Earth Day 50th Anniversary – Spotlight on Students

The future of Earth science is looking bright


In honor of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, and in order to lift our spirits in these uncertain times, we wanted to take this time to look forward instead of back by sharing stories of creativity, inspiration, and ingenuity from and about our talented cohort of students—both graduate and undergraduate. We combed the news feed from the last year to bring you these profiles and first-person accounts of what drives their curiosity and the novel ways they study the incredible big blue marble we call home—starting with a podcast from Chemical & Engineering News featuring two EAPS graduate students discussing their reasons for hope in the face of Earth’s changing climate.


Climate Scientists Share Their Reasons for Hope

PODCAST – featuring Diana Dumit and Lyssa Freese

Early Life at MIT and on Earth

PROFILE – geobiology undergraduate Juliana Drozd

From Streams to Teams

PROFILE – geomorphologist Maya Stokes

The Wolf of Washington

ESSAY – climate scientist Martin Wolf’s works on science and policy

A Numerical Modeler Wandering into the Arctic

ESSAY – climate scientist Mukund Gupta finds himself unexpectedly on an oceanographic cruise

Taking the World by Storm

PROFILE – atmospheric science undergraduate Jordan Benjamin

Radiation Beneath our Feet

ESSAY – Jessica Dabrowski uses naturally-occurring radioactive isotopes to study climate change in the Arctic

First Descent: Thoughts from My Dive in Alvin

ESSAY – Lauren Dykman on oceanography from a mile and a half below the waves

Computing in Earth Science: a Non-linear Path

PROFILE – EAPS UROP student Sonia Reilly studies mathematics and machine learning to better predict natural disasters

Our History and Future in Ice

TEDx TALK – climate scientist and mathematical modeler Meghana Ranganathan on the relationship between ice sheets and climate

Antarctic Microbes Need Their Vitamins, Too

ESSAY – by microbial oceanographer Deepa Rao