Getting Started in Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences
Are you interested in learning more about the natural processes that govern and sustain our planet? Do you wonder about how our society will address challenges such as the availability of energy, freshwater, and food; the causes and impacts of climate change and natural hazards; and the distribution of natural resources? Are you intrigued by the four-and-a-half-billion-year history of the Earth?
Or maybe you’d like to know just how plausible San Andreas really is.
If you’re at all curious about any of the above, you’ll want to get to know the people, classes, and programs in the School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences. With four separate departments and four undergraduate majors, including one interdisciplinary program, we offer a tremendous diversity of topics and methods of study, numerous research opportunities, abundant opportunities for fieldwork and travel (for example, our quarter-long program in Hawaii!), and a working educational farm.
To get started, take a look at our many introductory course offerings, which include one-unit seminars, field courses, Introductory Seminars, and a Thinking Matters course. Whether you’re interested in geology, environmental science, policy, economics, physics, biology, chemistry, or just want to get outside, you’ll find something to spark your interest. You can start your exploration by browsing through our list of introductory course offerings, most of which have no prerequisites and fulfill WAYS requirements, or keep reading for a summary of some of the exciting classes and programs at Stanford EARTH.
Opportunities for broad introductory exploration. We offer several courses that afford opportunities for broad introductory exploration of the disciplines in our four majors: Earth Systems, Energy Resources Engineering, Geological Sciences, and Geophysics. In the Autumn Quarter, we offer our most popular course, EARTHSYS 10: Introduction to Earth Systems. In Winter Quarter, you can take ENERGY 101: Energy and the Environment, GEOPHYS 110: Earth on the Edge: Introduction to Geophysics, or GS 4: Evolution and Extinction. THINK 40: Meeting the Global Sustainability Challenge will also be offered in Winter, along with an exciting new course with are developing called ‘Climate and Society’. In Spring Quarter, we offer an introductory geology course: GS 1A: Introduction to Geology: Dynamic Earth.
Opportunities for focused exploration. If you’re ready to dive right in, you might consider some of our introductory courses that enable focused exploration of specific topics in small class settings, such as The Global Warming Paradox; Man versus Nature: Coping with Disasters Using Space Technology; Feeding Nine Billion, The Water Course; and Earthquakes and Volcanoes…just to name a few. We will have two additional new Freshmen Seminars this year—The Invisible Majority: The Microbial World that Sustains our Planet, and The Legacy of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster, both in Spring Quarter
Field trip opportunities. Get outside! We offer several field trips during Autumn Quarter and throughout the year with the goal of getting students out of the classroom and into the natural environment. In Living on the Edge (GS 5), you’ll spend a weekend learning about life on an active plate boundary as you explore local beaches and ancient redwood groves. Landscapes and Tectonics of the San Francisco Bay Area is a Freshman Seminar with weekly excursions out to the hills, valleys, and coastlines near the Stanford campus. And if you plan on being in the Stanford area during the first part of Thanksgiving Break, consider joining us for GS 182: Field Seminar on Continental Margin Volcanism, which will provide an opportunity to learn about the history and nature of volcanic activity in Northern California, including Mt. Shasta, Mt. Lassen, and Lava Beds National Monument. In the Spring, you can sign up for ENERGY 101A: Energizing California, for an up-close and personal look at the diversity of energy resources in our state, or enroll in EARTH 193: Natural Perspectives, and explore the geology and environmental history of the ruggedly beautiful region just east of California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range while also learning some techniques for pen and ink sketching. Also, the Wrigley Field Program in Hawaii will begin accepting applications for Fall 2016 during this coming Winter quarter, so keep an eye out for info sessions in December and January!
Research opportunities. Each year, we hire about 30 students, including freshmen, to do research during the summer. You can explore the breadth of research areas in our School by taking EARTH 1 in Autumn Quarter, a one-unit seminar in which you’ll learn from faculty about their research and opportunities to collaborate with them. In the meantime you can learn more by visiting the Stanford EARTH Summer Undergraduate Research webpage and checking out the blogs of our current summer researchers. You’ll find students doing work on everything from the geophysics of earthquakes in Antarctic ice, to enzymes in soil, to corporate sustainability choices.
Come meet us! Once you’re on campus, you can visit during New Student Orientation at one of the Choosing Courses events or at the School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences Open House. Or drop by our presentation “Can We Have Class Outside?” at the Academic Showcase on Thursday morning, September 17. We also invite you to visit us at the Stanford EARTH tables at Majors Night. And always, if you have any questions about exploring your interests in the Earth and environmental sciences please contact Sara Cina, the Undergraduate Program Director for the School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences or stop by her office in Geocorner 112.
