The Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences is committed to providing a safe and respectful learning, working, and social environment. We believe that all members of the campus community should interact in a mutually respectful, professional, and fair manner. We oppose and will not tolerate hostile environment harassment nor the rhetoric of intolerance and bigotry of any kind, including but not limited to racism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, misogyny, and religious intolerance. We repudiate verbal and emotional harassment and bullying which undermine, patronize, humiliate, intimidate, or demean others, as these may be as painful and damaging as direct physical threats.

Message from the Chair

Welcome to the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences (EOS),

If you are interested in acquiring an in-depth understanding of our planet and its many incredible natural systems, you’ve come to the right place. Our faculty research all spheres (atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, biosphere) of the Earth and their interactions using cutting-edge techniques and technologies. As just a few limited examples, at any time you might find our faculty and students:

Excavating early human artifacts in Europe to better understand the changing environmental conditions that likely shaped the evolution of Homo sapiens and our ancestors;
High in the Himalaya, Appalachian, Sierra Nevada, and Klamath Mountains studying how mountains form and evolve over millions of years;
Down in the blistering heat of Death Valley reconstructing past earthquake activity and modern-day plate tectonic behavior;
Strapping cutting-edge sensors to surfboards to monitor modern ocean chemistry;
Analyzing modern, historical, and prehistoric records of hurricanes all over the planet to better understand their changing behavior through time;
Using satellites to identify ancient river channels in northern Africa created under very different climate regimes than today;
Flying unmanned aerial vehicles above African savannahs, North American barrier islands, and coastal wetlands around the world to study vegetation dynamics in response to natural and anthropogenic disturbance;
Collecting sediments and fossils anywhere from the sunny tropics to the freezing poles to better understand how climate has changed over thousands to millions of years;
Monitoring deep sea volcanoes with a host of sensors to better understand their evolution and modern-day behavior;
Imaging the ocean floor with the latest sensor technology to identify ancient glacial outburst flood events and coastal evolution;
And, of course, right here in coastal North Carolina studying pollutants, climate change, wildfire, sea level rise, coastal erosion, and a host of other variables affecting humans and natural systems, as just a few examples.

I encourage you to explore each of our faculty’s research and, of course, reach out if you are interested in any of these topics! Our department offers four undergraduate degree programs (B.A. Geography and Geospatial Science; B.S. Geology; B.A. Geoscience; and B.S. Oceanography) as well as a graduate program (M.S. Geoscience) and two certificate programs (Geospatial Intelligence Certificate; Graduate Certificate in Geographic Information Systems). Several of our faculty also regularly advise students in the M.S. Marine Science graduate degree program.

While we are thrilled to be returning to a ‘more normal’ semester than in Fall 2020, it is important to keep in mind the Covid-19 virus is still a threat to our health as a community. Thus, as a reminder, UNCW is enforcing multiple protocols to help protect against the spread of the Covid-19 virus, most notably mask mandates for all buildings and required vaccinations or weekly testing for all students, staff, and faculty. Full details for UNCW’s Covid-19 status, rules, and planning can be found here:

https://uncw.edu/bestnest/

If you have any questions about the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, please do not hesitate to contact the most relevant individual listed below:

Dr. Chad Lane
Department Chair
lanec@uncw.edu

Dr. Andrea Hawkes
Graduate Coordinator
hawkesa@uncw.edu

Dr. Scott Nooner
Undergraduate Coordinator
nooners@uncw.edu

Dr. Narcisa Pricope
Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) and Graduate Certificate in GIS Coordinator
pricopen@uncw.edu

We offer the following degrees:

In addition, many faculty participate in either the Master of Arts (M.A.) in liberal studies or the Master of Science (M.S.) in marine science.

Contact Us

Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences
University of North Carolina Wilmington
DeLoach Hall
Department Office - DL 102
601 South College Road
Wilmington, NC 28403-5944
Tel: 910 962-3490
Fax: 910 962-7077
Email: eos@uncw.edu

The Department is located in DeLoach Hall -- find us on this interactive campus map.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Thank you to everyone that attended the EOS Commencement Ceremony and big congratulations to our 2022 graduates!
EOS Professor Peng Gao is a co-author of a recent paper in Journal of Environmental Informatics entitled "Improving Soil Salinity Simulation by Assimilating Electromagnetic Induction Data into HYDRUS Model Using Ensemble Kalman Filter".
EOS Professor Emeritus Patricia Kelley is a co-author of a recent paper in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution entitled "Core Competencies for Training Conservation Paleobiology Students in a Wicked World".
Congratulations to EOS undergrad Elijah Dalton who was awarded the 2022 Student Scholarship from the NC ArcGIS Users Group Inc. Elijah will present his work at the NCAUG Fall Conference in Carolina Beach. Elijah will also be enrolling in the EOS M.S. Geoscience program under Professor Narcisa Pricope beginning in the Fall of 2022.
Huge congrats to EOS MS Geoscience student Kelsey Albert on the successful completion of her portfolio defense and degree!
Massive congratulations to EOS MS Geoscience students Greer Shivers, Chris Blanco, Will Benfield, Amanda Tomlinson, and Megan Lapinsky on successfully defending their thesis/portfolio projects this semester! Also, big congrats to EOS BS Geology student Melia Eaton on successfully defending her Undergraduate Honors Thesis!
EOS Professor Joanne Halls, Department Manager Yvonne Marsan, and M.S. Geoscience students Carter Eckhardt and Will Benfield were interviewed on Spectrum News 1 regarding cutting-edge geospatial techniques used to investigate geomorphological responses to both anthropogenic and natural processes along our coastlines.
EOS MS Geoscience student Jesse Scopa (pictured), advised by Dr. Narcisa Pricope, has been selected as a Student Assistant for the highly-competitive 2022 Esri User Conference in San Diego, California. Jesse will receive full financial support to attend this massive, annual gathering of geospatial scientists and businesses, and will represent the EOS Department for the duration of the event.
EOS MS Geoscience student William Benfield will defend his thesis entitled "An Automated Multitemporal Geospatial Model to Classify Barrier Island Land Cover and Geomorphology" on Monday, May 2nd at 9 AM via Zoom. Contact thesis advisor Dr. Joanne Halls (hallsjATuncw.edu) for Zoom information.
EOS BS Geography Honors student Elijah Dalton has been accepted into the highly competitive NASA DEVELOP internship program, funded through the North Carolina Space Grant for a 10-week term this summer.