News and Events

See the full schedule for our EAS Seminar Series, with discussion topics such as Solid Earth Sciences, Planetary Science, and Astrobiology.

Upcoming graduate thesis and dissertation announcements.

Click here for a full list of upcoming events.

Recent News

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Community Spotlight - Ali Sarhadi

Ali Sarhadi and his research team at GT's Climate Risk and Extreme Dynamics Lab are focused on a phenomenon called hurricane-induced compound flooding — hurricanes fueled by a warming climate.


Illustration of NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft with Jupiter and its icy moon Europa in the background (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Preparing for Europa: Deciphering Plasma Flows and Magnetic Fields Near Jupiter’s Icy Moon

Professor Sven Simon is working to uncover critical information to support the rapid analysis of measurements from NASA's Europa Clipper mission.


Yurt-like test chambers in a natural boreal spruce bog in northern Minnesota (provided).

Peatlands’ ‘Huge Reservoir’ of Carbon at Risk of Release

Researchers analyzed data from 10, yurt-like test chambers in a natural boreal spruce bog in northern Minnesota.


Analog missions, like those conducted at NASA’s CHAPEA facility at the Johnson Space Center, help scientists study human spaceflight without leaving Earth. Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images

Space Exploration in the Backyard, On a Budget – How NASA Simulates Conditions in Space Without Blasting Off

Humanity’s drive to explore has taken us across the solar system, with astronaut boots, various landers and rovers’ wheels exploring the surfaces of several different planetary bodies.


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Upcoming Events

Seminars are held on Thursdays from 11:00 AM-12:00 PM (except where noted) virtually or in the Charles H. Jones Auditorium (L1205) in the Ford ES&T Building. For more information, please contact the Main Office at (404) 894-3893 or the speaker host (listed below).

Organizers: Ali Sarhadi, Shi Sim, and Nisaa Buchanan

Nov
06
2025
EAS Seminar Series - Dr. Rebecca Jackson

Where glaciers meet the ocean: testing theories for submarine melt with observations from autonomous vessels
Nov
07
2025
Fossil Friday

Join the Spatial Ecology and Paleontology Lab for Fossil Fridays! Become a fossil hunter and help discover how vertebrate communities have changed through time.
Nov
11
2025
AI4Science Seminar

The AI4Science Center hosts a seminar highlighting innovative applications of machine learning in the natural sciences, featuring guest speaker Robert Jernigan, Professor at Iowa State University and Director of the Baker Center for Bioinformatics and Bio
Nov
13
2025
EAS Seminar Series - Dr. Esteban Chaves

Seismology of Landslides: Insights from Iraz´u and Aguas Zarcas, Costa Rica
Nov
14
2025
Fossil Friday

Join the Spatial Ecology and Paleontology Lab for Fossil Fridays! Become a fossil hunter and help discover how vertebrate communities have changed through time.
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Experts in the News

Some scientists say it’s time to rethink how we measure hurricanes. Here's why

As Hurricane Melissa barrels toward Jamaica as a Category 5 storm, some in the meteorological community are questioning if the traditional way of measuring hurricane strength still tells the full story.

Zachary Handlos, director of the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Undergraduate Degree Program at Georgia Tech, believes it might be time to rethink how we classify hurricanes. While the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, which rates storms from Category 1 through 5 based solely on maximum wind speed, has been used for decades, Handlos says it doesn’t always capture a storm’s true impact.

“You don’t have to be a tropical cyclone expert to know that the scale has some limitations,” Handlos said. “It doesn’t necessarily portray how strong or impactful a hurricane can be beyond its wind speed.”

11Alive News

October 27, 2025

Hurricane Melissa threatens catastrophic flash flooding and landslides in the Caribbean

The Blue Mountains in eastern Jamaica could be a region where landslides occur with heavy rain due to steep hill slopes, said Karl Lang, an assistant professor of geology at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Lang said regions that have been clearcut for agriculture could be susceptible to landslides because the plants that previously grew there helped bind the soil together by the strength of their roots.

Some roads built on steep hills in Puerto Rico were affected by landslides when Hurricane Fiona (2022) and Hurricane Maria (2017) hit, said Lang. “Every time you cut into a steep slope, you make a steeper slope above the road,” he said.

“The real problem there is that you create the road that’s your conduit in and out of the location … and then the landslide dams the road. You create your own problem both by creating the increased probability of a landslide, but also by having those landslides occur where you need to go,” said Lang.

AP News

October 27, 2025
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