News | Department of Earth and Space Sciences

Post announcing the book launch of "Spirit Whales & Sloth Tales" by Elizabeth Nesbitt and David William, depicting the book cover.

Nov 3, 2023

Spirit Whales and Sloth Tales - Book Launch

The book Spirit Whales & Sloth Tales: Fossils of Washington State, written by Elizabeth A. Nesbitt, Burke Museum curator emerita of invertebrate and micropaleontology and former ESS faculty, and David B.

Doug Leen at the Jenny Lake Ranger Station in the Grand Teton National Park.

Nov 2, 2023 | Alumni News

ESS Alum and "Ranger of the Lost Art" Doug Leen releases new book

Doug Leen, or Ranger Doug as many now know him by, graduated with his Bachelors of Science from UW ESS (then Geological Sciences) in 1970 after serving two years in Vietnam in the United States Navy Seabees Doug joined the National Park Service after graduating and spent the next seven years as a Grand Teton National Park climbing ranger at Jenny Lake.

Nov 1, 2023

Powerful 3D modeling software donated to Earth and Space Science Department

The Earth and Space Sciences Department has recently been granted ten academic use licenses for the powerful software package MOVE Suite by PE Limited, valued at more than $2.7 million. MOVE is a 2D and 3D modeling and visualization environment, used primarily for subsurface stratigraphic and structural modeling of basins and tectonically active regions.

Graphic depicting the Cascade Offshore Subduction Zone Observatory showing existing and proposed geophysical sites, DAS cable, and earthquake sites.

Oct 26, 2023

UW Researchers land $10.6M to build subduction zone observatory

Scientists and engineers from the UW School of Oceanography, Department of Earth and Space Sciences and the Applied Physics Lab, along with partners at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, recently were awarded more than $10 million to build an underwater observatory in the Cascadia subduction zone.

Graduate students and postdocs on a field trip, standing at the base of a dead tree in the "Ghost Forest" in Copalis, WA.

Oct 23, 2023

Evidence of past large-scale earthquakes - field trip for incoming graduate students

In September, Dr. Brian Atwater, along with graduate students Paul Morgan, Hope Sisley, Andrew Shumway, and Trent Thomas, and postdocs Larry Lai and Jey Kim, led a fieldtrip for the group of incoming grads and postdocs to Copalis, near Ocean Shores, WA.

Person holding a phone with an earthquake emergency alert on the screen, telling person to Drop, Cover, and Hold on.

Oct 19, 2023

ShakeAlert offers latest earthquake science as region practices Great ShakeOut safety drill Oct. 19

As people and organizations across the globe practice earthquake drills Oct. 19 on International ShakeOut Day, closer to home in the Pacific Northwest, communities are bolstered by a state-of-the-art earthquake early warning system — and a research center that maintains the second-largest seismic network in the U.S.

Oct 13, 2023

ESS PhD Student Madeleine Lucas Honored as 2023 Homecoming Scholar

ESS PhD Student Madeleine Lucas is honored as a 2023 Homecoming Scholar. She is one of six extraordinary students across the UW campus whose stories exemplify Husky adaptability, tenacity, and resolve.

Cover of 2023 departmental magazine Between Spheres, depicting a large cliff face with blue skies in the background.

Sep 27, 2023

Between Spheres Magazine Release

We are pleased to release the inaugural issue of Between Spheres, the new Department magazine. The name reflects the interdisciplinary nature of the research and teaching we do in Earth and Space Sciences: foundational knowledge and discovery in areas that are often at the interfaces between the geosphere, biosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of Earth, other planets, and the space environment.

Sep 13, 2023

ESS Faculty honored with 4 major AGU Awards this year

Congratulations to ESS Professors David Catling, Eric Steig, Baptiste Journaux, and Brendan Crowell, who are honored with four major AGU awards this year.

Grad student Anna Ledeczi teaching a group of elementary school students about glacial geology standing on a beach.

Sep 12, 2023

Increasing Diversity in STEM Fields with K-12 Education and Outreach

Ethnic and racial diversity of those with doctorates in geoscience is the lowest among all STEM fields in the United States, and has seen no improvement over the past 40 years.