Oct 31, 2025

2019-2020 Undergraduate Catalog

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2019-2020 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Geoscience - Environmental Science (GEES) - BS Major

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85-96 S.H. (no minor required)

2.0 GPA required.

C grade or better required in GEOS 235 & above.

Letter grade required in all major courses unless otherwise noted.

View the Environmental Science section for alliances with other department environmental science options.

Geoscience - Environmental Science Major Map

PART I: Entrance to Geoscience Major (4-5 S.H.)

Choose one:

GEOS 113 - Natural Disasters with Laboratory (4 S.H.)
GEOS 114 - Catastrophes and Extinctions with Laboratory (4 S.H.)
GEOS 120 - Dynamic Earth with Laboratory (4 S.H.)
GEOS 199 - Introductory Geoscience Laboratory (1 S.H.) & one of the following: GEOS 100 ,
102
,
103
,
104
,
105
,
106
,
107
,
108
,
110
,
111
,
115
,
116
, or
121
(3-4 S.H.)
GEOS 215 - Earth System Science (4 S.H.)

PART II: Geoscience Core Courses (19 S.H.)

GEOS 090 - Earth Talks Speaker Series (0 S.H.) (enrollment with P grade required 6x prior to graduation unless excused by department chair)
GEOS 235 - Earth and Life Through Time (4 S.H.)
GEOS 301 - Field and Analytical Methods I (4 S.H.)
GEOS 305 - Minerals and Rocks (4 S.H.)
GEOS 309 - Watershed Science (4 S.H.)
GEOS 316 - Geographic Information Systems (3 S.H.)

PART III: Geoscience Focus Areas (22-24 S.H.)

Rocks & Tectonics (8 S.H.)

GEOS 360 - Structural Geology (4 S.H.)
GEOS 365 - Sedimentology and Stratigraphy (4 S.H.)

Surface Processes (8 S.H.)

Choose two:

△ GEOS 375 - Planetary Geology (4 S.H.)
△ GEOS 415 - Advanced Geomorphology (4 S.H.)
◆ GEOS 420 - Applied Hydrogeology (4 S.H.)
◆ GEOS 445 - Geochemistry (4 S.H.)

Broader Perspectives (6-8 S.H.)

Choose 6-8 S.H.:

GEOS 325 - Environmental Geoscience (3 S.H.)
GEOS 335 - Global Climate Change (3 S.H.)
GEOS 345 - Dinosaur Field Paleontology (4 S.H.)
◎ GEOS 385 - Geology of North America (3 S.H.)
GEOS 401 - Geological Field-Research Methods (2-4 S.H.)
GEOS 405 - Current Topics in Geosciences (1-4 S.H.)
◎ GEOS 416 - Advanced Geographic Information Systems (4 S.H.)
△ GEOS 441 - Paleontology and Paleoecology (4 S.H.)
◎ GEOS 443 - Global Water Resources (4 S.H.)

PART IV: Geoscience Capstone (3-4 S.H.)

△ GEOS 470 - Geological Research Strategies (2 S.H.)
GEOS 475 - Geoscience Seminar (1 S.H.)

Additional Capstone Credits

Students may pursue additional capstone credits from the following:

GEOS 399 - Internship (1-3 S.H.)
GEOS 499 - Directed Research-Geoscience (1-3 S.H.)

PART V: Geoscience Electives (4-6 S.H.)

Choose 4-6 additional credits from the following:

Part III: Surface Processes, Broader Perspectives
Part IV: Geoscience Capstone
GEOS 435 - Optical Mineralogy and Petrology
◆ GEOS 442 - Geophysics

PART VI: Additional Requirements (33-38 S.H.)

Allied Science Requirements (18-20 S.H.)

Mathematics and Statistics (6-8 S.H.)

MATH 112 - Applied Precalculus (3 S.H.) AND
MATH 140 - Applied Calculus (3 S.H.)
OR
MATH 117 - Precalculus with Modeling (4 S.H.) AND
MATH 140 - Applied Calculus (3 S.H.)
OR
MATH 120 - Precalculus (4 S.H.) AND
MATH 212 - Calculus I (4 S.H.)
OR
MATH 212 - Calculus I (4 S.H.) AND
MATH 213 - Calculus II (4 S.H.)

Chemistry (4 S.H.)

CHEM 212 - Principles of Chemistry I (4 S.H.)

Physics (4 S.H.)

Choose one:

PHYS 201 - General Physics I (4 S.H.)
PHYS 221 - University Physics I (4 S.H.)

Biology (4 S.H.)

BIOL 242 - Organismal Diversity (4 S.H.)

Allied Science Electives (15-18 S.H.)

Choose 6-8 S.H. from the following:

Choose 6 S.H. from the following:

Economics

ECON 315 - Environmental and Natural Resource Economics (3 S.H.)

Geography

GEOG 212 - Physical Geography (3 S.H.)

Global Studies

◆ GS 433 - Global Societies and Climate Change (3 S.H.)

Political Science and Public Administration

POLS 240 - Global Environmental Problems and Policy (3 S.H.)
POLS 340 - Environmental Policy (3 S.H.)

Choose 3-4 S.H. from the following:

Biology

◎ BIOL 315 - Environmental Biology (3 S.H.)
△ BIOL 415 - Ecology of Large Rivers (4 S.H.)
BIOL 420 - Limnology (4 S.H.)

Chemistry

CHEM 425 - Analytical Chemistry I (4 S.H.)
CHEM 436 - Topics in Environmental Chemistry (3 S.H.)

Legend

◎ = Oral Intensive

◆ = Math/Critical Analysis Intensive

△ = Writing Intensive

✽ = Physical Development and Wellness Graduation Requirement

✪ = Civic Engagement and Service Learning