Our Courses
Our courses cover environmental geology, geomorphology, marine geology, oceanography/limnology, petrology, and tectonics.
Earth and Climate Sciences
Middlebury College Earth and Climate Sciences students experience the excitement of the geological and environmental sciences in interesting, dynamic, and fun settings in the Green Mountains and Adirondacks, on Lake Champlain, and beyond.
From studying soil evolution in Costa Rica to using mathematical models to understand how changing glaciers affect drought buffering in mountains, our faculty actively engage students in the exploration of the Earth system.
We are committed to scientific and academic excellence in an inclusive and evolving environment.
Our Natural Setting
Taking advantage of our natural setting, we use field-oriented and laboratory-supported inquiry to explore problems in all facets of earth science.
More about Learning GoalsField Work and Research
Middlebury College students engage with our faculty of scientists in fieldwork and research for an unparalleled experience in undergraduate study.
More about Student and Faculty ResearchFacilities and Equipment
Housed in a state-of-the-art science building, McCardell Bicentennial Hall, our facilities include equipment for indoor lab studies as well as our own research vessel on Lake Champlain and other equipment for field studies.
More about Facilties and EquipmentECSC EVENTS
Upcoming ECSC events, lectures, and more
Hillcrest 103
Earth & Climate Sciences Alumni Panel Discussion
McCardell Bicentennial Hall
Spring Student Symposium 2024
https://www.middlebury.edu/teaching-learning-research/spring-student-sy…
MBH 417
Dr. Heather M. Meyer
Planetary Geologist
Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
Water in the Solar System is not just limited to Earth. Jupiter’s second largest moon Europa shows strong evidence for an ocean beneath its icy crust. It is estimated that Europa’s ocean and icy crust contain more than twice the volume of water of Earth’s oceans. It is thought that, like Earth, Europa has the ingredients that may allow life to emerge: liquid water, bioessential elements, chemical energy, and a stable environment through time. As such, NASA is currently building its largest planetary spacecraft ever to orbit Jupiter and repeatedly fly by Europa to assess its habitability. Come learn about ocean world geology, habitability, and how we study these worlds with spacecraft!
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Heather Meyer
Planetary Scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Europa Clipper Mission
MBH 417
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Kristen Underwood
Research Associate Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Vermont
Big Data and Machine Learning: How can they advance river science?
MBH 417
39
Number of Majors
$823905
Grant Funding
53
Published Students (2012–present)
About the Department
Teaching is our passion and research is an integral part of that teaching. Our research interests include ocean studies, lake studies, soil studies, structural geology, metamorphic and igneous petrology, geochemistry, and geomorphology. All of our research has field and lab components.
Since Vermont is a classic area for the study of mountain system evolution, one general theme of the program is to relate geological processes to the origin and evolution of global tectonic patterns, integrating data from the world’s oceans and continental areas.
Alumni Highlights
Lisa Luna ’13, pictured, went on to work at NewClimate Institute in Berlin, Germany, as a climate policy analyst focused on policies and measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Luna also earned her MSc in geoscience from the University of Potsdam in Germany. She returned in fall 2021 to join us as a visiting professor.