Graduate Programs

The Earth & Planetary Sciences (E&PS) Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz has an outstanding reputation; our graduates are leaders in academia, research, government, and industry. E&PS offers both master and doctoral degree programs. Admission to the graduate program is highly competitive, and prospective applicants are strongly encouraged to contact prospective faculty and researcher advisors to learn more about ongoing and planned research activities, and to explore funding, coursework, and other opportunties.

Faculty members, researchers, staff, and graduate students come from a wide variety of backgrounds and research experience. What we have in common is intense dedication to understanding the origins and dynamics of Earth and planetary systems. Our research takes us to labs and field sites around the world, and has resulted in frequent publication in top-tier scientific journals, and numerous grants, awards, and honors from scientific and public groups.

Research areas being actively pursued by faculty, staff, researchers, and students at UC Santa Cruz include: seismology, rock and mineral physics, paleomagnetism, geodynamics, geomorphology, paleoclimate and climate change, coastal geology, structural geology, active tectonics, igneous geochemistry and volcanology, geochronology, paleoecology, hydrology and hydrogeology, biogeochemistry, atmospheric science, glaciology, and planetary science.

Faculty, staff, researchers, and students collaborate with colleagues from many other UCSC departments (including Microbiology and Environmental Toxicology, Ocean Sciences, Anthropology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Environmental Studies, and Astronomy and Astrophysics) and research units (including the Institute of Marine Sciences), United States Geological Survey, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, NASA Ames Research Center, and many other international, federal, state, and local agencies and institutions.

Graduate Program Contacts:

Graduate Advisor:  Jennifer Fish

Faculty Graduate Advisor:  Heather Savage

Department Chair:  Matthew Clapham