Earth And Environmental Science

Embarking on a new research project often brings unexpected discoveries—some intriguing, some novel, but rarely a find of a lifetime. Such a remarkable discovery occurred when university archivist and associate director Kathy Smith stumbled upon a pile of plaster, hidden away for 60 years in a dim, cluttered closet of the Branscomb Quad basement. This plaster turned out to be the long-lost Crampton’s Plesiosaur Cast from the 1870s, missing for nearly six decades. Read More

The distinguished faculty members and deans representing eight colleges and schools were presented with medallions that symbolize the attainment of their positions and will become part of their official academic regalia. Chair holders contribute their expertise to real-world challenges, including climate change, political inequality and access to justice, artificial intelligence and ICU trauma.   Read More

WATCH: See how Danait Issac is sharing her love of her Eritrean heritage and the great outdoors to empower and connect Vanderbilt students. Read More

With a newly developed technique, Vanderbilt professor Jessica Oster is revealing how prehistoric climate change shaped fire activity in California. Read More

A submarine volcanic eruption in the Kingdom of Tonga sheds light on volcanic behavior and new ways to understand the impact of volcanoes on climate. Est. reading time: 2.5 mins. Read More

Feedback from editors and reviewers of academic journals is an often-understated driver of new research directions. Assistant Professor of Earth and environmental sciences Simon Darroch, found this to be the case for his new paper examining the differences between geographic ranges of species historic and living. Read More

Students in the Glacial Geology class took their research to new levels of immersion, collecting soil and rock samples at an elevation of 9,000 feet in the Sawatch Mountain Range of Colorado. Their research helps show the movement of glaciers, ultimately giving clues about the impact of climate change. Read More

Vanderbilt faculty Jonathan Gilligan and Janey Camp will work with researchers from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and involved entities to propose a large-scale research network with the goal of improving interrelated electric, transportation and communications services in areas with infrastructure served by the Tennessee Valley Authority. Read More

Simulating controversial responses to climate change, researchers illustrate how a small group of nations may influence climate change in the decades to come. Est. reading time: 2 mins. Read More

Vanderbilt environmental scientists show that patterns found in fossil records of ancient ecosystems may be the key to combating today’s biodiversity crisis and making informed conservation decisions. Read More

Vanderbilt paleoclimatologists deploy first calcium isotope analysis of North American stalagmite to show how past weather extremes may predict events in California. Read More

Interdisciplinary Earth scientists explore how little-understood underwater volcanoes affect the atmosphere. Read More

Comparing risk of shipping along the Arctic and the Suez Canal through 2100 scientists weigh factors including climate change in their calculations. Read More

Paleoclimatologist Jessica Oster uses geological clues from stalagmites to explore implications for future climate change. Read More

International collaboration shows that marsupial saber-tooth cats were more closely related to possums than fearsome predators. Read More

Paleontologist and associate professor of biological sciences Larisa DeSantis finds answers about early hominin diets are with an unrelated group of mammals—tapirs. Read More

As part of its continuing commitment to understanding and combating climate change issues through education and action, Vanderbilt University is now an accredited, official observer of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change. Read More

The team, one of the first in the world to examine the ability’s origins, used a small CT scanner to look inside a 30-million-year-old ear bone fossil from a specimen resembling Olympicetus avitus. Read More

What is more daring—camping in a remote part of Antarctica for a month doing field research, or directing and performing in a musical revue about the environment? For Earth and Environmental Sciences major Andrew Grant, pushing boundaries to positively impact the Earth, and the people who call it home, are equally thrilling. Read More

The extinction of one of Australia’s top predators, the marsupial lion, was likely a result of changing weather patterns and loss of habitat rather than human impacts, a study led by Vanderbilt University paleontologist Larisa DeSantis has found. Read More