Department of Earth, Environmental & Planetary Sciences
Yale Environment 360

For Uganda’s Vanishing Glaciers, Time Is Running Out

A trek through tropical forest, mud fields, and scree reveals the last remnants of the once-sprawling ice fields in Uganda’s Rwenzori Mountains. “The loss of these glaciers is the loss of a critical component of a system, and it isn’t going to come back any time in the foreseeable future,” said James Russell, who has led expeditions to the Rwenzoris almost every year since 2006.
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News from DEEPS

Celebrating Women's History Month

Women have always played an essential role in the advancement of earth, environmental, and planetary sciences.
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A new study shows evidence that, as recently as 1991, a volcano erupted on Venus. “This study is really important,” said DEEPS Professor Emeritus James W. Head, who was not involved in the research. “Could this be the way Earth was in its earliest history? Or the way Earth is headed in its future?”

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In honor and celebration of World History Month, NASA's Center for Climate Simulation spotlights the career of DEEPS alumn Dr. Chelsea Parker. In her own words, Dr. Parker shares the story of her unique career journey and current role at NCCS.
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The Brown Daily Herald has featured a story about John Matthew Nicklas, a second-year medical student currently on leave from the Alpert Medical School, and DEEPS PhD student focused on planetary health. Planetary health is an interdisciplinary field that studies the links between human health and the health of the planet’s natural systems and resources.
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The ADVANCEGeo Leadership Team, including DEEPS Professor Meredith Hastings, recently published their findings from a workplace climate survey from the geosciences. Their research provides some of the first quantitative evidence of the frequency and pervasiveness of a range of discriminatory behaviors in the earth sciences.
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News from DEEPS

Celebrating Black History Month

This month and every month, DEEPS is celebrating our Black community members and honoring the Black scientists who have made invaluable contributions to our society.
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A new study shows vascular plants may have contributed to shaping Earth’s atmosphere long before trees evolved. DEEPS Assistant Professor Daniel Ibarra, who was not involved in the study, is quoted saying “It would be interesting to see this method applied to the whole time series from the Devonian to our time.”
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James Russell named Sr. Associate Dean of Faculty

The Brown University Dean of the Faculty has announced that James Russell, Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, has been appointed Senior Associate Dean of the Faculty, effective July 1, 2023.
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A new U.S. Geological Survey reports that the world has enough rare earth minerals and other critical raw materials to switch from fossil fuels. “There are enough materials in reserves. The analysis is robust and this study debunks those (running out of minerals) concerns,” said DEEPS Assistant Professor Daniel Ibarra, who wasn’t part of the study but looks at lithium shortages.
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News from DEEPS

Welcome Back: Excitement for Spring '23

Brown University is getting ready to kick off the spring semester this Wednesday, January 25th, and everyone in DEEPS is excited for the new semester. We asked a number of the DEEPS community what they were looking forward to in the upcoming semester, and this is what they had to say:
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In a WFLA interview, IBES Director & DEEPS Professor Kim Cobb discusses marine limestone as a climate proxy. “The corals that I work with in the middle of the Pacific Ocean are as good, if not better than the temperature records from satellites.”
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In his interview with Short Wave co-host Emily Kwong, Professor Laurence Smith argues that implementing new approaches to managing rivers is essential for healthier waterways and sustaining the communities that depend on them. Moreover, strategic management today is the way to a better, climate-adapted future.
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