About
Hello, and welcome to Stanford’s Earth Systems Program!
The Earth System’s Program offers an interdisciplinary bachelor’s and co-terminal master’s degrees within the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability (SDSS). We are the largest undergraduate major within the School of Sustainability and train students in interdisciplinary systems thinking as a foundation for analyzing, understanding, communicating and solving complex sustainability challenges. Students pursue this challenge in a diversity of ways, from fundamental science to better understand how the Earth system works, promoting sustainability and conservation through science, policy and economics, developing engineering solutions to today’s global challenges, and communicating environmental science and policy solutions. Given the accelerating pace of climate change and interconnectedness of social and environmental problems, the Earth Systems Program has never been more relevant to the issues we face as a society, and as a university striving to support sustainable practices locally and globally.
Through rigorous interdisciplinary coursework and a variety of internship opportunities, students reflect on and shape their future. Faculty from all schools across the university teach courses in the seven Earth Systems tracks and two minor subplans (Sustainability, Environmental Justice) and serve as student academic advisors.
Our track system offers students both breadth and depth through its many choices of specialization. A strong network of student advisors and TAs also ensure that the program remains student-directed and student-focused. After more than 30 years as the home for undergraduate sustainability education at Stanford, our diverse students go on to enjoy successful careers in research, engineering, government, teaching, consulting, and non-profit organizations, where they continue to help build a sustainable future.
Kabir G. Peay
Victoria and Roger Sant Director, Earth Systems Program
Meet our leadership team
- Prog. Dir. Finance & Operatons, Earth Systems Program
- Professor of the Practice, Earth Systems Program
- Deputy Director, Earth Systems Program, Earth Systems Program
- Director of the Earth Systems Program, Associate Professor of Biology, of Earth System Science and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Meet our Earth Systems Program staff
- Anahid Babekian Assistant director of student services
- Melissa Vallejo Program administrator
- Suki Hoagland Internship director, Lecturer
Meet Our Executive Committee
- Patrick Archie, Director, O'Donohue Family Stanford Educational Farm, Lecturer
- Kevin Arrigo, Donald and Donald M. Steel Professor in Earth Sciences
- Adam Brandt, Associate Professor of Energy Resources Engineering
- Marshall Burke, Associate Professor of Earth System Science and Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
- Karen Casciotti, Victoria and Roger Sant Director, Earth Systems Program, Associate Professor of Earth System Science and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
- Rodolfo Dirzo, Bing Prof in Environmental Science and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
- Deana Fabbro-Johnston, Admin Services Manager, Earth Systems Program
- Thomas Hayden, Professor of the Practice, Earth Systems Program
- George Hilley, Professor of Geological Sciences
- Suki Hoagland, Internship Director, Lecturer, Earth Systems Program
- James Holland Jones, Associate Professor of Earth System Science and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
- Anthony Kovscek, Keleen and Carlton Beal Professor of Petroleum Engineering and Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy
- David Lobell, Professor of Earth System Science and Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute, at the Woods Institute for the Environment and at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
- Richard Nevle, Lecturer, Deputy Director, Earth Systems Program
- Leif Thomas, Associate Professor of Earth System Science and, by courtesy, of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Peter Vitousek, Clifford G. Morrison Professor in Population and Resource Studies, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and Professor, by courtesy, of Earth System Science
Our program history: Teaching students about the planet for nearly 30 years
Stanford's Earth Systems Program is the result of discussions that began in the 1980s about the possible design of an interdisciplinary, undergraduate, environmental sciences program. The Program was authorized in 1992 by the Faculty Senate to nominate candidates for the B.S. degree. Authorization was given to nominate candidates for the M.S. degree in 1993, and the M.A. degree in 2015.
Since its inception in 1992, the Program has undergone significant change. With input from Program Leadership, our Executive Committee, affiliated faculty (approximately 50 faculty), and declared students, we regularly revisit the curriculum and build new classes and programs that take advantage of faculty additions and new areas of research at Stanford.
One aspect of the Program that has not changed through time is our commitment to active and engaged advising of our students. We offer a tiered advising network that starts with an annual cohort of six peer advisors and includes committed staff and faculty.