Welcome to EAPS

Welcome to the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS), the place at MIT where the turbulent oceans and atmosphere, the inaccessible depths of the inner Earth, distant planets, and the origins of life all come together under one intellectual roof.

EAPS is about hard, quantitative science, known for its emphasis on academic rigor, hands-on training, collaboration, and the cross fertilization of ideas. Our work encompasses atmospheres, climate, geobiology, geochemistry, geology, geophysics, oceans, and planetary sciences. Above all, EAPS is a vibrant learning community where research and education go hand in hand. Our department prepares undergraduate and graduate students to be future leaders in academia, government, and industry and provides the MIT community -- and the broader public -- with a deeper understanding of our world.

Through fieldwork, theory, experimentation, and modeling, we seek to advance understanding of the natural world. While our emphasis is on addressing fundamental scientific questions as in the search for signs of life on other planets, our work can also have important implications for societal challenges closer to home, such as climate change, air pollution, the sustainable use of the world's resources, and natural hazards with an impact on legislation, economics, and social welfare around the world.

Increasing the diversity and inclusiveness of the EAPS community of faculty, students, and staff is essential to our mission. We have a shared responsibility to treat one another with respect and integrity, and we are committed to providing resources for the physical, emotional, and intellectual well-being of our community members.  EAPS is an equal opportunity department and will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, ancestry, or national or ethnic origin.