Exploring Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Systems
From the ground beneath our feet to worlds across the solar system.
Our students tackle questions ranging from the origins of life and Earth’s deep interior to contaminant transport in natural systems and the search for ancient water on Mars. Research is hands-on — students spend time in the field, work with modern laboratory equipment, and build real skills in observation, analysis, modeling, and geospatial data analysis.
Modern Earth science is increasingly driven by data. Satellites, environmental sensor networks, and numerical models generate enormous datasets, and EEPS students learn to make sense of them using quantitative methods, geospatial tools, and AI and machine learning. We track environmental change, model climate and water systems, and interpret complex geochemical and geophysical measurements.
The skills you develop as an EEPS student are highly coveted in the workforce, even in this rapidly changing environment. Graduates leave with strong analytical and data skills and pursue careers across academia, government, and industry — studying Earth and other planets, interpreting environmental and geospatial data, and addressing challenges related to climate, water resources, natural hazards, energy systems, and planetary exploration.
upcoming
events
See More Events
How to Detect & Characterize Exoplanets: The St. Louis Astronomical Society March Meeting
2026 McDonnell Distinguished Lectures: Colloquium with Andrea Ghez on Our Galactic Center
2026 McDonnell Distinguished Lectures: Public Lecture with Andrea Ghez on From the Possibility to the Certainty of a Supermassive Black Hole
Additional Resources in our Department
The professors in this department have a commitment to their students learning outside of class and development as thinkers. I have made meaningful connections many of my professors, but Dr. Mike Krawczynski in particular is one with whom I now feel comfortable simply walking into his office and asking about anything I've been pondering, and from those conversations I have learned more than I have from many classes.
― Ian Hutchison AB 2023