The Ph.D. in Applied Earth Sciences is offered in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.
Students in this program come from a range of science backgrounds but share a common interest in studying and discovering the interactions between earth processes and humans.
The Ph.D. program prepares students for academic positions; research; and leadership positions in local, state, national, or private environmental organizations. You’ll graduate ready to assess complex environmental systems and assist in providing sound options and solutions for optimizing human-environment interactions.
Students select a research concentration in water resources, geochemical processes, or physical Earth. This provides the technical expertise to excel in research and to be able to apply defined skills to a wide range of problems in applied earth sciences. You must identify their course concentration cluster by the second semester of enrollment in the Ph.D. program. You’ll take courses within the cluster with guidance from your research advisor and research committee.
Course topics in Water Resources:
- Hydrology
- Hydrogeology
- Geomorphology
- Remote Sensing
- Aqueous Geochemistry
- Limnology
- Microbiology
Course topics in Geochemical Processes
- Environmental Geochemistry
- Soil Geomorphology
- Isotope Chemistry
- Aqueous Geochemistry
- Biogeochemistry
- Limnology
- Microbiology
Course topics in Physical Earth
- Advanced Earth Materials
- Glacial Geology
- Paleoecology
- Geological Oceanography
- Geomorphology
- Biogeochemistry
- Remote Sensing
- Planetary Geology
You’ll also complete a PhD minor, comprised of 12-15 credit hours of coursework in a related area.
Initially, you’ll be assigned a graduate advisory committee consisting of three faculty members, who will meet with you after admission, review your background, and help make judgments on coursework. By the end of the second semester, you’ll identify your graduate research committee in consultation with a research advisor.