Best Accredited Universities for Doctoral Phd program in Geology and Earth Science

We invite our alumni to join those of us still on campus to proudly proclaim your connection to the department and send us pictures of yourself wearing EPS-embellished clothing.

Jeff Warner PhD '67 flaunting the flannel in Park City, Utah.

Earth science is one of the broadest and most interdisciplinary of all sciences. The department accepts applications for our Ph.D. program (note that we have no Masters program) from various fields and majors. In addition to geoscience majors, we are interested in students from various disciplines including physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, astronomy and engineering.

Applications can be found through the Admissions link a complete description of the program requirements can be found through the Handbook link.

Through its courses, seminars, and speaker series, ESS offers graduate students an opportunity to be part of an intellectual community with common or related interests and goals.

The objectives of the doctoral program are to enable students to develop the skills needed to conduct original investigations in environmental and Earth system sciences, to interpret the results, and to present the data and conclusions in a publishable manner. We also intend that our graduates obtain strong communication skills and leadership skills, with the ability to teach and communicate effectively with the public.

Marine Geology Geophysics Seismology, Geology Tectonophysics Seminars.

We continue to discover how myriad complex interactions between Earth solid interior and the exterior world of water, air, and ice that we inhabit sustain and impact life.

Lamont exploration of the largely unknown terrain beneath the world oceans began at the inception of the observatory than 70 years ago. Today, members of the Marine Geology and Geophysics (MG G) Division remain explorers at heart, motivated by the drive to understand some of the most remote and dangerous reaches of our planet, from the deepest oceans to the polar ice sheets.

Making new and exciting observations of the ice sheets and geological processes occurring on and beneath the seafloor is a key element of MG G Division research.

Lamont scientists have used ocean drilling data and technology to study the sediments and hard rocks beneath the seafloor, as well as the fluids that flow through them. One of Lamont major contributions to scientific ocean drilling was the establishment of the Borehole Research Group to provide down-hole geophysical measurement services to the Ocean Drilling Program (now the International Ocean Discovery Program), developing new types of borehole logging instruments, adapting oil-field logging tools for use in ocean research drilling, and maintaining a database of all logging measurements on behalf of the ocean drilling community.

Science team and the Langseth crew moments before deploying an instrument. The team safely attaches the instrument to the A-frame which uses hydraulics to lift the instrument over the side of the ship and then release it to begin its descent to the seafloor. Credit: Brandon Shuck.

It May Begin Small.

Credit: GNS Science.

A newly forming lake at the edge of the Greenland ice sheet, exposing sediments released by the ice. Such lake beds are becoming common as the ice recedes. Credit: Kevin Krajick Earth Institute.

Algae growing on the surface of the Greenland ice sheet darkens the surface, hastening summer melting. Credit: Kevin Krajick Earth Institute.

Credit: Kevin Krajick Earth Institute.

Credit Dave PorterLamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

Shifts in Deep Geologic Structure May Have Magnified Great 2011 Japan Tsunami.

Undersea Volcanism May Help Explain Medieval Year of Darkness.

He is particularly interested in black carbon in different compartments (atmosphere, soils and sediments), including its methodology, origins, transport, deposition, and fate. He seeks to reconstruct past wildfire history and understands the inherent mechanisms regarding biomass burning emissions and climate change. Dr. Han research has been funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China, Chinese Academy of Science, and Ministry of Science and Technology of the People´s Republic of China etc.

My research has progressed from the identification of polar-global linkages, expanded to an ENSO-Antarctic Dipole teleconnection mechanism study, and finally resulted in an Antarctic sea ice forecast. However, this task is much challenging because of sparse observations in the Southern Ocean. I also developed statistical forecast models for polar sea ice fields and maintain Antarctic and Arctic sea ice seasonal predictions routinely.

My research is geared toward understanding global climate change, including current anthropogenic driven changes and past changes to the Earth System. I investigate the natural modes and underlying forcing mechanisms of past climate variability, with the goal of developing a better understanding of how the Earth System responds to natural and human-induced perturbations.

Geophysicist with broad interests in Earth structure (especially the lithosphere and asthenosphere), geodynamcis, seismic wave propagation and inverse theory.

William is a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. William research involves using seismic data to image the interior of the Earth, and integrate geodynamic models with the inferred seismic structure to better understand the long-term evolution of our planet. Although the evolution of oceanic plates plays a crucial role in plate tectonics, and therefore Earth evolution, the structure beneath ocean basins remains largely unexplored. He uses ocean bottom seismometers to address a range of problems in marine geophysics, including deep processes related mid-ocean ridges, structural and mechanical properties of the lithosphere and asthenosphere, and the structure and evolution of subduction zones.

William began at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in the fall of 2019.

At Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory.

University Course Subjects Taught at Columbia University (1977 to 2014).

I am currently an Earth Institute Fellow working on climate and food security.

In other words, I break (and build) things in the lab to establish how they work beyond Earth.

Virginia leads a team of 5 HR Managers, located both at Hogan Hall and LDEO, who provide a full range of HR support for both academic and non-academic staff within the entire Climate School community.

Vicki Ferrini is a Senior Research Scientist at Columbia University Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO).

I'm a Ph.D. candidate at Columbia University in the Earth and Environmental Sciences working with Richard Seager. My research focuses on better understanding hydroclimate variability and change in the western U.S. and similar regions around the world under climate change. Currently, I'm studying the effect of climate on wildfires in the West. I graduated from Princeton University in 2019 with an A.B. in Physics and a certificate in Environmental Studies.

Water content of magmas, and the effects on magma evolution, mantle and slab temperature, and eruptive vigor.

Plank received the Houtermans Medal from the European Association for Geochemistry, the Donath Medal from the Geological Society of America, is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, the Geochemical Society, the Geological Society fo America, and the Mineralogical Society of America. Some of my projects include:.

My research involves marine geophysical studies of the formation and early evolution of the Earth oceanic crust at mid-ocean ridges, magma chamber processes, crustal evolution within plate interiors, and subduction zone properties. I make use of marine reflection seismic imaging, as well as other marine geophysical methods including sonar mapping, magnetics, gravity, and deep submergence studies. I am also involved in the development of cyberinfrastructure for geosciences providing data tools and services for the academic marine geoscience community. My field-work includes expeditions in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans as well as near shore studies of sediment processes in the New York region.

Routinely used isotopic approaches include Rb-Sr, Sm-Nd, Th-U-Pb, Lu-Hf, radiocarbon, and intermediate products of U-decay. He has published than 160 peer-reviewed papers. He especially appreciates two awards: the Excellence in Teaching Award from the Graduate Student Committee of the Earth and Environmental Sciences, and the Great Teacher Award from the Society of Columbia Graduates.

Spahr Webb holds the Jerome M. A principle focus now is on subduction zones and the hazards of megathrust earthquakes with an emphasis on observing slow slip events (SSEs or slow earthquakes). The distribution of slip in SSEs should inform on the coupling behavior of megathrust faults and which have preceded several recent giant earthquakes, and thus may provide the potential for early warning. Other efforts include measuring deformation near the trench of subduction zones using GPS-acoustic techniques, monitoring magma chamber processes beneath Axial volcano using the compliance method.

Spahr Webb hold B.S. degrees in Physics and also Earth and Planetary Sciences from MIT and a PhD in oceanography from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Dyhrman is an investigator with the Simons Foundation, a two-time Kavli Fellow in the National Academy Frontiers of Science Program, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology.

I am a Postdoctoral Research Scientist in the Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics (APAM), working with Lorenzo Polvani. I work on stratosphere-troposphere coupling, large-scale climate dynamics and variability, and subseasonal-to-seasonal prediction. I am also Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Royal Meteorological Society journal Weather.

A former Hertz Fellow, Sloan Research Fellow, and Guggenheim Fellow, Solomon was President of the American Geophysical Union from 1996 to 1998. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the International Academy of Astronautics and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Geophysical Union, and the Geological Society of America. He is a recipient of the G. Gilbert Award from the Geological Society of America, the Arthur L. Day Prize from the National Academy of Sciences, the Public Service Medal from NASA, the Harry H. Hess Medal from the American Geophysical Union, and the Distinguished Alumni Award from the California Institute of Technology. In 2014 he was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Barack Obama.

During the International Polar Year, Bell led a major expedition to Antarctica to explore the last unknown mountain range on Earth, the Gamburtsev Mountains, which were completely covered with ice.

Much of my work is oriented around understanding what the historical record can tell us climate change, and especially how changes in the composition of the atmosphere affect the flows of energy within the earth system - the so-called radiative forcing. On shorter time scales I work on a range of problems related to clouds, radiation, circulation, and climate. One practical thread is related to the nuts-and-bolts of building models. Radiation is the ultimate driver for every atmospheric motion so every model of the atmosphere needs an accruate representation. I'm especially interested in identifying a range of strategies for balancing accuracy and computational cost based on the scales at which radiation couples to circulation. Still inspired by one of my first mentors, I'm especially interested in what we can learn from different views of the same aspect of the world.

Signals to derive provenance and pathways of water masses in ocean. The program centers field and lab-based research related to the Hudson estuary, New York Harbor, and green spaces in the NYC metropolitan area.

As a student, Anderson was convinced that naturally occurring radionuclides could be used to quantify the rates of key processes in marine biogeochemical cycles. Some of the essential principles were defined initially in the paper by Bacon and Anderson (1982). GEOSECS, the first program to systematically study the chemistry of the ocean at a global scale, was then demonstrating the value of synthesizing results from diverse sources. In 2000, following these principles, Anderson teamed with international scientists as architects of a program to study the marine biogeochemistry trace elements and their isotopes, GEOTRACES. The value of using radionuclides to establish rates is shown in Anderson et al. (2009), where rapid changes in the circulation of the ocean around Antarctica were first demonstrated to be responsible for the release of CO2 to the atmosphere as Earth emerged from the last ice age. By elucidating the important role of ocean circulation, it was possible to determine that the low atmospheric CO2 levels of the Pleistocene ice ages was due to increased storage of CO2 in the deep ocean (Anderson et al., 2019).

I am a climate scientist at Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory. I moved to New York and Columbia to do my PhD under Mark Cane and Steve Zebiak in tropical atmosphere-ocean and climate dynamics. After a postdoc at the University of Washington I returned to Lamont and have been here ever since. My work concerns climate variability and change on timescales of weeks to millennia with a special focus on atmosphere-ocean interaction, the causes of droughts and hydro climate variability and change. My work uses numerical models, observations and proxy climate reconstructions from paleoclimate records and covers the globe.

Radley was a Convening Lead Author for the Third National Climate Assessment. He is also the Columbia University lead for the Interior-funded Northeast Climate Science Center, and is a PI on an NSF-funded Climate Change Education Partnership Project. He serves on numerous national and international task forces and committees, including the Climate Scenarios Task Force in support of the 2018 National Climate Assessment, and frequently appears on national and international television, radio, and in print.

Along the way, Philip founded LaPorta and Associates, Geological Consultants (1993-2013), now LaPorta Geological Consultants (2013 to present).

Philip has taught economic geology and ore deposit studies, optical mineralogy, invertebrate paleontology, geological field methods and mapping, as well as geo-archaeology field school at Queens, Hunter and Lehman colleges in the CUNY System, as well as at Montclair State and Pace universities.

Through these collaborations, the CCC aims to improve humankind capacity to understand, predict and respond to climate variability and change within a multidisciplinary approach to sustainable development. This role is becoming increasingly complex and influential as the Earth Institute expands its scope by choosing new and diverse sustainable development projects to tackle problems on local, regional and global scales. To address the essential connection between research and practice, Schlosser helped develop the Earth Clinic. Schlosser recognizes that the key to success for the Earth Institute goes beyond the cutting-edge research that its 600 plus scientists are involved in around the world. The Earth Institute is in a unique position as a research center of a world class university, using a new approach to solve the problems of sustainable development through interdisciplinary collaborations across academic departments. Schlosser received B.S. and M.S. in 1981 from the University of Heidelberg in Germany and a Ph.D. from the same institution in 1985.

He graduated in 1967 from Harvard University with Ph.D. in Applied Physics and remained at Harvard for one year as a Post Doctoral Fellow, where he did research in both biophysics and on the polaron problem. Dr. Eisenberger is a fellow of both the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Eisenberger was one of the authors of the National Action Plan for Materials Science and Engineering, and was a member of the Commission on the Future of the National Science Foundation (NSF). recently, he has been appointed by Governor Whitman to the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology and is a member of the GEO2000 Task Force of the NSF.

Peter Kelemen studies the chemical and physical processes of reaction between fluids and rocks. He has worked on the genesis and evolution of oceanic and continental crust, chemical cycles in subduction zones, and new mechanisms for earthquake initiation. at Columbia, as well as courses and seminars on petrology, geochemistry, and geodynamics.

Kelemen was recently awarded the American Geophysical Union Hess Medal. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, the Mineralogical Society of America, and the Geochemical Society.

The evolution of continental ecosystems (including their external and internal controls and their biological and physical components) is my overall area of research. I am especially interested in the pattern, causes and effects of climate change on geological time scales, mass extinctions, and the effects of evolutionary innovations on global biogeochemical cycles.

My approach is to use whatever techniques are available to understand ancient earth biological and physical systems, and consequently, students involved in these areas have used a broad range of disciplines including structural geology, palynology, geochemistry, geophysics and paleontology.

Paul Richards has taught at Columbia University since 1971, where he has conducted research on the theory of seismic wave propagation, the physics of earthquakes, the interior structure of the Earth, and the application of seismological methods to explosion and earthquake monitoring.

Patrick Alexander is an Associate Research Scientist in the Marine Geology and Geophysics division at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. He is a cryospheric scientist focusing on interactions between ice and climate. He incorporates remote sensing and in situ measurements with global climate models and regional climate models to study ice-climate interactions, particularly interactions between climate and polar ice sheets, with the goal of understanding the future impact of climate change on sea level rise.

Master of Arts (Biological Education), Washington University, 1961.

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University.

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, 1993-present.

Nick came to the Lamont Earth Observatory within the Earth Institute in 2007 to work with Dr Robin Bell to develop and deploy an Airborne Geophysics system capable of mapping the remotest parts of Antarctica in preparation for the International Polar Year. In the process he and Robin set up the kernel of the Polar Geophysics Group that has grown today into an extended family of scientists, researchers, Grad Students, Doctoral Students and Engineers that number over 30 in total. Nick also set up the Polar Geophysics lab to develop the sensors and systems necessary to carry out the work and today has extended the role of the lab to develop sensors for many aspects of the Earth Sciences.

Currently with emphasis on the geology of the Neoproterozoic Earth.

I am a Ph.D. student in the organic geochemistry group at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. My research focuses on using molecular-fossils or biomarkers preserved in marine sediments to reconstruct different attributes of the Earth climate system in the geologic past on timescales of decades to millions of years. In particular, I measure the flux, distribution and hydrogen and carbon isotopic composition of plant-waxes to investigate how vegetation and precipitation have varied in the monsoon region of West Africa on orbital timescales in the Pleistocene. I also have projects focused on improving the understanding of wildfires in ecosystem transitions in West Africa using molecular flux records of pyrosugars and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) during the Green Sahara period in the mid-Holocene and on reconstructing changes in the paleo-ocean circulation of the North Atlantic in the Neogene using alkenone-based sea surface temperature records.

Nathan Steiger is an Adjunct Associate Research Scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. He works to understand the historical variability of the climate system and its relevance to human societies. In particular, he conducts research on the physical mechanisms of severe droughts, pluvials, and other climate extremes.

Natalie also oversees the Emerging Voices in Geosciences Society Seminars, a new Climate School-Provostial initiative allowing diverse speakers to share their research, outreach, and community-centered activities.

Prior to joining the Climate School in 2022, Natalie worked at the Zuckerman Institute on organization-wide scientific programming and mentoring efforts. Natalie holds a BA in Marketing from Pace University, and is currently pursuing an MBA from Columbia.

I am a non-traditional stable isotope geochemist. In 2018, I received my PhD on stable Ni isotopic fractionation in high temperature terrestrial and lunar rocks from Oxford University, UK. I am currently working on several Ni isotope studies, expanding on this work and the explosion of recent interest in this area. I am also preparing to move into our new clean lab at LDEO, Alex Halliday NICER Lab (Novel Isotopes in Climate, Environment, and Rocks).

I am originally from Cumbria in the North of England, and grew up around the magnificent rocks of the Lake District. The Borrowdale volcanics and abundant local hematite started my interest in Geology, and led to an A level in the subject. The A level convinced me that this subject was going to be my passion, and ~10 years on nothing has changed!

I am an Ecoclimatologist who researches the interactions between climate change and natural and human ecosystems. My expertise includes dendrochronology, plant ecophysiology, remote sensing, and climate science. I received my PhD in 2020 from Columbia University, USA. I am currently working on projects related to the forest carbon cycle, the vulnerability of boreal forests to increasing heat waves, and the use of dendrochronology to understand past environmental change and timber transport.

Michelle is currently a PhD candidate in the Marine Geology and Geophysics division advised by Dr. Suzanne Carbotte and Dr. Maya Tolstoy.

I went to college in Trieste to study Physics and eventually fell in love with clim

Students who hold the equivalent of a Bachelor degree from an international program that is three years in length are eligible to apply. You do not have to hold a Masters degree to apply to a Ph.D. program. Admission is extremely competitive.

A few sections of the application are editable after submission, including the Statement of Objectives. Letters of recommendation should be submitted electronically although we also accept paper letters of recommendation. Letters that arrive by paper will be scanned to your online application. We will accept transcripts delivered electronically directly from your school. We do not consider a CV and a list of publications when reviewing applications. If you send us additional documents that we have not requested, they will be discarded without consideration.

Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139, if required due to special circumstances.

No, the deadline for submitting your application is Decemer 1 and the online application system will shut down that day. However, the online letter system will stay open for an additional week. Formal review of applications will begin at that time.

The online system requires you to pay with a credit card.

You may indicate that you applied earlier by checking the appropriate box.

The application consists of five parts: The biographical section, 3 letters of recommendation, GRE general test scores, Subjects Taken form with grades, and a Statement of Objectives. The IELTS or TOEFL test is required for all international applicants whose education was in a language other than English. PLEASE NOTE: due to the COVID-19 crisis, GRE scores will not be required or considered the 2020 admissions cycle.

Yes, because of the new online procedure for evaluating applications, it is necessary for us to have consistent information online for each applicant.

No. there is only one admission process. When your application please choose your final degree objective. You do not have to have a Master degree before being accepted into our Ph.D. program.

No, we will not admit an applicant who already holds a PhD degree.

No. If you have started a master or doctoral program at another university, you cannot transfer classes or research credit with the intention of completing that degree at MIT. However, the classes that you will be required to take as part of our EAPS program will reflect the background that you have. You will not be expected to take a course that has the same content as one you have successfully completed at another school.

We do not require that you submit an updated transcript. However please be aware that by the time the new transcript is available, your application may have already been evaluated by several members of the admissions committee. If your application is accepted we will ask that you provide an official current transcript.

PLEASE NOTE: due to the COVID-19 crisis, GRE scores will not be required or considered the 2020 admissions cycle. All applicants to EAPS are required to provide scores for the GRE general test that are five years old or less. Applicants to the Planetary Sciences program are required to provide scores from either the GRE Physics or Chemistry subject exams. The MIT reporting code is: 3514, and the EAPS Department code is: 0599. Decisions will be based on the information available at the time of consideration. We do not dely the application review process to wait for missing information.

The department will waive the requrement for either the IELTS or TOEFL exam for those students who have completed a four year bachelor progam that is taught exclusively in English. The IETS code for sending TOEFL scores to MIT is 3514, and the code for the EAPS Department is 61 for Astronomy, Planetary Science and 71 for Geology, Geochemistry, Geobiology, Geophysics, Atmospheric Science, Climate Physics and Chemistry.

All students admitted to our doctoral programs are provided with full funding that includes a stipend, tuition, and health insurance. This may be in the form of a fellowship or research assistantship. At some time in your graduate career you will be asked to serve as a teaching assistant so that you gain that experience. Research assistantships are the primary support for students beyond the first year.

The application fee helps to defray the cost of processing applications. It is never waived and must be paid in U.S. dollars. We accept credit cards with the electronic online application and personal checks, bank checks, or money orders if a credit card is not available.

We will acknowledge receipt of application with an email that tells you whether your application is complete or incomplete at that time. We will list any missing items. At any time you can go back into your online application and check whether any missing letters of recommendation and test scores have been received.

Applicants can log into their online account to check for their admission result. Decisions will be made starting mid-January and the process will continue into March. The results will be posted online, and you will be notified by email.

Decisions for September admission are made in January and the process will continue until March 15. Applicants have until April 15th to notify MIT of their decision to accept or decline the offer of admission. Your recorded decison as of April 15 is considered binding and may require a written release. If you do not respond by April 15, we may recind our offer.

An admitted student may make a written request to defer admission for one year only. Exceptions are made in rare cases these written requests must be explained in detail.

The subjects you register for will depend on the education program into which you have been admitted. You can add or drop subjects during the term.

We have no evening or part-time courses. Content from many EAPS courses are posted in MIT OpenCoursware project. In addition, as the MITx and edX programs develop, EAPS courses will become part of those available.

Earth and Climate Sciences offers research opportunities in four broad areas of geoscience:.

Earth-surface sciences focus on processes that shape and change landscapes and environments--the interactions between life, water, and landscapes, including coastal geomorphology and ecomorphodynamics, and the evolution of coupled human-landscape systems as climate and societal forcings change.

Ocean, atmosphere and climate sciences include ocean circulation, atmospheric dynamics, marine biogeochemistry, and ocean atmosphere interactions, particularly as they relate to global climate change.

Earth resources addresses the geologic formation and human use of mineral, energy, water, and land resources including mineral formation, life-cycle analysis, energy consumption emissions, water quality as it relates to human health, and the role of technology in the Anthropocene. This area also includes evaluation of the health and economic impacts of changes in air quality and climate associated with policy choices.

The history of Earth and life encompasses the temporal evolution of our planet through its lifetime including aspects of paleoclimate, paleoceanography, and paleoenvironment. It asks the fundamental question: how did the geologic history of Earth affect its biotic evolution and biodiversity.

Earth and Climate Sciences: PhD Admissions and Enrollment Statistics.

Earth and Climate Sciences: PhD Completion Rate Statistics.

Earth and Climate Sciences: PhD Time to Degree Statistics.

Earth and Climate Sciences: PhD Career Outcomes Statistics.

Graduate School Application Requirements See the Application Instructions page for important details each Graduate School requirement.

English Language Exam: TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo English Test required for applicants whose first language is not Englishtest waiver may apply for some applicants.

We strongly encourage you to review additional department-specific application guidance from the program to which you are applying: Departmental Application Guidance.

University of Pennsylvania School of Arts Sciences.

Students conduct highly interdisciplinary research across fields that include geophysics, geomorphology, geochemistry, paleobiology, microbiology, soil science, ocean and atmospheric science, and environmental health. Our research employs a wide range of modern to cutting-edge research instrumentation housed in our department, in the Singh Nanotech Center at Penn, and in other locations on campus. We offer generous graduate fellowship packages that provide students ample time to focus on research as well as gain valuable teaching experience. Our graduates find rewarding careers in academia, consulting, private industry, and government.

Penn and our Department are committed to supporting a diverse, equitable and inclusive academic community. We invite applicants from a wide range of backgrounds and learning experiences. Our own graduate students actively collaborate with the standing committee on departmental climate, diversity, equity, and inclusion to help broaden diversity in our Department and in the geosciences generally.

(3) 54 additional units in 100 or 200-level science, math or engineering courses in any field at Caltech.

(4) Must give a 30 minute presentation, including 10 minutes of discussion, on their research at the Geoclub Seminar series during their third year.

Courses that cannot be used to satisfy these requirements include research and reading courses, and certain courses constituting basic preparation in the field of geology, such as Ge 106, Ge 112, Ge 114 ab, and Ge 115 ab. A grade of C or better is required for all course work that satisfies these requirements. Knowledge of basic physics, mathematics, and data analysis at the level of Ge 108 and Ge ESE 118 is required of all Ph.D. candidates in geology. Students entering the geology option with a master degree in a science or mathematics may be exempt from up to 45 units at the discretion of the option representative.

The Department of Earth Sciences at Dartmouth College supports graduate students in a wide variety of research fields, including, but not limited to, Earth Surface and Environmental Processes, Climate and Cryospheric Sciences, Earth and Planetary History.

The department recruit students at both the MSc and PhD levels. The MSc degree is intended to train students for professional careers in the Earth and Planetary Sciences, or as preparation for further graduate study. The PhD is conferred upon candidates who have demonstrated scholarship and expertise in their chosen specialty, and who have conducted novel and extensive independent research. To this end, the doctoral program is designed to develop the skills and perspectives needed to conduct, interpret, present, and publish original research in the Earth and Planetary Sciences.

The department require our graduate students to obtain a broad background in Earth Sciences. Successful applicants to the program have a strong general scientific background in basic physics, chemistry, and mathematics, and, ideally, a demonstrated aptitude for thinking analytically and solving quantitative problems. Students admitted to our graduate program with deficiencies in these areas will be required to take additional course work.

The Earth and Planetary Sciences is part of the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, although the academic life of graduate students is largely guided by the rules of The Graduate School (TGS), which is the administrative unit for most graduate programs at Northwestern. Department specific links to our Ph.D. program are accessible from the left panel of this page.

Departmental advisers provide ample advice to assist students in planning their academic and research programs, but it remains the responsibility of each student to know the University and department rules and to be sure that all requirements and deadlines are met.