Welcome to Geology the study of planet
Earth where the disciplines of physics
chemistry mathematics biology
atmospheric sciences and astronomy come
together to reveal the history the
structure and the inner secrets of Earth
and other solar system objects in the
process geologists revealed the
interactions of the solid earth with the
biosphere the atmosphere in oceans and
with human society. Having an entire
planets worth of choices geologists
pursue careers in fields ranging from
purely practical including water
resource management and environmental
monitoring energy and economic resource
exploration environmental hazard
assessment and many fields of public
service to strictly academic including
paleontology and Planetary Sciences with
other professional qualifications they
become civil and environmental engineers
secondary educators environmental
consultants to health and legal
professions policy advocates and
academic faculty and researchers. Whatever their specialty geologists typically
divide their work hours between the
field the laboratory and the office if
you enjoy observing nature outdoors
thinking about society's dependence and
influence on it working with computers
to solve problems and develop models
using sophisticated equipment to measure
physical characteristics of natural
materials learning outdoors thinking
about ancient global environments on
timescales of millions or even billions
of years
or visualizing the surfaces and
interiors of other planets than geology
might be a good professional fit.
Because of its planet wide scope geologists
choose from a wide range of disciplines
such as Volcanology the study of
volcanic eruptions paleontology the
study of life history is preserved in
the rock record geomorphology the study
of features of Earth's changing surface
structural geology the study of the
mechanics of rock deformation
stratigraphy the interpretation of Earth
history preserved and layered rock units
hydrogeology the study of the
interactions of surface ground and ocean
waters with the physical earth
seismology the study of the physics of
seismic wave propagation planetary
sciences the application of the
principles of geology to other planets
Any competent undergraduate program in
geology can teach you this.
What makes Maryland's geology major
different? First, Geology at Maryland
offers three geology major tracks one
for standard professional geology one
for secondary education students
specializing in Earth and Space Sciences
and one for people applying the methods
of physics to geologic problems for
students committed to other majors but
wanting to add depth to their education
we offer eight distinct minors in a wide
range of geologic sub disciplines
importantly we are a small department
that fosters strong personal relations
between students and faculty as a
geology major you can expect useful
mentoring relationships with faculty and
small upper level classes primarily
taught by tenure-track researchers above
all at Maryland geology is dedicated to
inculcating the skills of scientific
research both through coursework and
through our senior thesis research
program many academic department
support senior thesis research where
select students pursue independent
research in which they master scientific
research skills contribute to scientific
knowledge by identifying a significant
research question then developing and
implementing a research program to
address it report their findings in a
professional format at Maryland the
senior research thesis is a requirement
that every major completes for almost 50
years geology has cultivated the
structured research program with the
active collaboration of the entire
faculty making it integral to our
institutional culture whether you intend
to pursue graduate studies or to go
directly into geosciences industries you
will definitely learn the professional
practices of scientific researchers in a
project that is like a scale model of a
graduate master's thesis
become proficient in every method of
public presentation employed by grad
schools and industry produce a
manuscript that can add to geology's
impressive bibliography of peer-reviewed
publications of undergraduate research
and put the finishing touches on this
transcript that shows the world that you
have the chops to perform serious
research wherever your next step takes
you for more information visit our
website and feel free to contact us.
See you at summer orientation!
