A Department of Geological, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences with an undergraduate major was established at the university in 1973 with 5.5 full-time equivalent faculty, following c. 20 years during which Geology courses had been offered on Campus. Programs for the M.S. degrees started in 1982, by which time the Department comprised ~ 10.5 full-time equivalent faculty. There are currently app
roximately 18 tenured/tenure-track faculty members, 58 professional-track faculty members, five staff members, 79 undergraduate and graduate students, average research funding of more than $4 million annually and the support of 10 philanthropic funds. The Department contributes to the University Honors Program, provides leadership of the College Park Scholars Program in Science and Global Change, and sponsors the Earth Surface Processes Specialization within the campus-wide Environmental Science and Policy Program. The Department of Geological, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences encourages interdisciplinary approaches to the study of the Earth and participates in the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC). This Center has been formed through collaboration between the University of Maryland and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) to carry out preeminent research and teaching programs in Earth System Science. The Department is part of the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences.
