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Tarleton State University to Offer Master's in Geosciences

  • 03/07/19

STEPHENVILLE, TX – Graduate students looking for a master’s program in geoscience have a new option. Tarleton State University will welcome students in the fall for the first semester of a program offered by the department of chemistry, geoscience, and physics. Prospective students are encouraged to apply now for primary consideration, as acceptance is expected to be competitive. Applications for this fall will be accepted until July.

“The addition of this M.S. degree allows for students to pursue specialization within the field of geoscience under the direction of our highly experienced faculty,” says Dr. Ryan Morgan, department head and assistant professor of geosciences. “As a field, geosciences are expected to increase 14 percent in the number of positions available in the United States and add 4,500 jobs.

“Experienced geoscientists are needed to address our increasing oil and gas needs, and they are essential to hazard preparation, environmental assessment, mining, climate change and understanding Earth’s physical and life processes. Expanding the geoscience offerings at Tarleton State grounds the university, both physically and figuratively, to the Texas of the past, the present, and the future.”

The new program has two paths to completion—a two-year thesis-track master’s in geoscience and a five-year bachelor’s-to-master’s option that stems from the Tarleton geoscience undergraduate program. The impetus for the program came from alumni who consistently express interest in a graduate program for the geosciences but who have struggled to find programs with room for additional master’s candidates.

The degree is designed to equip graduates with the mastery of the science best suited for industry placement while guaranteeing familiarity with the discipline at large. Job opportunities include geoscientist, petroleum geologist, oil and gas explorers, hydrologists, and mining and geological engineers.

Tarleton’s location is considered ideal for the program, lying between the oil fields of West Texas and East Texas and at the heart of the metropolitan hubs of DFW, Austin, San Antonio, and Abilene. This placement allows for focus in areas like petroleum geology, paleontology and structural geology.

For more information, go to https://tarleton.edu/degrees/masters/ms-geoscience/index.html.

About Tarleton State University
Tarleton, founding member of The Texas A&M University System, provides a student-focused, value-driven education marked by academic innovation and a dedication to transform today’s scholars into tomorrow’s leaders. It offers degree programs to more than 13,000 students at Stephenville, Fort Worth, Waco, Midlothian, RELLIS Academic Alliance in Bryan, and online, emphasizing real-world learning experiences that address societal needs while maintaining its core values of tradition, integrity, civility, excellence, leadership, and service.

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