There are two levels of honors at the University of Washington. For a degree earned "With College Honors," students enter the College Honors Program (generally as freshmen) and complete a four-year track that includes both an Honors Core and Departmental Honors. Students may choose to participate in Departmental Honors only. Completion of Departmental Honors alone results in a degree earned "With Distinction" in the major. Admission to the ESS Honors Program is generally by invitation; college honors students are automatically eligible. Interested students should contact the Honors Program coordinator. The planning document for current ESS students is here.

Program Requirements
1. A student must present and maintain a 3.4 GPA in the ESS major, and have achieved a 3.3 cumulative GPA upon graduation. If either of these is not achieved, courses designated as “Honors” will remain on the student’s transcript, but the title of “Graduation with Distinction” will not appear on the diploma.

2. The student must complete a 3-credit ESS 489 Honors Seminar course. The seminar will be centered on important and controversial scientific issues, and will examine methodological and philosophical issues in the Earth and Space sciences. Honors students and committee will meet to consider potential topics and arrive at a program suited to participants in that years’ seminar. Students will be required to read papers on these topics and participate in discussions. In addition, enrichment will include at least one of the following: a relevant field trip; a visit to a professional meeting; or an equivalent extra-mural activity. This course will count as a 400-level elective.

3. Students must serve as an assistant (T.A.A.) to a graduate teaching assistant in the laboratories for an undergraduate ESS course. This exercise requires the student to formulate, synthesize and present knowledge gained during prior coursework. T.A.A.’s are intended to complete the T.A. role within the laboratory/classroom/field, and will not be responsible for clerical tasks or grading. The student may register for academic credit for this work through ESS 492, or this may be done on a non-credit basis.

4. The student must complete an independent research project under the supervision of at least one ESS faculty member. The project must be approved by the ESS Honors Program Committee. The student must present the results of the research orally within the department, and at the UW Undergraduate Research Symposium, either orally or as a poster. This project may be done on a credit or non-credit basis.

Minimum Admission Requirements
ESS or GEOL declared major with Junior standing; current UW GPA > 3.3 and Current ESS GPA > 3.4; minimum ESS coursework completed: ESS 211, 212, 213

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