Computational simulation and mathematical modeling are becoming increasingly important as tools in the geosciences to forecast and understand the world around us.
By minoring in Earth Data Science at PSU, you'll become familiar with software and hardware for collecting, processing, analyzing, and presenting data that is critical to solving problems in geology. This background will give you a competitive advantage for careers in governmental agencies at the federal, state, and local levels, in education as teachers in elementary and high schools and at the college level, and in the private sector such as with engineering, architecture, and planning firms or in the construction, mining, and petroleum industries.
The Earth Data Science curriculum is designed to be flexible, allowing you to choose courses from different departments that best suit your interests. A pair of core courses introduce you to real-world applications of digital computers, modeling software, and numerical methods, including stratigraphic sections, chart recordings, sample locations, mapping, trend surfaces, clustering, and solving systems of equations that describe geological processes.
The minor is rounded out with five advisor-approved courses in Data Science, with at least four credits outside of geology.
Our location in Portland provides students with the unique opportunity to study the geology of the Pacific Northwest, from extinct and active volcanoes to landslides, the Columbia River flood basalts to glaciers atop Mount Hood, and tsunami deposits along the coast. You won't have to go far to gain new insights about our past, present, and future.
You’ll learn from and work alongside our faculty who are leading researchers in the field of geology. Their areas of expertise include volcanology, geochemistry, structural geology, urban systems, glaciology, hydrogeology, meteorites, and planetary science, and active tectonics. PSU's research computing unit can provide you with access and support to geospatial servers and mapping software. PSU’s geology research facilities include surveying equipment, scanning and transmission electron microscopes, a teaching laboratory with sensors and data loggers, and a web-based data clearinghouse with regional geoscience data.
You can get involved with our student clubs, including CoRiBa and chapters of the Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists and the Association of Petroleum Geologists. Learn about geology and related topics outside the classroom, listen to invited speakers, explore careers in geology, and go on field trips and hikes.
The minor in Earth Data Science provides you with a foundation to solve spatial or quantitative problems about Earth's complex systems and its distribution of resources, environments, and hazards. You can use the minor to find work with government agencies and industries, including mineral, oil and gas companies, or use it as preparation for graduate studies in GIS, geoinformatics, or a related field.