controversial global policies and practices, ranging from the exportation of dangerous products to World Bank and IMF austerity measures for indebted nations.

What skill has unexpectedly helped you in your career?
Being able to take advantage of the many instances of serendipity that led me from one documentary to the next. For example, I once walked out of my office (a block from Times Square) and ran into an acquaintance who led me in a month to film a documentary, Eating the Scorpion, in China and Japan.

What is your favorite memory from your graduate years?
I was in a group of eight CBS News fellowship recipients who met monthly with a CBS executive to discuss a pre-assigned topic, such as how to improve the Evening News or CBS Reports documentaries. My favorite academic memories are the “aha” moments when Professors Richard Neustadt, Wallace Sayre, and William Leuchtenburg would teach me something new and important.

What are your passions outside of your work?
Evaluating new films that I am invited to screen as a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. As a Manhattan resident, I greatly enjoy discovering wonderful cuisines in new restaurants. Having lived happily in Stuyvesant Town for over thirty-five years, I enjoy admiring the natural beauty in its unique serene, park-like oval in the middle of crowded urban life.

What is your advice for current GSAS students?
Persist. Never stop striving to make your dreams a reality.

What is your current role/job title?
Chief of Strategy Unit for Thailand/Myanmar at International Monetary Fund (IMF).

What are you working on now?
I am responsible for strategic planning, the G20 and International Monetary and Financial Committee agenda, and analytical work on the international monetary system. I am currently leading research projects on the implications of technology for reserve currency configurations and on global systemic crisis. I am also a member of the IMF Publications Committee.

What drew you to your field?
I grew up in an emerging market country and saw firsthand the devastating consequences of economic rollercoasters. I chose to study economics hoping to contribute to lasting policy solutions that can bring growth and welfare to people across the globe.

What lessons from graduate school have you found useful in your professional life?
It takes analytic rigor, resilience, and discipline to break down complex problems before you can claim to have any answers.

What skill has unexpectedly helped you in your career?
Team leadership. It pays off to be humble and work together to achieve common goals.

What is your favorite memory from your graduate years?
I have very fond memories of sunny spring days, sitting on the stairs of the library, catching a break with friends over coffee.

What are your passions outside of your work?
I love traveling and exploring new countries with my kids and my husband. I also enjoy dancing, and I teach Zumba in my community on a volunteer basis.

What is your advice for current GSAS students?
Pick a dissertation topic that you are passionate about. You will need to stick with it for several years!

What motivates you to give to Columbia?
I was incredibly fortunate to attend Columbia on a merit scholarship. I treasure the opportunity to give back so that others can access quality education without facing financial hardship.

Connect with GSAS alumni across all Arts and Sciences programs via the GSAS LinkedIn group and the Professional Development Committee of the GSAS Alumni Association, which sponsors occasional networking events for alumni and current students.

As a member of the GSAS alumni community, you have lifetime access to a variety of resources on campus to support you throughout your career:

• Columbia Alumni Association (CAA) career resources include frequent networking mixers; preferred access to a network of accredited professional alumni career coaches for fee-based, one-on-one career coaching; alumni business cards; and complimentary access to premium subscription-based job search tools. Also visit CAA’s news blog The Low Down for career advice from members of the Columbia Career Coaches Network.
• CAA Arts Access arranges periodic arts-related networking events, which are open to alumni from across Columbia.
• The Columbia University YouTube Channel provides free access to Columbia-produced videos of conferences, lectures, and other events to alumni, students, faculty, and staff.
• GSAS Compass, the Graduate School’s career development initiative, offers a variety of services, many of which are open to GSAS alumni. These include online workshops, networking events, and career fairs and industry showcases with employers.

July 9, 2020

Dear MA and PhD students of GSAS,

You recently received a message from President Bollinger announcing the University’s intended plans for the Fall 2020 term, including vigorous public health protocols in place as we invite students to return to campus and academic life at Columbia.

We are excited to reopen the university, and thank you most sincerely for your patience these past months as we have worked to ensure the health and safety of every member of our community. We are grateful to be able to return to our educational mission, and to support our faculty’s commitment to the highest quality graduate education for our master’s and doctoral students.  

Of course, this year will be like no other, with de-densified classrooms and online components, with face coverings and careful attention to space. Columbia is excited to welcome you back after months of careful planning. This message contains information about the plans of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and answers several important questions. We will be in touch in the coming weeks to provide further updates.    

How will the academic calendar and class formats be affected?

Columbia will operate on a three-term cycle for the 2020-2021 academic year. Most graduate classes, however, will be concentrated in the fall and spring terms. Classes for the fall term will begin on schedule on September 8; please see the 2020-21 Academic Calendar for more detail.

As we begin the fall term, courses will be offered in multiple formats. Classes will have hybrid modalities to provide flexibility as the semester progresses. GSAS students will have the opportunity to take classes in-person when available, and all courses will be offered online to accommodate students who cannot or do not wish to attend in person. Your individual departments and programs will have more information in the next few weeks about the range of classes to be offered in person, online, and in hybrid format.

What health and safety measures will be implemented on campus?

Our campus health policy will require that people wear a face covering at all times while on campus, unless they are in a private room with the door closed. Physical distancing will be enforced throughout campus.

A detailed overview of public health protocols on Columbia’s campus includes symptom screening, mandatory and periodic testing, contact tracing, face covering, social distancing, and quarantining.

Please see the new Columbia Community Health Compact, which encompasses a shared community pledge to the highest standards of health and safety.

Will I be able to travel to campus?

The State of New York has established public health criteria that must be fulfilled in order to progress through the phases of reopening. At present, New York City is in the third of four phases, and higher-education institutions will be permitted to return to in-person instruction when the City reaches Phase 4.

Students traveling to campus from certain areas outside of New York may be subject to mandatory self-quarantine, dependent on the public health regulations in effect at the time of their scheduled arrival.

Continuing students and new students who do not require a visa are welcome on campus whenever they can travel to New York.

Students who do require a visa to the United States to attend classes should contact the International Students & Scholars Office for guidance about the updated regulations for hybrid and online education in Fall 2020 issued by the U.S. government on July 6.

The University is working to maximize the ability of our international students to fully leverage the benefits of our graduate programs through in-person, online, and hybrid options. We will be in direct touch with international students shortly.

President Bollinger has made clear his opposition to recent federal visa rules. Columbia, together with other leading colleges and universities, will be filing an amicus brief in the legal challenge to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s newest federal rules, which pose significant limitations on international students.

Will there be flexibility in the terms of University housing?

A majority of our graduate students in Columbia Residential housing chose to retain their apartments during the pandemic, and those who voluntarily left were offered priority placement upon return; many have already applied to be placed in housing once more. That said, all students who have received an offer of Columbia Residential housing, including continuing students, may cancel their contracts until August 15 and be reimbursed for the full amount of their deposit. Full-time students attending classes online are eligible for University housing.

Public health guidelines will necessitate changes to some residential behavior and availability, including physical distancing in common areas and reduced occupancy of certain units. Visit the Columbia Residential website for more information.

How is GSAS supporting students during the pandemic?

When the pandemic began, GSAS, in partnership with the Arts and Sciences Graduate Council, established a GSAS/ASGC Community COVID-19 Emergency Fund that disbursed nearly $110,000 to hundreds of students in immediate need. The Graduate School also partnered with the central administration to provide $3 million in additional summer stipend support for nearly 1300 doctoral students, and provided tuition fellowships to all master’s students who enrolled in Columbia summer language courses to advance their thesis work.

While we continue to raise money from alumni to replenish the Covid-19 Emergency Fund, we have put together for students a list of other University and federal resources to address ongoing challenges of income loss, child care, food and housing insecurity, and health and well-being during the public health crisis.

The Graduate School will continue to support students this year with programs and resources that will be available regardless of instructional format: initiatives to support diversity and promote inclusion; mental health and wellness services; and the Writing Studio for PhD students and thesis-writing courses for international MA students. In response to the changing professional landscape further shaped by the global pandemic, we are opening a new career and professional development office for our MA and PhD students.

GSAS will begin a phased transition of staff members back to campus throughout the summer so that we may be in place to support students returning to campus.

Where can I find additional information?

The University continues to update its COVID-19 Resource Guide with the most recent information and developments. GSAS also will continue to communicate with you regularly; please be sure to check your Columbia email regularly and visit the GSAS website.

____

This message details the most recent information available to GSAS; we hope for increasing clarity in the coming weeks, and will communicate with you as we learn more. We have all been put into an extraordinarily challenging position: to make important decisions with information that is either incomplete or rapidly changing. Circumstances will surely continue to evolve, and although we cannot predict what is to come, it is critical that we remain determined and resilient, together.

All of us at GSAS look forward to welcoming you to the 2020-21 academic year, whether you are joining us in person, virtually, or some combination of the two. Beyond the pandemic, graduate education and scholarship have an essential role to play in these volatile times, as our fractured society confronts issues such as racial justice, climate change, and global public health. The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences remains dedicated to creating community, advancing knowledge through research, and supporting you, our diverse student body, in the pursuit of your academic and professional projects.

Warmest regards,

Carlos J. Alonso, Dean
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Vice President for Graduate Education
Morris A. and Alma Schapiro Professor in the Humanities

As a doctoral student, you have tremendous strengths and transferable skills to offer employers. With advanced training in the humanities and social sciences, you will find a wealth of rewarding job options in many fields, including qualitative research, writing and communications, public service, consulting, advising, teaching, publishing, and more. Don’t underestimate the depth of your strengths and transferable skills, which are highly valued in many industries.

Key resources and career advice

• ImaginePhD: Self-assessment and career planning tool targeted at humanities and social science PhDs, but widely applicable to any field
• “So What Are You Going to Do with That?”: Finding Careers Outside Academia, by Susan Basalla and Maggie Debelius (University of Chicago Press, 2014): Originally published in 2001, this slim volume is still one of the best resources for thinking about the practical, emotional, and existential aspects of setting out on a career path other than academia
• InterSECT Job Simulations: Online platform with job simulation exercises for career exploration
• Inside Higher EdCarpe Careers: A weekly career advice column in one of the top news outlets in higher education with pieces by members of the Graduate Career Consortium
• Beyond the Professoriate: A small business started by a history PhD, Beyond the Professoriate has a helpful blog and free monthly webinars
• The Professor Is In: Former tenured professor Karen Kelsky has a wealth of free resources for PhDs interested in pursuing almost any career
• MLA Connected Academics: Resources designed for doctoral students in language and literature departments, but widely applicable to any humanities or social science student interested in a range of career paths

General job boards

The three sites below are the three largest job aggregating websites, which means they use web crawlers to pull open positions from other sites across the internet. Use key words in the industry descriptions below to help you find positions in your field of interest. Also, you can set job alerts on these platforms and get notifications of open jobs sent directly to your inbox.

• Indeed.com
• Idealist.org (nonprofit)
• LinkedIn Jobs

Please find below a selection of some of the most common career paths for humanities and social science PhDs. While this page is a good place to start your exploration, it only scratches the surface of the resources available to you. We encourage you to schedule an appointment to speak with a GSAS Compass career advisor regardless of where you are in your career decision-making process.

As a doctoral student, you have tremendous strengths and transferable skills to offer employers. There are many types of careers open to PhDs in the sciences and mathematics, and GSAS Compass recommends that all doctoral students in these disciplines become familiar with the following resources:

Key resources

• myIDP: Self-assessment and career planning tool for students in the Natural Sciences
• ImaginePhD: Self-assessment and career planning tool targeted at humanities and social science PhDs, but widely applicable to any field
• Columbia Individual Development Plan (IDP) Program: Designed for postdocs and doctoral students in any discipline, this program involves creating an individual development plan and attending workshops and industry panels.
• National Postdoctoral Association: NPA career resources are broadly relevant for graduate students as well as postdoctoral fellows
• Free the PhD: Private organization focused on helping science PhDs transfer into industry
• InterSECT Job Simulations: Online platform with job simulation exercises for career exploration

Job boards and career advice

• NYAS Science Alliance: Arts and Sciences students in the Natural Sciences are eligible to participate in the New York Academy of Science’s Science Alliance program, which offers workshops, courses, and mentorship and networking opportunities for graduate students and postdocs.
• Science Careers: Career advice for graduate students, and a job board from the journal Science
• Association for Women in Science: AWSI works to advance women in STEM and maintains a robust job board

Please find below a selection of some of the most common career paths for STEM PhDs. While this page is a good place to start your exploration, it only scratches the surface of the resources available to you. We encourage you to schedule an appointment to speak with a GSAS Compass career advisor regardless of where you are in your career decision-making process.

Columbia’s research and learning environment provides the innovation, leadership, and discovery that helps to make our world a better place. In times like these, as the impact of the novel coronavirus is being felt across the world and in all domains of our lives, the strength of our alumni community takes on a new meaning.

Alumni from every department and program of the Graduate School have perspectives to add to the global conversations arising from the pandemic. With this in mind, we invite our friends and alumni to a series of conversations with scholars and practitioners: quick, deep dives into aspects of the crisis, thought-provoking examinations of issues at the core of humanity, and much-needed distractions.

These conversations are free and open to all alumni. A Zoom link will be emailed to registrants shortly before each episode.

We look forward to your participation.

Please note that all episodes will be recorded and published, contingent on consent from the presenters. Participants should be mindful of this in case their personal information—including their name or image—appears at any time during recording.

Have questions or suggestions for future GSAS Conversations topics? Write to gsas-alumni [at] columbia.edu.

A curriculum vitae (CV) is a comprehensive description of your academic credentials and achievements. You will use a CV if you are applying for a teaching or research position at a college, university, or research institution. You may also use your CV during graduate school to apply for grants, fellowships, or teaching positions.

What is a Résumé, and How is It Different From a CV?

A résumé is a concise document that gives a brief overview of your skills and experience. It is used to apply to most industry positions and office jobs. A résumé should be one page; however, some employers will accept two pages. A two-page résumé is typically more appropriate for those with extensive work experience, or for artists. A CV can be several pages long and is used for academic and research positions.

What Should a CV Include?

Your CV is your marketing material; it must be appealing and clear, and convince a search committee of your qualifications. Consult with your advisor and other faculty to learn about CV conventions in your field.CVs in all fields should include the following sections:

• Name, address, telephone number, and email address
• Education: degrees, institutions, and degree dates
• Dissertation or thesis title(s), names of advisor and committee members
• Awards, fellowships, and grants
• Publications and presentations (divided by audience/type)
• Teaching experience and interests
• Research experience and interests
• Related experience (for example, administrative or editorial experience, which is increasingly common on academic CVs)
• Language, computer, and/or other skills
• Service and membership in professional associations (e.g., Modern Language Association)
• Activities and/or interests (optional)

Depending on your discipline, you may have additional sections:

• Data sets (sciences)
• Performances (performing arts)
• Exhibitions

How Should I Organize My CV?

Present your qualifications and achievements in a clear, concise, and organized fashion. Use topical headings and consider their order. What comes first will receive more emphasis. CVs typically begin with your name and contact information, followed by academic credentials to draw attention to your degrees.

Formatting should make your CV easy to read for your intended audience. Names, titles, and dates should appear in the same place within each entry. Be consistent in your use of punctuation, typeface, and indentation. Liberal use of white space and judicious use of bold and italics can help make your CV a swift and pleasant read. Also, review the description of the job you are applying for, and organize the information on your CV according to what topics seem most important. For example, if you are applying for a research position, you may want to include a section titled “Research Experience” under your “Education” section. If you are applying for a teaching-intensive institution, emphasize your teaching experience over your research.

There are no universal rules for CV organization, so it is best to seek out examples and advice before settling on a format. Some departments have sample CVs from alumni, and faculty often post their CVs online, so review these examples to assist you with formatting. Finally, meet with your advisor to review your CV, and show it to your peers and professors to get feedback.

What Should I Exclude?

Do not include personal information on your CV for positions in the United States. This includes your age, height, weight, marital status, race, and religion. In general, you do not include US citizenship or permanent residency on a CV. That said, if you think the employer would be uncertain of your status, you may include your work authorization to clarify your qualification.

How Long Should My CV Be?

Content determines the length of the CV. The CV of a student or junior professor may be two to four pages in length, but this varies by discipline; senior faculty may produce CVs that of ten or more pages.

Resources

• The Academic Job Search Handbook (e-book on CLIO)
• 8 Tips to Improve Your CV (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
• How to Write CVs (Karen Kelsky, The Professor is In)
• Imagine PhD: Visit the “Faculty” jobs family to view sample academic cover letters and CVs.

If you are enrolled in a doctoral program, or if you are a master’s student planning on applying to PhD programs or pursuing a career in research, you should actively maintain a curriculum vitae, or CV. (If you don’t know what a CV is, please refer to What Is a CV?). A CV is used to apply for fellowships, grants, postdoctoral positions, teaching and research positions in postsecondary institutions, high-level research positions in industry, and curatorial roles.

Regardless of your degree program, if you are considering a career in any other field, you should also create and maintain a résumé, which is required to apply for positions in almost every sector except for those listed above. A résumé is a one-page summary of your education, work experience, credentials, and accomplishments that are relevant to the job for which you are applying. Pay close attention to the language in the position description if you are uncertain which document to submit with your application.

Differences Between a CV and a Résumé

Length: While a CV presents a full history of your academic credentials, a résumé presents your relevant skills, knowledge, and experience clearly and concisely. There is no page limit for a CV, but résumés should typically be one page, or two pages if you have more than ten years of experience.

Emphasis: A CV focuses on your scholarly engagement, including coursework, teaching, research, publications, conference presentations, and academic service. However, a résumé highlights work experience, transferable skills, and accomplishments relevant to a particular job; this may include project, research, or grant experience. Typically, individuals maintain just one CV, but will create separate, more customized résumés for each position for which they apply.

Audience: Your CV will be read by a search committee either within or adjacent to academia, but the reader of your résumé may not be familiar with academia. Your CV may be screened using Applicant Tracking System (ATS) software by HR professionals or other employees at the organization before it reaches the particular hiring manager.

Transform Your CV to a Résumé in a Few Simple Steps

1. Research and identify skills and qualifications in your industry and jobs of interest.
2. Generate a list of your transferable skills and relevant experience.
3. Review sample résumés in the Design Your Next Steps guide and the résumé tip sheet.
4. Organize your information to highlight experience and skills relevant to the target job.
5. Use action verbs to describe your experience and accomplishments.
6. Streamline your document. Remove superfluous information and use clear and concise formatting.
7. Proofread and update your résumé on a regular basis.
8. Meet with a GSAS Compass advisor to receive feedback and suggestions for revisions.

Also refer to the Princeton University Center for Career Development’s Transforming Your CV to a Résumé.

Transferable Skills

Translating your graduate school experience and accomplishments into language of actions and skills that resonate with your target audience is key to developing a strong résumé. You have acquired many skills as a graduate student that can be used in a variety of professional settings. Clearly stating these skills on a résumé is crucial to a successful job search. To begin thinking about what you can offer an employer, make a list of your abilities and accomplishments, and think about what general skills they involved. Some examples common examples include:

• designing a research project
• collecting and analyzing data
• researching
• solving problems
• writing articles, reports, and successful fellowship applications
• presenting findings at a conference in front of an audience of n people
• explaining complex problems to a range of audiences

Consult these resources for more information on transferrable skills:

• Beyond the Professoriate
• Jobs on Toast
• The Muse

Résumé Structure

Résumés are organized using headings such as “Education,” “Experience,” and “Skills.” Within each section, entries should be in reverse chronological order (i.e., beginning with the most recent and working backward in time).

Education: List institutions of higher education and degrees earned. You may also include GPA, majors and minors, honors and awards, and relevant coursework.

Experience: Illustrate your work and academic experience most relevant to the position. These descriptions should be accurate and concise. Use active voice and action verbs to demonstrate your skills. Do not only summarize your responsibilities: Focus on your accomplishments and achievements. It is often best to divide your experience into two to three sections, with headers that are tailored to the particular position (e.g., “Project Experience,” “Research Experience,” “Communications Experience,” “Leadership Experience,” “Media and Digital Experience”). Then list relevant positions and projects under each appropriate heading.

Activities: You can transform activities from your academic career into work experience on a résumé. These may include volunteering or leading a student organization. Include these activities in an “Experience” section if they entailed meaningful and relevant work. Otherwise, you may opt to list them under a different heading.

Skills: At the end of your résumé, include a short section noting technical skills that are transferable to the workplace. These may include languages, software, and design.

What Sections NOT to Include on a Résumé

Objective: Résumés used to begin with a line stating your interest in the position or industry, but this has gone out of fashion. You may consider a three-to-four-line summary if you are mid-career and trying to change paths.

References: Provide names of references separately, if requested. Also, do not write “References available upon request,” as this is understood.

Publications: You can list these on a separate page, or you may include a “Selected Publications” section. Include these only if they are relevant to the work.

Awards: List these under education, or incorporate them into your experience.

Extensive Coursework: Include only the classes most relevant to the job.

On May 28, 2020, Carlos J. Alonso, Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, presented the first-ever Dean’s Award for Lifetime Achievement to General Brent Scowcroft (‘67PhD, International Relations) in recognition of his decades of dedication to the national security of the United States.

Below are General Scowcroft’s citation and a letter of acknowledgement from his daughter Karen Scowcroft ‘83LAW, ‘84SIPA, who accepted the award on her father’s behalf.

Citation

The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences has a special admiration for intellectual inquiry that reaches beyond academia to change the world at large for the better. Today we honor you, General Brent Scowcroft, a distinguished alumnus of the Graduate School, for your decades of dedication to the national security of the United States.

We live in a world transformed by your commitment to public service. That has been the watchword of your career since your graduation from West Point in 1947, just months after President Truman outlined his famous doctrine for the containment of Soviet communism.

We are proud of the way you have put your Columbia education to use. You arrived at Columbia in 1951 to study international relations, having previously served as a U.S. Air Force pilot, and received your MA in 1953. You returned to Columbia while continuing your U.S. Air Force service, and in 1967, you earned your PhD in international relations.

Surely few alumni of the university once led by Dwight Eisenhower have put their scholarly training to such profoundly important real-world application. Our pride in your career has been undimmed as you rose from assistant air attaché in Embassy Belgrade into an extraordinary 29-year military career, becoming a lieutenant general and serving twice in the White House as Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.

You set the gold standard for running the National Security Council and the interagency process that propels U.S. national security policy—helping to end the Cold War, oversee the peaceful reunification of Germany, assemble the sweeping international coalition that expelled Saddam Hussein’s forces from Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm, and manage such major crises as the attempted coup against Mikhail Gorbachev.

We know this citation is not the most exalted recognition you have received, after having been recognized as a Distinguished Graduate of West Point; presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom; and been dubbed a Knight Commander, Order of the British Empire. We hope, however, that it will prove a particularly meaningful one.

In recognition of your exceptional career—a model of what a Columbia graduate can hope to accomplish—the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is honored to present you with the Dean’s Award for Lifetime Achievement.

You bring honor and distinction to the Graduate School and your alma mater. We thank you for your dedication, your service, and your example of the excellence to which we can aspire, as scholars and as citizens.

Carlos J. Alonso
Dean, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Acknowledgement Letter

On behalf of my father, Brent Scowcroft, whose declining health prevents him from acknowledging this award himself, I accept with deep gratitude the Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Award for Lifetime Achievement. My father wishes to extend his sincere appreciation to Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and to Dean Alonso for this distinct honor. He is both delighted and truly humbled by this recognition.

Columbia University has singular importance for my entire family as not only my father but also my mother and I are alumni of the University’s various schools. (Perhaps my young daughter will someday continue the family’s excellent educational tradition!) Because of this special connection, my father values his receipt of this award.

What also makes this award particularly meaningful to my father is that it comes from the institution which has had such a significant impact on his career. The Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences played a crucial role in transforming my father from a soldier into a scholar and ultimately a public servant and policymaker. What my father has been able to achieve in his career is in no small part due to his Columbia education!

My father will cherish this Dean’s Award for Lifetime Achievement. Thank you again for this wonderful recognition!

Karen Scowcroft
Columbia Law School, 1983
Columbia School of International and Public Affairs, 1984

DISSERTATIONS DEFENDED

Applied Mathematics
Stein, Oded. Smoothness energies in geometry processing. Sponsor: Eitan Grinspun.

Architecture
Ray, Rosalie. Building political support for roadspace reallocation. Sponsor: Elliott Sclar.

Art History and Archaeology
Kobasa, Clare. Sacred impressions: Printmaking in seventeenth-century Sicily. Sponsor: Michael Cole.

Astronomy
Sandford, Emily. The shape of planets and planetary systems. Sponsor: David Kipping.

Teachey, Alexander. On the detection and characterization of exomoons through survey and targeted observations. Sponsor: David Kipping.

Biological Sciences
Kahl, Lisa. Strategies in pseudomonas aeruginosa for metabolic homeostasis in response to environmental factors. Sponsor: Lars Dietrich.

Littleford, Hana. Investigations into a bHLH code for C. elegans somatic gonad regulatory cell fate and function. Sponsor: Iva Greenwald.

Biomedical Engineering
Blumenfeld, Nicole. Engineering technology for accessible precision therapeutics and diagnostics. Sponsor: Samuel Sia.

Business
Lemaire, Alain. Essays on the use of computational linguistic in marketing. Sponsor: Oded Netzer.

Cellular, Molecular, and Biomedical Studies
Baldera-Aguayo, Pedro. Engineering yeasts for in situ production of fungal tetracyclines. Sponsor: Virginia Cornish.

Chemical Engineering
Winter, Lea. Upgrading Carbon and Nitrogen to fuels and chemicals using heterogeneous and plasma catalysis. Sponsor: Jingguang Chen.

Chemistry
Greenberg, Matthew. Formation mechanism of monodisperse colloidal semiconductor quantum dots in solution: A study of nanoscale nucleation and growth. Sponsor: Jonathan Owen.

Matragrano, Joseph. Engineering yeast G protein-coupled receptors for biosensor development. Sponsor: Virginia Cornish.

Wang, Jihang. A chemical platform for non-genetic targeted voltage imaging in the brain. Sponsor: Dalibor Sames.

Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
Petromichelakis, Ioannis. Path integral techniques and Gröbner basis approaches for stochastic response analysis and optimization of diverse nonlinear dynamic systems. Sponsor: Ioannis Kougioumtzoglou.

Communications
Tahir, Madiha. Grounding drone warfare. Sponsors: David Stark and Elizabeth Povinelli..

Computer Science
Atlidakis, Evangelos. Structure and feedback in cloud service REST API fuzzing. Sponsor: Roxana Geambasu.

Waingarten, Erik. New methods in sublinear computation for high dimensional problems. Sponsor: Xi Chen.

Earth and Environmental Sciences
Baek, Seung Hun. Hydroclimatic black swans: Characterization of the oceanic and atmospheric drivers of spatially widespread droughts in North America. Sponsor: Jason Smerdon.

Blatter, Daniel. Constraining fluid properties in the mantle and crust using Bayesian inversion of electromagnetic data. Sponsor: Kerry Key.

Maurer, Joshua. Mountain glacier change across regions and timescales. Sponsor: Joerg Schaefer.

Rao, Mukund. Hydroclimate variability and environmental change in Eurasia over the past millennium and its impacts. Sponsor: Edward Cook.

Tejada Lara, Julia. Testing foundational tenents of stable isotope analyses in neotropical mammalian communities, and implications for terrestrial paleoecology. Sponsors: John Flynn and Joaquim Goes.

Electrical Engineering
Abrams, Nathan. Development of silicon photonic multi chip module transceivers. Sponsor: Keren Bergman.

Chen, Tingjun. Algorithms and experimentation for future wireless networks: From Internet-of-things to full-duplex. Sponsor: Gil Zussman.

Zhang, Fengqi. Applications of analog techniques in power management integrated circuits. Sponsor: Kenneth Shepard.

Zhang, Yihan. Integrated circuit design for miniaturized, trackable, ultrasound based biomedical implants. Sponsor: Kenneth Shepard.

English and Comparative Literature
Eckert, Sierra. The research aesthetic: Information and the form of the Victorian novel. Sponsor: Nicholas Dames.

Peh, Li Qi. Dispassionate descriptions: Disciplining emotion in the long eighteenth century. Sponsor: Jenny Davidson.

Environmental Health Sciences
He, Mike. Air pollution and adverse health effects: Assessing exposure windows and sensitivity to modeling choices. Sponsor: Marianthi-Anna Kioumourtzoglou.

Epidemiology
Fink, David. Effect modification by socioeconomic conditions on the effects of prescription opioid supply on drug poisoning deaths in the United States. Sponsor: Deborah Hasin.

Germanic Languages
Price, Joshua. "A velt mit veltlekh": On the translation of world literature into Yiddish, 1869-1950. Sponsor: Jeremy Dauber.

Mechanical Engineering
Park, Sangwoo. Towards a wearable and functional active hand robot for stroke patients. Sponsor: Matei Ciocarlie.

Yu, Miao. Microstructure analysis and surface planarization of excimer-laser annealed Si thin films. Sponsor: James Im.

Neurobiology and Behavior
Gilboa, Dar. Efficient nonconvex optimization in neural network training. Sponsor: John Wright.

Nursing
Abraham, Cilgy. Predictors and outcomes of nurse practitioner burnout in primary care practices. Sponsor: Lusine Poghosyan.

Operations Research
El Housni, Omar. Tractable policies in dynamic robust optimization. Sponsor: Vineet Goyal.

Goutam, Kumar. Modeling customer preferences through choice models and assortment optimization. Sponsors: Vineet Goyal and Henry Lam.

Philosophy
Cabezas Gamarra, César. Structural racism and the explanation of durable racial inequality. Sponsor: Robert Gooding-Williams.

Physics
Telford, Evan. Magnetotransport studies of correlated electronic phases in Van der Waals materials. Sponsor: Cory Dean.

Political Science
Joyce, Renanah. Exporting might and right: Great power security assistance and developing militaries. Sponsor: Robert Jervis.

Mangonnet, Jorge. Property formation, labor repression, and state capacity in imperial Brazil. Sponsor: Maria Victoria Murillo.

Statistics
Wang, Yixin. Multiple causal inference with Bayesian factor models. Sponsor: David Blei.

TC / Clinical Psychology
Kao, Chienwen. Examining social networks of infant and young child caregiving in Uganda and its association with maternal depression. Sponsor: Helen Verdeli.

TC / Cognitive Science in Education
Gao, Jun. Using different instructional supports to help students learn emergent processes. Sponsor: John Black.

TC / Educational Leadership
Oconnor, Christy. A longitudinal developmentally intentional leadership institute for teacher leaders. Sponsor: Eleanor Drago-Severson.

TC / Measurement and Evaluation
Lu, Rui. Feature selection for high dimensional causal inference. Sponsor: Bryan Keller.

Urban Planning
Marcello, Elizabeth. State public authorities, local politics, and democratic planning: New York's Empire State Development Corporation. Sponsor: Robert Beauregard.

DISSERTATION PROPOSALS FILED

Applied Physics
Stewart, Ian. Transport barrier formation on HBT-EP.

Art History and Archaeology
Dostal, Alexandra. Rope, linen, thread, paper: Gender, labor, and the textile industry in eighteenth-century British art.

Biomedical Engineering
Antrobus, Romare. Microbial cellulose biofabrication for textile and tissue engineering.

Ji, Robin. Applications of focused ultrasound driven microbubble cavitation for blood-brain barrier opening.

Chemical Engineering
Qu, Jianzhou. First-principles modeling of membrane-coated electrocatalysts.

Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
Suh, Hyoung Suk. Computational microporomechanics for phase-changing geomaterials.

Computer Science
Koh, John. Easy public key cryptography and key management.

History
Colpa, Luz. Looking for love: Affect, marriage and immigration between France and Senegal, 1939-1980.

Guadarrama Dominguez, Luis Andrei. Transportation, real estate, and the politics of urban development in Mexico City, 1860-1980.

Mechanical Engineering
Al Aali, Ibraheam. Optimal sizing and control of ice thermal storage in chilled water systems combined with solar PV and variable electricity rates.

Music
Stoumbos, Mary. Hearing the canary in the coal mine: An investigation of privately funded music programs in New Jersey public schools.

Nursing
Bilazarian, Ani. Primary practice capabilities and emergency department utilization in high-need high-cost patients.

Breder, Kelseanne. Social networking, health and wellbeing in LGBT older adults.

Schwartz, Jessica. Clinician trust in predictive clinical decision support for in-hospital deterioration.

Calendar information is also available on the Registrar's website. 

NOTE: The deadline for taking a fall or spring half-semester course Pass/Fail or for R credit is the Friday of the fourth week of the course. A half-semester course must be dropped within the first two weeks of the course.

Deadlines that fall on a Saturday, Sunday, or University holiday will be moved to the next business day.

GSAS Compass offers a suite of career development programming tailored to master’s and doctoral students in the Arts and Sciences. Stay tuned for registration information and more details on dates and times. All programming will be conducted virtually. Please direct questions to gsas-compass [at] columbia.edu ().

Career Development Workshops

• Job Search 5000 workshops on a variety of topics including resumes and cover letters, interviewing, networking, and negotiations
• MA Academic and Professional Development Series, in collaboration with MA programs; topics include selecting a thesis topic, student wellness, job search and application strategies, among others
• PhD Pathways series, including career exploration workshops for PhD students in STEM fields and humanities/social science disciplines, and career conversations with alumni
• Guest speakers from ISSO, GSAS alumni, and other invited guests

Alumni Networking Opportunities

• General alumni networking opportunities
• Field-specific networking events in fields such as non-profit, arts and culture, science careers, consulting and finance, among others

Employer Recruiting Events

• Employer information sessions
• Industry showcases
• Career fairs

Health Measures

To resume University activities in a way that limits the potential spread of SARS-CoV-2 and creates a COVID-19–ready campus, Columbia has instituted critical public health measures including face covering and mask wearing, physical distancing, hand hygiene, daily symptom checking and reporting, and enhancements to facilities such as maximizing fresh air, air filter replacement, and supplementary cleaning. To further mitigate the risk of transmission, these steps will be combined with comprehensive surveillance testing and rapid contact tracing.

Students, faculty, and staff coming to Columbia from states with high prevalence of COVID-19 or from outside the US will be required to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival, even with a negative test result. This is New York State’s current policy, and the only exceptions are essential workers. Also subject to the 14-day quarantine requirement are individuals identified as being a close contact of someone with COVID-19.

All Columbia students returning to campus will be required to sign the Columbia Community Health Compact, agreeing to follow prescribed public health protocols, as well as agreeing to participate in Columbia’s mandatory testing program. The testing program is free to students, and does not require insurance billing. All test results will be confidential and provided in a timely manner, ideally within 24-48 hours of specimen collection. Testing will be convenient and minimally intrusive for individuals being tested.

All students will have an initial “gateway” SARS-CoV-2 test within one day of arriving on campus. All graduate students, after their initial testing, will be randomly sampled for COVID-19, with an initial cohort of 5% each week during the semester; this frequency and sample size will be adapted based on key COVID-19 indicators. The frequency of the testing will be re-evaluated over time in view of the status of the epidemic in New York City and the campus.

Contact tracing is the essential counterpart to testing. Individuals who are diagnosed with COVID-19 will be asked about people with whom they have had close contact (as defined by the Centers for Disease Control) while they may have been infectious. Without revealing the identity of the person diagnosed with COVID-19, we will notify these contacts of their potential exposure and ask them to self-quarantine for 14 days.

For more information, refer to the University’s new health protocols for testing, tracing, quarantine, and isolation.

Building & Classroom Protocols

• All seats in classrooms will be spaced at least 6 feet apart, with 50 square feet of space around each person.
• Hybrid classrooms will allow students in class and online to have comparable experiences.
• All students must bring a laptop to class.
• Class times will be staggered to reduce crowding in restrooms, stairways, and hallways.

Academic Calendar

As you already know, the coming academic year will follow a modified schedule. The GSAS Academic Calendar the 2020-2021 academic year, detailing important dates and deadlines, will be published on our website before the start of the fall term.

Registration

Some GSAS master’s programs will have earlier registration dates than those published. These students have received a message from the GSAS Office of Student Affairs with additional information and instructions.

Student Life

• GSAS Compass, the GSAS Office of Academic Diversity and Inclusion, and the GSAS Writing Studio will conduct programming virtually in the coming semester. For more information, click on the links to visit their webpages.
• Staff in the GSAS Office of Student Affairs will continue to meet with students over Zoom. To schedule an appointment, please write to gsas-studentaffairs [at] columbia.edu.
• The Graduate Student Center in 301 Philosophy Hall will remain closed until further notice.
• The Center for Teaching and Learning’s website contains innovative resources for teaching online, including tools, strategies, and workshops for graduate students.
• Watch the Office of University Life’s virtual Forum for Students on Returning to Campus for valuable information about your health and safety, including testing, the Community Health Compact, and strategies for managing stress.

International Students

Any students who have questions or need support regarding their visas should contact the International Students & Scholars Office (ISSO) for guidance.