The Earth and Environmental Sciences (EES) department at Tulane University is recruiting graduate students for Fall 2026 for a range of projects. All accepted students will be supported with a tuition waiver and stipend associated with a combination of research or teaching assistantships and fellowships. The deadline to submit graduate applications is January 10, 2026. We do not use the GRE for admissions. For more information on how to apply, please see this website.
The department has 13 faculty members and 20 graduate students. Tulane is in New Orleans – a city with tremendous diversity of cultures and community. Rarely a weekend goes by without a festival, and events like Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, and French Quarter Fest draw tourists from around the world.
Below is a brief description of currently available research projects. Interested applicants should contact the listed professor for more details on the research. For general questions about the graduate program, contact Dr. Torbjorn Tornqvist (tor@tulane.edu), director of graduate studies in EES.
- Sediment Dynamics and Stratigraphy Lab is searching for a PhD student to work on projects tied to 1) initiation of submarine channels, 2) dynamics of dunes on the continental slope, and 3) propagation of environmental signals across landscapes and into strata. Projects couple lab, numerical, and field work. Please contact Dr. Kyle Straub (kmstraub@tulane.edu) for further details or visit https://www2.tulane.edu/~kmstraub/index.html
- The Quaternary Research Group offers graduate student opportunities for those interested in late Quaternary, present-day, and future coastal evolution. Research focuses on topics like sea-level change, subsidence, delta evolution, and coastal wetland sustainability. Please contact Dr. Torbjörn Törnqvist (tor@tulane.edu) for further details, or visit https://qrg.wp.tulane.edu/.
- The Environmental Biogeochemistry Modeling Group is hiring a PhD student. Possible research directions include: 1) Earth system model development and application for persistent pollutants such as mercury, plastics, and PFAS; 2) Machine learning and AI–driven approaches for environmental modeling and data analysis. Please contact Dr. Yanxu Zhang (yzhang127@tulane.edu) for further details, or visit https://ebmg.tulane.edu/.
If you are interested in working with another professor in our department who isn't listed above, feel free to contact them directly. Other mechanisms for funding may arise later. All of our faculty can be found here.
