The University of Colorado Boulder was ranked second in the world in geosciences by U.S. News & World Report last week.

CU Boulder trailed only the California Institute of Technology. Rounding out the top five are the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Harvard University and the University of Washington. U.S. News & World Report ranked the top 100 universities in geosciences in 2014 based primarily on their research and reputation.

Geosciences is considered the study of Earth, from its structure to the history of its formation. Studies in the field of geosciences include geology, geophysics, geochemistry, climatology, oceanography and petroleum geology.

Check out CU Boulder's news release here. And learn more about:

• The rankings
• CU Boulder
• CIRES
• The CIRES-NOAA partnership