With its unique interdisciplinary research opportunities and collegial atmosphere, Brown's graduate program in Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences is rated among the top programs in the world.
Students have many opportunities to work with a variety of faculty, researchers and scientists. Our department is rich in observational, experimental, and modeling methods and your experience here will reflect breadth and experience across methods and disciplines. In addition to department programming, students gain invaluable communication and teaching skills through programs at the University's Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning as well as regular meetings with their advisory committees, assisting the faculty with classes and labs, and presentations of their research during weekly informal "lunch bunches" and at national meetings.
Our internationally known faculty engage in externally supported research in four primary areas:
- Structure and dynamics of the solid Earth
- Properties and processes of geological materials
- Climate and environmental sciences
- Planetary geosciences
The Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences department is known on campus as being welcoming and collegial. Our faculty guide a diverse pool of 50-60 graduate students in a collaborative and fun learning environment. Peer units at other universities include Caltech, MIT, WHOI, Stanford, Columbia, and Washington University.
Additional support includes a variety of laboratory, field and modeling based resources:
- Environmental and Earth System studies: Field and laboratory equipment for lake sediment and soil sampling, coring and analysis; Brown Global Foraminifer and North American pollen databases; gas isotope ratio mass spectrometers for inorganic, carbonate and organic samples; gas chromatograph-mass spectrometers; accelerated solvent extractors for organic samples; CHNS analyzers; X-ray fluorescence analysis facility; Jobin ICP-ES; particle size counter, estuarine oceanography equipment.
- Planetary studies: RELAB spectroscopy database of spectra of lunar and meteoritic materials; visible to mid-IR spectroscopy (multiuser facility supported by NASA); NASA Planetary Data Center, including image data from all major planetary missions; image-processing laboratories.
- Geophysical studies: Seismic, magnetic gradiometric, and DC resisitivity instrumentation; ground penetrating radar; rotary shear apparatus to study frictional sliding; high P and T solid and gas medium deformation apparatus; optical and electron microscopy facilities including EBSD (Electron Backscatter Diffraction); multi-purpose network of UNIX workstations and minicomputers linked to local servers, central computing facility, national networks, and supercomputing facilities.
- Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Petrology studies: Solid-source and isotope ratio mass spectrometers; electron microprobe; high temperature-high pressure deformation apparatus; ion microprobe.