Spring 2025
Dear EPS Alumni, Faculty, Staff, Students, and Friends,
This has been an amazing first year for me as Department Chair. I can’t say thank you enough to all my colleagues for their continued commitment to meeting the vision for our department that we set forth in the strategic plan: Together we create and share knowledge at the forefront of Earth and Planetary Sciences to cultivate informed stewardship and inspire curiosity. While each day brings plenty of surprises and new uncertainties, we remain focused on our core mission of providing a world-class intellectual and educational environment, while still making space for the joy and excitement that curiosity and new discoveries brings to all of us.
This year, the faculty have been focused on implementing part 2 of our strategic plan: revising the undergraduate curriculum. As we started out on this activity, the alumni board initiated an alumni survey, which hundreds of you participated in last fall – you have our immense gratitude for sharing your experiences, expertise and insights with us. I cannot express how valuable your feedback has been throughout this process. Thank you!
The undergraduate curriculum revision is urgently needed to better align the major with existing career paths, the interests of the undergraduates at UC Davis, and the current faculty in the department. While we’re still putting together the details, I can share that the new major will be in Earth and Planetary Sciences, with multiple tracks designed to serve students with different career goals and interests. In building the major, we focused on flexibility and options for students, while making sure key skills, like computer-aided data analysis, are embedded in all the tracks. One track will be a BS in Geology, which is designed to continue to provide a path to professional licensure in California. Other BS tracks will include Climate: Past and Present, Geohazards, Geobiology and paleobiology, Geochemistry, and Geophysics. We will also offer AB (Bachelor of Arts) tracks in Environmental Geology and Historical Biodiversity. While these tracks all utilize courses we already offer, a few new strategic courses will be added, including an Earth Systems Science course at the upper division level. We will also continue to offer the Marine and Coastal Science major. We hope to have the new major approved in time for the incoming class of 2026.
In the meantime, we have a few notable comings, goings and transitions to share. Last summer Assistant Professor Babsi Ratschbacher left the department to join the German Geological Survey – we will miss Babsi and wish her all the best in her new position. In October, we welcomed Dr. Xiaochuan Tian, as the first Lori Summa and David Awwiller Postdoctoral Research Fellow: Dr. Tian is working with Magali Billen and Mike Oskin to better understand the stress state and deformation in the vicinity of the Mendocino Triple Junction.
This month we are welcoming the first Louise H. Kellogg Endowed Chair in Geophysics, Dr. Amanda Thomas who joined the department on April 1st (see enclosed article). We are also looking forward to Dr. Jim Watkins (geochemist) joining our program this summer. Dr. Thomas and Dr. Watkins come to us from the University of Oregon and are returning to their “roots” in northern California, where they both attended graduate school at UC Berkeley.
We were also lucky to have three Visiting Assistant Professors (VAPs) this past year, Dr. Hannah Palmer and Dr. Mark DeBlois (both EPS alumni) and Dr. Greg Funston, who joined us after completing his PhD at University of Alberta and a Newton Fellowship in Scotland; their dedication to excellent teaching has supported many of our large enrollment general education courses and helped to keep our teaching numbers up. This will be the last year for all three VAP’s as two senior faculty finish up major administrative positions and return to more teaching. Dr. Isabel Montañez is stepping down from her position as Director of the Institute for the Environment, and Dr. Tessa Hill’s position as Associate Vice Provost for Public Engagement and Outreach has ended (this program is sadly ending as a response to campus-wide budget cuts). Both have served as amazing leaders for the university, and we are excited to have them more fully back in the department.
Finally, I’ll end with an invitation to each of you to stop by the department if you’re ever in the neighborhood. We would love to see you and introduce you to the new group of amazing students and new faculty. Also, following the initiative of people like David Gold and Susann Pinter, we are slowly transforming the inside of the building to make our science, curiosity and creativity visible in the entry ways, halls and community spaces.
Come check it out!
Magali Billen
Chair and Professor, Earth and Planetary Sciences, UC Davis