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Geological Sciences Undergraduate Information

Links to sections down this page:
Why study Geology?  |  Majors  |  Degree program requirements
Minor  |   Special programs  |   Graduate school opportunities [BS/MS program]  |  Faculty  |  Careers
Other information sources on Geology  |  Geology Program Undergraduate brochure
Undergraduate Bulletin: Degree requirements   |   Undergraduate Course listing

Geological Sciences -- Undergraduate Majors

The Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences offers the following undergraduate degrees which include some content of the Geological Sciences:
The B.S. degree program in Environmental Science, which includes a geological science track (see Careers below).
Prospective Earth Science high school teachers need to define and follow a Student-Initiated Interdisciplinary B.S. major in Earth Science
There is also a B.A. degree program in Earth and Atmospheric Science.
The BS degree program in Geology has been suspended due to inadequate faculty resources to sustain it.
In addition, admission to the graduate program leading to M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Geological Sciences has also been suspended, due to poverty of resources at this institution.

The faculty are strongly committed to undergraduate teaching. Geology courses in the Environmental Science BS are normally taught by the faculty, including freshman level courses. The faculty generally receive high teaching evaluations; one faculty member, Dr. John Delano, is a Distinguished Teaching Professor. Sophomore through senior level courses are a reasonable size (10-20 students), promoting individual attention by faculty, and by teaching assistants in laboratory sections under faculty supervision.

The Program in Geological Sciences aimed to provide a broad education in the geological sciences. Geology is an exciting field; over the last 30 years there has been a scientific revolution resulting from the set of ideas known as Plate Tectonics, which provide a unified explanation of the origin of most earthquakes, volcanos, mountains, oceans and the cause of continental drift. Geology has played the central role in understanding the origin and history of the Moon as revealed by study of samples returned to Earth by the Apollo missions. Geology is an essential component of studies to understand the surface environment of the Earth, including Global Climate Change, resource discovery and limits, environmental hazards and their possible mitigation, and satisfactory remediation of subsurface pollution.
[More - Why study Geology?]

Required Courses for the BS degrees

Significant changes to the requirements and courses for the Environmental Science BS major have occurred recently. Please see the current Undergraduate Bulletin listings for official details. Please contact the Department in person or through email if you need any clarification of the revised requirements, or of the procedures necessary to do an interdisciplinary major.

Courses in Geological Sciences: Seven required courses [25 credit hours] in Geological Sciences for the Geology track of the Environmental Science BS; seven required  courses [29 credits] in Geological Sciences for the Earth Science Interdisciplinary BS.

Courses in other sciencesEnvironmental Science BS majors must complete two courses in calculus, and one course in each of biology, chemistry, and physics. Earth Science Interdisciplinary BS majors usually are required to complete five courses in Atmospheric Science [16 credits], a course in astronomy [3 credits], and two courses each of chemistry and physics, and one in calculus.

The Department offers an Honors Program for qualified majors. Double majors in environmental science-math, environmental science-physics, environmental science-chemistry, or environmental science-atmospheric science are encouraged for interested and qualified students.

Most students complete their degrees in four years, even if they don't start the Environmental science major until the sophomore year.
Transfer students entering with an Associates degree are in most cases able to complete their BS degree in two years.


*Earth Science BS majors: Because of changes required by the New York State Education Department, purely undergraduate teacher education degrees are no longer offered at Albany.
An undergraduate Earth Science Interdisciplinary BS degree should be combined by prospective high school Earth Science teachers with a subsequent MS degree in the School of Education, or elsewhere.

Geology Minor

A separate minor in Geology is available to students in majors other than Environmental or Earth Science. This requires a minimum of 20 credits in courses in Geological Sciences, including 9 credits in courses with prerequisites of Geology courses. [Undergraduate Bulletin listings for details]
Environmental, and Earth Science majors get a combined major and minor in Geology or Earth Science, although they may choose in addition to declare a specific minor in another field.

Special Programs and Opportunities

The Geological Sciences faculty in the Department co-sponsors a seminar series that provides students with a sampling of significant topics in current geological research presented by outside speakers from research universities such as MIT, Columbia, Penn State, and Cornell. Seminars are also presented each year by graduate students on their research. Both of these seminar series are open to interested undergraduates.

Albany is located amongst by far the most richly varied geologic setting of any of the SUNY University centers, making it superior for field-based education, which was always a particular strength of the former Department of Geological Sciences. The Environmental Sciences Program has 2 courses that involve significant geological field experience. These are:
in the fall semester - Stratigraphy,Stratigraphy class in the Catskill Devonian - 4.0 K jpg  link to 64K jpg  in the spring semester - Structural Geology;Structural Geology class on the upper Hudson River - 3K jpg link to 59K jpg
we are unable because of the shrinkage of faculty resources to continue to offer the senior-level Field Mapping course.
Field Mapping class on Ripogenus Lake, August 2002 - 4K jpg link to 58K jpg image

Undergraduates may do an internship in Albany at the New York State Geological Survey, NY State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), Dept of Transportation (DOT), U.S. Geological Survey (water resources)[map], or with private companies. Interested undergraduates may also assist in the research program of a faculty member.

Graduate School Opportunities

Because admission to the Geological Sciences graduate program has been terminated, qualified undergraduates cannot any longer enroll for a combined B.S./M.S. program (5 years) which generally saved approximately 1 year toward the completion of the M.S.

Faculty

All faculty publish regularly in leading scientific journals, and are well known internationally in the geosciences. Current research topics include: geochemical investigations of moon rocks, and geochemical studies bearing on the origin of life (Dr. John Delano); processes creating the mountains formed during continental collisions in the Himalayas/Tibet, and the Appalachians (Dr. William Kidd); climate change inferred from the use of isotopes in deep-sea sediments and living corals (Dr. Brad Linsley); the fate and transport of mercury and other heavy metals in the surface environment (Dr. John Arnason).

Careers

Graduates with a B.S. in geology have found employment not only in jobs directly related to geology (oil exploration, mineral exploration, groundwater, consulting geologist, laboratory research assistant, secondary school teaching [Earth Science/teacher education major]), but also in fields such as computer systems analyst, journalist (science or other fields), technical sales, librarian, politician (e.g., Bruce Babbit), and many others. Geology, or Environmental Science would be a highly appropriate B.S. degree to obtain before entering law school, especially for those intending to specialize in environmental law, mining law, or water law. Students are advised that environmental consulting businesses (groundwater, pollution remediation, etc) mostly hire graduates with a Geology BS or MS degree; students with Environmental Science BS degrees have not generally been preferred in this field.

Geologists who obtain an M.S. degree have a much wider range of professional opportunities in fields using geologic expertise, including oil, mining, and environmental engineering companies, as well as federal and state agencies (geologic surveys, water supply, environmental conservation, and others). Many of our Ph.D graduates have successfully found employment in academic positions at universities in the US and abroad.

For more information

Dept. of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences ES 351, The University at Albany, Albany, NY 12222
(518) 442-4466     email
Geological Sciences Program Undergraduate brochure
  is being revised

American Geologic Institute http://www.agiweb.org/
4220 King Street, Alexandria, VA 22302-1507
(703) 379-2480

American Geophysical Union http://www.agu.org/

Geological Society of America http://www.geosociety.org/

American Association of Petroleum Geologists http://www.aapg.org

Why study rocks, mud, and dead bones? (or, what is the significance of Geology?)

"Tell me about the past, and I will know the future" (Confucius)

Richter (Professor of Geophysics at Chicago, and a National Academy of Sciences member) claims (reference below**) that geology programs alone provide a unique, and uniquely valuable experience for university students in that only in geology do they get to combine a distinctively historical, and pragmatic, observational approach in combination with exact analytical/experimental techniques using highly sophisticated computational and analytical devices. We also maintain that only from the evidence of geology may students gain a full appreciation for the history of life; particularly for the immense time it has taken for life on earth to reach its present development, and for the huge changes in environmental conditions that have taken place in the geological past, with highly significant impact on all living things (for example, mass extinction events, including the event 65 million years ago which extinguished the dinosaurs). The recent geological past (20,000 yr), with rapid deglaciation and 120 meter rise in sea level, and large climatic changes, is particularly relevant. The changes brought about by humans over the last few hundred years, including very high rates of species extinctions, represents one of the most significant events in Earth's 4,500,000,000 year history (entirely derived, prior to the written and archaeological records, from the evidence of geology). Only students that have been exposed to courses in geology can be expected to appreciate fully the evidence for these things and the significance of the challenges and political choices that await us in the likely event of anthropogenically-induced global climate change. For the most part, the general public is poorly aware of the serious limitations of earth resources, particularly the fact the world's petroleum reserves are now at peak production and will be severely diminished within about 40 years. Geology is also the only program where students may learn about natural geological hazards (earthquakes, volcanos, landslides, floods, erosion, etc.) and the assessment, reduction and avoidance of these. Geology is also essential to understanding and planning rational responses to the needs for long-term radioisotope disposal, the remediation of contaminated groundwater, and the prevention of future pollution of groundwater by hazardous materials. **Richter, F. (1991). Geology and the university. Geotimes, v.36 (9), p. 5.

To start learning more about these subjects - sign up for Introduction to Environmentl Science (GEO 105N); offered every semester, and in one module of Summer Session

And here's another way to express the significance of the geological and atmospheric sciences

Geology, atmospheric sciences and architecture of the State University at Albany uptown campus

Return to Required Courses for the BS degrees, above

Return to Geological Sciences index page
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

Last revision:  2008/05/13