biogeochemistry
at penn state
INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENCE
Biogeochemistry examines how living organisms drive geochemical changes across various environmental scales. This interdisciplinary field integrates biology, microbiology, geology, chemistry, physics, and ecology to explore how life interacts with the abiotic environment and shapes Earth’s habitability. Emerging less than a century ago from the work of Russian scientist Vladimir Vernadsky on the biosphere, biogeochemistry today focuses on global change and human impacts on Earth’s chemical cycles.
AT PENN STATE
Penn State offers a unique dual-title PhD program where scholars are trained in the interdisciplinary science of biogeochemistry and one of eight major graduate programs.
The program involves an active and engaging graduate student community, faculty co-advising, cross-disciplinary coursework, and opportunities for additional stipend and tuition support beyond that of a student’s home department or program.
Annual events offer an opportunity to exchange ideas with biogeochemists on and off campus, including PIERS.
The program is administered by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering on behalf of the participating graduate programs, with support from the Institutes of Energy and the Environment (IEE) and the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute (EESI).