Michael Crowell:
Welcome to our Admitted Student Day presentation
for the Department of Geological Sciences.
I am professor Michael Crowell and I'm leading
you through a short 10 to 12 minute presentation
about what our department has to offer. I
doubt any of us thought this is how we would
be spending our spring looking at potential
colleges, but here we are and we're trying
to make the best of this situation. I hope
this presentation gives you a glimpse into
why I believe we are a strong department academically
and community wise. I will share our highlights
of the department and hope it provides you
with the information you need in making your
decision about what school you wish to attend
in the fall. Our department offers two main
degrees, a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor
of Science. The BA is typically a degree path
that our dual elementary education and geology
majors pursue. This track is designed for
students wishing to teach grades K through
6. In our BS degree, we offer three tracks.
The first is no concentration, which is commonly
pursued by our dual education majors wishing
to teach in the middle school to the high
school level. We also offer a geological science
and environmental geoscience track for those
interested in pursuing advanced graduate degrees,
working in the industry, or even teaching
as well. Field experience is an integral part
of our curriculum. Many of our courses integrated
field trips or field projects as part of the
semester coursework. In addition, the department
offers a spring field excursion course the
students can take for elective credit. Each
fall, the interested group meets and they
decide on which location they would like to
attend. The course can be part of their tuition,
but there is an additional cost for the airfare
transportation and lodging that usually costs
about $2,000. Here were several the places
this course has visited over the last few
years. We've been to Hawaii several times.
Once in 2011, where we safely evacuated that
tsunami that was generated as a result of
the earthquake in Fukushima, Japan. The slide
in the lower left shows the aftermath of that
event. We returned in 2016 and was grateful
for a less exciting trip. We've been to the
Yucatan Peninsula in 2018 and Iceland
last year. Unfortunately, this year's trip
was canceled due to the COVID-19 outbreak,
but we look forward to next year's trip. One
of the biggest accomplishments we are proud
of is our student research program. Students
are encouraged to get involved in faculty
research early. Or, to develop their own project
if they choose depending on their interests.
Here are just a few of the students who have
worked with us over the last couple of
years. Projects range from geochemistry to
structural geology to petrology and
geophysics and remote sensing. Students
can write a research proposal for the
Adrian Tinsley summer grant, which allows
them to travel into the field to conduct
their research. The department also has a
field fund generously established by
alumni that help provide financial
support as well.
Students have conducted work in Montana,
the Republic of Georgia, and even a Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in California
through a variety of projects and
funding opportunities. Our faculty are
deeply involved in integrating students
into our active research programs. Most
of our students present the results at
several possible venues. The most common
is the annual BSU spring symposium. Here
is a brief list of the number of
projects presented at last year's
symposium. In total, we had 24 students
from our department present and that
represented over 30 percent of our
majors. Students are also encouraged to present
their results at professional scientific
conferences as well. Over the last few
years, we had had several students
present at such distinguished geological
conferences as the American Geophysical
Union and the Geological Society of
America. These not only allow our
students to showcase their work, but also
provides them with networking
opportunities and chances to meet
faculty at other institutions, which is a
great benefit if the student is planning
on pursuing an advanced graduate degree.
The largest employment field for our
graduates is the field of environmental
consulting and engineering. Projected
growth in these fields stands at about
6% and graduates from our department
have enjoyed 100% employment. Whether
they continue in the geosciences or even
if they decide to pursue a completely
different career path. We feel our
students are well prepared with critical
thinking, problem-solving, and
communication skills. Our dual majors
also have a very successful rate of
being hired in teaching positions. One
event the college holds is an open lab
night in which the Science Building is
open to the public. Our majors, both
education-oriented as well as straight
geoscience students, participate. Here is
an
example on the left of a student
demonstrating how an ultraviolet light
causes some minerals to fluoresce. The
student on the right is showing how
stratigraphy fossils record
the geologic history of an area. These open
lab nights provide our student with a
great experience to work on verbal
communication skills, highlight their
interests, and further develop a close
departmental community. Here is just a
short list of the various companies,
graduate schools, and K through 12 schools
where our graduates currently work or
attend. Many of our alums are in consistent
communication with us and
are always looking for new BSU graduates.
So, we have a wonderful pipeline for our
graduates to follow. As I've mentioned
previously, one of our biggest roles is
fostering and developing a sense of
community within the geology department
as well as the BSU campus.
Student support and friendships are an
important part of the education
experience here at BSU. We have a great
group of students from upperclassmen to
the lowerclassmen. Our Geosociety Club
is a student-run organization, which
meets about twice a month. The club
organizes a variety of events and group
activities throughout the semester and
are in constant communication with all
the majors and faculty about
participating. Some of the activities
they ran this fall was a mineral
collecting trip to a quarry in Fitchburg,
a trip to Fort Phoenix in Bedford, MA,
as well as numerous hiking excursions. A
really fantastic collaboration we have
is with the Southeast Massachusetts
Mineral Club. The club holds their
monthly meeting in our lab spaces and
for the past three years, they have
provided five scholarships ranging
anywhere from five hundred to a thousand
dollars for our students. Last year, we
had two young ladies received $1,000
awards each. Our relationship with the
club continues and they will be providing
another two thousand dollars this year
for student awards. So, why choose BSU?
Well, it's a good question. We feel we are
positioned as a very strong, successful
program with a classic geology
curriculum. While many geoscience
departments in the area have ceased
their classic geology programs and have
gravitated to what they call
environmental studies, we find that
companies and graduate schools are still
in search of strong well-trained geology
students. We feel we are well-positioned
to continue our successful program as
well as the successes of all our
students. I will close here with a final
word that the education and guidance for our
students is our top priority. We provide
them with the knowledge, tools, and skills
necessary to compete and succeed in any
career choice they make. We direct them
one step at a time and help them over
seemingly impossible obstacles. To
conclude, I would like to invite you to
join us this week for a video conference
on Thursday from 1 to 2 p.m. We hope if
you have any additional questions
concerning our department or program, the
University, we will be able to answer them
for you as you make this decision to see
if BSU is the right place for you. We think
it is.
See you then.
