School Notes: School of the Environment
November/December 2025

YSE launches executive degree programs

Set to welcome its first cohort in August 2026, YSE’s new executive master of environmental management (EMEM) and executive master of forestry (EMF) programs will offer mid-career professionals the opportunity to deepen their expertise, expand their leadership capabilities, and advance environmental solutions.

“Our new EMEM and EMF degrees are exciting opportunities for experienced leaders who want to build their knowledge base and skill set in environmental management and forestry in a world-leading school of the environment,” said senior associate dean of academic affairs Kenneth Gillingham. “A hallmark of the program is that it is fully residential, offering students the chance to spend a year at Yale, enjoying the incredible opportunities at the school and on the campus.”

Participants will complete a 30-credit program over two semesters, including the one-credit summer intensive Leading Through Complexity: Tools for Environmental Problem-Solving; a five-credit capstone Executive Capstone in Designing and Driving Environmental Solutions; and 24 credits of fully customizable electives.

Urban heat is delaying spring in NYC’s parks

As climate change accelerates and cities grow warmer, researchers assumed spring would arrive earlier each year. Yet, a new study led by scientists at the Yale School of the Environment suggests the opposite is happening in New York City’s parks. Spring is arriving later, especially in the city’s medium-sized green spaces.

“Previously, the assumption was that warmer temperatures would advance the start of spring,” said Juwon Kong, a postdoctoral associate in the Seto Lab at the Yale School of Environment, and lead author of the study, published in Environmental Research Letters. “However, now we’re seeing that warming, particularly in winter, is actually delaying it.”

Kong and a group of researchers examined more than two decades of satellite imagery and advanced remote sensing analysis, finding that warming winters and intensified urban heat are delaying the start of the growing season for trees in the city’s parks, and the implications could reach beyond New York. (For more on this research, check out the story Late Bloomers on page 31.)