diff --git a/.github/auto-assign.yml b/.github/auto-assign.yml
index 740c50523..5b0b21e2f 100644
--- a/.github/auto-assign.yml
+++ b/.github/auto-assign.yml
@@ -4,12 +4,13 @@ addReviewers: true
 # Set to 'author' to add PR's author as a assignee
 addAssignees: author
 
-# A list of reviewers to be added to PRs (GitHub user  name)
+# A list of reviewers to be added to PRs (GitHub user name)
 reviewers:
   - Gui-FernandesBR
   - giovaniceotto
   - MateusStano
-  
+  - phmbressan
+
 # A number of reviewers added to the PR
 # Set 0 to add all the reviewers (default: 0)
 numberOfReviewers: 0
@@ -17,3 +18,5 @@ numberOfReviewers: 0
 # A list of keywords to be skipped the process if PR's title include it
 skipKeywords:
   - wip
+  - work in progress
+  - draft
diff --git a/.github/workflows/auto-assign-projects b/.github/workflows/auto-assign-projects
deleted file mode 100644
index 0c75b7aed..000000000
--- a/.github/workflows/auto-assign-projects
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,21 +0,0 @@
-name: Auto Assign to Project(s)
-
-on:
-  issues:
-    types: [opened]
-  pull_request:
-    types: [opened]
-env:
-  GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-
-jobs:
-  assign_one_project:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    name: Assign to One Project
-    steps:
-    - name: Assign NEW issues and NEW pull requests to RocketPy's main project
-      uses: srggrs/assign-one-project-github-action@1.3.1
-      if: github.event.action == 'opened'
-      with:
-        project: 'https://github.com/orgs/RocketPy-Team/projects/1'
-        column_name: '🆕 New'
diff --git a/.github/workflows/auto-assign.yml b/.github/workflows/auto-assign.yml
index 122a3107d..c58140c0d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/auto-assign.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/auto-assign.yml
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
-name: Auto Assign Issues and PRs once opened
+name: Auto Assign PRs once opened
 on:
-  issues:
-    types: [opened]
   pull_request:
     types: [opened]
 jobs:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test_pytest.yaml b/.github/workflows/test_pytest.yaml
index c06c3d1f6..8d71eb857 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test_pytest.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test_pytest.yaml
@@ -23,10 +23,15 @@ jobs:
       - name: Install dependencies
         run: |
           python -m pip install --upgrade pip
-          pip install -r requirements-tests.txt
-      - name: Build RocketPy
+      - name: Build RocketPy (without optional dependencies)
+        run: |
+          pip install .
+      - name: Import rocketpy in python and test if it works
         run: |
-          pip install -e.[all]
+          python -c "import sys, rocketpy; print(f'{rocketpy.__name__} running on Python {sys.version}')"
+      - name: Install optional dependencies
+        run: |
+          pip install -r requirements-tests.txt
       - name: Test with pytest
         run: |
           pytest
diff --git a/docs/user/requirements.rst b/docs/user/requirements.rst
index a5edf83e9..3e56829ae 100644
--- a/docs/user/requirements.rst
+++ b/docs/user/requirements.rst
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ In case you want to use this class, you will need to install the following packa
 
 - `timezonefinder` : to allow for automatic timezone detection,
 - `windrose` : to allow for windrose plots,
+- `ipython` : to allow for animated plots,
 - `ipywidgets` : to allow for GIFs generation,
 - `jsonpickle` : to allow for saving and loading of class instances.
 
diff --git a/requirements-optional.txt b/requirements-optional.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..699bbde14
--- /dev/null
+++ b/requirements-optional.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+windrose>=1.6.8
+ipython
+ipywidgets>=7.6.3
+jsonpickle
+timezonefinder
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 9b7619ead..18463c5d8 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -2,11 +2,6 @@ numpy>=1.13
 scipy>=1.0
 matplotlib>=3.0
 netCDF4>=1.6.4
-windrose>=1.6.8
-ipywidgets>=7.6.3
 requests
 pytz
-timezonefinder
 simplekml
-jsonpickle
-numericalunits
diff --git a/rocketpy/EnvironmentAnalysis.py b/rocketpy/EnvironmentAnalysis.py
index c661ebca7..172402d3a 100644
--- a/rocketpy/EnvironmentAnalysis.py
+++ b/rocketpy/EnvironmentAnalysis.py
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@
 import json
 from collections import defaultdict
 
-import matplotlib.ticker as mtick
 import netCDF4
 import numpy as np
 import pytz
@@ -19,23 +18,14 @@
 from rocketpy.Function import Function
 from rocketpy.units import convert_units
 
-try:
-    import ipywidgets as widgets
-    import jsonpickle
-    from timezonefinder import TimezoneFinder
-    from windrose import WindroseAxes
-except ImportError as error:
-    raise ImportError(
-        f"The following error was encountered while importing dependencies: '{error}'. "
-        "Please note that the EnvironmentAnalysis requires additional dependencies, "
-        "which can be installed by running 'pip install rocketpy[env_analysis]'."
-    )
 from .plots.environment_analysis_plots import _EnvironmentAnalysisPlots
 from .prints.environment_analysis_prints import _EnvironmentAnalysisPrints
 from .tools import (
     bilinear_interpolation,
+    check_requirement_version,
     geopotential_to_height_agl,
     geopotential_to_height_asl,
+    import_optional_dependency,
     time_num_to_date_string,
 )
 
@@ -194,6 +184,9 @@ def __init__(
         self.unit_system = unit_system
         self.max_expected_altitude = max_expected_altitude
 
+        # Check if extra requirements are installed
+        self.__check_requirements()
+
         # Manage units and timezones
         self.__init_data_parsing_units()
         self.__find_preferred_timezone()
@@ -232,6 +225,39 @@ def __init__(
 
     # Private, auxiliary methods
 
+    def __check_requirements(self):
+        """Check if extra requirements are installed. If not, print a message
+        informing the user that some methods may not work and how to install
+        the extra requirements for environment analysis.
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        None
+        """
+        env_analysis_require = {  # The same as in the setup.py file
+            "timezonefinder": "",
+            "windrose": ">=1.6.8",
+            "IPython": "",
+            "ipywidgets": ">=7.6.3",
+            "jsonpickle": "",
+        }
+        has_error = False
+        for module_name, version in env_analysis_require.items():
+            version = ">=0" if not version else version
+            try:
+                check_requirement_version(module_name, version)
+            except (ValueError, ImportError) as e:
+                has_error = True
+                print(
+                    f"The following error occurred while importing {module_name}: {e}"
+                )
+        if has_error:
+            print(
+                "Given the above errors, some methods may not work. Please run "
+                + "'pip install rocketpy[env_analysis]' to install extra requirements."
+            )
+        return None
+
     def __init_surface_dictionary(self):
         # Create dictionary of file variable names to process surface data
         return {
@@ -382,10 +408,19 @@ def __localize_input_dates(self):
     def __find_preferred_timezone(self):
         if self.preferred_timezone is None:
             # Use local timezone based on lat lon pair
-            tf = TimezoneFinder()
-            self.preferred_timezone = pytz.timezone(
-                tf.timezone_at(lng=self.longitude, lat=self.latitude)
-            )
+            try:
+                timezonefinder = import_optional_dependency("timezonefinder")
+                tf = timezonefinder.TimezoneFinder()
+                self.preferred_timezone = pytz.timezone(
+                    tf.timezone_at(lng=self.longitude, lat=self.latitude)
+                )
+            except ImportError:
+                print(
+                    "'timezonefinder' not installed, defaulting to UTC."
+                    + " Install timezonefinder to get local time zone."
+                    + " To do so, run 'pip install timezonefinder'"
+                )
+                self.preferred_timezone = pytz.timezone("UTC")
         elif isinstance(self.preferred_timezone, str):
             self.preferred_timezone = pytz.timezone(self.preferred_timezone)
 
@@ -2727,6 +2762,7 @@ def load(self, filename="env_analysis_dict"):
         EnvironmentAnalysis object
 
         """
+        jsonpickle = import_optional_dependency("jsonpickle")
         encoded_class = open(filename).read()
         return jsonpickle.decode(encoded_class)
 
@@ -2743,6 +2779,7 @@ def save(self, filename="env_analysis_dict"):
         -------
         None
         """
+        jsonpickle = import_optional_dependency("jsonpickle")
         encoded_class = jsonpickle.encode(self)
         file = open(filename, "w")
         file.write(encoded_class)
diff --git a/rocketpy/plots/environment_analysis_plots.py b/rocketpy/plots/environment_analysis_plots.py
index ffd5491ef..773933d87 100644
--- a/rocketpy/plots/environment_analysis_plots.py
+++ b/rocketpy/plots/environment_analysis_plots.py
@@ -2,20 +2,17 @@
 __copyright__ = "Copyright 20XX, RocketPy Team"
 __license__ = "MIT"
 
-import ipywidgets as widgets
 import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
 import matplotlib.ticker as mtick
 import numpy as np
-from IPython.display import HTML
 from matplotlib import pyplot as plt
 from matplotlib.animation import FuncAnimation
 from matplotlib.animation import PillowWriter as ImageWriter
 from scipy import stats
-from windrose import WindroseAxes
 
 from rocketpy.units import convert_units
 
-from ..tools import find_two_closest_integers
+from ..tools import find_two_closest_integers, import_optional_dependency
 
 # TODO: `wind_speed_limit` and `clear_range_limits` and should be numbers, not booleans
 
@@ -856,6 +853,8 @@ def plot_wind_rose(
         -------
         WindroseAxes
         """
+        windrose = import_optional_dependency("windrose")
+        WindroseAxes = windrose.WindroseAxes
         ax = WindroseAxes.from_ax(fig=fig, rect=rect)
         ax.bar(
             wind_direction,
@@ -990,8 +989,9 @@ def animate_average_wind_rose(self, figsize=(5, 5), filename="wind_rose.gif"):
 
         Returns
         -------
-        Image : ipywidgets.widgets.widget_media.Image
+        Image : ipywidgets.widget_media.Image
         """
+        widgets = import_optional_dependency("ipywidgets")
         metadata = dict(
             title="windrose",
             artist="windrose",
@@ -1113,6 +1113,9 @@ def animate_wind_gust_distribution(self):
         HTML : IPython.core.display.HTML
             The animation as an HTML object
         """
+        module = import_optional_dependency("IPython.display")
+        HTML = module.HTML  # this is a class
+
         # Gather animation data
         wind_gusts = self.env_analysis.surface_wind_gust_by_hour
 
@@ -1311,6 +1314,9 @@ def animate_surface_wind_speed_distribution(self, wind_speed_limit=False):
         -------
         HTML : IPython.core.display.HTML
         """
+        module = import_optional_dependency("IPython.display")
+        HTML = module.HTML  # this is a class
+
         # Gather animation data
         surface_wind_speeds_at_given_hour = self.env_analysis.surface_wind_speed_by_hour
 
@@ -1608,6 +1614,8 @@ def animate_wind_speed_profile(self, clear_range_limits=False):
             Whether to clear the sky range limits or not, by default False. This
             is useful when the launch site is constrained in terms or altitude.
         """
+        module = import_optional_dependency("IPython.display")
+        HTML = module.HTML  # this is a class
 
         # Create animation
         fig, ax = plt.subplots(dpi=200)
@@ -1687,6 +1695,8 @@ def animate_wind_heading_profile(self, clear_range_limits=False):
             Whether to clear the sky range limits or not, by default False. This
             is useful when the launch site is constrained in terms or altitude.
         """
+        module = import_optional_dependency("IPython.display")
+        HTML = module.HTML  # this is a class
 
         # Create animation
         fig, ax = plt.subplots(dpi=200)
diff --git a/rocketpy/tools.py b/rocketpy/tools.py
index 3a4f97270..44df0d778 100644
--- a/rocketpy/tools.py
+++ b/rocketpy/tools.py
@@ -1,12 +1,17 @@
-from itertools import product
+import importlib, importlib.metadata
+import re
+from bisect import bisect_left
 from cmath import isclose
+from itertools import product
 
-_NOT_FOUND = object()
-
-import numpy as np
 import pytz
 from cftime import num2pydate
-from bisect import bisect_left
+from packaging import version as packaging_version
+
+_NOT_FOUND = object()
+
+# Mapping of module name and the name of the package that should be installed
+INSTALL_MAPPING = {"IPython": "ipython"}
 
 
 class cached_property:
@@ -1231,6 +1236,86 @@ def find_closest(ordered_sequence, value):
     return pivot_index - 1 if value - smaller <= greater - value else pivot_index
 
 
+def import_optional_dependency(name):
+    """Import an optional dependency. If the dependency is not installed, an
+    ImportError is raised. This function is based on the implementation found in
+    pandas repository:
+    github.com/pandas-dev/pandas/blob/main/pandas/compat/_optional.py
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    name : str
+        The name of the module to import. Can be used to import submodules too.
+        The name will be used as an argument to importlib.import_module method.
+
+    Examples:
+    ---------
+    >>> from rocketpy.tools import import_optional_dependency
+    >>> matplotlib = import_optional_dependency("matplotlib")
+    >>> matplotlib.__name__
+    'matplotlib'
+    >>> plt = import_optional_dependency("matplotlib.pyplot")
+    >>> plt.__name__
+    'matplotlib.pyplot'
+    """
+    try:
+        module = importlib.import_module(name)
+    except ImportError as exc:
+        module_name = name.split(".")[0]
+        package_name = INSTALL_MAPPING.get(module_name, module_name)
+        raise ImportError(
+            f"{package_name} is an optional dependency and is not installed.\n"
+            + f"\t\tUse 'pip install {package_name}' to install it or "
+            + "'pip install rocketpy[all]' to install all optional dependencies."
+        ) from exc
+    return module
+
+
+def check_requirement_version(module_name, version):
+    """This function tests if a module is installed and if the version is
+    correct. If the module is not installed, an ImportError is raised. If the
+    version is not correct, an error is raised.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    module_name : str
+        The name of the module to be tested.
+    version : str
+        The version of the module that is required. The string must start with
+        one of the following operators: ">", "<", ">=", "<=", "==", "!=".
+
+    Example:
+    --------
+    >>> from rocketpy.tools import check_requirement_version
+    >>> check_requirement_version("numpy", ">=1.0.0")
+    True
+    >>> check_requirement_version("matplotlib", ">=3.0")
+    True
+    """
+    operators = [">=", "<=", "==", ">", "<", "!="]
+    # separator the operator from the version number
+    operator, v_number = re.match(f"({'|'.join(operators)})(.*)", version).groups()
+
+    if operator not in operators:
+        raise ValueError(
+            f"Version must start with one of the following operators: {operators}"
+        )
+    if importlib.util.find_spec(module_name) is None:
+        raise ImportError(
+            f"{module_name} is not installed. You can install it by running "
+            + f"'pip install {module_name}'"
+        )
+    installed_version = packaging_version.parse(importlib.metadata.version(module_name))
+    required_version = packaging_version.parse(v_number)
+    if installed_version < required_version:
+        raise ImportError(
+            f"{module_name} version is {installed_version}, which is not correct"
+            + f". A version {version} is required. You can install a correct "
+            + f"version by running 'pip install {module_name}{version}'"
+        )
+    return True
+
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     import doctest
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 24dd36f17..e481e9822 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 env_analysis_require = [
     "timezonefinder",
     "windrose>=1.6.8",
+    "IPython",
     "ipywidgets>=7.6.3",
     "jsonpickle",
 ]
diff --git a/tests/test_environment_analysis.py b/tests/test_environment_analysis.py
index a09d48e00..7b5d9570c 100644
--- a/tests/test_environment_analysis.py
+++ b/tests/test_environment_analysis.py
@@ -2,10 +2,10 @@
 import os
 from unittest.mock import patch
 
-import ipywidgets as widgets
 import matplotlib as plt
 import pytest
-from IPython.display import HTML
+
+from rocketpy.tools import import_optional_dependency
 
 plt.rcParams.update({"figure.max_open_warning": 0})
 
@@ -146,6 +146,9 @@ def test_animation_plots(mock_show, env_analysis):
     env_analysis : EnvironmentAnalysis
         A simple object of the EnvironmentAnalysis class.
     """
+    # import dependencies
+    widgets = import_optional_dependency("ipywidgets")
+    HTML = import_optional_dependency("IPython.display").HTML
 
     # Check animation plots
     assert isinstance(env_analysis.plots.animate_average_wind_rose(), widgets.Image)