Earth Sciences Requirements

If you are interested in Earth—how it formed and then evolved over 4.56-billion years, how it functions as a complex physical and chemical system, how and why our planet supports us, and how our actions affect the world around us—an Earth sciences major may be right for you.

The Department of Earth Sciences is deeply committed to undergraduate engagement in scientific research, and Earth sciences students routinely use an array of cutting-edge instrumentation, including a powder X-ray diffractometer (powder-XRD) for determining mineral identities and a scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with an energy-dispersive X-ray-fluorescence spectrometer (EDS) system, an electron-backscatter-diffraction (EBSD) system, and a cathodoluminescence (CL) detector for complete characterization of solid materials at the micrometer scale. The department also possesses ice and sediment core storage facilities, sediment coring equipment, research-grade stereo and petrographic microscopes, and rock and sediment processing equipment. Additional instrumentation and equipment shared with other departments in the Division of Natural Sciences includes a C,H,N,O,S elemental analyzer, an inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer (ICP-AES) for determining elemental compositions, a micro-CT X-ray scanner for sub-mm-scale mapping of 3D sample volumes, and the Colby Compass, a research vessel equipped with an array of instrumentation for real-time environmental analyses.

Colby’s setting provides an intriguing and exciting area for field study, enabling students to integrate field and laboratory experiences in most Earth sciences courses. Students and faculty also enjoy extracurricular field trips within Maine and longer trips to visit special geologic localities throughout the U.S. and abroad.

The Department of Earth Sciences offers both a major and a minor for students with different interests. The point scale for retention of the major applies to all courses taken in the major; no requirement may be taken satisfactory/unsatisfactory. Students should consult regularly with their advisor in selecting courses appropriate for meeting their goals for post-graduation employment and/or graduate study. Importantly, the Department of Earth Sciences is committed to an inclusive education for all students regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, learning differences, and differences in physical ability.

Chair, Associate Professor Tasha Dunn

Associate Professors Tasha Dunn, Bess Koffman, and Walter “Bill” Sullivan; Assistant Professor Evan Dethier

• A 100-level laboratory course (Earth Sciences 122, 123, 125, 127, or 129)
• Four core courses (Earth Sciences 228, 231, 254, and 262)
• Four Earth Sciences elective courses numbered 200 or above
• A capstone experience; and
• Two cognate courses from the following list: Biology 163, 164; Chemistry 121, 122, 141, 142, 147; Computer Science 151, 152, 153; Physics 141, 143, 145; Math 120j, 125, 130, 135, 160, 165; and Statistics 212.

The Department of Earth Sciences’s honors program involves a substantial research component in the student’s senior year, with no fewer than six credit hours of Earth Sciences 483/484 and completion of a thesis detailing this work. Participation in the honors program requires a 3.5 GPA in the major by the end of the junior year before a faculty sponsor can consider the project. The honors program involves presentation of a research proposal to a faculty committee early in the fall semester, drafting and approval of introductory sections before January, submission of a full draft of the thesis for review by spring break, and approval of the final thesis by the faculty committee. Satisfactory progress will result in credit for Earth Sciences 483 and 484. Successful completion of an honors research project, and the major, will enable the student to graduate with “Honors in Earth Sciences.” Students who wish to pursue an even more intensive research agenda should consider the Senior Scholars Program, an all-campus honors program in which half the student’s academic credits in the senior year are devoted exclusively to a major research project.

• A 100-level laboratory course (Earth Sciences 122, 123, 125, 127, or 129)
• Four Earth sciences courses selected from courses numbered 228 and above.