Earth and climate sciences are key to addressing scientific issues relating to energy, mineral, and water resource security, ecosystem and environmental stewardship, hazards risk assessment, adaptation and mitigation, and climate variability and change.
The Department of Earth and Climate Sciences strives to instill in students a lifelong curiosity of the Earth across vast spatial and temporal scales. We study the planet as a dynamic, interconnected system that evolves through time to shape our environment and to sustain life. At Bates, we investigate planetary history and habitability across diverse spatial and temporal scales — from the study of processes that affect our planet over deep time to the immediate impacts of sudden tectonic ruptures and rapid anthropogenic change.
Dr. Beverly Johnson
44 Campus Ave
Carnegie Science
Phone: 207-786-6062
bjohnso3@bates.edu
We prepare students for professional careers and to be well-informed, engaged citizens who use their expertise ethically to contribute to equity and social justice. We count among our notable alumni project scientists at NASA, professors at Harvard and Boston College, hydrogeologists, policy shapers, and researchers. Our alumni network is a cornerstone of the EACS experience, serving as a professional bridge for students as they transition from the classroom to the workforce. We facilitate direct connections with graduates who are leaders in their fields, and our alumni frequently return to campus to mentor current majors and help them navigate their own paths from the Maine coast to the global stage.
of 2020-2024 Bates graduates are employed and/or attending graduate school — settled into their next opportunity within 6 months of graduation.
I loved geology because it combines every science: biology, ecology, chemistry, geochemistry, physics. It’s a little bit of everything. And you get to be outside a lot; the opportunity for field work was incredible. A geochemistry course in particular is the class that finally helped me decide I wanted to become a geologist. It really opened things up for me.
— Madeline Bruno ‘17
Studying EACS at Bates means choosing a program where you aren’t just a student — you’re a scientist from day one. You join a community that uses the dramatic landscape of Maine as a gateway to understanding global systems and planetary evolution. We offer the rare combination of high-tech field and laboratory access, an intimate faculty-to-student ratio, and the freedom to pursue research that ranges from local coastal resilience to the fundamental requirements for life on other worlds. From our 100-level courses to the senior thesis, we stress the importance of experiential learning and discovery, communication, and collaboration.
Our faculty are world-class teacher-scholars who bridge the gap between high-level research and undergraduate mentorship. With PhDs from premier institutions, they are recognized leaders in their fields as well as prolific authors whose research appears regularly in top scientific journals. Beyond the classroom, they hold leadership and editorial roles in global organizations like the Geological Society of America, the American Geophysical Union, and the European Geosciences Union, ensuring that Bates students are learning from the very people shaping the global conversation on climate change, tectonics, and planetary habitability.
Each year the graduating class at Bates picks a faculty or staff person to offer the Baccalaureate Address. The Class of 2026 selected Professor of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies Stephanie Kelley-Romano.
On Sunday, May 31, 2026, 480 Bates students became Bates alumni, ready to face uncertainty with the support of the lessons they’ve learned at Bates, both in and out of the classroom.
The skies were changeable but the mood was resoundingly upbeat on Sunday, May 31, as 480 members of the Class of 2026 celebrated their Bates graduation surrounded by family and friends, and bolstered by speeches that dwelled on bright promises, both those already delivered and those to come.
