The Department of Geology offers graduate degrees at the M.S. and Ph.D. levels. Our departmental research interests are wide-ranging and include Crust and Mantle Dynamics, Earth Systems History, Environmental Geosciences, and Geochemistry. Our faculty and students are engaged in research in diverse settings, including Italy, Kamchatka, the Bahamas, the Antilles, the Cordillera, as well as in the southeast. The department is well-equipped, with major equipment including an electron microprobe, an x-ray diffractometer, and two gas-source stable isotope mass spectrometers. Students are supported on teaching and research assistantships and funding for graduate research and travel expenses is also supported by the department.
Our department has close ties to several other departments on campus, both in terms of research and in terms of courses that our graduate students take. These include Anthropology, Chemistry, Ecology, Forestry, Genetics, Geography, Marine Sciences, Microbiology, and Crop and Soil Sciences. We also have close associations with the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory near Aiken, South Carolina, the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography near Savannah, Georgia, and the University of Georgia Marine Institute on Sapelo Island, Georgia.
Our graduate students do well in the job market. Of our graduates in the past five years, 90% are now employed in the earth sciences. Over half are employed in the private sector as geologists, including petroleum geology, minerals exploration, and environmental geology. About a third are employed in academia. Some are employed in K-12 education, where there's a real need for earth scientists.
The Athens area is a great place to live. The cost of living is remarkably low and this small town is rich with music, restaurants, and sports. The nearby Blue Ridge mountains offer many opportunities for outside recreation, including climbing, hiking, kayaking, and mountain biking. The Georgia coast is only four hours away and has pristine beaches and salt marshes. Atlanta offers all the amenities of any major, cosmopolitan city and is only an hour's drive away.
The Geology Club at UGA is a professional student organization that strives to build a community of individuals interested in geosciences. The club educates the public about geology, supports current students, connects with department alumni, promotes the department, and partners with other geoscience organizations. The club also serves as the UGA Chapter of Sigma Gamma Epsilon. Visit the Geology Club website for information about upcoming club meetings, educational and recreational events, networking opportunities, fundraising initiatives, and other ways you can get involved.
