17 Best Geology Doctoral Degree Programs for 2024

We offer PhD and MS degrees in 6 programs: Atmospheric Sciences, Marine Biology & Ecology, Environmental Science & Policy, Marine Geosciences, Meteorology & Physical Oceanography, and Ocean Sciences. We offer highly competitive stipend rates, tuition, and health insurance coverage for our incoming PhD students as part of a fully-funded 5-year Graduate Assistantship. Finally, as part of our revitalized connections across colleges and to take advantage of our unique research facilities, we offer an MS degree in both Ocean Engineering and Sustainable Business. Our graduate students also take advantage of nearby NOAA facilities including the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, Southeast Fisheries Science Center, and the National Hurricane Center. PhD Assistantships can be found here: https://graduate.earth.miami.edu/admissions/phd-assistanships/index.html GRE not required!

Geoinformatics is a field of study involving the science and technology dealing with the acquisition, storage, processing production, presentation, and dissemination of geoinformation using the theory and practical implications of geodesy within information science infrastructure. The core of geoinformatics is geospatial analytics, a branch of data science that focuses on developing cutting-edge technologies supporting processes of acquiring, analyzing, and visualizing geospatial Big Data. Advances in various location-aware technologies, (e.g., GPS, the Internet of Things (IoT), mobile sensors, remote sensing), and ever-increasing time-stamped, location-based data from sensors as diverse as satellites, drones, and smartphones have created unprecedented demand and opportunities for code-savvy geospatial professionals with the ability to automate processing, visualizing and finding patterns in both structured and unstructured data.

The Ph.D. Geosciences degree program provides a curriculum that is designed to be relevant to many of today’s career prospects, as well as the opportunity to interact in a research context with faculty. The Ph.D. in Geosciences degree emphasizes research in distinct specialties in geosciences and is designed to prepare students for positions in the energy or environmental professions in industry or government, or for positions in academia.

The mission of the Ph.D. in Geospatial Information Sciences degree program is to cultivate innovative researchers capable of advancing the frontiers of knowledge in the geospatial information sciences through improved theories, new technologies, innovative methodologies, sophisticated quantitative analyses, and integrative applications.

The Ph.D. degree required a minimum of two academic years of residency as a graduate student on campus or at a research facility approved by the Department faculty; satisfactory defense of two original research propositions; and the preparation and public defense of a dissertation that is a significant original contribution to the advancement of science. Proficiency in a foreign language may be required by the advisory committee.

The University's Environmental Sciences Ph.D. is a research-focused, multidisciplinary degree track with more than 35 participating faculty members from 14 departments across four institutions. The program encourages students to adapt to the course of study to their academic interests. Successful students will practice applied science that addresses real-world problems.

The UCSB Department of Geography’s joint Ph.D. program with the Department of Geography at San Diego State University is distinctive. It brings together two outstanding departments that complement each other. California State Universities do not offer stand-alone doctoral programs.

The interdisciplinary Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability Doctoral program will prepare you to be part of a growing industry of leaders, scientists, and engineers addressing issues of climate change, water scarcity, natural resource demand, and environmental sustainability in the Southwest, United States, and the global community.

Area: Physics, Earth and Materials Sciences

The new associated doctoral program "Natural Hazards and Disaster Risk Reduction" has been developed based on the experience gained by the proposing entities within the Research, Innovation, and Training Consortium "REducing risks of natural DIsasters - REDI"

EEH is a PhD course study activated since 2017 at G. d’Annunzio School of Advanced Studies, in the Department of Psychological, Health and Territorial Sciences (DiSPuTer) (Campus Universitario, Via dei Vestini, 31 - 66100 Chieti Scalo, Italy). EEH coordinator is Giusy Lavecchia, full professor of Structural Geology. EEH is dedicated to high-quality studies and original research on natural and anthropogenic hazards and their consequences. It is aimed to build a multi-task research community concerned, on one side, with monitoring, modelling and assessment of hazards and, on the other, with the investigation of the impact on individuals and society, finalized to the design and implementation of risk mitigation and adaptation strategies. The skills of the EEH teaching board, which span from Earth Sciences and Physics (ERC PE10) to Archaeology (ERC SH6) and Psychology (ERC SH4), make possible a multi-task approach to two high-impact categories of hazard, that concern earthquakes and environmental pollution. Characterizing EEH research and teaching topics are: 1. Seismotectonics and seismogenesis for seismic hazard assessment (responsible: prof. Giusy Lavecchia) 2. Geoarchaeology and archaeoseismology for cultural heritage risk and for seismic hazard (responsible: prof. Oliva Menozzi) 3. Endogenous and anthropogenic hazards for risk mitigation (responsible: prof. Francesco Stoppa) 4. Psycho-sociological analysis of hazard perception and risk communication (responsible: prof. Nicola Mammarella). EHH students will develop and implement their scientific background, but, at the same time, they will acquire basic tools and knowledge on hazard problems approached from different point of views. This strategy is crucial to educate and train a new generation of researchers and technicians able to combine their specific expertise into a common procedure for successful risk management. Such a framing process is urgent in order to increase resilience to earthquakes and environmental hazards and to reduce the impact from natural disasters. The course is open to candidates with a master degree in structural geology, geophysics, geomorphology, seismology, archaeology, geochemistry, petrography, physics, environmental science, psychology and sociology. Accordingly, candidates will widen their specific competence by working in a team of experts from many different fields.

The doctorate trains PhDs on broad themes of Architecture, Earth Sciences and the Planets and Civil Engineering. This interdisciplinary research platform includes topics that concern the natural and man-made environments, the risks associated with them (hydro-geological risk, risks and safety of the built environment at different scales, planning, design and conservation of buildings and urban settlements) and georesources. In this context interdisciplinary, it is possible to develop specific doctoral themes capable of generating repercussions scientific and applicative in line with an increasingly complex society. The research activity follows an initial period of basic training and develops collaborations with research institutions and universities which, where possible, will allow doctoral students to obtain an Italian and foreign qualification (in co-tutorship) and any additional certification of Doctor Europaeus or Network Doctorate International.

Geology is a program that studies material compositions, internal structure and external features of earth, mutual interactions between earths and the history of the evolution of earth.

The predecessor of the Mechanical Engineering in China University of Petroleum is the original discipline of petroleum mechanical engineering founded in 1952 at the department of petroleum engineering in Tsinghua University, which is the earliest established oil field mechanical discipline.

Geophysics has to do with the physics of the earth and its surrounding atmosphere and applies the theory and method of physics, combined with geology, atmospheric science, marine science and astronomy, to detect all kinds of geophysical fields (such as the earth's magnetic field, electric field, gravity field and seismic wave field, temperature field, the interior of the earth radiation, atmosphere and plasma radiation field, high electromagnetic field, etc.) by means of modern science and technology. You will learn to use such geophysical fields to obtain useful information that is used during exploration, drilling and production of hydrocarbons.

The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is one of the world's leading environmental research centres and is responsible for the UK's national scientific activities in Antarctica.

The research programme of this doctoral programme should study the physical environment while examining geology. The deepening should concern the exploration of the origin, structure and composition of minerals and igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks.