Graduates follow five general career paths. Petroleum Exploration and Development. The location of oil, gas and coal and their efficient extraction. Mineral Exploration and Development. The search for and development of natural deposits of metals, industrial materials and rock aggregate.
Students are also well prepared to pursue careers in basic geo-science.
Graduates have become experts in fields as divergent as global climate change, the early history of the Earth, planetary science, fractal representation of ground-water flow and simulation of sedimentary rock sequences, to name a few. The curriculum can be followed along two concentration paths with slightly different upper division requirements. Both concentrations are identical in the first two years as the students gain basic engineering, geological and other science background. In the junior year those students pursuning careers in hydrogeology, geotechnics and other environmental applications follow a path specially designed to emphasize engineering applications. Students anticipating careers in resource exploration and development or who expect to pursue graduate studies in geological sciences follow a path more strongly emphasizing geology, but still provides significant application instruction and experience.