Additional information and resources at the SOEST Education site
New Degree names effective Fall 2018: Undergraduate degree programs were renamed "Environmental Earth Science" for the BA degree and "Earth Sciences" for the BS degree. Graduate degree programs were renamed "Earth and Planetary Sciences (EPS)" for both the MS and PhD programs.
Earth Sciences encompases the scientific study of Earth, its past and present environments. Environmenal Science encompasses human interactions and impact on naural and manmade environments. Planetary Science encompasses study of the whole Earth and of other bodies in our solar system. All are part of the "geosciences", which includes components of atmospheric sciences, oceanography, and biology, as well as foundational skills in chemistry and physics. Mastery of these related disciplines provides unrivaled opportunity for multidisciplinary research on problems of great intellectual and practical importance.
The Earth and other planets are highly dynamic; geoscientists study Earth's internal and surface characteristics to learn about features found there and how they change over time. In turn, these studies shed light on the origin and evolution of Earth and the other planets. The range of fields we explore in our degrees include everything from volcanism to coastal erosion and sea level change, past marine and terrestrial biota, climate change, the origins of life, the water and rock cycles, plate tectonics, monitoring of active hazards (e.g., earthquakes and active volcanoes), natural resources and their extraction, and the composition of solar system building blocks.
The Department of Earth Sciences has much to offer students who are curious about humankind’s place in nature. Graduates from our degree programs can look forward to ever expanding career opportunities in the private and public sectors. Such jobs offer opportunities to use the latest computational methods, to work outdoors or in hgh tech labs, and to travel for work.
