THE GRADUATE SCHOOL

Degree Types: PhD

The Earth and Planetary Sciences (EPS) PhD Program trains graduate students to become conscientious thought leaders in and outside of academia.

• The program is disciplinarily and methodologically diverse, and provides state-of-the-art facilities, including analytical, experimental, and computational laboratories. Faculty expertise spans climate science and modeling, geobiology, microbial ecology, paleoclimate, paleolimnology, paleoceanography, sedimentary geology, stratigraphy, rock physics, mineral physics, aqueous and isotope geochemistry, geophysics, seismology, geodynamics, petrology, and tectonics.
• The department’s size fosters individualized attention, strong professional bonds, and diverse opportunities for participation in laboratory and/or field work and working with more than one faculty advisor. Within their first quarter, entering students develop research projects and individualized training programs with their research advisor(s) of choice.
• Students who have majored in a natural science like biology, physics, or chemistry, or in engineering or an affiliated STEM discipline are equally welcome as Earth and/or environmental science graduates and will be provided opportunities to strengthen their background in Earth and planetary sciences.

PhD level research stresses the development of new knowledge, research skills, professionalism, and communication.

Additional resources:

• Department website
• Program handbook(s)

Degree Requirements

The following requirements are in addition to, or further elaborate upon, those requirements outlined in The Graduate School Policy Guide.

PhD

Total Units Required: 16

Course List

Course	Title
Courses
GROUP A (6 units): 300-level EARTH courses, taken with regular letter grades.
GROUP B (0-4 units): graduate-credit bearing courses in other science, engineering, or mathematics departments, taken with regular letter grades. At least two courses are recommended for students with Earth science backgrounds.
GROUP C (0-6 units): Courses bearing graduate credit in EARTH. No more than two of the courses in this group can be taken with a P/N (pass/no pass) option. Other courses may be considered toward fulfillment of Group C by written petition to the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS).
GROUP D (4-6 units): EARTH 499-0 courses (independent studies) with two different faculty members, taken with regular letter grades within the first 8 quarters. Recommended pacing is one per quarter with two in the quarter prior to the qualifying examination.

Other PhD Degree Requirements

• Examinations: qualifying examination for admission to PhD candidacy, ordinarily taken during the seventh quarter.
• Research/Projects: none specified
• PhD Dissertation: original, independent research
• Final Evaluations: final examination dealing primarily with defending dissertation