University of North Carolina at Charlotte

The Department of Geography and Earth Sciences offers a Master of Science in Earth Sciences degree with opportunities for study and research in the areas of geology, hydrology, atmospheric science, surface processes, environmental science, remote sensing, and geospatial analysis.  Graduate students have access to faculty with a broad range of expertise, as well as access to extensive field, laboratory, and computing facilities.

Earth Sciences faculty offer courses and are active in research areas that include surface and groundwater hydrology, vadose zone processes, geochemistry, igneous and metamorphic petrology, biogeochemistry, mineralogy, structural geology, applied geophysics, remote sensing, soil science, Quaternary geology, geomorphology, fluvial processes, depositional environments, biodiversity, landscape ecology, urban ecology, sustainability, forestry, clastic and carbonate sedimentology, basin analysis, stratigraphy, coastal geology, paleoecology, macro- and micropaleontology, environmental geology, applied climatology, global fire modeling, biogeophysical modeling, climate model evaluation, terrestrial carbon cycling, aerosol physics and chemistry, air quality, renewable energies, numerical weather prediction, severe weather, tropical meteorology, and environmental epidemiology.

The program is designed to address a range of student needs and can be completed in two years of full-time study or on a part-time basis.  Students choose one of two options with different degree requirements: 1) a course-only option that emphasizes the core knowledge and skills necessary for practice in Earth Sciences professions, or 2) a research option in which students engage in original Earth Sciences research in collaboration with a faculty advisor and complete coursework centered on that research.