A new Ph.D. graduate program in Atmospheric Chemistry is in the process of being developed in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Colorado and will be implemented beginning in the Fall Semester, 1992. The department is already strong in the field of atmospheric chemistry, and with recent new faculty hires and enhanced collaboration with the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), the NOAA Aeronomy Laboratory and the world center for the training of atmospheric chemists. Problems in the atmosphere arising from human influences include stratospheric ozone depletion, acid precipitation, photochemical smog, and a possible global warming. Solutions to these problems will require a new generation of scientists trained in the newly emerging, interdisciplinary field of atmospheric chemistry. The traditional disciplinary approach is inadequate for training these scientists needed for critical input to decision and policy making for the future. A graduate program, which includes new graduate courses, has been designed by the department faculty with the help of six leading atmospheric chemists as external advisors. This program will provide course work and research opportunities in such areas as biogeochemical cycles, biosphere-atmosphere interactions, laboratory kinetics and photochemistry, atmospheric modeling, and the development of new remote sensing and field analytical techniques.
