Welcome to the Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences
The Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences was established by a historic gift to SMU’s Dedman College from the Honorable Roy M. Huffington, ’38. The gift endows one of SMU's original and most distinguished academic departments, providing future resources for the growing importance of its research, teaching and scholarship. Learn more »
SMU students discover new possibilities for the future of Earth Sciences.
With funding from organizations such as the U.S. Departments of Defense and Energy and the National Science Foundation, Earth Sciences has achieved international recognition in the research areas of seismology, geothermal studies and paleoclimatology. Recently, an Earth Sciences faculty member helped develop a pilot project on setting up a seismic network on the Moon. Learn more about our faculty and our research.
Earth Sciences was one of the University’s first Ph.D.-granting departments. SMU grants undergraduate degrees in geology, geophysics, environmental geology, environmental sciences and environmental studies, and in geology, geophysics and applied geophysics at the graduate level. Learn more about our undergraduate programs and our graduate programs.
News & Features
- As SMU celebrates its centennial year, the Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences at SMU announces a search to fill an endowed professorship named in honor of Ellis Shuler and Edwin Foscue who were founding members of the department. PDF
- Join our spring 2013 Earth Sciences Seminar Series every Friday featuring visiting speakers from across the country. View the schedule here: Spring 2013
- Meet our exciting faculty. Each one
has made notable contributions
to the Earth Sciences discipline. - Earth Sciences graduate students
receive honarable awards and
notable publications. - Discover an exciting grad program
- Albritton Professor Brian Stump
was
recently elected chair of the board of
directors for IRIS (Incorporated Research
Institutes for Seismology).
- Dr. James Quick, Associate VP for Research
and Dean of Graduate Studies received the
Capellini Award in Italy. Dr. Quick is also
a professor in the Earth Sciences Department.
- Our grad students make a distinct print on paleontology
discoveries. Thomas Adams and colleagues
published a paper in Paleontologia Electronica.
They used a progressive 3D laser scanner to
digitally preserve a rare important parataxonomically
footprint from Texas. Timothy Scott Myers adds a
a new spot on the map by reporting new pterosaur
remains from Texas, which represents the earliest
occurence of the family in North America. Only
about 100 species of pterosaurs are known, despite
the longevity of the group (Pterosaurs are flying
tetrapods).