Quantitative Preparation of Earth Science Graduate Students

These reports are products of discussions held at the Winter 2006 workshop on the Quantitative Preparation of Earth Science Graduate Students, held at Carleton College. Faculty members and graduate students gathered to discuss the current state of preparation and what concrete steps could improve that preparation.

• Is there a problem with quantitative preparation?
  This description of the current state of quantitative preparation of undergraduate geoscience students grew out of a round table discussion where meeting participants identified the places where their programs are succeeding and places where there are challenges in quantitative preparation of undergraduate majors for graduate school (particularly PhDs).
• Quantitative Competencies
  This report describes quantitative competencies that meeting participants see as essential to success in geoscience graduate programs. The aim was to describe these competencies in sufficient detail that an undergraduate or undergraduate faculty advisor could determine if a student has that competency.
• Recommendations for Undergraduate Departments and Programs
  Meeting participants developed this list of recommendation for Departments and Programs to help them infuse their curricula with quantitative content. Recommendations range from developing geoscience specific math courses to infusing quantitative content in undergraduate research opportunities.
• Recommendations for New Resources that are Needed
  Meeting participants also made recommendations for tools, online materials and workshops that are needed to reinforce the importance of quantitative skills in the minds of geoscience faculty and students.