M.S. and Ph.D. Degrees
The Department of Geosciences offers M.S. and Ph.D. degree programs that provide students with a broad background in any of the major areas of geological sciences and intensive research experiences culminating in the preparation of a formal thesis. The goal of the programs is to prepare students for scientific careers in academia, government, or industry. A wide range of faculty interests and exceptional laboratory and other support facilities provide an extensive variety of areas of specialization in which students may choose their course work and research topics, which include: aqueous geochemistry, chemistry and physics of rocks and minerals, geodynamics, global change and earth history, sedimentary geology and paleobiology, solid earth and applied geophysics, surficial processes. A complete listing can be found at: www.geosc.psu.edu.
The research of faculty and students is facilitated through: the Biogeochemical Research Initiative for Education (BRIE, an NSF-sponsored graduate program in microbial biogeochemistry), the Petroleum Geosystems Initiative (an industry-sponsored, team-based M.S. program) linking the Department of Geosciences and the Department of Energy and Geo-Environmental Engineering, and the Penn State Astrobiology Research Center (PSARC, an NSF-sponsored interdisciplinary program in the origin and evolution of life in the universe, aimed at understanding the connections between the environment and the biota on Earth, especially during the stages of its evolution) as well as the Environment Institute of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, including the Earth System Science Center, and the Center for Environmental Chemistry and Geochemistry.
In addition to extensive computing and supercomputing facilities developed in association with the Earth System Science Center, students have access to a wealth of analytical, experimental, and field equipment. State-of-the-art analytical equipment is maintained by the department and the Material Characterization Laboratory. The Department of Geography and the Office for Remote Sensing of Environmental Resources have remote sensing facilities.
Students entering with B.S. or B.A. degrees may choose, with faculty approval, to bypass the M.S. degree and work directly for the Ph.D. Normally, completion of the M.S. degree requires about two years and the Ph.D. (without an M.S.) about four years. We encourage students to complete their degrees as quickly as possible.
Geosciences (GEOSC)
TIMOTHY BRALOWER, Head of the Department of Geosciences
KATHERINE FREEMAN, Associate Head for Graduate Programs and Research
DAVID BICE, Associate Head for Undergraduate
Programs
Degrees Conferred: Ph.D., M.S.
The Graduate Faculty
Shelton S. Alexander, Ph.D. (Cal Tech) Professor of Geophysics
Richard B. Alley, Ph.D. (Wisconsin, Madison) Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences
Michael A. Arthur, Ph.D. (Princeton) Professor of Geosciences
Charles J. Ammon, Ph.D. (Penn State)
Professor of Geosciences
Eric J. Barron, Ph.D. (Miami) Professor of Geosciences; Dean, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
Susan L. Brantley, Ph.D. (Princeton) Professor of Geosciences
Roger J. Cuffey, Ph.D. (Indiana) Professor of Paleontology
Peter Deines, Ph.D. (Penn State) Professor of Geochemistry
David H. Eggler, Ph.D. (Colorado) Professor of Petrology
Terry Engelder, Ph.D. (Texas A&M) Professor of Geosciences
Matthew S. Fantle, Ph.D. (University of California, Berkeley) Assistant Professor of Geosciences
Maureen D. Feineman, Ph.D. (University of California, Berkeley) Assistant Professor of Geosciences
Donald M. Fisher, Ph.D. (Brown) Associate Professor of Geosciences
Peter B. Flemings, Ph.D. (Cornell) Associate Professor of Geosciences
Katherine H. Freeman, Ph.D. (Indiana) Professor of Geosciences
Kevin P. Furlong, Ph.D. (Utah) Professor of Geosciences
Tanya Furman, Ph.D. (MIT) Associate Professor of Geosciences
Earl K. Graham, Ph.D. (Penn State) Professor Emeritus of Geophysics
Peter Heaney, Ph. D. (Johns Hopkins) Associate Professor of Geosciences
Christopher H. House, Ph.D. (California) Assistant Professor of Geosciences
James F. Kasting, Ph.D. (Michigan) Professor of Geosciences and Meteorology
Klaus Keller, Ph.D. (Princeton) Assistant Professor of Geosciences
Derrill M. Kerrick, Ph.D. (California, Berkeley) Professor of Geochemistry
Eric Kirby, Ph.D. (MIT) Assistant Professor of Geosciences
James Kubicki, Ph.D. (Yale) Assistant Professor of Geosciences
Lee R. Kump, Ph.D. (South Florida) Professor of Geosciences
Peter C. LaFemina, Ph.D. (University of Miami) Assistant Professor of Geosciences
Jennifer L. Macalady, Ph.D. (University of California, Davis) Assistant Professor of Geosciences
Michael E. Mann, Ph.D. (Yale University) Associate Professor Meteorology and Department of Geosciences
Christopher J. Marone, Ph.D. (Columbia) Associate Professor of Geosciences
Raymond G. Najjar, Ph.D. (Princeton) Associate Professor of Meteorology
Andrew A. Nyblade, Ph.D. (Michigan) Associate Professor of Geosciences
Hiroshi Ohmoto, Ph.D. (Princeton) Professor of Geochemistry
Richard R. Parizek, Ph.D. (Illinois) Professor of Geology
Mark E. Patzkowsky, Ph.D. (Chicago) Associate Professor of Geosciences
Eliza Richardson, Ph.D.,
Assistant Professor of Geosciences
Arthur W. Rose, Ph.D. (Cal. Tech.) Professor Emeritus of Geochemistry
Demian Saffer, Ph.D. (University of California, Santa Cruz)
Associate Professor of Geosciences
Kamini Singha, Ph.D. (Stanford University) Assistant Professor of Geosciences
Rudy L. Slingerland, Ph.D. (Penn State) Professor of Geology
Barry Voight, Ph.D. (Columbia) Professor of Geology
William B. White, Ph.D. (Penn State) Professor Emeritus of Geochemistry
Peter Wilf, Ph.D. (Pennsylvania) Assistant Professor of Geosciences
Admission Requirements
Scores from the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) are normally required for admission. Exceptions must be approved by the department.
Requirements listed here are in addition to general Graduate School requirements stated in the GENERAL INFORMATION section of the Graduate Bulletin.
For admission, applicants generally are expected to have a bachelor's degree in some branch of the natural or physical sciences, engineering, or mathematics. An applicant also is expected to have completed standard introductory courses in geosciences, chemistry, physics, and mathematics through integral calculus, plus 15 credits of intermediate-level work in one or a combination of these subjects. Greater than minimal preparation in chemistry, geology, biology, mathematics, or physics may be required for particular subdisciplines. Applicants who have taken somewhat less than the indicated minimum in these subjects may be admitted but must make up their deficiencies concurrently with their graduate studies.
Students with special backgrounds, abilities, and interests whose undergraduate grade-point average in courses pertinent to geosciences is below a 3.00 (on a 4.00 scale) will be considered for admission only when there are strong indications that a 3.00 average can be maintained at the graduate level.
Students are admitted both to the M.S. and Ph.D. degree programs. A student may work toward a Ph.D. degree without first earning a master's degree. If this option is desired, the student must arrange the scheduling of a candidacy evaluation no later than the end of the third semester of residence at Penn State.
Faculty Advisers
Upon arrival, students will be advised initially by a committee appointed by the associate head for Graduate program and Research. The committee in turn will designate an interim adviser. Before the end of the first academic year of residence, the student is expected to develop specific academic and research interests so that an appropriate permanent academic adviser and research supervisor may be chosen. The academic adviser and research supervisor are usually the same person, except when the research supervisor is not a member of the geosciences graduate faculty. In such a case, a geosciences program family member serves as the academic adviser.
Student Aid
Graduate assistantships available to students in this program and other forms of student aid are described in the StudentAid section of the Graduate Bulletin. In addition, several graduate fellowships are available for students within the Department of Geosciences.
Programs of study are planned to require no more than two years for the M.S. degree and three additional years, or five years total, for the Ph.D. degree. A student transferring to the department with the M.S. degree should plan on four additional years. Financial support from teaching or research assistantships or from fellowships is available to students in good standing, but not awarded beyond these limits except in unusual cases.
Common Degree Requirements
All graduate students in geosciences, including both M.S. and Ph.D. students, are expected to acquire breadth of knowledge in the geosciences, a fundamental and advanced knowledge of their subdiscipline, and skills in the areas of data collection and quantitative analysis. Toward that end, all graduate students must select one of the approved courses in each of the following areas: (1) Geosciences Breadth—3-4 credits; (2) Disciplinary Fundamentals—34 credits; (3) Data Gathering—34 credits; and (4) Quantitative Analysis— 34 credits.
A current list of approved courses is maintained by the Department's Graduate Program Office in room 303 Deike Building. The list of approved courses may be modified by approval of the Department's Graduate Program Committee (GPC).
Additional Master's Degree Requirements
Master's degree students are required to take 30 graduate credits, which include at least 18 credits at the 500 to 600 level. The 12 to 16 common degree credits described above satisfy the Graduate School minimum of at least 12 credits in course work in the major program.
As part of the M.S. program, each student is required to complete a thesis. The thesis must be defended in an oral examination administered by an M.S. committee.
Additional Doctoral Degree Requirements
Admission to Ph.D. candidacy is determined by an oral examination before a candidacy committee. Preparation and defense of two research proposals will serve as one means of assessing the student's ability. At least one of these proposals should represent original work by the student, but the other may be an actual thesis proposal and involve limited initial input from the adviser or others.
Course work in addition to the common degree requirements described above will be selected by the student in consultation with his/her committee.
The comprehensive examination is both oral and written. It is administered by the doctoral committee after the student has essentially completed course work and after a foreign language requirement (if required by the committee) is fulfilled. A final oral defense of the thesis is required.
Graduate courses carry numbers from 500 to 599. Advanced undergraduate courses numbered between 400 and 499 may be used to meet some graduate degree requirements when taken by graduate students. Courses below the 400 level may not. A graduate student may register for or audit these courses in order to make up deficiencies or to fill in gaps in previous education but not to meet requirements for an advanced degree.
Dual-Title Graduate Degree in Astrobiology (ABIOL)
[download brochure here - PDF]
Degree Conferred: Students electing this degree program through participating programs earn a degree with a dual title in the Ph.D., i.e., Ph.D. in (graduate program name) and Astrobiology.
The Graduate Faculty
Michael A. Arthur, Ph.D. (Princeton) Professor of Geosciences
Susan L. Brantley, Ph.D. (Princeton) Professor of Geosciences
Jean E. Brenchley, Ph.D. (California, Davis) Professor of Microbiology and Biotechnology
Rosemary Capo, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Geology and Planetary Science, University of Pittsburgh
Albert Castleman, Ph.D., Eberly Distinguished Chair in Science, Evan Pugh Professor of Chemistry
James G. Ferry, Ph.D. (Illinois) Professor of Anaerobic Microbiology
Katherine H. Freeman, Ph.D. (Indiana) Associate Professor of Geosciences
S. Blair Hedges, Ph.D. (Maryland) Associate Professor of Biology
Christopher H. House, Ph.D. (California) Assistant Professor of Geosciences
James F. Kasting, Ph.D. (Michigan) Professor of Geosciences and Meteorology
Lee R. Kump, Ph.D. (South Florida) Professor of Geosciences
Jenn Macalady, Ph.D. (University of California, Davis), Assistant Professor of Geosciences
Hiroshi Ohmoto, Ph.D. (Princeton) Professor of Geochemistry
Martin Schoonen, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry and Associate VP for Research, State University of New York at Stonybrook
Steinn Sigurdsson, Ph.D. (Cal Tech) Assistant Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Brian Stewart, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Geology and Planetary Science, The University of Pittsburgh
Aleksander Wolszczan, Ph.D. (Copernicus Univ., Poland) Evan Pugh Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics
The Astrobiology dual-title degree program is administered by the Department of Geosciences for the participating graduate programs. A program committee with representatives from each participating department maintains program definition, defines the nature of the candidacy examination and assigns the examining committee, identifies courses appropriate to the program, and recommends policy and procedures for the program's operation to the dean of the Graduate School and to the deans of the participating colleges. The dual-title degree program is offered through participating programs in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences and the Eberly College of Science and, where appropriate, other graduate programs in the University. The program enables students from several graduate programs to gain the perspectives, techniques, and methodologies of Astrobiology, while maintaining a close association with major program areas of application.
Astrobiology is a field devoted to the exploration of life outside of Earth and to the investigation of the origin and early evolution of life on Earth. For admission to pursue a dual-title degree under this program, a student must apply to (1) the Graduate School; (2) one of the participating major graduate programs; and (3) the Astrobiology program committee. Usually students will apply and be accepted into the major program first. Application to the dual-title degree program can occur upon matriculation, but should be completed before the candidacy examination in the major program is scheduled.
Admission Requirements
Graduate students with research and educational interests in astrobiology may apply to the Astrobiology Dual-Title Degree Program. Candidates must submit transcripts of their undergraduate and graduate coursework, a written personal statement indicating the career goals they hope to serve by attaining an Astrobiology dual title, and a statement of support from their dissertation adviser. A strong undergraduate preparation in the basic sciences is expected, with evidence of an interest in multiple disciplines.
Degree Requirements
To qualify for a dual-title degree, students must satisfy the requirements of the major graduate program in which they are enrolled, in addition to the minimum requirements of the Astrobiology program. The minimum course requirements for the dual-title in Astrobiology are ABIOL 574 Planetary Habitability (3 credits), ABIOL 590 Astrobiology Seminar (2 credits), ABIOL 570 Astrobiology Field Experience (2 credits), and at least 2 credits of 400- or 500-level coursework outside of the student's major program in an area relevant to Astrobiology (through consultation with their adviser). All students must pass a candidacy examination that assesses their potential in the field of astrobiology. This examination may be part of the candidacy examination in the student's major graduate program if an Astrobiology faculty member serves on the examination committee and if acceptable to the major program. If not, the Astrobiology dual-title program will offer a second candidacy examination. The structure and timing of the second candidacy examination will be determined jointly by the dual-title and major program. The student's doctoral committee should include faculty from the Astrobiology program, but this person may be the adviser and have an appointment in the major program of study. The field of Astrobiology should be integrated into the comprehensive examination. A Ph.D. dissertation that contributes fundamentally to the field of Astrobiology is required. A public oral presentation of the dissertation is required.
Financial Aid
Financial aid is generally available through the major program and through highly competitive University Graduate Fellowships (UGF). In addition, Penn State's Astrobiology Research Center (PSARC) provides support for students through research assistantships and graduate fellowships. Typically, students in Astrobiology are supported 12 months per year on some form of assistantship, fellowship, or summer wages provided by PSARC, UGF, or their home department.
Other Relevant Information
Students intrigued by the possibility of pursuing research in Astrobiology should visit the PSARC Web site (http://psarc.geosc.psu.ed/) and the NASA Astrobiology Institute Web site (http://nai.arc.nasa.gov).
ASTROBIOLOGY (ABIOL)
570. ASTROBIOLOGY FIELD EXPERIENCE (2)
574. PLANETARY HABITABILITY (3)
590. ASTROBIOLOGY SEMINAR (2)
ASTROBIOLOGY (ABIOL) course list
The Pennsylvania State University © 2004
The University reserves the right to change the requirements and regulations listed here and to determine whether a student has satisfactorily met its requirements for admission or graduation, and to reject any applicant for any reason the University determines to be material to the applicant's qualifications to pursue higher education. Nothing in this material should be considered a guarantee that completion of a program and graduation from the University will result in employment.
This electronic Graduate Bulletin is a version of the official bulletin of The Pennsylvania State University. It is suggested that users refer to this electronic bulletin when seeking the latest information about the University's academic programs and courses. Printed versions of the Bulletin are also official copies of the programs, courses, and policies in effect at the time of printing.
