Program Overview

Doctor of Philosophy in Geosciences

The Doctor of Philosophy in Geosciences is a graduate program that requires a minimum of 75 semester credit hours beyond the baccalaureate degree.

Program Objectives

All students seeking a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Geosciences must satisfactorily complete the following requirements:

• GEOS 5315: The Earth: An Overview
• GEOS 5325: Remote Sensing Fundamentals or GEOS 6381: Geographic Information Systems Fundamentals
• GEOS 5375: Tectonics
• GEOS 5387: Applied Geophysics
• A minimum of 18 semester credit hours of additional Geosciences graduate courses to be specified by the student's research supervisory committee and the graduate advisor
• A minimum of 36 semester credit hours of additional graduate courses or research
• A minimum of 9 semester credit hours of thesis research, including GEOS 8399: Dissertation, and submission of an acceptable dissertation

Program Requirements

In addition to the above course requirements, students seeking the PhD degree must:

• Submit an acceptable degree plan and research proposal describing the intended project to be completed for the dissertation
• Complete the research proposal by the third semester for students entering with a master's degree, or by the fourth semester for students entering without a master's degree
• Pass an oral qualifying examination covering the broad background and detailed knowledge relating to the student's specialization and research proposal, which will be held in the same semester that the proposal is submitted
• Complete and publicly defend the dissertation after satisfactory performance on the Qualifying Examination

Faculty

The program is led by a team of experienced faculty members, including:

• Professors: Carlos L. V. Aiken, John F. Ferguson, John W. Geissman, William I. Manton, George A. McMechan, John S. Oldow, Robert J. Stern
• Professors Emeritus: David E. Dunn, Richard M. Mitterer, Emile A. Pessagno Jr., Dean C. Presnall, Robert H. Rutford
• Associate Professor: Thomas H. Brikowski
• Associate Professor Emeritus: James L. Carter
• Assistant Professor: Hejun Zhu