What is geology?
Geologists are becoming increasingly critical to understanding environment changes in the face of climate change.
But that's nothing new. Geologists long have been important in helping us understand our physical world.
Geology is the study of earth, the forces that shape it and its current structures. As a discipline, the study of geology helps identify and determine solutions to many of the issues we face today.
The geology degree program, offered through the University of Cincinnati's College of Arts and Sciences, provides the chance not only to work in the local field environment but also to travel the nation and the world.
Cincinnati is world renowned for its rich variety of fossils along with its fascinating glacial past left behind in its rocks and soils. Faculty members say Cincinnati is a great place to study geology, paleontology and soil science. But for those with more niche or travel-based interests, the program also offers yearly trips to the Bahamas to study limestone in the coral reefs and the organisms that help to form the reefs.
UC students study the geology around Lake Superior during a field trip to Thunder Bay, Ontario. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand
Other trips include travel to Alaska and Iceland to study glaciology, Reno and Northern California, the Himalayas of Northern India, and as of this summer, Yellowstone National Park.
In addition, the geology department offers a colloquium program to expand professional networks for students of all levels, and a tight-knit and passionate faculty that helps ensure the success of their students.
The colloquium invites outside speakers to present their research projects to students of all academic levels. Social gatherings are part of the experience.
“That was a good opportunity to spend time speaking with other people in the department who were not part of your immediate cohort, so who you might not see on a daily basis,” said program alumni Chris Sheehan.
“You had at least one opportunity each week to spend an hour having snacks and catching up, and that was really useful and allowed the whole department to become cemented in a way that I have not seen at a lot of other universities that I have been affiliated with over the years.”
Sheehan aspires to bring the colloquium to the University of Dayton’s Earth Sciences and Geosciences department where he now works.
UC Undergraduate director of geomorphology and numerical modeling Dylan Ward. Photo/Provided
Notable courses in the program include earth history, geomechanics, the earth system, igneous petrology, sedimentary structures, geomorphology and environmental geochemistry.
Geomorphology and environmental geochemistry, in the words of undergraduate director Dylan Ward, is “the study of the earth’s surface, how the landscape changes over time, and the very human time scale of natural hazards that affect the earth’s surface.”
Said undergraduate student Olivia Girten: “Environmental geochemistry was by far the most influential class I have taken. It introduced me to more hands-on learning and expanded my knowledge of PAH’s and PFA’s as well as how the government regulates specific chemicals.”
At its root, geology is environmentally based and offers some important career paths. Anything earth-related needs a geologist, Ward said.
“Fundamentally you get an understanding of the major systems of earth and how they are all in and on this planet that we have and start to gain an appreciation of them. There’s a lot you can do with that.”
These pathways include:
- Paleontologist
- Meteorologist
- Environmental geologist
- Seismologist
- Geophysicist
- Geochemist
- Oceanographer
“The geology department is a closer-knit community than I expected it to be when I started out in the program. We also have students of all ages,” Girten says.
Girten also has some advice for incoming undergraduates: “Go on field trips! You will have experiences that you would never have had anywhere else. If you can go on the ocean margins trip, go on it! It was the best experience I have ever had; it was a three-week trip to the island of San Salvador in the Bahamas.
"Also, go to the community talks! Every Friday we have guest speakers or graduate students discussing job opportunities, research that is going on around the world, geopolitical climate, and other sub-topics within geology.”
Alum Chris Sheehan took an interest in geology at a very young age, however it was an elective at Northern Arizona University that pushed him to become a geology major. After obtaining his bachelor’s degree, he decided to come to UC for his master’s and PhD.
“Usually when you go to graduate school, you’re drawn to whatever university has professors who are doing really interesting stuff. There were lots of interesting research projects going on at UC at the time and there still are,” he says. “Of all the different graduate schools that I looked at, I was really drawn to the research that people were doing at UC.”
Featured image at top: UC geosciences students study the geology around Lake Superior during a 2022 field trip to Thunder Bay, Ontario. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand
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