Master of Science in Applied Climate Studies (MACS)

Take Action Against Climate Change

Become a leader who plans, implements, and manages effective, just, and equitable climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies in this 2-year, low-residency graduate program. You’ll complete both in-person summer residency intensives and online coursework focusing on project-based, collaborative learning and research.

You’ll examine the science and impacts of climate change – developing a thorough understanding of climate data, policy, society, governance, and decision making – while gaining practical experience in leadership, management, and collaboration for climate action.

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Why study at Warren Wilson?

Legacy of Leadership: We are proud of our decades-long legacy of leadership in climate change action and the strength of our environmental programs.
Low Residency: Develop your network while maintaining a professional career through our low-residency program.
1,100 Acres: Our 1,100-acre mountain campus features innovations in farm, garden, forest, and managed land practices. This landscape serves as your classroom to learn, experiment, and conduct research.
Make a Real Difference: You’ll make a real difference by completing two applied research projects with a nonprofit, business, community, or governmental agency partner.

MACS students stand around and inspect the solar powered golf cart on campus.

Interested in learning more about our MACS program?

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Virtual Open House

Learn more and explore our Master of Science in Applied Climate Studies program at our upcoming virtual open house on Thursday, January 22nd from 6:00 – 7:00 pm.

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Dr. Keith McDade, Director of the Master of Science in Applied Climate Studies program looks up from his computer and smiles at a group of students.

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Residency

We welcome our cohort of students for a 12-day Summer Residency each June. Over the course of the program, every student joins us for a total of three campus residencies and four online semesters, earning 42 credit hours.

The Center for Working Lands

The Center for Working Lands has placed Warren Wilson at the forefront of academic and applied research in sustainable agriculture, regenerative land management, agrivoltaics and decarbonization. Our farm, forest, garden, and green spaces offer you the chance to explore and experiment with balancing ecological goals with economic and social benefits.

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Courses

Introduction to Applied Climate Studies

In your first residency, you will engage in learning and practicing facilitation & leadership exercises that are best developed in-person. You’ll complete field work, demonstrations, and excursions to engage climate-related projects, practices, and plans. The residency includes a multiple-day regional climate summit as well.

Climate Justice, Economics, and Policy

In this course, we’ll analyze case studies from various perspectives that demonstrate the intersection of environmental hazards and climate change with migration, displacement, surveillance, and identity. You’ll deepen your understanding of these issues and study examples of successful strategies for climate change mitigation and adaptation that ensure equity & justice.

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This is more than a program. It’s a community.

Meet the team

This is a moment of great consequence–the world needs an increasing number of committed climate professionals to effectively lead change toward a better future. We can meet this moment and take effective action through a dedicated community of workforce-ready learners and do-ers on a journey to building a better world.

Dr. Keith McDade

Director of the MACS Program and Professor of Environmental Studies

Assistant Director of the MACS program, Delilah Griswold, smiles in front of a stone wall. — I love Warren Wilson’s commitment to collaborative, place-based learning. Working with students who are passionate about climate action and engaged with their communities makes this work especially meaningful. It’s inspiring to see students apply their knowledge to climate challenges with creativity and care.

Dr. Delilah Griswold

Assistant Director of the Master of Science in Applied Climate Studies Program

Wilson students are curious, grounded, and ready to wrestle with complexity. I love teaching in a place where climate science isn’t abstract—it’s personal, urgent, and tied to real land, real communities, and real possibilities for change.

Dr. Melissa Booth

Affiliated Professor of Advanced Climate Studies

I strongly believe that learning is more effective when combined with hands-on experience and Warren Wilson gives me an opportunity to practice that.

Dr. N. Moorthy Muthukrishnan

Affiliate Faculty Instructor of Advanced Climate Studies

I believe in the goodness of humans — in our abilities to collaboratively address the complex challenges we face and care for one another along the way. Warren Wilson has long held this invitation.

Ashley P. Cooper, M.Ed.

Affiliate Faculty of MS in Applied Climate Studies

Understanding climate change impacts on Earth’s ecosystems has and will continue to play a key role in helping humanity address the climate crisis. As an ecologist, I work with students to employ a range of field, genetic, and statistical tools to characterize these impacts. Our work informs ongoing efforts to conserve biodiversity and adapt to changing environmental conditions.

Dr. Alisa Hove

Associate Professor of Biology

As a geographer, I often find my research and teaching at the intersection of the social and natural sciences. Students in my courses on geographic information systems focus on data analysis and visualization of geodata, much of which is either directly or indirectly related to climate change.

Dr. David Abernathy

Professor of Global Studies and Data Science

The climate crisis is also an ethical crisis. As a teacher of ethics, I try to help students investigate the ethical character of that crisis.

Dr. Todd May

Nielsen Professor of the Humanities, Philosophy

I work with materials that are applicable in renewable energy technologies, applying computational chemistry techniques to advance the understanding and design of functional materials used in wind turbines, solar cell, fuel cell, hydrogen generation, waste heat recovery, and digital devices.

Dr. Yuemei Zhang

Assistant Professor of Chemistry

My work focuses on gender, disaster, and climate change, especially in the global context. I look at the intersection of gender justice and climate justice related topics.

Dr. Siti Kusujiarti

Professor of Sociology

Amy Knisely — Law and policy may not be sexy, but they’re incredibly important for climate work, from the grassroots community scale to the global.

Dr. Amy Knisley

Professor of Environmental Studies, Associate Academic Dean

Economics provides a lens to approach complex collective action problems, such as the impacts of climate change.

Jack Igelman, MS

Instructor of Economics

Meet our alumni

Madison Sings ’22

Campaign Field Director, Caleb Rudow for Congress and former Watershed Advocacy and Policy Manager at Asheville Greenworks

Warren Wilson Alum and Director of Chesapeake Climate Action Network Jamie DeMarco takes a selfie in front of a wind turbine on the ocean.

Meet our alumni

Jamie DeMarco ’14

Maryland Director of Chesapeake Climate Action Network

Meet our alumni

Ruby Chorbajian ’03

Head of Development at Climate Group in London, UK