Geosciences Home - Denison University

Welcome

We offer a bachelor of science (B.S.) degree for students planning to seek graduate degrees in geology and allied environmental sciences; many of our Alumni have continued their studies at leading graduate institutions. A summer field course is required for the bachelor of science degree. The bachelor of arts (B.A.) degree, with fewer outside science requirements than the B.S., allows for greater flexibility in course selection in preparing for employment in secondary education and in diverse environmental science and resource management fields. For details of our degree requirements, see the Geosciences Curriculum.

News

Welcome to Geosciences - Spring 2012

2012 Fall Fieldtrip Geosciences department travels to Pennsylvania

Geosciences plans Spring Fieldtrip

13 students and 2 faculty members will travel to Owen's Valley in California over Spring Break. They will visit Arrow Canyon near Las Vegas, China Lake where they will study Rhyolite domes, Owen's Valley and Mono Lake. The group will leave on March 10 and return to Denison on March 16th. Look for updates and pictures.

World famous paleonotologist visits Geos class

Associate Professor of Geosciences Dave Goodwin's class 'Biodiversity Through Time' enjoyed a visit December 9 from Donald Johanson, world famous paleontologist and discoverer of "Lucy", one of the earliest members of genus Australopitheus: A. afarensis. Johnson is a professor of paleoanthropology in Arizona State University's School of Human Evolution and Social Change, and he is the founding director of the Institute of Human Origins. His breakthrough discovery of Lucy, a 3.18 million year old hominid skeleton, was one of the key discoveries of the 20th century.

Students and faculty were treated to the sight of Johanson waving a model femur, while his discussion wandered through human anatomy (plus a glimpse into the anatomies of pre-humans and apes), physics, geology, biology, paleoclimatology, and, of course, anthropology.

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Fall Field trip

13 students and 2 faculty traveled to SE Missouri for a 5 day field trip, September 14-18, visiting Cairo, IL, New Madrid, MO and the St. Francois Mts. Check out our Field Trips page for more about this trip

Opportunities

Student Research Opportunities

include working with faculty on field and laboratory projects, involvement with the Oak Ridge Science Semester, and a variety of summer internships; see Student Opportunities for details. Departmental research equipment includes petrographic and binocular microscopes, a computer cluster with a variety of geologic and geographic software, a digitizer, a color plotter, a Scintag X-ray diffraction system, and basic soil and water chemistry laboratory facilities; see Facilities for details. Geoscience majors have access to a variety of additional analytical equipment including a scanning electron microscope and a Giddings trailer-mounted power auger and probe for shallow drilling and sampling. Our extensive mineral, rock, fossil and map collections enhance both teaching and research.

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