ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT

The Earth and Planetary Sciences program at UC Santa Cruz is ranked among the top 20 Earth Sciences programs in the United States (US News & World Report, 2006). It is also one of the three largest undergraduate Earth Sciences programs in the country.  Over 60 UCSC undergraduates receive their degrees from the Earth and Planetary Sciences department annually, and at any given time, about 50 graduate students and 12 postdoctoral researchers are in residence. 

Of the department’s 21 current faculty, many have earned awards for their world-class scholarly research and for teaching.  This excellence is evidenced by the quality of both graduate and undergraduate education, and by the profusion of opportunities for students to become involved in cutting-edge research.  The faculty’s diverse range of interests covers the areas of hydrogeology, tectonics, structural geology, geomorphology, geophysics and planetary physics, with common collaboration between these sub-disciplines.