Geodata Science Initiative
Solid-Earth & Planetary
Researchers develop and apply data science methods to large-scale problems in solid-earth geosciences and planetary science, including those of theoretical and applied geophysics, seismology, tectonophysics, surface processes, and energy science.
Atmospheric & Environmental
Researchers develop and apply advanced data science methods to areas of atmospheric and environmental sciences, including clouds and convection, Earth and climate systems, severe weather, subseasonal-to-seasonal prediction, geohydrology, and food-energy-water systems.
Transdisciplinary & Dynamic
Researchers from across campus conduct collaborative research in the nexus of weather, climate, environment, resources, energy, and society, supported by high performance computing clusters with GPU or Hadoop systems. Subgroups frequently reach out to public or private sectors and form international partnerships.
Becoming Engaged
Contact affiliated faculty directly for collaboration or research opportunities. Prospective graduate students can apply for PhD or thesis-based MS study in each affiliated faculty's EAPS subject area. Prospective MS students pursuing rigorous coursework and practical research toward industrial careers should apply for the Geodata Science for Professional (GDSP) MS program.
Geodata Science News
Scientists are closing in on the cause of volcanic super-eruptions
08-11-2022
Volcanic activity can range from gaseous emissions with nonexplosive lava all the way to what is known as super-eruptions. Super-eruptions are massive and explosive and have widespread and sometimes global implications. A team of researchers, including Dr. Marissa Tremblay of Purdue EAPS, studied deposits from an ancient super-eruption in the Central Andes to provide new information about what happens just before the eruption takes place. The team recently published its findings in Nature.
New dating method shatters our understanding of human evolution
07-11-2022
BIG THINK ? Hominins link the great apes with modern humans on the evolutionary tree. Ancestral hominins mark a crucial transition in the story of human evolution, and they have fascinated paleoanthropologists for decades. Purdue University’s Darryl Granger is among the researchers who questioned the age of the Member 4 Australopithecus. Recently, Granger and a team of scientists from France and South Africa endeavored to redate the famous fossils using a new method. They published their results in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Purdue professor, international research team make million-year discovery
07-08-2022
WLFI ? By using Purdue's PRIME Lab to count atoms isolated from the cave’s rock samples, Dr. Darryl Granger, of Purdue EAPS, and his team recently discovered some of the samples are around 3.5 million years old. For decades, scientists had believed the fossils from this particular part of the cave were closer to 2.5 million years old.
Can you imagine being so old, scientists were wrong about your age by nearly one million years?
07-08-2022
WLFI ? Can you imagine being so old, scientists were wrong about your age by nearly one million years? That is exactly what a Purdue professor and fellow researchers believe they have discovered in a cave in South Africa. Purdue Geology Professor Darryl Granger has been working in the Purdue Rare Isotope Measurement Laboratory. He has been studying rock samples from a cave site called Sterkfontein, which is located in the "Cradle of Humankind."
Fossils in the Cradle of Humankind site reignite debate over origins of humans
07-07-2022
NBC ? Fossils of early human ancestors found in a South African cave system may be 1 million years older than first thought, according to a study. The findings published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal suggest that they are between 3.4 million to 3.6 million years old ? older than Ethiopia’s renowned Lucy or Dinkinesh fossil that was discovered in 1974 and dated back to 3.2 million years. Dr. Darryl Granger, of Purdue EAPS, was the lead author of this publication.
Ancient human fossils found in the 'Cradle of Humankind' are a million years older than expected
07-06-2022
INTERESTING ENGINEERING - An innovative fossil dating method developed by Darryl Granger, a professor of earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences in Purdue University's College of Science, has revealed that multiple fossil remains of early human ancestors were found at the site of Sterkfontein Caves could be much, much older than previously thought.