School of Earth & Sustainability
Graduate Student Research Opportunities
Join the School of Earth & Sustainability for your graduate school experience! Here is a list of projects/research foci available for students starting Fall 2025 in a thesis-based Master’s program (MS Geology or MS Environmental Sciences & Policy) or in our PhD Program in Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability.
If you are interested in applying to our graduate programs, visit the program pages listed above for instructions. Most importantly, talk to the specific faculty member(s) you are interested in working with about whether they are accepting new students and whether they have funding available to support you and your research. A big part of preparing for graduate school research is narrowing down your interests to one or two areas you want to spend a lot of time focusing on, so it is important to be able to identify one or two potential advisors. Please do not email all of our faculty with a general inquiry; instead be as specific as possible about your research interests and why you are interested in the research conducted one or two labs.
Some funding is also available via Teaching Assistantships. All funding decisions are made as part of the standard admissions process, which starts after the January 1st deadline. SES is committed to providing funding and support to serve a diverse and inclusive student body in our programs.
To learn more about any of the following projects, follow the link or email the faculty member (PI).
| PI | MS GLG | MS ES&P | PhD | Topic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apen | x | Lithosphere formation and evolution | ||
| Best | x | Maintaining aquatic biodiversity across climate gradients | ||
| Biggs | x | Community Science and Mobile Technology to address Biodiversity Loss | ||
| Gaherty | x | x | Seismic imaging of geodynamic processes | |
| Huntzinger | x | x | Land-atmosphere carbon exchange and how the terrestrial carbon cycle impacts and is influenced by climate | |
| Johnson | x | x | Mycorrhizal microbiomes of biofuel sorghum | |
| Kaufman | x | x | x | Paleo records of glacier and climate changes inferred from Alaska lakes (PROGLACIAL) |
| Kaufman | x | x | x | Testing amino acid paleo-thermometry in radiocarbon-dated lake sediment |
| McKay, Kaufman, Erb | x | Collaborative Research: Patterns and processes of abrupt Arctic warming based on paleoclimate observations and models | ||
| Perry | x | x | Advancing riverine biodiversity conservation through assessing resilience | |
| Porter | x | Seismic Monitoring of Debris Flow Associated with the Museum Fire | ||
| Porter | x | Earth Analogues of Planetary Geophysical Exploration | ||
| Porter | x | Thermal and Compositional State of the Western US from Seismic Imaging | ||
| Regalla | x | x | Fault slip histories and earthquake hazards in Japan, California, and Arizona (structural geology, geomorphology, paleoseismology, geophysics) | |
| Rowe | x | Restoration of degraded lands in the Sonoran desert - saguaros, seed, weeds, and biocrust | ||
| Sankey | x | Remote sensing assessment of forest restoration treatments for hydrological benefits | ||
| Shillington | x | x | Structure and behavior of the Alaska, Aleutian and Central American subduction zones from active-source imaging integrated with other observations | |
| Shillington | x | x | Quantifying synrift sediment properties and fault slip in the Gulf of Corinth | |
| Smith | x | x | Lacustrine and fluvial environmental response to climate change in Eocene Wyoming | |
| Smith | x | x | Interactions between onshore tectonics, wave climate, and submarine canyons, coastal California | |
| Souther | x | Evaluation of drought and changing climate on a southwestern cultural keystone species | ||
| Souther | x | Ecoevolutionary evaluation of a federally endangered sky island plant species to improve conservation measures | ||
| Souther | x | Ecological and spatial investigation of oak range dynamics to inform restoration in the Southwest | ||
| Springer | x | x | Assessing hydrological responses of land management practices | |
| Springer | x | Karst hydrogeology projects in the Greater Grand Canyon region and the Southern Colorado Plateau | ||
| Springer | x | Restoration, management and sustainability of springs ecosystems | ||
| Springer | x | x | Groundwater recharge under changing climate and land management conditions | |
| Tierney | x | Using andesites to investigate the crustal and magmatic evolution of San Juan volcanism |