Online Degrees

Geoscience Technician Degrees

Salaries For Degrees in Geoscience Technician

People with a degree in Geoscience Technician can work in a variety of occupations.  While no one can say with certainty what you personally will do with a degree in Geoscience Technician, our survey panel picked the following jobs as likely options:

Students with a degree in Geoscience Technician are considered well prepared for becoming Geological and petroleum technicians.

The median salary for people with a degree in Geoscience Technician is $55,481.52.  The lifetime value of this degree is approximately $1,001,036.00.

Salaries are highly dependent on how skilled one is at negotiation, seniority in the field, policies at your employer, area, and more besides.  The estimates we show on these pages are just that: estimates.  Your individual experience will likely vary.

Where does this come from?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, a unit of the US government, classifies all workers into some 800-odd occupational categories.  We paid a team of freelancers to solicit their view on what type of degree a holder of each type of job would likely have majored in.  For pairs which had a high degree of consensus, we created a link between the degree and the job.

From this, we calculated the average salary for Geoscience Technician degrees and converted it into a lifetime value.  We then compared it against other degrees at the same level of schooling (such as associate's, bachelor's, or master's), so that you can make informed educational and employment decisions.

What Can a Geoscience Technician Student Expect to Learn?

Geosciences technicians are scientists who apply their understanding of geological processes to assist a geoscientist in inventing new processes or products. Geosciences technicians are skilled workers who work as a team to collect data and samples, analyze findings, and make predictions based on the data they gathered. They are responsible for setting up, operating and repairing scientific equipment, performing complex calculations, and recording data. Geoscientists usually design an experiment and rely on the geosciences technician to carry out the procedures and ensure the experiment is completed properly.

Job Outlook

Employers of geosciences technicians are usually government or companies involved in geological and/or petroleum exploration. Most employers require the geosciences technician to have at least two years of post-secondary education and often prefer a bachelor’s degree in geology, chemistry, or a related subject.

The combination of education and training ensures candidates for a geosciences technician position have a solid background in laboratory procedures as well as an understanding of the logic behind those procedures. Once hired, they typically spend their workweek in either an indoor laboratory or on field assignment. Geosciences technicians may work in remote environments. According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, approximately 15,000 people are currently employed in geosciences technician positions with a median annual salary of $25.65 per hour.

Degree Requirements 

What a student can expect to learn studying to be a Geosciences Technicians General requirements for a geology degree usually include at least two semesters (or quarters) of chemistry, two semesters of physics, two semesters of calculus, and one semester of calculus.

Geosciences technician students study different areas of geology based on their degree specialization.

Areas of Specialization

Economic and petroleum geology students study the geological processes which produce mineral deposits and deposits of energy resources. Students focusing on engineering geology learn to evaluate potential sites for dams, bridges, pipelines, and building to evaluate for possible geological hazards and provide vital information needed from proper design and construction.

Geochemistry students learn about the Earth’s chemical makeup and evolution, and the uses of the relative abundances of chemical elements to date rocks and determine the conditions under which the rocks formed. Students studying geomorphology study land formations for by glacial, eolian (wind), and hydrological processes.

Glaciology students learn about the flow of glaciers and ice sheets, the landforms and deposits produced by ice, and their relation to climatic changes. Students learning about groundwater geology investigate the flow of subsurface water and related environmental issues such as groundwater contamination by chemical and nuclear wastes.

Mineralogy students study chemical compositions, crystallographic structures, properties, and origins of minerals. Information contained in fossils, such as the origin and evolution of life, is the focus of paleontologists.

Petrology students learn about the chemical reactions and physical processes which form rocks. Students studying sedimentology and stratigraphy are interested in the transportation and deposition of sediments derived from weathered rocks and the relationships amount sedimentary strata.

Structural geology students learn about the folding and faulting of rocks in the Earth’s crust, the formation of mountain belts, and the relation of these processes to the relative movement of crustal plates.

Online Schools Offering Accredited Geoscience Technician Degree Programs

Online Schools offering Geosciences Technician Degrees Geosciences technicians’ education requires extensive laboratory and field training. Because of that reasons, there are no online schools offering bachelor’s geology degrees.

You can complete a portion of your course requirements at the following online schools:

• University of Phoenix
• DeVry University
• Strayer University
• Kaplan University

Top Colleges & Universities Offering Campus-based Geoscience Technician Degrees

Traditional schools offering Geosciences Technician courses Most state four year institutions and many private educational institutions offer bachelor’s programs in geology. While there are many opinions on the best school, a survey of PhD’s currently teaching in American universities indicated the top ten programs were (starting with the best) were:

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• University of California at Berkeley
• University of Wisconsin at Madison
• University of Washington
• Columbia University
• Stanford University
• Pennsylvania State University
• Harvard University
• University of California at San Diego
• University of Michigan
• University of California at Los Angeles
• California Institute of Technology tied with University of Illinois.

Several eastern and Midwestern universities are on the top 10 list.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Department includes studies in general geology, geophysics, geochemistry, oceanic and atmospheric physics, environmental science, and planetary science.

The University of Wisconsin, Madison’s offers student a geology degree with an emphasis on paleontology, general geology/geological engineering, or geophysics.

Columbia University’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences present students with a choice of major in environmental science or earth science. The environmental science major includes study in a variety of environmentally related fields while the earth science majors study the solid earth with less emphasis on the ocean, atmosphere, and biosphere.

Pennsylvania State University’s Department of Geosciences offer students course work in the areas of general geology, geophysics, and oceanography.

Harvard University’s degree program in Earth and Planetary Sciences focused on teaches student a broad array of geological concepts with an emphasis on technology.

The University of Illinois’ Department of Geological Sciences provides students an education on general geology spotlighting the Rocky Mountains. The department also offers a hydrology program.

Several California universities are on the top 10 list.

The University of California, Berkeley’s Department of Geology and Geophysics was established in 1868. Traditionally the program emphasized field, structural, sedimentary, stratigraphic and historical aspects of geology as well as theoretical and experimental expertise to understand igneous and metamorphic processes, the deformation of rocks and minerals, evolution of landscapes, and paleomagnetism. However, in 2001 expanded curriculum was introduced including environmental issues, atmospheres, oceans, and planetary systems.

Stanford University’s School of Earth Sciences includes departments specializing in geological and environmental sciences, geophysics, energy resources engineering, and environmental earth system science.

The University of California, San Diego’s Department of Geological Sciences teaches students in the areas of general geology, hydrology, paleontology, sedimentary geology, geochemistry, geophysics, marine geology, and geosciences education.

The University of California, Los Angeles’ Department of Earth and Space Sciences concentrates on training students in the physical, chemical, and biological sciences and their application to understanding earth’s processes. The department offers five bachelors of sciences degree specializations: geology, engineering geology, paleobiology, applied geophysics, and geophysics and space physics.

The California Institute of Technology’s Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences focuses on general geology and planetary sciences.

The only university on the top 10 list located in the Pacific Northwest is the University of Washington. The University of Washington’s College of the Environment offers students a bachelor’s degree program with either a major in geological sciences or earth and space sciences. Both tracts require coursework in general geology and geophysics.

Popular people who have studied to be Geosciences Technicians

There are many famous geologist throughout history. Many people do not realize that Leonardo da Vinci (pictured right), acclaimed painter of the Mona Lisa, was also a geoscientist. He was one of the first researches to discover how sedimentary rocks and fossils formed.

Charles Lyell was a geologist in the early 1800s who contributed to the general knowledge of geology through his extensive field world. John Thoburn Williamson was a well-known Canadian geologist as he established the Williamson diamond mine in Tanzania. Alfred Wegener gained notoriety for his controversial theory of Continental Drift.

An example of a famous female geosciences technician is Mary Anning who lived from 1799 to 1847. Mary Anning was born to a poor family living on the southern shores of Great Britain in the town of Lyme Regis. Mary ran a business selling fossils to supplement the family’s income and is credited with finding the first ischthyosaur fossil.