Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Geology

Students desiring to study petroleum or minerals exploration or development sciences, and/or geology generally pursue Geology degrees. Students are initially admitted to either geoscience or geological engineering degree programs and must receive approval of the GE department Graduate Advisory Committee to switch degree category. The requirement for Doctor of Philosophy (Geology) program will be established individually by a student's Doctoral Thesis Advisory Committee, but must meet the minimum requirements presented below. The Doctor of Philosophy (Geology) academic program will require a minimum of 72 hours of course and research credit hours (a maximum of 9 credit hours may be 400-level course work). Students who enter the PhD program with a thesis-based Master’s degree may transfer up to 36 semester hours in recognition of the course work and research completed for that degree. At the discretion of the student’s Doctoral Thesis Advisory Committee, up to 24 semester hours of previous graduate-level course work (at CSM or elsewhere) can be applied towards the course requirement of the Doctor of Philosophy (Geology)." To ensure breadth of background, the course of study to the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Geology) must include at least one graduate course in each of the fields of stratigraphy/sedimentology, structural geology/tectonics, and petrology (this breadth requirement may be satisfied by courses already taken as part of a Master of Science degree). At the discretion of the student's Doctoral Thesis Advisory Committee, an appropriate course may be substituted for one (and only one) of the fields above. All Doctor of Philosophy (Geology) students must pass a qualifying examination and must complete an appropriate thesis based upon original research they have conducted. A thesis proposal and course of study must be approved by the student's Doctoral Thesis Advisory Committee before the student begins substantial work on the thesis research.