Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

Geologic phenomena affect our daily lives as well as the future of our planet. Fundamental knowledge in the Earth and planetary sciences has direct bearing on matters of urgent interest to the public, to policy makers, and to other scientists. The threats of a major earthquake in California, a volcanic eruption in the northwestern U.S., or an asteroid impact are ever present. A naturally fluctuating climate is being modified by human activities in ways that we don’t understand with consequences that we cannot predict.

Research in Brown University’s Department of Geological Sciences advances fundamental knowledge in the earth and planetary sciences and addresses these broad and general problems through our five major thematic areas:

  •      1. Dynamics of the solid Earth
  •      2. Earth system history
  •      3. The planetary perspective
  •      4. Properties and processes of geological materials
  •      5. Environmental sciences

Environmental science studies can also be completed through our joint Ph.D. program which unites Brown faculty with the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, MA.

National Standing

Our Department is widely recognized for excellence in teaching and research. Peer units at other universities include Caltech, MIT, WHOI, Stanford, and Washington University. The success of the programs is indicated by the National Research Council (NRC, 1995) Report Research-Doctoral Programs in the United States: Continuity and Change, which compared the top 100 geological sciences departments in the US. The NRC report ranked the effectiveness of the graduate program as eighth (8.5) in the country and the perceived quality of the faculty as twelfth (12.0), with only one other department of comparable size in the top twelve. The per capita citation rate of the faculty was ranked sixth (6.0) in the nation.

Members of the faculty have been recognized for outstanding accomplishments by election to fellowship in major scientific societies, such as the American Geophysical Union (AGU), Geological Society of America, and the American Association for Advancement of Science. Faculty awards include RI Professor of the Year, Outstanding Educator by the Association of Women Geologists, Guggenheim and Sloan Fellows and the Bowen and Macelwane Awards from the AGU. The faculty also helps shape the future direction of the science through service as members and chairs of many national and international advisory committees and through leadership positions in scientific societies and scientific expeditions.

Research

The range of research addressed within the department is both fundamental and diverse. One broad aspect of this research is the dynamics of the solid Earth and Planets. The Department participates in the acquisition and interpretation of spacecraft observations from the nearby Moon and Mars to the icy satellites of the outer Solar System, and studies the interior of the Earth beneath oceanic spreading centers where fundamental transfers of heat and mass from the mantle to the surface occur. These large-scale processes are mediated by mineral-grain-scale physical and chemical mechanisms that are studied both conceptually and in the laboratory. The Earth system history researchers are leaders in developing techniques to measure climate change in marine and terrestrial sediments on time-scales ranging from ice ages to hurricanes.

Research on environmental issues ranges from the impacts of land use on water resources to the frequency of hurricane strikes to the effects of human activity on Narragansett Bay. This highly interdisciplinary research promotes strong collaborations between faculty members. It involves experimental, observational and theoretical studies that utilize state-of-the-art laboratory, analytical, and computational facilities. Among the emerging new areas of exciting research and teaching being considered by the Department are environmental geochemistry, the nature of reactions at microscopic surfaces, active tectonic processes, physical volcanology, dynamics of climate change, and the biogeochemistry of primitive environments.

Consistent with the interdisciplinary nature of geological sciences, the Department has provided leadership in teaching and research in several interdepartmental and interdisciplinary programs. The Department is one of founding partners in the Environmental Change Initiative and is currently working closely with ECI to expand environmental science research on campus. The department is also a partner in the joint Brown-MBL (Marine Biological Laboratory) graduate program. In addition, there are numerous collaborations outside the University: there are strong ties with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) as well as the geology and geophysics faculty at the University of Rhode Island.


Affiliations

Faculty Administrative Positions

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Hirth, GregChair of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

Faculty Positions

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Bergen, KarianneAssistant Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences and Data Science

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Birch, Samuel Patrick DennisAssistant Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Budde, GerritAssistant Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Clemens, Steven CProfessor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences (Research)

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Cobb, KimProfessor of Environment and Society and Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Cooper, Reid FProfessor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Cooperdock, Emily H. G.Assistant Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Dalton, Colleen AProfessor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Daubar, IngridAssociate Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences (Research)

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Di Lorenzo, EmanueleProfessor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Dottin, James WAssistant Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Evans, Alex JThomas J. and Alice M. Tisch Assistant Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Fischer, Karen MLouis and Elizabeth Scherck Distinguished Professor of the Geological Sciences

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Forsyth, Donald WJames Manning Professor Emeritus of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Science

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Forsyth, Donald WProfessor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences (Research)

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Fox-Kemper, BaylorProfessor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Freilich, MaraAssistant Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences and Applied Mathematics

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Gromet, L PeterProfessor Emeritus of Geological Sciences

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Hastings, Meredith KProfessor of Environment and Society and Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Head, James WLouis and Elizabeth Scherck Distinguished Professor Emeritus of the Geological Sciences

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Head, James WProfessor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences (Research)

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Herbert, Timothy DHenry L. Doherty Professor of Oceanography, Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Hermance, John FProfessor Emeritus of Geological Sciences

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Hess, Paul CProfessor Emeritus of Geological Sciences

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Hirth, GregProfessor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Hodgin, Eben BlakeAssistant Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences (Research)

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Horvat, ChristopherAssistant Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences (Research)

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Hua, JunlinSenior Research Associate in Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Huang, YongsongProfessor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Huber, ChristianProfessor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Ibarra, Daniel EnriqueManning Assistant Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences and Environment and Society

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Khan, Mohid DeanResearch Associate in Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Larson, Albert EResearch Associate in Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Lau, HarrietAssistant Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Lee, Jung-EunAssociate Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Liang, YanProfessor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Lynch, AmandaProfessor of Environment and Society and Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Milliken, Ralph EAssociate Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Mustard, John FProfessor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Parman, StephenProfessor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Parmentier, Edgar MProfessor Emeritus of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Parmentier, Edgar MProfessor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences (Research)

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Pieters, Carle MProfessor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences (Research)

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Pieters, Carle MProfessor Emerita of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Prell, Warren LHenry L. Doherty Professor Emeritus of Oceanography

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Prilipko Huber, OlgaSenior Research Associate in Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Robertson, Kevin MSenior Research Associate in Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Russell, James MProfessor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Saal, AlbertoProfessor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Salap-Ayca, SedaAssistant Professor of the Practice of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Schultz, Peter HProfessor Emeritus of Geological Sciences

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Si, WeiminSenior Research Associate in Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Smith, Laurence C.Professor of Environment and Society and Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Tsai, VictorProfessor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

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Tullis, Jan AProfessor Emerita of Geological Sciences

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Tullis, Terry EProfessor Emeritus of Geological Sciences

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Tullis, Terry EProfessor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences (Research)

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Webb, ThompsonProfessor Emeritus of Geological Sciences