Departmental Unit № 1
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
PhD in Earth and Environmental Sciences
100% Full Funding Guaranteed (5 Years)
Funding Package: Full tuition waiver + 12-month living stipend (~$37,000–$40,000/yr) + health insurance subsidy covered via university teaching and research fellowships.
Fall Priority Deadline: January 15 (Fall Admission)
GRE Policy: Not required / Waived
English Minimums: TOEFL iBT 100 or IELTS 7.0 minimum
MS in Earth and Environmental Sciences (Thesis Track)
100% Full Funding Available for Thesis MS Students
Funding Reality: Boston College offers full teaching assistantships with complete tuition coverage and living stipends for accepted MS thesis candidates.
Application Deadline: January 15
Admissions Advisory: If full funding is required and MS is self-funded, students are strongly advised to apply directly to the PhD track.
Vetted Matched Scholars (1 Profiles)
Prof. Noah Snyder
Professor and Chair of Earth and Environmental Sciences
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
He studies what happens when old, obsolete dams are demolished—measuring how millions of tons of trapped silt and gravel wash downstream and how rivers reshape their channels.
Core Research Topics: Fluvial geomorphology, river restoration, dam removal sediment dynamics, watershed hydrology, river channel incision.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: Monitoring bedload sediment flux and river morphology responses following mill dam removals throughout New England using airborne and drone LiDAR, repeat topographic surveys, and flow gauge records (NSF Geomorphology 2024–2026).
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: Drone photogrammetry, terrestrial LiDAR, acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCP), GIS topographic differencing (DoDs), sediment grain size analysis.
Recruiting Context: Department chair; world-renowned specialist in dam removal sediment mechanics and river recovery.
Candidate Match:
HydrologyGeomorphologyGISRemote Sensing
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Discussing your interest in fluvial geomorphology, dam removal sediment transport, and drone LiDAR topographic modeling in the Snyder Lab."