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 sciences: Environmental
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,
in the spring semester - Structural
Geology;
we are unable because of the shrinkage of faculty resources to continue
to offer the senior-level Field
Mapping course.
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