Dawn Sumner — a UC Davis geologist, planetary scientist and astrobiologist — is among the 53 scientists newly elected as fellows of the American Geophysical Union, or AGU, for outstanding achievements and contributions to earth and space science. “I deeply appreciate this international recognition...READ MORE
To understand the nascent stages of our roughly 4.6-billion-year-old solar system, researchers rely on cosmic time capsules, such as asteroids and meteorites. These materials capture the chemistry of the environments in which they formed, and one of the most pristine and primitive is a class...READ MORE
Michael Oskin was camping with his friends atop San Gorgonio Mountain, southern California’s highest peak, when the infamous Lander’s earthquake struck just before 5 a.m. on June 28, 1992. As aftershocks from the 7.3 magnitude earthquake rolled through the campsite, trees..READ MORE
On June 24, 2026, two devastating earthquakes struck the northern coast of Venezuela. The 7.2 magnitude foreshock was followed roughly 40 seconds later by a 7.5 magnitude mainshock. Known as a doublet, these earthquakes caused widespread damage and destruction in the country’s...READ MORE
Melting and breaking icebergs in the far-off, northeastern region of the Pacific Ocean can weaken a massive current system in the Atlantic Ocean, according to a University of California, Davis study published in Nature Communications. The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or...READ MORE
Goabaone Jaqueline Ramatlapeng vividly remembers when she would go without water from domestic pipes for days. Growing up in Kopong, a small village in Botswana, Ramatlapeng, her family and those in surrounding villages faced a similar plight: water scarcity. And when the water did flow, it was salty...READ MORE
The Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences is pleased to share that Dr. Sandra J. Carlson, Professor Emerita of Paleontology at UC Davis, has been named the 2026 recipient of the American Geosciences Institute's (AGI) William B. Heroy Jr. Award for Distinguished Service. The Heroy Award...READ MORE
Professor Tessa Hill has been named associate dean of research and graduate education in the College of Letters and Science at UC Davis. In the position, Hill will facilitate and support cross-departmental and cross-college research initiatives, oversee contracts and grants, and develop...READ MORE
The Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences is proud to celebrate Ph.D. student Claris Sunjo, who has been awarded the highly competitive 2026–2027 Faculty for the Future Fellowship from the Schlumberger Foundation. This distinguished international award provides $50,000 in support of her...READ MORE
Paleobiologist Geerat Vermeij is enthralled with mollusks. Their shells line the surfaces and fill the cabinets and drawers in his office on the second floor of the Earth and Planetary Sciences Building at UC Davis. But Vermeij’s deep study of these organisms isn’t...READ MORE
