Center for Earth & Environmental Science
Promoting Interdisciplinary Studies of the Environment
The Center for Earth and Environmental Science at SUNY Plattsburgh is an interdisciplinary unit consisting of geology, geography, environmental science, environmental studies, and ecology programs. With over 200 students and twenty faculty members, CEES offers a great diversity of courses with small class sizes. Ten academic programs within the center integrate courses across the disciplines.
Research Experience
You will have many opportunities to work with faculty on undergraduate research projects and community projects. The region offers many opportunities for you to conduct research in both natural and social aspects of environmental science, geology and ecology.
Many students have presented their research at international, national and regional professional meetings. Each year CEES hosts a student poster presentation and reception, during which students present their research to other students and faculty in CEES.
Students have worked with faculty on such research projects as:
- Studying the effects of microplastics in Lake Champlain on the ecosystem
- Reconstructing the deglaciation history in the Adirondack Mountains
- Studying the effects of invasive species in Lake Champlain and the Lake Champlain Basin
- Using dendrochronology to study flooding history in Lake Champlain
- Studying effects of climate change on temperature stratification in Lake Champlain
- Using borehole geophysical tools to study relationship between geologic structures and groundwater flow
- Studying the relationship between groundwater flow and geology on PFOA contamination
- Studying the distribution of trees as a function of elevation in the Adirondack
- Working with area communities in environmental planning
CEES Student Research
Our interdisciplinary center encompasses research from a wide-range of environmental sciences including planning and management, geology, ecology, atmospheric and chemical processes, remote sensing and GIS and geography.
- View the Showcase of Student Posters and Presentations
- View Masters Theses from the Natural Resources and Ecology, M.S.
Alumni Spotlight
Julia Boyles, Class of 2014
- Geologist and Environmental Scientist, Vermont Geological Survey
- B.S. in Geology, SUNY Plattsburgh
“When I took my advanced grad courses, I was always like ‘Yes, I’ve seen this before. Yes, I’ve gone out in the field and done this before,’ and a lot of other people hadn’t. I felt very well prepared and also very motivated.”
Read more about Julia Boyles in Plattsburgh Magazine