Graduate Program

Students in the GPS graduate program study the earth and other planets to understand their origin, composition, and development, and to examine the effects of their resulting physical and chemical characteristics on the history of life, on the environment, and on humanity.

A broad training in fundamental science, enriched by specialized coursework within the division, forms the basis of the graduate educational program. GPS graduate students are encouraged to work with complex and often incomplete data sets, to use the many modern laboratory facilities available within the division, and to undertake research in natural settings outside the lab. GPS's flexible curriculum allows graduate students with diverse backgrounds and degrees in science and engineering to carry out their graduate work within GPS while simultaneously pursuing interdisciplinary studies within a number of Caltech's other academic divisions.

GPS offers graduate degree programs in environmental science and engineering, geobiology, geochemistry, geology, geophysics, and planetary science.