Discipline Concentrations

Public Policy PhD students with a disciplinary concentration in Economics must complete the following courses within the Economics Department:

• ECON 701: Microeconomics I – PhD program microeconomics requirement
• ECON 705: Microeconomics II – PhD program microeconomics requirement
• ECON 703: Econometrics I – Research methods requirement
• ECON 707: Econometrics II – Research methods requirement

AND a minimum of three courses (nine credits) in one of the department’s major field areas:

A student wishing to acquire major certification must (depending on the field) either pass a written examination administered by faculty with expertise in the field or write a research paper that is judged as satisfactory by the expert faculty. Papers in applicable fields may be based on coursework but should contain original research.

Students are urged to discuss their paper topics with members of the relevant faculty committee at least three months prior to the field-paper due date.  For a major in Econometrics, Econometrics III must be one of the courses comprising the nine graded credits.

Applied microeconomics encompasses many fields, including Development, Environmental, Family, Health, Industrial Organization, Labor, Population and Public Economics.

Our belief is that students are best served in applied microeconomics by mixing and matching across course types. The field exam committee would then be dictated by the topic of the field paper and the combination of the courses taken. 

A student wishing to acquire major certification must (depending on the field) either pass a written examination administered by faculty with expertise in the field or write a research paper that is judged as satisfactory by the expert faculty. Papers in applicable fields may be based on coursework but should contain original research.

Students are urged to discuss their paper topics with members of the relevant faculty committee at least three months prior to the field-paper due date.  For a major in Econometrics, Econometrics III must be one of the courses comprising the nine graded credits.

COURSE STRUCTURE IN THE ECONOMICS DEPARTMENT BEYOND THE FIRST YEAR

After the first year, many (but not all) of the upper level courses in Economics are divided into half semester 'modules'. The purpose of this structure is to allow students to better align coursework with their research interests. By their nature, modules only count for 1.5 credits and students must complete enough of them to fulfill their graded course requirements. Module courses are all currently listed under special topics course number ECON 8. In the future, courses in fields under the Applied Micro umbrella will be designated by the letter "A", Econometrics courses by "E", Macro Courses by "M" and Micro Theory courses by "T". Students who wish to major in an Applied Micro field have some flexibility in their choice of courses, but must obtain explicit approval of their course plan from their advisor.

Public Policy PhD students with a disciplinary concentration in Political Science must meet Political Science departmental requirements for research methods courses and departmental requirements for one of the Political Science Preliminary Exam Fields.

To meet the departmental research methods requirements, students must complete a minimum of two courses from the following list:

• PS 575S: Intermediate Statistical Methods
• PS 633S: Introduction to Positive Political Theory
• PS 631: Political Applications of Game Theory
• PS 731: Scope and Methods in Political Science
• ECON 703: Econometrics I
• STA 611:  Introduction to Statistical Methods
• STA 831: Probability and Statistical Models

To meet the departmental preliminary exam field requirements, students must complete a minimum of three courses, including the field seminar, in one of the following field areas:

• American Political Science
• Comparative Political Science
• International Relations
• Political Science Methods
• Political Science Theory

The Department of Psychology and Neuroscience offers expert training in multiple psychological subfields. Students can choose to specialize in one of these areas or create a specialty focus of their own, with the guidance of their advisory committee. The most relevant subfields include:

• Developmental psychology
• Social Psychology
• Clinical psychology*

*Although students selecting the psychology concentration will not be able to complete training to become clinicians, many of the Psychology and Neuroscience faculty members with expertise in Health Psychology are included in this group. 

The Department also offers training in Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience and Systems and Integrative Neuroscience.

All Ph.D. students are required to take at least five courses in their disciplinary concentration. The following courses, all in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, constitute the curricular requirements for the concentration. 

REQUIRED METHODS COURSES 

• PSY 718: Research Design
• PSY 767: Applied Correlation and Regression Analysis

3 Theory Courses from this list: 

Public Policy PhD students with a disciplinary concentration in Sociology must complete the following courses within the Sociology Department:

• SOC 710: Social Theory
• SOC 722: Statistics I
• SOC 720: Survey Research Methods  OR
• SOC 742S: Comparative and Historical Methods

The student will choose either SOC 720 or SOC 742S as required by the student’s sociology specialization area.

To meet the departmental specialization requirements, students must complete the minimum of three suggested courses in one of the following field areas: