M. S. Degree in Geosciences, Stony Brook University

Program Design & Assessment

Overview

This program educates students through formal courses and research projects to the M. S. degree in geosciences
Strengths: Focus of the research projects is to be on technological and instrumentation development.
This program is specifically designed for African-American students from HBCUs.

Strengths of this program
Strengths: Focus of the research projects is to be on technological and instrumentation development.

Types of students served
This program is specifically designed for African-American students from HBCUs, who have obtained a B. S. degree in a STEM field.

Program Goals

The goals of this program are as follows:
Provide these student trainees with a marketable skill set in the emerging field between science and technology.
Prepare these student trainees for employment as science associates in national user facilities of the U. S. Department of Energy [DOE], such as the National Synchrotron Light Source [NSLS] at the Brookhaven National Laboratory [BNL].

The learning goals were informed by the following resources:
This initiative addresses well-recognized low levels of participation by African-American students in the geosciences and is focused on fostering development and training of the diverse scientific and technical workshop required for 21st century geoscience careers, one of the four main areas highlighted in NSF 10-512 on Geoscience Education [GeoEd].

How program goals are assessed
The progress of each student in this program is reviewed semi-annually by the faculty in the Department of Geosciences.
An Advisory Committee of faculty from Stony Brook, Brookhaven and MSI institutions reviews the program every 12-18 months.

Design features that allow goals to be met:

Alumni Careers

Graduation rate
To date, one student has completed the M.S. degree in this program [Dec 2013] and she is currently interviewing for jobs at the Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Two other students are currently enrolled, effective Sept 2012 and are expected to graduate with their M.S. degrees in May 2014.
Two students who have been summer interns at Stony Brook and Brookhaven are expected to apply for admission to this program for September 2014: Brandon Rhymer from the University of the Virgin Islands and Brittany MacGregor from Florida State University.

Careers pursued by our alumni

Courses and Sequencing

Diagram of course sequencing and requirements

Students in this program take at least 18 graduate credits [usually 6 courses] of courses in the Department of Geosciences and the Department of Physics & Astronomy.
Core courses: Solid State Geophysics, Crystallography and Crystal Chemistry, Mineralogy and Petrology.
No capstone course.
Physics, chemistry and math courses are expected to have been completed prior to entering this graduate program in geosciences.

Other key features of this program:

Successful completion of an independent research project leading to a dissertation for the M. S. degree in Geosciences Instrumentation

Supporting Materials