About the Department

The Geological Sciences Department is part of the new College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment. We have an excellent faculty with research strengths in coastal and marine geology and geophysics, surface processes and geomorphology, hydrogeology, geomicrobiology, Quaternary geology, paleobiology and micropaleontology, and environmental geophysics. At the present time the Department has eight full-time faculty, including the Chair. In addition, 12 faculty from the School of Marine Science and Policy, the Delaware Geological Survey, Geography, Plant and Soil Science, and Bioresources Engineering actively contribute to our graduate program as joint faculty. The Department offers both field- and laboratory-oriented research programs.

Our Department of Geological Sciences offers undergraduate and graduate degrees that emphasize opportunities for education and research in the classroom, laboratory, and in the field. We currently offer B.A. and B.S. degrees in Geology, with Concentration options in Coastal and Marine Geosciences or Paleobiology, and a B.A. degree in Earth Science Education. We also participate in the Environmental Science B.S. program with concentrations in Geoscience, Marine Science, and Hydrology. We offer M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Geology. We typically have 50 to 60 undergraduate majors and 25 to 30 graduate students in the program.

Career opportunities for geology graduates abound in understanding geologic hazards and in exploring for and efficiently using land, water, energy, and mineral resources. These careers require knowledge of the geological, biological, chemical, and physical processes above, on, and below the earth's surface. Our teaching and research emphasize how these processes operate through time to shape our planet's surface and near surface environment.

History. An undergraduate program in Geology was established at the University in 1958 by the staff of the Delaware Geological Survey. In 1961, the Geology Department became a separate entity; however, the Director of the Survey remains a half-time faculty member. The Graduate program (M.S. and Ph.D.) was established in 1968. The Geology Department and the Delaware Geological Survey (DGS) shared Penny Hall from 1969 until 1989 when the new DGS building, immediately adjacent to Penny Hall, was completed. Penny Hall currently houses all faculty, staff, and graduate student offices, two teaching laboratories, eight research laboratories, three classrooms, and the Mineralogical Museum. In 2006, the department joined what is now the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment as the Department of Geological Sciences.