About

The Earth and Environmental Sciences majors give you the tools to make a positive impact by exploring the Earth through the natural sciences

Denison’s Earth and Environmental Sciences program is unique

Amazing faculty give you the tools you need to make a positive impact on our home planet by exploring the Earth through the natural sciences, including earth science, physics, chemistry, and biology, as well as computer science and data analytics.
The STEM-focused majors within the department will take you anywhere in the world you want to go. You can apply the knowledge and methods you’ll learn no matter where life takes you.
The department is based in the Olin Science Center. Our state-of-the-art lab facilities include a fallout nuclide detector, laser particle size analyzer, scanning electron microscope, seismometers, stable isotope and biogeochemistry sampling equipment, petrographic imaging systems, large format map plotter, and an enormous collection of minerals, rocks and fossils.

Curriculum

We seek to understand how Earth and the environment have evolved and continue to evolve, how Earth systems, including human agents, interact to produce the environment in which we live, and how present and future changes may impact the habitability of Earth.

Access information from a cross-section of disciplines as you learn about the Earth and environmental sciences. Earth science, physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, computer science, anthropology, and data analytics provide evidence-based, robust knowledge to understand the processes that shape the Earth, and the impacts those processes have on humans, other organisms, and the environment.

Majors are encouraged to conduct primary research with their faculty. Commonly these research projects culminate in presentations at national and international scientific meetings. Some projects even result in peer reviewed publications with student and faculty co-authors.

Outside the Classroom

Each semester, the department takes multi-day trips to explore earth and environmental science concepts and issues in the field. These trips include regional, national, and international destinations. Recent regional trips include New England, the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, and the central and southern Appalachians. We also regularly travel to the western US (e.g., Arizona, California, Nevada) and Hawaii. Recent international field trips have visited the Bahamas, Costa Rica, and Canada.

Our field trips, which involve spending several days together off-campus, working on a common problem, give our students opportunities to develop close bonds with each other and with our faculty. Denison alumni have recognized the importance of these field studies to their own careers and have provided generous funds to help subsidize these life-changing experiences, making them financially available to all Earth and environmental science majors and minors.

During the summers, students have opportunities to conduct paid research with faculty mentors on geologic and environmental research projects. students can also take part in internships in a wide variety of industries, including state and federal agencies (e.g., National Park Service), natural history museums, and private environmental firms. All majors participate in a senior seminar that focuses on a specific Earth and Environmental Science question or subject area under collective guidance of members of the department’s faculty.

What do Earth and Environmental Sciences majors do after Denison?

Our majors will graduate with a STEM degree and have an abundance of opportunities to work in almost any relevant field, and careers in the environmental industry in particular are growing. Graduates may choose to help develop clean, green, renewable energy that will support movement away from fossil fuels. They might also pursue careers in natural hazard mitigation and planning. They might also choose research topics that focus on environmental change, or to study how the changing climate impacts plant and animal life.

The department offers four degree possibilities: a Bachelor of Science in Earth Science, a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science, and a Bachelor of Arts in Earth Science, and minor in Earth Science.

Nonmajors benefit from learning methods of scientific inquiry and developing a broad and deep knowledge of the Earth and its environment that will serve their needs as citizens and future community leaders.

Mission Statement

In the Earth and environmental sciences, we investigate our planet from space to the core, understood in the broadest terms, from a natural science perspective. We seek to understand how they have evolved and continue to evolve, how Earth systems, including human agents, interact to produce the environment in which we live, and how present and future changes may impact the habitability of Earth.

The central goal of the department is to educate students about the nature and history of the Earth, the processes that shape the Earth, and the impacts those processes have on humans, other organisms, and the environment in the past, present and future.

An understanding of the Earth is an essential component of global citizenship. Humanity faces many critical environmental issues, including global climate change, water shortages, loss of arable land, natural hazards such as earthquakes and flooding, and the dwindling access to energy resources; furthermore, vulnerability to these issues is disproportionate across humanity.

Citizens and professionals with training in the Earth and Environmental Sciences will contribute to addressing these and other problems, while increasing opportunities for humans to live sustainably and equitably on the Earth.

The Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences strives to foster an environment of inclusion and equity. Innovative, effective, and equitable stewardship of Earth’s resources requires a diversity of perspectives and influences; we strive to empower a future generation of socially responsible scientific leaders who represent a cross-section of human society. We are committed to excellence in teaching and learning and affirm the value of our community members regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, social class, or sexual identity.

Broadly speaking, the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences provides the tools to be successful in any field. Whether their goal is employment in the field or graduate school, EESC majors and minors develop a strong background in the Earth and Environmental Sciences. The department provides non-majors with a broad and deep knowledge of the Earth and its environment that will serve their needs as citizens and future community leaders.

Learning Goals:

The Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences is committed to helping students become productive, informed, and influential citizens. To that end, we have developed a clear set of learning goals that reside within three broad categories:

Content Knowledge: Mastery of modern disciplinary content is paramount in our programs. Faculty are committed to staying apprised of the most recent developments and best practices within our individual specialties. Therefore, students will encounter up-to-date concepts and methods. Faculty are also keenly aware of the importance of the allied foundational sciences (i.e., Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Computer Science, Data Analytics, Anthropology and Physics). Accordingly, students are encouraged to learn deeply in the allied disciplines. Ultimately,we recognize that modern Earth and environmental science is rooted in a broad understanding of foundational skills and core disciplinary knowledge. By the end of their major, students will master the disciplinary knowledge needed to comprehend, apply, analyze, synthesize, evaluate, and integrate new information into their ever-developing understanding of the earth and its environment.
Quantitative Literacy: The ability to reason using numbers is an essential skill for any informed member of the citizenry. We believe students should be empowered, not intimidated, by data. That said, we recognize that interpreting data is not always a straightforward exercise. Accordingly, quantitative exercises are integrated into all levels of the curriculum. These learning opportunities are designed to promote operational proficiency with data beyond college, even when confronted with incomplete and/or contradictory information. Graduates should be able to evaluate, analyze, and interpret quantitative information, not simply to find an answer but rather, to help interpret the earth and environment around them.
Communication: The ability to communicate effectively is a core learning outcome of any undergraduate education. The Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences recognizes the importance of both oral communication skills (public speaking) and written communication (expository writing). Both skill sets are emphasized at all levels of the curriculum. Upon the completion of a major, students should be able to construct, apply, and evaluate effective oral and written communication strategies for both specialized and general audiences.

The Department of Earth and Environmental Science employs a comprehensive exam to evaluate student learning. This multi-day exam uses oral and written components to evaluate individual student mastery of core knowledge. Special emphasis is placed on student performance with novel data sets. The comprehensive exam serves two important functions. First, it provides valuable feedback to the faculty on teaching effectiveness across multiple dimensions of the curriculum. Second, in providing students with an experience similar to what they might expect on the job, or in graduate school, it provides a unique opportunity for self-evaluation. The comprehensive exam is administered early in the spring semester of a student’s senior year. Successful completion of the department’s Comprehensive Exam is required from all majors.