During the fall 2024 semester, Tufts’ Department of Earth and Climate Sciences announced two new majors, earth science and climate science, and a minor in earth and climate sciences. This semester, the department is making the academic transition and moving into new lab spaces in Bacon Hall.
Beginning in the fall 2025 semester, the department’s former majors — environmental geology and geological sciences — will be consolidated into earth science. Current students may complete their existing degree or transition to earth science, while future classes will enroll under the new program only.
While earth science is an updated major, Professor Andrew Kemp said it “maintains a very strong fundamental geology curriculum.” Kemp, who has taught in the department for 12 years, said restructuring plans started when three senior faculty neared retirement and colleagues weighed the department’s future.
“What we landed on was we would keep that geology core … but we would expand it to include a new degree in climate science,” Kemp said. In addition to meeting the interests of the Tufts student demographic, “[Climate science] was a topic that was increasingly relevant academically and increasingly relevant in the wider world.”
While the earth science major focuses on geology and Earth processes, the climate science major takes a more atmospheric approach to studying the environment. For students interested in both fields, the ECS department will also offer a combined minor in earth and climate sciences.
As Kemp explained, climate science, though still an emerging field in academia, is becoming increasingly vital amid today’s global challenges. He called it a “discovery major,” noting that few students are exposed to climate-focused courses in high school and many come to appreciate the subject after arriving at university.
Professors Rebecca Jackson and Jonah Bloch-Johnson, two more recent department hires, highlighted their appreciation for the interdisciplinary nature of climate science.
“We’re studying not only the connections within the earth and climate system, but it’s a lot of connections with other science branches,” Jackson said. “We have students who double-major in earth science and chemistry, or climate science and computer science. … There’s a lot of exciting crossover for students to develop those interdisciplinary interests.”
“We’re providing the backbone that can help people to then go and make sense of these issues that are so important in their lives,” Bloch-Johnson said. “The atmosphere is the setting in which we all live our lives, and just understanding the physics behind that can … change the way you think about the world, and will change how you think about all your other courses.”
Kemp added that the department is working to create pathways through which students could fulfill their distribution requirements within a climate-focused theme, finding interdisciplinary connections between climate science and other fields.
Amid discussions of academic restructuring, it became clear that the department’s existing facilities in Lane Hall could not accommodate the program’s growth. Thus came a move to the newly opened Bacon Hall — a relocation that included the transport of an estimated 50,000 pounds of geological specimens.
“There were over 1,500 drawers … full of rocks … everything from pebbles and piles of sand to really large pieces,” said Kim Dustin, a relocation manager from STV who oversaw the project. “Relocations are often moving like offices or furniture, boxes. … This was much more interesting and challenging from a planning perspective.”
The specialized nature of the materials made the process especially complex. With guidance from Professor Emeritus Jack Ridge, the team developed a coding system to keep construction crews and movers aligned with the department’s wishes.
Bacon Hall is officially open, housing new lab spaces for the earth and climate sciences and biology departments, and showcasing specimens like the over 7-ton “Bert’s Rock” and a slab marked with dinosaur footprints.
Additionally, the department’s offices were consolidated into Bromfield-Pearson Hall, which is shared with the environmental studies and urban and environmental planning departments. The move will establish a dedicated space for the department’s growing faculty and students to connect, teach and conduct research.
“It’s great that we’re going to have a home, because I think we are kind of a department reborn,” Bloch-Johnson said. “It’s going to be great having a center and a home where people can come and know that they can find us.”
From a first-year seminar that includes a field trip to Acadia National Park to “Lane Lunches” with free food and informal faculty-student gatherings, the department is always looking for ways to spark interest in earth and climate studies. With the addition of new facilities, they hope to expand opportunities for research and experiential learning for both new and returning students.
“We’re a small department, so there’s a lot of hands-on research opportunities, both in the lab and in the field, but also numerical or computational projects as well,” Jackson said. “We have a wide range of approaches in our research programs that provide a lot of different avenues for undergrads to get involved.”
