Master of Science in Applied Geosciences program
is a professional program and that makes it
unique among many of the master's programs
out there because most are research master's.
We are different because we do train our students
to become professionals to go out and work
in the industry, particularly in environmental
remediation, engineering geology and hydrogeology.
These students are not just getting the technical
skills that they need but they are also getting
some of the professional skills.
The MSAG program was definitely unique because you can tailor it to whatever you're looking for.
You can focus on specific research, if you
want to go that route, or you can focus on
an internship, or you can focus on being a
full-time employee and then supplement your
normal day-to-day with some of the classes
at night.
Philadelphia is a great place for geoscientists
because first of all, its location.
It's in the northeast of the United States,
so it provides us a window to look into
the consequences of America's fast development
and industrialization.
Also, Pennsylvania has a wide range of environments
ranging from farmland to small towns to large cities.
Each of them has its own set of environmental
challenges, which provide us with a really
good opportunity to study in the field.
Students may be surprised at the number of
lecturers and professors who provide courses
at this program.
Almost all of us are working professionals.
When I'm teaching hydrology every single week,
I'm can bring some experience from work that
just recently happened to the classroom.
In conjunction with Penn, I'm doing a bit
of environmental writing for a few different clients.
And, the MSAG coursework has really fortified my capacity to help those clients because it's provided
concepts from hydrology to geochemistry, even
into climatology that can really add value
to clients who may not have that orientation
to some of these environmental processes.
Now that I'm ready to graduate, I feel that
I am extremely prepared to enter my career choice.
I should be ready to do anything from ground
water modeling to geologic field studies to sampling.
Everything that I've learned in this program
has prepared me beautifully, I think, to enter
my new career, wherever it may take me.
