Geosciences - B.A. / B.S.
The outdoors is your lab in geosciences. The geosciences are concerned with understanding earth processes and the evolutionary history of the Earth. Through either the B.A. or B.S.
The outdoors is your lab in geosciences. The geosciences are concerned with understanding earth processes and the evolutionary history of the Earth. Through either the B.A. or B.S.
Focus your studies on the history of life and its interactions with the Earth through the bachelor of science in geobiology program. The program brings together courses in geosciences and biology and related fields and embraces the history of life and its interactions with the Earth over geologic time. It also includes study of interactions between living organisms and physical and chemical processes in the modern environment on Earth, and possibly elsewhere in the universe.
This certificate, which can be completed online through Penn State World Campus, is designed to provide students with the knowledge needed to make environmentally sustainable decisions. It increases geoscience literacy and addresses key sustainability issues, including the impact of climate change on Earth and its inhabitants, access to clean drinking water, sustainable energy, and the hazards posed by our overpopulated coastal regions.
Build the economic, political, and social knowledge you need to make a difference in addressing environmental problems through the Earth Science and Policy program. This major focuses on teaching quantitative tools required for problem solving, and it is intended to bridge the gap between the physical, natural sciences (the earth sciences) and the social sciences, with the understanding that intelligent, effective solutions to environmental problems will require people who grasp the scientific and social dimensions of environmental problems.
Biogeochemistry is an interdisciplinary field that fuses biology, geosciences, and chemistry to better understand processes in nature. The program enables students from several graduate programs to gain the perspectives, techniques, and methodologies of biogeochemistry, while maintaining a close association with major program areas of study.
The following graduate programs in the college offer dual degrees in Biogeochemistry:
The search for life in the universe. Exploring ancient Earth rocks that serve as examples of what could have happened to planets in different galaxies. And even analyzing and improving the tools we use to measure for evidence — either at the scale of a cell or a solar system — to answer these questions. These are the hallmarks of astrobiology research at Penn State. Our program brings together researchers from many disciplines to answer these pressing questions about the evolution of life.