The Department of Earth and Space Sciences leads world-class programs about our home planet and our solar system, while emphasizing direct field and laboratory research and educational experiences. The depth and breadth of our program makes ESS an excellent place to pursue an education and participate in or conduct research. ESS is located in the dynamic city of Seattle, Washington and is surrounded by not only the beauty of the Pacific Northwest, but by some of the most exciting, geologically active areas in the country–where you can see what much of what you study in action.
World-Class Science and Education
ESS offers outstanding disciplinary and interdisciplinary education at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Our academic mission is to further the understanding of Earth, the solar system, and their histories. The Department’s scope extends from the center of Earth to the rim of the solar system, and its activities cut across traditional disciplines of physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and mathematics. Our faculty, students, and staff examine Earth’s interior structure, chemistry, motion, and dynamics; geologic hazards; processes affecting the surface environment; the surrounding space environment; planetary processes; and geobiology. We provide a foundation for interdisciplinary teaching and research that is based on the geologic record, and on rigorous observation and modeling of Earth’s present state.
Diverse Faculty and Research
ESS’s dedicated and award-winning faculty members teach and do research in a wide range of areas, providing education and advancing knowledge in geophysics, geomorphology, geochemistry, petrology, geobiology and glaciology, and planetary science. Our research takes us to remote places like Antarctica and the Himalaya, as well as locations closer to home in North America. We have designed and built some of the instruments on NASA missions to other planets in our solar system, and some of our faculty have leadership roles in ongoing missions to Mars and planned missions to Titan, Saturn’s largest moon.
Collaborations
Research centers and programs within or closely linked to the department — including the Program on Climate Change, the Astrobiology Program, the Quaternary Research Center, the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, and the Burke Museum, allow for enhanced educational and research experiences. We maintain extensive collaborations with local, regional, and national agencies such as the Washington State Emergency Management Division, the Department of Natural Resources, USGS, NASA and NOAA.
