Giving Opportunities

The Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences has been undergoing a period of vigorous faculty renewal which is driving changes in the research thrusts of the department, the graduate and undergraduate curricula offered, and the relationships with other departments in Cornell Engineering, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and the College of Arts and Sciences.
Give Now
A group of people pose in a cavern with a shaft of sunlight streaming in behind them.

How You Can Make an Impact

  • student in orange coveralls and a hard hat pulling rock samples from mud at the Cornell University Borehole Observatory.

    Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Vision Endowment

    The department’s presence in three colleges affords tremendous opportunities for impact across the campus and with the outside world.

    We are a partner in the Cornell Earth Source Heat initiative, which aims to heat campus with deep geothermal energy and is a means of meeting the university-wide commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by 2035. We also continue to lead in studying natural hazards associated with seismicity, volcanism, space weather, and severe weather and climate.

    With these opportunities come special needs associated with rapid growth and a university business model that compels departments to function autonomously.

    Donate to the Vision Endowment
  • EAS alumni Goodwin

    Postdoctoral Fellowship Program

    An institutional postdoctoral fellowship program would bring extraordinary young scientists to Cornell. One of the best ways to jumpstart a new faculty member’s career is to enable them to hire postdoctoral fellows and research associates. The postdoctoral scholar would serve as a bridge between new faculty and emerging projects on campus and in the nearby community.

  • Mass spectrometry equipment in the lab of Professor Esteban Gazel.

    Research Lab Equipment, Renovations, and Maintenance

    Doing science that matters means having access to state-of-the-art equipment. Some of that equipment will be provided as part of the startup packages needed to attract the best faculty and the rest must come from grants and contracts, industry investment, and donations. Your gift will help ensure the research needs are met of new faculty through modern, well-equipped laboratories and highly trained staff.

  • Student researcher dig a hole to plant a seismometer.

    Undergraduate Field Training Support

    Field experience as an undergraduate can be a transformative and defining experience. Today’s students, many of whom attend Cornell with financial aid, find field programs increasingly difficult to participate in due to the expense of the field program and lost income from summer employment. In order to maintain this transformative experience for undergraduates, the department must subsidize students who lack sufficient funding.

  • Students from the CU GeoData project team stand near a research poster in Snee Hall.

    Student Project Team

    The department has launched its first undergraduate project team, joining the experiential learning culture at Cornell Engineering.

    The CU GeoData team will develop instruments and techniques to assess environmental conditions and trends by exploiting the revolution underway in instrumentation which can be used to probe the earth and its atmosphere like drones and balloons carrying radar, lidar and in situ probes.

    The students will supply the know-how and the enthusiasm, but the department supplies most of the equipment. The project team is moving toward becoming self sustaining with private-sector support. To support the team, visit the CU GeoData website.

  • Computers in rows on tables

    Computer Lab Support

    For both atmospheric scientists and many solid earth scientists, the computer is their laboratory. New equipment must be purchased every few years as data sets continue to grow in size.

  • Cornell researchers working in the Andes

    Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Discretionary Fund

    Private gifts are essential and help to endure the continued excellence, relevance, and impact of initiatives for the department.

    To assure your gift is credited for the purpose that you wish, please state your intent in the comments area of the online form. Of course unrestricted gifts are always welcome, whether directed to Earth and Atmospheric Sciences or another of your Cornell interests. These gifts help us be most responsive to emerging needs and opportunities both now and in the future.

    Commitments can also be made through certain estate tax planning opportunities, such as a charitable lead trust, or in other forms including securities and real estate.

    Donate to the Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Discretionary Fund