Make the Earth your classroom.
Do you love fossils, and wonder about the forces at work that produce volcanoes, earthquakes, and mountains? Ashland is close to several significant geological sites, so you’ll spend considerable time in the field exploring and testing ideas and observing concepts and processes you learn in class.
Our graduates have a strong track record of admission to top graduate schools and successful careers in geology.
As a geology major at Ashland University, you’ll begin to understand the processes at work molding our planet. You’ll find out about the materials that make up planet earth (minerals, rocks, soils, water, and fossils) and the processes that act on and within the earth (earthquakes, tsunami, volcanoes, glaciers, erosion, etc.). In short, the world will be your classroom. Ashland is close to several significant geological sites and you’ll spend considerable time in the field exploring and testing ideas and observing concepts and processes you learn in class. From your freshman year, you’ll work with laboratory instruments and field equipment instruments that are used by professional geologists. Whether you go on to graduate school or begin your career right out of college, the preparation you receive with an Ashland Geology major will serve you well in your future endeavors.
|
What You’ll Love About the Geology Major:
- You take lots of field trips and perform research in both the great outdoors as well as the laboratories of the Kettering Science Center. Most classes include local field trips, the department sponsors a more distant weekend field trip each semester, and every other year, a two-week field trip is a major learning opportunity for students.
- The Geology program is well equipped for teaching and conducting research in geology and geochemistry. Many laboratory experiments utilize or facilitate the use of the “research” equipment in our state-of-the-art sample preparation, microscopy, and instrumentation laboratories, such as:
- atomic absorption spectrometer
- ion chromatograph
- x-ray fluorescence spectrometer
- automated thin section machine
- doubly polarizing microscopes
- jaw crushers for the analysis of minerals, rocks, soils, fossils, water, and other earth materials.
- Ashland is close to many geological sites where you can see geologic features and processes and test ideas learned in classroom or lab.
- The Geology program is housed in the Chemistry/Geology/Physics Department which significantly helps to facilitate collaboration and the sharing of resources, equipment, laboratories, and expertise.
- You have access to equipment used by professional geologists beginning your freshman year.
- More than 75 percent of our Geology majors engage in an independent senior research project.
- Our research students regularly present their research findings at national and regional scientific meetings and co-author peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals.
- Classes and labs are small—20-30 students for freshman and sophomore courses and generally under 10 for junior and senior levels — so you get to work closely with your professors and participate actively in class all four years.
- A full 95 percent of our geology graduates attend graduate school and do so for free because their Ashland University education prepares them well for competitive graduate school fellowships.
- The Geology program has a very large collection of rocks, fossils, minerals and maps. Several large collections have been donated to the department, giving you access to an impressive scientific repository.
|
Reach Your Career Goals
|
Many of our graduates go on to attend graduate schools, ultimately entering careers such as:
- Environmental Consultant
- Volcanologist
- Geological engineer
- Hydrogeologist
- Mining geologist
- Petroleum geologist
- Physical oceanographer
- Environmental lawyer
|
|
Professors Who Excel in the Field and the Classroom
- Professors get to know you well and work with you as mentors in the classroom, laboratory, and field and on your research projects.
- Professors regularly publish their research findings in professional journals and present at scientific conferences.
- Our professors are passionate about teaching. They lead every class and lab since there are no graduate student teaching assistants in the sciences at Ashland University.
- Classes are taught by full-time faculty, all of whom have Ph.D.s.
|
Interesting Classes You May Take
- Historical Geology — Study the record in the rocks, especially the fossil record and the events of the earth’s formation through geologic time.
- Mineralogy — Explore the elements of crystallography, crystal chemistry and descriptive mineralogy of the economically important and common minerals.
- Geochemistry — Study the distribution and migration of chemical species within the earth, in space and in time, with emphasis on understanding the principle chemical controls on element distribution. This has particular applications in soils science, environmental science, hydrogeology, forensics, and mineral exploration/mining.
|
|
Gain Real-World Experience
In addition to the extensive fieldwork undertaken throughout coursework, every other year, geology students are invited to participate in a 2-week field trip of geologic study for credit. Most recently we visited the Adirondack Mountains of New York State and the “Mineral Capitol” of Canada, Bancroft, Ontario.
|
Organizations for Geology Majors
|
|
