Before reading - I would like to note that this page contains my opinions and doesn’t reflect the opinions of any organizations I might be affiliated with and this page does not also contain specific information related to departments I have been a part of. Rather, this is based on conversations with folks across academia, from a variety of institutions.
A geoscience education interweaves critical thinking, writing, and modeling skills to understand the earth and the changing universe. A geoscience degree requires that students develop the ability to sit with unknowns and be comfortable with 'not knowing'. Rather than using equations, this degree teaches the processes represented within equations and the foundational principles of those equations. Everything around us is related to geosciences, and every degree track is also related to geosciences. For example, buying a house --you do not want to buy a house somewhere where wildfires are becoming increasingly common. However, you also do not want to buy a house on an old landslide scarp (the remnants of an old landslide), because it will likely become active again. So, all of our lives are affected by mining, by natural hazards that turn into disasters when they impact society, and by so many other aspects a geoscience education would teach. It is a degree that weaves together physics, engineering, mathematics, and the best of other sciences (chemistry, biology, etc.) and marries everything to understand physical processes. We can use the latest technology (Virtual Reality, GIS, Google Earth, LiDAR-scanning, modeling and supercomputing, etc.) to make geosciences education more interactive and engaging. Because the world needs geoscientists more than ever.
In six years, there will be a deficit of approximately 118,000 geoscience positions in the United States...given the projected rise in the number of positions and the projected number of retirees (BLS, August 2024).
Employment projections from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) indicate an overall 5.6% increase in geoscience jobs between 2023 and 2033.
If we know these jobs are important, why are the majors that prepare the workforce for these positions decreasing?
From what I understand, many universities across the US have been phasing out geoscience degrees in favor of either 'sustainability' degrees, interdisciplinary departments and degrees, or to support engineering. However, shutting down or having departments change names does not address the issue at hand and the resultant lack of a geoscientist workforce that will be a result of these actions. Knowing mathematics is critical, and geoscience degrees integrate that (e.g., through Calculus I and II typically). One reason the geoscience degree seems to be losing students is because of the 'earth science' degree or the 'environmental science' degree. Those are ≠ geoscience. Why? Because they do not include the rigorous mathematics training to question and to create equations. Engineers use and create equations, but the understanding of the physical processes often comes from the geoscientists who help inform the equation creation. If we lose that training, then the degree has a different value.
As departments vote to get rid of 'geoscience' programs because of lack of enrollment, a deep look inward is also needed. Why are those major programs losing enrollment?
For example, we might ask how the classes are listed under the major. Perhaps, are they listed as GEOS or ES classes or are they hidden under another degree?
Or, we might ask if the introductory classes are required in some way (like Chemistry 101 or Biology 101?) If not, were the introductory classes, GEOS 101 or GEOL 101, on the basic and breadth requirement? So, students could take that class to fill a university requirement? In this manner, many students get exposed to geosciences for the first time and might switch majors.
Further, we might ask students themselves who switched degrees to another degree in the department (or outside the department) what prompted the switch. Perhaps there is an academic advisor who is encouraging students to switch to a different degree, and disrupting the pipeline. Or, perhaps, there is a single class that is changing students' minds about the major. If students knew that a geoscience degree poised them to be more competitive than an earth science degree for many of the same jobs, wouldn't they likely pursue the geoscience degree?
Whatever is the cause, it should be diagnosed and it likely is multi-part and is complex. The importance of a geoscience degree remains even if the student population is decreasing and universities are trying to retire the "degree of rocks". Because geoscience is so much more than identifying a rock or mineral. In this time of sinking coasts, rising sea levels, increasing hazard occurrence (e.g., wildfires, landslides, hurricanes, drought, flooding, tornados), increasing dependence on technology (which depends on safe and informed mining practices), increasing strain on existing resources (such as freshwater) as populations grow, ...geosciences remains ever-present in our daily lives and those with the degree have the Rosetta Stone to decode what has happened in the past and can better understand what could happen in the future.
It is important to know that there were obstacles and barriers to entry to geosciences because of the traditional ways it has been taught - which should lead us to a call for action.
Fact: only 16%–17% of STEM degrees and only 5%–7% of geoscience degrees were earned by underrepresented minorities*
What are the reasons for this?
Reason #1: Pre-college exposure (Levine et al., 2007) - most students do not have a geoscience class in high school or know of potential careers. I know I only had one earth science class that was taught by a local engineer...and from reviewing the notes from that class, we did not learn any geologic principles or about natural hazards.
Reason #2: Financial cost that most programs assume students can absorb.
Reason #3: The requirement of "field camp" ...and the perseverating ableist mindset. Most programs require field aspects integrated into several courses on top of a costly summer field camp. During COVID, many departments moved to do "modules" instead of one field camp. The module's approach is a good start. However, we should be reassessing the class structure of a field day where an able-bodied professor demands students who range in physical ability to hike 5-10 miles a day (or more). Is there a way that the professor can take more time to structure a lesson? So, then the hike integrates more stops (more outcrops to look at?) Or, what about using a drone to show certain outcrops and teaching students another skill? In most cases, there is not 100% substitute for the outdoors and the field stops...but professors in geology have long been using physical ability as a weeding out tool and losing brilliant students who may not be able to complete the "hidden (hiking) curriculum".
We need to overcome this disconnect and re-engage students so we can inform and empower the next generation of geoscientist leaders.
We need to use a myriad of ways to build up the geoscience body again. Specifically, we need new ways to bring students into this important major (technology being one) and we need to build off of established ways...e.g., summer research experiences (Hallar et al., 2010).
---November 2024
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*Underrepresented minorities is defined by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as "Hispanic, Black (U.S. National Science Foundation [NSF] term), and American Indian/Native Alaskan students".
REFERENCES
Hallar, A.G., McCubbin, I.B., Hallar, B., Levine, R., Stockwell, W.R., Lopez, J.P., and Wright, J.M., 2010, Science in the mountains: Journal of Geoscience Education, v. 58, p. 95–100.
Levine, R., Gonzalez, R., Cole, S., Fuhrman, M., and LeFloch, K.C., 2007, The geoscience pipeline: Journal of Geoscience Education, v. 55, p. 458–468.
O'Connell and Holmes, 2011. GSA Today (Article). Accessed at: https://rock.geosociety.org/net/gsatoday/archive/21/6/article/i1052-5173-21-6-52.htm.