My Major, Blog Post 6.4

Geosciences is, to me, an incredibly exciting and ever changing scientific field. Much of the world's geology is still under-researched; meaning that there are practically limitless projects being proposed to research everything from crust thickness to astrogeology (studying the geology of other planets).

1. What do students in your program or department learn how to do?

The course for geosciences at U of A list covers everything from simple, physical geology all the way up to the study of sediments and their stratigraphy and more in depth analysis of plate tectonics and structures.

However, geosciences students must also be proficient in calculus, physics, and chemistry. All three of these fields are commonplace in geosciences.

2. What do people who get degrees in this field usually go on to do for work?

Geosciences student usually need at least a Masters degree to obtain a sublime career in the field. Typically, three main avenues exist for geosciences graduates: Government, Academia, and Industry.

Government jobs include working for geosciences at NASA, working with the U.S Geological Survey, working with smaller, state wide surveys, etc.

Academia jobs include conducting research at universities or colleges, being a professor, being a teacher outside of a university/college setting, etc.

Finally, industry jobs include working for gas/oil companies, working for mining firms, exploration of new mineral reserves, etc.

3. What drew you to this field?

I gained an interest in geology by living in Tucson. The city is surrounded by mountains and I always wondered how they got there. By researching them, I found out that the mountains were formed by a process called "fault-blocking".

In this process, two sections of land along a fault gets thrust up in to the air. A section of land in the middle is thrust down. This process forms a basin or valley. Tucson sits in such a valley.

Researching this process got me interested in just what other kinds of information was present in the field.

4. Name three of the leaders/most exciting people involved in this field right now in 2016. Why are they interesting or exciting to you? These could be individual people or specific companies, organizations, businesses or non-profits. Hyperlink us to a homepage professional website for each person, if possible.

NASA and, more specifically, the Jet Propulsion Lab. This government organization interests me because not only am I interested in geology, I am interested in astronomy and planetary science as well.

James F. Reilly. Former astronaut and current geologist. Dean of Science and Tech. development for the American Public University System.

He is interesting to me because, surprisingly, there are not many professional scientists that became astronauts. Many astronauts have some kind of military background. It is interesting to see individuals that are unique in their path to space.

US Geological Survey. Main geologic survey in the U.S. Interests me because of the research being done around the country, including studying volcanoes and earthquakes.

5. What are the names of three leading academic/scholarly journals in your field? Where are they published? Give us the names and locations of at least 3. (HINT: If you have no idea what the answer to this question is, try Googling “What are the top academic journals in [insert field of study]?” and peruse the results). Make the titles of each journal into a working hyperlink to the website for that publication. (NOTE: if your links aren’t included or don’t work or if the page it directs us to is blocked from public view, I will not be able to assign you full credit for this exercise).

Geology. New York City, New York, USA.

The Journal of Geology. Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Geophysical Journal International. London, United Kingdom.

University of Exeter. Geology Fieldwork. February 28th, 2012 via Flickr. Attribution License.