The Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences traces its origins to the establishment of MIT by the geologist and education reformer William Barton Rogers in 1861. Before distinguishing himself as MIT’s founder and first president, Rogers was a professor of natural philosophy and chemistry. He also served as State Geologist of Virginia, which explains why geology courses have been taught at MIT for more than a century. In 1983, EAPS was formed through the merger of two MIT departments: the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, which grew out of the first geology courses, and the Department of Meteorology and Physical Oceanography, which had its roots in the meteorology courses that first emerged at MIT in 1941. Today, EAPS seeks to understand the fundamental workings of natural systems by examining physical, chemical, and biological processes occurring across a vast spectrum of time and space. Its highly-integrated research requires direct observation as well as modeling, and the department fosters interdisciplinary ventures that open new avenues of exploration.
The Center for Global Change Science at MIT was founded in January 1990 to address fundamental questions about climate processes with a multidisciplinary approach. In July 2006, the CGCS became an independent Center in the School of Science. The Center’s goal is to improve the ability to accurately predict changes in the global environment. The CGCS seeks to better understand the natural mechanisms in ocean, atmosphere and land systems that together control the Earth’s climate, and to apply improved knowledge to problems of predicting climate changes. The Center utilizes theory, observations, and numerical models to investigate climate phenomena, the linkages among them, and their potential feedbacks in a changing climate. The director of the CGCS is Professor Ron Prinn from MIT.
The MIT–Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms is a collaborative research laboratory between MIT and Harvard University. The core research program in the CUA consists of four collaborative experimental projects whose goals are to provide new sources of ultracold atoms and quantum gases, and new types of atom-wave devices. These projects will enable new research on topics such as quantum fluids, atom/photon optics, coherence, spectroscopy, ultracold collisions, and quantum devices. In addition, the CUA has a theoretical program centered on themes of quantum optics, many-body physics, wave physics, and atomic structure and interactions. The Director of the CUA is Wolfgang Ketterle from MIT.
The MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics & Space Research was founded in 1965 as the Center for Space Research. Today MKI operates as an interdepartmental center, and it supports research in space science and engineering, astronomy, and astrophysics.
