Geosciences
About Geosciences
Our Program and Courses
As a minor in geosciences, you’ll focus upon a particular area of the geosciences such as:
- Surficial processes, such as weathering, erosion, rivers and streams, and glaciers
- Paleobiology, the study of fossilized remains of biological life
- Geophysics, the study of Earth using gravity, magnetic, electrical, and seismic methods
- Tectonics, the study of the deformation of the rocks that make up the Earth’s crust
- Petrology, the study of rocks and the conditions under which they form
- Geochemistry, the study and analysis of samples of soil, rock, minerals, and additional Earth natural materials
- Have acquired knowledge in the major subdisciplines of the geosciences
- Have developed an understanding of Earth systems and their interactions at various scales of space and time encompassing plate tectonics and global change
- Be able to collect, analyze, and interpret various indicators of global, regional and local environmental change; water, soil and air quality; natural resource use and depletion; natural hazards; and land use change
- Understand, synthesize and apply geologic principles to real-world questions and problems
- Understand how Earth system processes operate today and how we interpret changes in Earth processes through time to inform future decisions
Learning Outside the Classroom
In the Field
F&M’s location provides the perfect landscape for studying geoscience. Pennsylvania’s dynamic landscape and waterways, flourishing agricultural scene; the nearby Susquehanna River, Appalachian Mountains, and Piedmont province; and F&M’s Spalding Nature Conservancy and the Big Spring Run long term restoration monitoring project provide dynamic and exciting locations to learn outside of the classroom.
Research Opportunities
As you become fully immersed in your geoscience studies, you may find yourself forming hypotheses or questions. The good news? You don’t have to wait until graduate school to investigate those ideas. It’s common for students to embark on an independent study, or to work alongside their professors and become an integral part of their ongoing research even as early as their sophomore year. Geoscience professors are expert researchers working on a wide array of environmental topics, including:
- Wetland and floodplain restoration
- Mountain building events and the role of plate tectonics in landscape patterns
- Ground water sources and flow dynamics
- Remote sensing and data science applied to earth systems and natural resources
- Environmental applications of remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems
- Methods for detecting landmines and other explosive remnants of war
- Evidence of permafrost that existed in the mid-Atlantic region during glacial times
- Trace metal cycling in marine and terrestrial environments
- Environmental change and extinction in modern and ancient marine environments
- Understanding and predicting responses of aquatic communities and organisms to environmental change
- Soil biogeochemistry, carbon cycling, and global change
- Plant physiology, ecophysiology, and ecology
- Organism-environment interactions of plants, birds, and mammals
Many of our students get involved with F&M’s Center for the Sustainable Environment
(CSE), our hub for global environmental stewardship and sustainability on campus.
The CSE is home to a seminar room, a field-work laboratory space, a meeting space
for sustainable clubs on campus, and more. Many students work in the CSE or participate
in its extracurricular activities, food composting workshops, wild food tastings,
and guest speaker presentations.Center for the Sustainable Environment
Explore the CSE
Off-Campus Study
Off-campus study, in the U.S. and internationally, is encouraged. We have sponsored extracurricular field trips to exotic locations such as Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. Our students have also spent semesters or summers abroad studying at field stations and laboratories in Woods Hole, Ma., the Australian rainforest, and the savanna of Kenya.
Dual Degree Programs
Earn Master of Forestry (M.F.) or Master of Environmental Management (M.E.M.)
In partnership with Duke University, F&M enables you to earn a bachelor’s degree from F&M and a master’s degree from Duke in five or six years.
M.E.M. and M.F. Professional Master’s Degrees
The Duke Professional Master’s program is a two-year, course-based, non-thesis professional degree program similar to law or business school in its applied focus. In fact, the degree will actually be an M.E.M. (Master of Environmental Management) or M.F. (Master of Forestry), depending on the path chosen. This is not the same as applying to graduate school in the college of arts and sciences where you might earn a broader, less applied M.S. (Master of Science) degree in a discipline like Zoology or Biochemistry.
M.E.M. Specializations
The M.E.M. degree is structured around environment and management concentrations. Students select one from each of the following groups of possibilities, to gain depth of knowledge in a topical area (environment) and to build the skills (management) to put this knowledge into practice:
Environment concentrations:
- Coastal and Marine Systems
- Ecotoxicology and Environmental Health
- Energy and Environment
- Terrestrial and Freshwater Environments
Management concentrations:
- Business and the Environment
- Environmental Analytics and Modeling
- Environmental Economics and Policy
- Community Engagement and Environmental Justice
You may spend either three or four years at F&M, during which time you’ll complete all requirements for your chosen major, and all F&M general education requirements. You will then transfer to Duke for two years.
Please consult this document for more details about this program and instructions for participation.
Contact Professor Elizabeth De Santo at edesanto@fandm.edu with any questions related to this program.
Success Beyond F&M
Our program has a proven track record, with graduates going on to pursue advanced degrees or embarking on promising career paths. You’ll also find alumni support in the Geoscience Founders Society, an organization committed to maintaining connections between current F&M students and faculty with alumni and friends.
Graduate School
Many of our graduates go on to graduate school after F&M, typically pursuing doctoral programs in science, medicine or law. Our graduates have completed their advanced degrees at the best universities in the U.S. and abroad.
Career Paths
Career outcomes for geoscience graduates are diverse. Many obtain entry-level positions in the environmental and geotechnical consulting field and as sustainability analysts or consultants. Our alumni have also held positions such as:
- Chemist
- Chief Exploration Scientist
- Chief Science Officer
- Energy Industry Analyst
- Environmental Analyst
- Environmental Scientist
- Consulting/Exploration Geologist
- Consulting/Exploration Geophysicist
- Global Sustainability Manager
- Hydrologist/Hydrogeologist
- Marine Biology Researcher
- Marine Chemist
- Planetary Geologist
- Public Health Researcher
- Professor
- Resident Naturalist
- Science Policy Advisor
- Senior Geologist
- Senior Research Scientist
- Stream Restoration Specialist
- Sustainability Planner
- Water-Quality Technician
- Wildlife Monitoring Technician
“It’s been an experience of a lifetime. This is something that I could spend the rest of my life doing.”
F&M senior Conner Minkowitz is a paleontologist in the making. Alongside his adviser, Minkowitz is researching arthropods from the Kinzers Formation, a band of limestone and fossil-bearing shale that stretches from central Lancaster County across the Susquehanna River to York. Minkowitz also presented a poster at the Geological Society of America’s Annual Meeting on newly discovered, geologically early arthropod fossils (invertebrate animals with exoskeletons they shed during growth). “It’s been an experience of a lifetime,” Minkowitz said. “This is something that I could spend the rest of my life doing.”Read More »
F&M Launches Chesapeake Watershed Initiative
A profound discovery concerning sediments and streams in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, made nearly 20 years ago by two Franklin & Marshall geosciences professors, drew national media attention at the time and changed the way science views land use and water quality. In recent years, Robert Walter’s and Dorothy Merritts’ research has combined with the work of F&M Assistant Professor of Economics and Public Policy Patrick Fleming for targeted and cost-effective restoration practices. Their work is designed to improve water quality, reduce flooding, and enhance restoration activities in local streams and the Chesapeake Bay. This collaboration has today led to the newly established Chesapeake Watershed Initiative (CWI) at Franklin & Marshall College, supported through a three-year, $1.25-million grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation, a Pittsburgh philanthropy.Read More »
Earth and Environment Laboratory Facilities
F&M's Department of Earth & Environment offers laboratory facilities open to F&M faculty, staff, and students, as well as colleagues from other institutions for their teaching and research. We have ongoing relationships with F&M's Departments of Chemistry, Physics and Biology, Millersville University, colleges in the Keck Geology Consortium, NASA, the U.S. Geological Survey, and Armstrong World Industries.
Learn more »Related Fields of Study
Earth and Environmental Science
Explore critical environmental issues of today through a scientific lens. By studying earth and environmental science at F&M, you will build the necessary biological, chemical, and geological foundation you need to study the earth and understand the dynamics between humans and our environment.
Environmental Studies
Do you wish to better understand how humans interact with and affect the environment around us? Environmental Studies at F&M offers a distinctive approach to building the knowledge you need to tackle the environmental challenges of the 21st century.
Sustainability Planning Certificate
Sustainability planning is an increasing need in the marketplace. F&M’s sustainability planning certificate provides the glue that bonds biology; earth and environment; and business, organizations and society to prepare students interested in careers in sustainable practices.
F&M Geosciences in Action
November 27, 2023
Paleontologist in the Making
Senior Conner Minkowitz’s passion for extinct creatures changed when he began studying under a retired Franklin & Marshall College paleontologist.
November 19, 2021
F&M Launches Chesapeake Watershed Initiative
F&M established the Chesapeake Watershed Initiative (CWI), supported through a three-year, $1.25-million grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation, a Pittsburgh philanthropy.