Geology, Ph.D.

I. Contact Information

Stacia Gordon, Ph.D., Graduate Program Director
Department of Geological Sciences and Engineering
Department Office: (775) 784-6476
staciag@unr.edu​
DGSEgraddirector@unr.edu

II. Brief Introduction

Students may choose an appropriate course of study for their academic or career goals. Graduate students conduct research within the Department and/or in association with the Nevada Seismological Laboratory and ALERT wildfire (http://www.seismo.unr.edu), the Great Basin Center for Geothermal Energy (https://gbcge.org), the Nevada Geodetic Laboratory (http://geodesy.unr.edu), the Center for Neotectonic Studies, the Ralph J. Roberts Center for Research in Economic Geology (http://www.nbmg.unr.edu/CREG), the Desert Research Institute (http://www.dri.edu), the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology (www.nbmg.unr.edu), the Nevada National Security Site, National Laboratories, and the United States Geological Survey.

Both regional and international research programs are available. Field-related studies and research are among the strengths of our programs. The University of Nevada, Reno is located near the boundary between the Great Basin and Sierra Nevada physiographic provinces, and is near many world-class localities for field studies, ranging from glaciated high country to high desert environments. Lake Tahoe and Yosemite, Great Basin, and Lassen Volcanic national parks are all within easy reach of Reno. We have state-of-the-art field instrumentation for geologic, temperature, seismic, gravity, magnetic, electrical, geodetic, and rock properties studies. We also have one of the world’s largest digitally recorded seismic networks and host the world’s largest GPS analysis center.

III. Program Objectives/Student Learning Outcomes

Fields of emphasis for thesis work include:

• geology (regional geology, mineral deposits, structural geology, petrology, tectonics, stratigraphy, mineralogy, micropaleontology, paleolimnology, geomorphology, climate change);
• geophysics (seismology, earthquake hazards, exploration geophysics, remote sensing, paleomagnetism, neotectonics);
• geochemistry (aqueous isotope, geothermal);
• geological engineering (geomechanics, waste containment, slope stability, geologic hazards);
• hydrogeology;
• geodesy, and
• planetary geology.

IV. Admission Requirements

In addition to UNR Graduate School admission requirements, the following are required:

1. the GRE Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning exams;
2. a two-page statement of purpose; and
3. three (3) letters of recommendation.

Please identify a faculty member with whom you are interested in working during your graduate degree, and please contact him/her in advance of submitting your application to see if the faculty member is accepting students. Only students who have obtained a committment from a faculty member to serve as their advisor will be admitted. 

Prospective applicants should have a degree in the geological sciences, physical sciences or an engineering field.

V. Program Requirements

In addition to UNR Graduate School Ph.D. requirements, the program requires the following course work:

VI. Total Units (73 units)

The Ph.D. degree is 73 credits. The credits include a 1-unit GEOL 795 - Comprehensive Examination that may not be used to satisfy the 30 units of 700-level course work required for the Ph.D. degree. Contact the Department of Geological Sciences and Engineering office or the geology faculty for more details.

VII. Notes

Available instruments and laboratories include: two scanning electron microscopes, a laser-abalation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer, petrographic microscopes, reflected light microscopes, stable isotope geochemistry, fluid inclusion facilities, optical and infrared reflectance and Raman spectroscopy (field and lab), optical-fiber distributed temperature measurement, conodont and radiolarian biostratigraphy, geographic information systems (GIS), computer graphics, 3D seismic interpretation (OpendTect), computational modeling, geologic modeling (EarthVision), networked computer clusters for data processing and scientific visualization, laboratory testing frames, and shear boxes. These laboratories support research in geology, geochemistry, geophysics, geodesy, hydrogeology, mineralogy, mineralization, petrology, petrochemistry, slope stability, rock mechanics and tectonics.

VIII. Undergraduate Prerequisites

Students usually enter this program with a degree in the geological sciences, physical sciences or an engineering field.