The earth sciences have never been more critical to society than today. Global warming, dwindling energy resources, inadequate water supplies, political strife over strategic minerals, and mega disasters threatened by volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunami, and hurricanes: these are but a few of the headlines that appear with increasing frequency. The Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Cornell University is a global leader in research directed toward understanding the fundamental processes that have shaped our planet, and is committed to providing students with the earth literacy needed to serve as informed citizens and wise stewards of the Earth.

The (EAS) major is available to students in the Colleges of Engineering, Arts and Sciences, and Agriculture and Life Sciences. Students in this program can pursue education and research that prepare them to compete for careers or graduate study at leading institutions in this country and abroad. You may choose to focus on one of a number of disciplinary specialties, such as geophysics or biogeochemistry, or to develop the broad expertise needed to understand the interactions between the diverse elements of Earth and life in the past, present, and future

The EAS program is intrinsically interdisciplinary, involving many branches of science and engineering. It incorporates the fundamentals of Earth Science with the emergence of a new and more complete approach that encompasses all components of the earth system— air, life, rock, and water—to gain a comprehensive understanding of the world as we know it. It draws on the expertise of several of Cornell Engineering’s schools and departments, including civil and environmental engineering, biological and environmental engineering, mechanical and aerospace engineering, and electrical and computer engineering.