We study extreme weather, climate change, and their impacts on both ecosystems and modern society.
Atmospheric Sciences
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.
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.
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
Modern Scientism, Cults and the Age of darkness — No Science here. Dogma, gospel, maths and inane theories that should embarrass a 15 year old. The universe is an energy engine, full of material. Denying that is to be a reality denier. The post cites Purdue planetary scientist H. Jay Melosh’s work on the Moon’s origin, specifically his discussion of the “isotopic crisis,” or the challenge of explaining why Earth and Moon rocks are so chemically similar.
Perseverance rover finds strange rocks on Mars
06-09-2026
The Oklahoman — Perhaps you have seen videos or pictures of rocks very carefully stacked as an artistic work. They may even look impossibly balanced. Or you may have seen so-called balancing rocks, with one huge boulder precariously sitting on a tiny point on top of another large boulder. These terrestrial balancing boulders weren’t created by humans, but rather by wind and water erosion. Athanasios Klidaras, a PhD student in planetary science at Purdue University, was quoted in the article.
NASA declares MAVEN, its Mars atmosphere orbiter, dead
06-08-2026
ScienceNews — A veteran spacecraft has sniffed the Martian atmosphere for the last time. More than a decade after the MAVEN orbiter arrived at Mars and six months after it unexpectedly went quiet, NASA has officially declared the mission over. EAPS's Briony Horgan was quoted in the article.
Click Oil and Gas — Hidden hundreds of kilometers deep, what scientists describe as two rivers of molten rock are slowly devouring the ancient base of the North American continent towards the Black Hills, overturning the old certainty that this core was an untouchable and immovable anchor of the planet. The research was conducted by a team led by EAPS geophysicist Xiaotao Yang, a professor at Purdue University and published in the scientific journal Nature Communications.
Deep-Earth channels may help explain western U.S. uplift, volcanism and mineral pathways
06-08-2026
Far below the mountains, plains and deserts of the western United States, ancient continental rock extends deep into Earth, forming a cold, rigid foundation that has helped stabilize the continent for billions of years. Scientists call these ancient continental cores cratons, and their deep roots can plunge more than 100 miles beneath the surface. But a new Purdue University-led study suggests those roots may not be as permanent as once thought.