The Earth and environmental sciences are aimed at understanding Earth's governing processes–how they operate and interact–as well as interpreting Earth's dynamic history–its age and origin as recorded in rocks and the landscape– and finally, at understanding how geological processes affect modern environmental and ecological systems, including humans. Among the natural sciences, ours is the quintessential interdisciplinary science, providing vital perspective on how Earth's physical and geochemical template simultaneously sustains and threatens life, and influences human interactions with Earth.
The Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (EES) offers an integrated Earth and Environmental Sciences undergraduate major leading to the B.A. degree. Students majoring in EES take a core set of science courses with lab, computational, and field components, then propose a course plan that creates an area of concentration in solid Earth, Earth surface, or environmental science while maintaining breadth across the discipline. The comparatively small size of the faculty and student body allows many opportunities for faculty-student interaction. Students use the major as preparation for graduate study, for careers in environmental science, geology, and natural resource and energy management, and for related fields such as land use planning, teaching, conservation, business, law, or engineering.
Research programs in the department, which in many cases involve students, employ field, analytical, and experimental methods. A wide variety of Earth processes are investigated, ranging from the migration of fluids and generation of magmas in the Earth's crust, to the movement of mass and energy across land, ocean, and atmosphere, to the evolution of life and ecosystems, to the impacts of humans on the environment. Study areas, in addition to Tennessee, include the southwestern United States, the Pacific northwest, Florida, Colorado, Antarctica, South Asia, Brazil, Italy, Greenland, Peru, Namibia, the Bahamas, Australia, and New Zealand.
For students with primary interests in environmental issues, an EES major or minor can be an excellent foundation for future work in this field. Students are encouraged to pair the natural science training they will gain in Earth and Environmental Sciences with Climate and Environmental Studies, Communication of Science and Technology, Environmental Sociology, or other interdisciplinary or non-science focused programs to gain the full range of experience and skills desired.