After evaluating 183 U.S. institutions with degrees in geological and earth sciences, College Factual ranked UConn's Department of Earth Sciences 16th overall, with the master’s program ranked 9th, and the bachelor’s and doctoral programs ranked 19th. Additionally, the department was recognized as the leading university for geological and earth sciences degrees in New England. College […]

Tammo Reichgelt, a paleobotanist and assistant professor in residence in the Department of Earth Sciences, discovered that while some fern species prefer rural areas, others can thrive in urban settings. His exploration began when he noticed ferns growing in an urban area of Vernon, CT, leading him to investigate similar observations through citizen science data […]

Earth Sciences major Cassie Aimetti, in collaboration with associate professor Will Ouimet, is working on a project to reconstruct the past environment of Grannis Island. Recently, Aimetti and collaborators carried equipment through the muddy salt marsh to collect sediment cores for reconstructing the historical landscape changes of Grannis Island. Back in the lab, they prepared […]

Incoming Department of Earth Sciences Assistant Professor, Lijing Wang, has been awarded a National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) grant. NAIRR is a new, joint NSF / DOE program that provides scientists with resources to conduct computationally demanding artificial intelligence research. Lijing received 10,500 node hours on an Argonne National Laboratory supercomputer to study water […]

Last summer, Earth Sciences Professor and Department Head, Tracy Frank, participated in an International Ocean Discovery Program expedition to the coast of Greenland. Aboard the drilling ship JOIDES Resolution, Tracy helped collect and describe ocean sediment cores from Baffin Bay along the Northwest Greenland Margin. The goal of the project is to better understand the […]

Department of Earth Sciences Professor Robert Thorson, with assistance from Curator Amanda Douberley, created a new exhibit titled “Seeing Climate Change?” at The William Benton Museum. This exhibit is a partnership between science and art, presenting working from the Benton collection that touch on the themes of phenology, climate change, measurement, climate, weather, and seasonality. […]

Department of Earth Sciences Professor Robert Thorson has developed a naming and classification system for stone walls in New England. Published in Historical Archaeology, the new criteria allow for easy and objective identification of the thousands of miles of stone walls across New England. Professor Thorson hopes his stone wall taxonomy and identification protocol will […]

INTRODUCTION The Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Connecticut seeks a tenure-track (open rank at Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor) faculty to join a cluster hire in Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML): Understanding and Addressing Natural and Climate Change-Related Disasters. With hires in Earth Sciences, Economics, Geography, Journalism, and Statistics, the cluster will engage […]

INTRODUCTION The Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Connecticut (UConn) seeks to hire a tenure-track Assistant Professor whose research is directly relevant to the energy transition and a sustainable energy future. We are specifically interested in candidates with active research in fields that include critical mineral resources and earth materials, geothermal energy, geologic […]

Assistant professor Ran Feng is co-author on a new study investigating precipitation changes in Namibia over the past 5 million years. Published in Geophysical Research Letters, the study uses leaf wax hydrogen isotopes to reconstruct precipitation. The authors link changes in precipitation in Namibia to sea surface temperatures within the Benguela Upwelling System and Indian […]