Research Areas - Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences - Purdue University Skip to main content

Research Areas

Tornado

Atmospheric Sciences

We study extreme weather, climate change, and their impacts on both ecosystems and modern society.

Testing the water

Environmental Geoscience

We use biology, chemistry, geology, and physics to understand how the Earth System supports such a diversity of life and how human behavior is impacting this system.

Geodata Science Initiative

Data science is the fourth and the newest paradigm of science. In Geodata Science Initiative, we conduct transdisciplinary research, merging or articulating EAPS subject matters with technical areas in data science: statistical and machine learning methods and models, algorithms for the models and methods, and computational environments for data analysis.

Mountain ranges

Geology and Geophysics

We study the processes that shape our planet, from the building of mountains and oil-bearing sedimentary basins, to the flow of warm rocks and cold glaciers, to the triggering of earthquakes.

Spacecraft mission

Planetary Science

We study the evolution of the solar system and how planets evolve over time due to impacts, tectonics, and atmospheric processes, with an eye to the potential for past and future habitability.

Research News

Prof. Ali Bramson receives NASA award for Mars Ice Mapping

05-10-2024

The International Mars Ice Mapper Measurement Definition Team (I-MIM MDT) is a highly specialized group of scientists from around the world called together by four space agencies including NASA, the Italian Space Agency, the Canadian Space Agency, and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Ali Bramson, assistant professor with Purdue EAPS, studies Mars and was chosen as the Assistant Co-Chair of this team. Due to the hard work and diligence of the team, NASA recently presented the I-MIM definition team a NASA Agency Honor Award for NASA Group Achievement.

Discover Purdue’s latest and greatest in space sciences

05-06-2024

PURDUE NEWS — Space scientists are the boots on the ground of space exploration, and Purdue’s researchers are among the most elite. Celebrate the wonder of space with this collection of the most recent and impactful news from Purdue University’s space research labs. Prof. Brandon Johnson, Prof. Briony Horgan, Prof. Alexandria Johnson, alumna Adriana Brown, and students Hunter Vannier and Riley McGlasson have all recently had giant leaps in space research.

How hot is too hot?

04-29-2024

THE DAILY STAR — Extreme heat has been scorching a vast part of Bangladesh, with millions of people sweltering in heat and humidity well above "normal" for days on end. Meteorologists are particularly worried about the "wet-bulb" temperature — a more holistic measurement that accounts not just for air temperature but also how much moisture it holds. "You have to lose that - if you don't lose the heat, you just slowly heat up and that can't be good," said Matthew Huber, a global expert on heat stress at Purdue University.

2024 EAPS Awards announced

04-29-2024

On Thursday, April 11, 2024, Purdue EAPS announced this year's awards for students, faculty, and staff at the Dauch Alumni Center of Purdue University. Thank you to donors who have made these awards possible!

NASA: 'New plan needed to return rocks from Mars'

04-16-2024

BBC — The US space agency says the current mission design can't return the samples before 2040 on the existing funds and the more realistic $11B needed to make it happen is not sustainable. NASA is going to canvas for cheaper, faster "out of the box" ideas. Perseverance has been drilling and caching rocks that appear to have been laid down at the margin of the lake. One of the rover's senior scientists, Prof. Briony Horgan, of Purdue EAPS, said these samples were particularly exciting.

All Departmental News

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