Department of Earth, Environmental & Planetary Sciences

Diversity and Inclusion

DEEPS is devoted to cultivating an open and inclusive environment that is welcoming to people of all backgrounds, including but not limited to physical and mental ability, socio-economic status, race, ethnicity, political views, religious beliefs, national origin, sexual orientation, and gender.

A core mission of DEEPS is to promote equity and diversity within the department, Brown University, and within the broader science community.

We acknowledge that, like many fields, the Earth sciences are part of a larger history of racism and imperialism that has been used to uphold systems of oppression. Furthermore, we recognize that it is our responsibility to mindfully work towards dismantling these systems, supporting diversity, and combatting historical prejudices through a variety of anti-racist, anti-homophobic, anti-sexist, and other inclusive actions.

The DEEPS Diversity, Inclusion, and Action Committee (DIAC) meets regularly and organizes department-wide town halls, readings and discussions, and training events to cultivate diversity and inclusivity.
Undergraduates from around the nation are invited to come to Brown University this summer to engage in cutting-edge research in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences.

“ Brown University is located in Providence, Rhode Island, on the lands which are within the ancestral homelands of the Narragansett Indian Tribe.

We acknowledge that the Narragansett Indian Tribe was dispossessed from their lands by the forces of settler colonialism, and we acknowledge our ongoing responsibility to understand and respond to the legacy of those actions. We acknowledge that the Narragansett and other Indigenous peoples have called Providence home for centuries and continue to do so today.

We acknowledge with humility and respect the Narragansett Indian Tribe whose ancestors stewarded these lands with great care, and we commit to working together to honor our past and build our future with truth. ”

Brown University Land Acknowledgement

Recent News

More DEEPS News
Non-native English speakers reported having their papers rejected specifically because of writing issues 2.5 times as often as native speakers. Lina Pérez-Angel, a Colombian palaeoclimatologist and DEEPS Voss Postdoctoral Research Associate, says “I have had reviewers that explicitly said that my English puts in doubt the quality of the research, or mostly gave me feedback on my English in a harsh way that made me think it was based on my Latinx/Hispanic-sounding last name.”
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Women have always played an essential role in the advancement of earth, environmental, and planetary sciences.
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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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