Welcome to DEEPS
Dear earthlings,
The Earth is a complex system of systems and humanity’s only home. The Earth sustains and inspires us. During the Anthropocene, humankind has advanced in miraculous ways, some of which have become deeply damaging to Earth’s systems and hence to humanity. At Northwestern University’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences (DEEPS), we educate one another and strive to understand Earth’s systems and processes, both to guide humanity’s future actions and innovations and to inform sustainable solutions to present environmental crises and challenges.
We welcome faculty, students, and staff from any and every slice of humanity who share our passion for advancing our scientific understanding of and sustainable relationship with planet Earth. We study extreme events such as climate change, mass extinctions, anoxic oceans, massive volcanism, plate-tectonic shifts, earthquakes, meteorite impacts, and debris flows – present and past. We study isotopic signatures of lake water, sea water, and sediments – past and present. We study Earth surface history, deep Earth structure and dynamics, subsurface microbes, Anthropocene impacts on subsurface water, soil-life interactions, the causes and consequences of air pollution, the impacts of climate change on weather and human health, the impact of human behavior on climate change, micro- and macro-deformation of planetary cryospheres, lithospheres, and asthenospheres, as well as planetary evolution. Please explore this DEEPS website and contact us if you have unanswered questions or constructive feedback.
- - SUZAN
VAN DER LEE
Chair of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences;
Sarah Rebecca Roland Professor
About the department
On Northwestern University’s Evanston campus, nestled alongside Lake Michigan, the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences (DEEPS) provides a close-knit, collegial atmosphere for undergraduate and graduate study. Students enjoy intimate access to our internationally renowned faculty. Recognized with teaching awards and medals from professional organizations like GSA and AGU, our faculty creates a supportive and collaborative atmosphere where research and teaching are pursued at the forefront of earth, environmental, and planetary sciences. To learn more about our department, undergraduate and graduate programs, people, analytical facilities, and more, please explore our website, download our annual newsletter Epicenters, or contact us.
Academics
From the university's earliest natural history classes offered in the 1850s to our department's thriving student body today, Northwestern has remained a leader in educating the next generation of Earth, environmental, and planetary scientists. Following the recent merger of the Program in Environmental Sciences and the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, DEEPS is more poised than ever to propel our students to be change-makers in a world faced with challenges to the planet and the life it sustains.
Undergraduate ProgramGraduate ProgramCourses
Research
Our students, faculty, and staff are actively involved in driving our fields of study forward through their research. From pole to pole, hemisphere to hemisphere, DEEPS studies the inner and outer workings of other planets, the Earth, and the organisms that call it home. Our state-of-the-art research facilities, known as the Integrated Laboratories for Earth and Planetary Sciences (ILEPS), offer a chance for unparalleled lab and computational work right here in Evanston. We are strengthened by our ties to other institutions, including Argonne National Labs, EarthScope, and the Chicago Botanic Gardens.
Research AreasOur FacilitiesWho's Recruiting?
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