Welcome to the School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences at Stanford. We've had a dynamic presence at the university since its founding in 1891, when the first professor hired was geologist John Casper Branner.  

Our school has long-term strengths in areas traditionally known as Earth sciences: understanding the solid Earth’s subsurface processes and their relationship to mineral and energy resources, to natural hazards such as earthquakes and volcanoes, and to the evolution of the planet.  Over the past two decades, we expanded and added expertise focused on the surface of the planet where people live, including land, ocean, freshwater and climate systems and the environmental changes going on within them.  

Today, all of our research and teaching involves Earth processes – how the planet works – touching all seven continents and all the world’s oceans.  At the same time, many of our faculty focus their attention on energy and many on environmental change.

We are advancing knowledge and educating a new generation of students to help solve the enormous resource and environmental challenges facing the world both now and in the decades to come.

Please explore our site to learn more about who we are and what we do.

Pamela A. Matson
Chester Naramore Dean
Richard and Rhoda Goldman Professor in Environmental Studies
Pursuing Sustainability