Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

The Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at IU is changing as the fields of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences make new advances and as we expand into new areas like Tectonic Geomorphology, Surface Dynamics, and Atmospheric Sciences.

We have introduced a new curriculum to reflect this growth and to provide students with opportunities to explore a wide range of topics in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.

Designed as multiple pathways to a successful degree, the curriculum in-cludes three new core introductory ‘Earth’ courses for majors that expose students to the breadth of our fields including G225 Earth Materials, G226 Earth Processes, and G227 Earth History and Climate, and two 300-level courses G314 Data Analysis and G333 Sedimentation and Tectonics. With the exception of Earth Materials and Data Analysis, all courses are team-taught, thus exposing our students to a larger cross section of the faculty early on in their careers.

At the upper level, the two B.S. degrees diverge significantly. The B.S. in Earth Sciences permits the packaging of existing geology courses within multiple informal tracks while the B.S. in Atmospheric Sciences includes upper level courses in Atmospheric Sciences. The B.A. in Earth and Atmospheric Sci-ences is very flexible and permits students to package courses at the 100-, 200-, 300- and 400-levels to create a degree that is tailor-made to their own interests. The new “pathways” process helps students choose course offerings that are more closely aligned with career opportunities. These pathways may lead to careers in Geology, Energy and Environment, Integrated Earth Sciences, and Atmospheric Sciences.

We offer B.S. and B.A. degrees in Earth Sciences. The Earth Sciences major is flexible and students can pursue different pathways such as: