Department of Earth, Environmental & Planetary Sciences

Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences at Brown University

The Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences (DEEPS) integrates teaching and research to investigate fundamental phenomena affecting the Earth and planets. Our students engage in hands-on learning, in collaboration with DEEPS faculty, to explore natural hazards, global climate, and planetary bodies.

During the 2025 Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, researchers, including DEEPS Professor Jim Head, shared how NASA NIAC-funded technologies could enable building and maintaining surface habitats in lunar lava tubes and dike tip voids for long-term human space exploration.
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Rescue teams in Myanmar and Thailand are searching for survivors after Friday’s 7.7 magnitude quake that toppled buildings and damaged roads on Sunday, March 30th. As rescue teams continue to search, experts share the factors that impact their chances for survival. Trapped victims are more likely to survive if they are in a debris-free pocket that prevents major injury while they await rescue, like under a sturdy desk, said Professor Victor Tsai in an email.
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NASA’s Curiosity rover has detected what could be a chemical relic of long-ago life on Mars: long-chain organic molecules likely derived from fatty acids, a common building block of cell membranes on Earth. DEEPS Professor Jack Mustard commented on these exciting findings, suggesting that Curiosity’s successor, Perseverance, will likely find similar molecules.
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Contact Us

Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences

Box 1846
324 Brook Street
Providence, RI 02912

DEEPS@Brown.edu
(401) 863-3339