Admission to the Geology undergraduate major was
suspended in May 2006
This page and links on it
are
only for the record; they do NOT indicate an active Geology
undergraduate program
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
Undergraduate
Majors
The Department of Earth and
Atmospheric
Sciences offered up to 2010 the following undergraduate degrees
which
included some
content of the Geological Sciences:
The B.S.
degree
program in Environmental Science.
Prospective Earth Science high school teachers needed to define and
follow a Student-Initiated
Interdisciplinary
B.S. major in Earth Science
There was also a B.A. degree program in
Earth
and Atmospheric Science.
The BS degree program in Geology was
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, also from lack of resources at this
institution.
The faculty were strongly committed to undergraduate teaching.
Geology
courses in the Environmental Science BS were normally taught by
the
faculty, including freshman level
courses.
The faculty generally received high teaching evaluations; one
faculty
member,
Dr.
John
Delano, is a Distinguished Teaching Professor. Sophomore
through
senior level courses were a reasonable size (10-20 students),
promoting
individual attention by faculty, and by teaching assistants in
laboratory
sections under faculty supervision.
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
There was a significant revision of the requirements and courses
for the
Environmental Science BS
major effective Fall semester 2009. 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.
Environmental
Science
BS majors in 2010 were required to
complete
a 45-credit core curriculum consisting of two courses each in
calculus,
chemistry,
and physics, one course in biology, and 8 courses in environmental
sciences (5 of which had a geological component). 21
additional credit
hours were also required in a concentration; the Geology concentration of the Environmental Science BS required at
least 5
additional geology-focussed courses. For the Earth
Science
Interdisciplinary
BS, a minimum of 7 geology-related courses were required,
together with five
courses
in Atmospheric Science [16 credits], a course in astronomy [3
credits],
and two courses each of chemistry and physics, and one or two in
calculus.
The Department offered an Honors
Program for qualified majors. Double majors in environmental
science-math, environmental
science-physics, environmental science-chemistry, or environmental
science-atmospheric science were encouraged for
interested
and qualified students.
Most students completed their degrees in four years, even if they
didn't
start the Environmental science major until the sophomore year.
Transfer students entering with an Associates degree were 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 was available to students in majors
other
than Environmental or Earth Science. This required 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 got a combined major and
minor
in
Geology or Earth Science, although they could choose in addition to
declare
a specific minor in another field.
Special Programs and Opportunities
The Department co-sponsors a seminar
series
that
provides students with a sampling of significant topics in current
research presented by
outside speakers from research universities. Seminars are also
presented by graduate
students on
their
research. All these seminars 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 had 2 courses that involved significant
geological
field experience. These were:
in the fall semester - Stratigraphy,
in the spring semester - Structural
Geology;
we were unable because of the shrinkage of faculty resources to
continue
to offer the senior-level Field
Mapping course.
Undergraduates could 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 could 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 published regularly in leading scientific
journals,
and are well known internationally in the geosciences. Research
topics in 2010 included: 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); tropical climate change, glacial retreat in the
Andes; (Dr.
Mathias Vuille).
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) prefer to hire graduates with a Geology BS or MS degree,
although
students
with
Environmental Science BS degrees have obtained employment 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 Geology Ph.D graduates successfully found employment
in
academic
positions at universities in the US and abroad.
For more information
Dept. of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences ES 351, The
University at
Albany,
Albany, NY 12222
(518) 442-4466 email
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.
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
Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences
Last revision: 2009/06/16