Welcome to the Graduate Field of Geological Sciences web page. The graduate program geological sciences has PhD, MS, and MEng programs and aims to produce first-class scientists operating on the cutting edge of geoscience research. Our former students now occupy prestigious positions in academia, industry, and government. The program is flexible and is individually tailored to each student, and takes advantage of Cornell's strength in sciences and engineering and interdisciplinary education.  The PhD program, which culminates with a dissertation, typically requires 5 years and does not require a Masters degree for admission (students entering the program with a Masters already in hand can generally complete the PhD in less than 4 years).  The Masters program typically requires 2 years and requires a thesis.  The MEng degree requires 1 year, 30 credit hours and a design project, but does not require a thesis.

The faculty constituting the Graduate Field of Geological Sciences at Cornell includes not only those members in the Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences but faculty from a number of other academic units as well, including Civil and Environmental Engineering, Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Classics, Astronomy, and Materials Science. These faculty represent the following concentrations for PhD and MS students:

Economic geology                                 Mineralogy

Engineering geology                            Paleontology

Petrology                                                 Petroleum geology

Environmental geophysics                  Planetary geology

Geobiology                                              Precambrian geology

Geochemistry & isotope geology        Quaternary geology

Geomorphology                                     Rock mechanics

Geophysics                                             Sedimentology

Geotectonics                                           Seismology

General geology                                    Stratigraphy

Marine geology (minor only)                Structural geology

At present, Geohydrology and Environmental Geophysics are the two options within the M.Eng. program.

PhD students chose a major advisor representing one of the above concentrations and two or more minor advisors, one of which must represent a minor from a field outside of geological sciences. Astronomy, Chemistry, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Education, and Civil Engineering and just a few of the examples of typical outside minors. Together, these advisors form the special committee that guides the student’s program.  The same is true for MS students, but they need chose only a single minor advisor.  There are no specific course or course credit requirements for the MS and PhD degrees, rather a student’s course work is determined by the special committee.  Generally the last 2 to 3 years of the PhD program and last year or more the MS program are devoted entirely to dissertation or thesis research. 

Useful information about how the graduate program works can be found in our Graduate Handbook .  Below are also links to information about how to apply through the Graduate School , potential sources of funding and the various research projects in which our graduate students participate ( by the way, my own research specialty is geochemistry). And, of course, the Cornell University homepage is a good place for general information about the University as a whole.

We strongly recommend that potential applicants contact faculty members with whom they are interesting in studying before applying. For general questions, please contact the Director of Graduate Studies, Prof. William White, by phone at 607-255-7466, e-mail at wmw4@cornell.edu, fax at 607-254-4780, snail mail, or carrier pigeon.  He will be more than happy to answer any questions that you might have.  For questions about the application process, please contact our Graduate Program Coordinator at easinfo@cornell.edu or 607-255-5466.

How to Apply

We accept applications on-line via the Cornell Graduate School Web page. You should specify the "Field of Geological Sciences" as there is no graduate field of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences. In your essay, please indicate clearly the discipline(s) within Geological Sciences in which you are interested (e.g., "active tectonics," "low temperature geochemistry," "global change," etc.). Your essay, and indeed your entire application, will be stronger if you have carefully investigated Cornell's strengths via these web pages and individual faculty pages, the published literature, and have contacted individual faculty with whom you might be interested in working.

Visiting the Department

We strongly encourage all perspective graduate students to visit our department. Most visits take place between December and March of the academic year prior to the one which you wish to enter. Please arrange your visit in advance by contacting the professor with whom you would like to work, William White the Director of Graduate Studies, or the Graduate Program Coordinator by emailing easinfo@cornell.edu. We will then set up a schedule of people for you to talk with, both faculty and graduate students.

Financial Aid

Information on Cornell tuition and fees can be found on the Cornell Graduate School web page. There are a variety of forms of Financial Aid available to graduate students a Cornell. Nearly all our PhD and MS students receive financial aid that includes tuition, stipend and health insurance. This financial aid is generally available for up to 5 years for PhD students and 2 years for masters students and is contingent upon students making good progress toward their degrees.

• Department Fellowships — The EAS department generally awards two fellowships in geological sciences each year, known as the Long Fellowship and the McMullen Fellowship. Traditionally, these are given to the most deserving incoming graduate students. These fellowships are awarded for a single year, with the assumption that the recipients will segue onto other forms of support for subsequent years. Fellowships provide tuition, a full year of health insurance, and academic year (nine month) stipend.
• Cornell Fellowships — The Field of Geological Sciences usually has available to it one of Cornell's prestigious university wide graduate fellowships. Further information can had at the Graduate School.
  
• Teaching Assistantships (TA's) — Students with TA's receive full tuition, health insurance, and academic year stipend in exchange for 20 hours a week assisting with the teaching of courses in the Earth and Atmospheric Sciences department. This teaching experience is vital to those wishing to go on to a teaching career and it is likely that many graduate students will be TA's at some point during their Cornell career.
• Graduate Research Assistantships (GRA's) — Most graduate students in Geological Sciences are supported as GRA's on one of their professor's externally funded research projects. The research carried out is commonly, though not always, directly related to their thesis research. GRA's commonly provide full tuition, health insurance, and academic year stipend; most also provide summer stipend.
• National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowships — We encourage all applicants and first year graduate students to apply directly to NSF for these prestigious and competitive graduate fellowships.
• NASA Fellowships — Graduate students commonly apply for these fellowships after their first year, when their research project has become well-defined.
• Other fellowships — We occasionally have students supported on Department of Energy or Department of Defense fellowships.