Nov 21, 2024

2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog

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2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog

Geoscience - Environmental Science (GEES) - BS Major

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students studying geoscience

85-96 credits (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 credits)

Choose one:

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

PART II: Geoscience Core Courses (19 credits)

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

PART III: Geoscience Focus Areas (22-24 credits)

Rocks & Tectonics (8 credits)

GEOS 360 - Structural Geology (4 credits)
GEOS 365 - Sedimentology and Stratigraphy (4 credits)

Surface Processes (8 credits)

Choose two:

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

Broader Perspectives (6-8 credits)

Choose 6-8 credits

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

PART IV: Geoscience Capstone (3-4 credits)

△ GEOS 470 - Geological Research Strategies (2 credits)
GEOS 475 - Geoscience Seminar (1 credit)

Additional Capstone Credits

Students may pursue additional capstone credits from the following:

GEOS 399 - Internship (1-3 credits)
GEOS 499 - Directed Research-Geoscience (1-3 credits)

PART V: Geoscience Electives (4-6 credits)

Choose 4-6 additional credits from the following:

Part III: Surface Processes, Broader Perspectives
Part IV: Geoscience Capstone
GEOS 435 - Optical Mineralogy and Petrology (4 credits)
◆ GEOS 442 - Geophysics (4 credits)

PART VI: Additional Requirements (33-38 credits)

Allied Science Requirements (18-20 credits)

Physics (4 credits)

Choose one:

PHYS 201 - General Physics I (4 credits)
PHYS 221 - University Physics I (4 credits)

Allied Science Electives (15-18 credits)

Choose 6-8 credits from the following:

Biology

BIOL 241 - Basics of Life (4 credits)
BIOL 312 - General Ecology (3 credits) AND
BIOL 313 - General Ecology Laboratory (1 credit)

Chemistry

CHEM 213 - Principles of Chemistry II (4 credits)
CHEM 320 - Environmental Chemistry (4 credits)

Mathematics and Statistics

MATH 213 - Calculus II (4 credits)
◆ MATH 313 - Differential Equations (4 credits)
STAT 210 - Statistics (3 credits)

Physics

PHYS 202 - General Physics II (4 credits) OR
PHYS 222 - University Physics II (4 credits)
PHYS 223 - University Physics III (4 credits)

Choose 6 credits from the following:

Economics

ECON 315 - Environmental and Natural Resource Economics (3 credits)

Geography

GEOG 212 - Physical Geography (3 credits)

Global Studies

◆ GS 433 - Global Societies and Climate Change (3 credits)

Political Science and Public Administration

POLS 240 - Global Environmental Problems and Policy (3 credits)
POLS 340 - Environmental Policy (3 credits)

Choose 3-4 credits from the following:

Biology

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

Chemistry

CHEM 425 - Analytical Chemistry I (4 credits)
CHEM 436 - Topics in Environmental Chemistry (3 credits)

Legend

◎ = Oral Intensive

◆ = Math/Critical Analysis Intensive

△ = Writing Intensive

✽ = Physical Development and Wellness Graduation Requirement

Geoscience - Environmental Science (GEES) - BS Major

PART I: Entrance to Geoscience Major (4-5 credits)

PART II: Geoscience Core Courses (19 credits)

PART III: Geoscience Focus Areas (22-24 credits)

Rocks & Tectonics (8 credits)

Surface Processes (8 credits)

Broader Perspectives (6-8 credits)

PART IV: Geoscience Capstone (3-4 credits)

Additional Capstone Credits

PART V: Geoscience Electives (4-6 credits)

PART VI: Additional Requirements (33-38 credits)

Allied Science Requirements (18-20 credits)

Biology (4 credits)

Chemistry (4 credits)

Mathematics and Statistics (6-8 credits)

Physics (4 credits)

Allied Science Electives (15-18 credits)

Choose 6-8 credits from the following:

Biology

Chemistry

Mathematics and Statistics

Physics

Choose 6 credits from the following:

Economics

Geography

Global Studies

Political Science and Public Administration

Choose 3-4 credits from the following:

Biology

Chemistry

Legend