Department News Archive


EPS alum named CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar

One of our recent PhD graduates, Jihua Hao (JHU, 2017), who worked with Dimitri Sverjensky, has been selected as one of 19 new Global Scholars in the CIFAR Azrieli program which covers the sciences and humanities. Jihua has just started a faculty position at the University of Science and Technology (USTC) in Hefei, China earlier […]


EPS student authors paper highlighting helium rain on Saturn

Graduate student Chi Yan has authored a paper in AGU Advances along with adviser Sabine Stanley. The project uses numerical simulations of Saturn’s magnetic dynamo to explore the thermal structure and possible chemical composition of the planet’s interior, with results suggesting the presence of a thick, stably stratified helium rain-out layer. JHU HUB covers the […]


EPS grad student’s equity work is highlighted in Physics Today

Since 2019, EPS student Miché Aaron has had a leadership role in the Women+ of Color Project, an alliance that supports women and gender-nonconforming people of color in their pursuit of graduate education in STEM fields. Miché and her trailblazing efforts in the WOCP have recently been profiled in Physics Today. Congratulations, Miché!


Beyond Our Solar System

Beyond Our Solar System
Exoplanets 101: faculty from the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, including David Sing, Sarah Hörst, and Jocelyne DiRuggiero, explain how planets outside of our solar system are created and discovered—and whether life might exist on them.


Department research on Baltimore Mafic Complex makes the news

National Geographic, the Baltimore Sun, and the Washington Post have reported on new findings by EPS department members that were recently published in the journal Geosphere. Their work focuses on rocks of the Baltimore Mafic Complex and concludes that these bodies are suprasubduction zone ophiolites derived from ancient upper mantle material, including a preserved section […]


Prof. Ben Zaitchik receives full professorship

The Morton K. Blaustein Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences is delighted to announce that Ben Zaitchik’s promotion to full professor was approved by the Board of Trustees on Feb. 1, 2021. Prof. Zaitchik’s group studies both the physics of climate and the intersection of climatic processes with human society. In the past few years, this […]


Assistant Professor Emmy Smith wins Sloan Fellowship

Assistant Professor Emmy Smith wins Sloan Fellowship
Emmy Smith was recently awarded a 2021 Sloan Research Fellowship for her work in Earth Systems Science. The fellowship was awarded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to 128 early-career scholars in multiple fields, who represent the most promising scientific researchers working today.


Prof. Maya Gomes wins JHU Discovery Award

Prof. Maya Gomes wins JHU Discovery Award
A team led by Maya Gomes, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, has received a Discovery Award from Johns Hopkins University. Given to interdisciplinary teams across the university, Discovery Awards are meant to catalyze innovative work on important problems. Prof. Gomes’ project builds on her longstanding interest in the global […]


Prof. Sarah Hörst receives tenure

Prof. Sarah Hörst receives tenure
The Morton K. Blaustein Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences congratulates our colleague Sarah Hörst, whose promotion to Associate Professor with tenure was approved by the Board of Trustees on December 4. Over the past six years, Sarah has played a central role in laying the groundwork for the department’s future as a center of […]


EPS graduate student featured in CNN coverage of Arecibo telescope

EPS graduate student featured in CNN coverage of Arecibo telescope
In the wake of the Dec. 1 collapse of Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Radio Telescope, CNN has interviewed EPS graduate student Junellie González Quiles, who describes the telescope’s impact on her development as a scientist and its significance to Puerto Rico.