Research Areas
Atmospheric Sciences
We study extreme weather, climate change, and their impacts on both ecosystems and modern society.
Environmental Geoscience
We use biology, chemistry, geology, and physics to understand how the Earth System supports such a diversity of life and how human behavior is impacting this system.
Geodata Science Initiative
Data science is the fourth and the newest paradigm of science. In Geodata Science Initiative, we conduct transdisciplinary research, merging or articulating EAPS subject matters with technical areas in data science: statistical and machine learning methods and models, algorithms for the models and methods, and computational environments for data analysis.
Geology and Geophysics
We study the processes that shape our planet, from the building of mountains and oil-bearing sedimentary basins, to the flow of warm rocks and cold glaciers, to the triggering of earthquakes.
Planetary Science
We study the evolution of the solar system and how planets evolve over time due to impacts, tectonics, and atmospheric processes, with an eye to the potential for past and future habitability.
Research News
Moisture changes the rules of atmospheric traffic jams
08-14-2025
New research from Purdue University reveals how moisture influences atmospheric blocking, a phenomenon that often drives heat waves, droughts, cold outbreaks and floods, helping solve a mystery in climate science and improving future extreme weather predictions.
Decoding Space Rocks with AI: The Meteorite Breakthrough
08-13-2025
Securities — Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the way we do things, not only on Earth but also in Space. Lead author Marissa Tremblay, assistant professor with EAPS, further noted that meteorites tend to be denser than rocks on Earth, are magnetic and contain metal. However, finding meteorites isn't that easy.
Purdue juniors awarded prestigious 2025 Goldwater Scholarships for excellence in research
08-13-2025
Purdue University juniors Deniz Eksioglu and EAPS's Christina Sowinski have been offered 2025 Barry Goldwater Scholarships. This award is the nation’s premier scholarship for undergraduates studying the natural sciences, engineering and mathematics.
Saturn’s moon Mimas may have a vast hidden ocean
08-13-2025
PNAS — At first glance, Saturn’s moon Mimas appears dead and boring, with nothing to make it shine. Other moons—such as Enceladus, Titan, and Jupiter’s Europa—harbor icy oceans, lakes of methane, or hints of habitable climates in the past. Mariana Blanco-Rojas, a PhD student in EAPS, presented an explanation of how an ocean layer can exist, even with this lack of smoothing.
Traffic Science - The connection between atmospheric blocking and real traffic jams
08-01-2025
BBC — Assistant Professor Lei Wang in EAPS recently appeared on the BBC talking about the connection between his research on atmospheric blocking and real traffic jams. His portion of the interview is about 24 minutes in.