Happy Holidays & Best Wishes for the New Year

December 5, 2014

Welcome to Our Newest Majors: Montana Thompson - Geol, and Kuyler Thompson - AEG. Please do not hesitate to let us know how we can best support you with your goals. (Geol = Geology major, AEG = Applied Environmental Geosciences major, EST = Earth Science Teaching major)

Congratulations Geoffrey! Geoffrey King (Geology BS) is our lone graduate for Fall 2015. He will represent the Department at the December 12th Commencement Ceremony, and we wish him good luck as he begins his career as a geoscientist.

Fall Semester Course Evaluations: Course evaluations are now being conducted using Chi Tester. Please take a few minutes to log in and complete the evaluations for your courses, especially the Geoscience courses for which you are enrolled this semester. Course evaluations are very important at WSU. They provide valuable feedback to instructors that is used to improve teaching and course design, and they are analyzed when faculty are evaluated for promotion and tenure. Make sure your voice is heard.

Final Exam Schedule: Fall Semester Final Exams are scheduled for December 8-11. Please see the attachment for full details.

Geoscience Fieldtrip Courses (GEO 2950/4950) to Iceland and Hawaii: To participate in these exciting geo-travel opportunities, students need to register for these courses through the Study Abroad office (located in the Hurst Center for Lifelong Learning, south end of the campus). Registration will start on Friday December 5, and will require a down payment of $250. The remaining portion of the cost will be spread over monthly payments, with the last payment due in April for the course in Hawaii, and the last payment due in August for the Iceland course. Students can register for either a lower division course GEO 2950 (3 credit hours) or an upper division course GEO 4950 (3 credit hours). Minimum prerequisites are GEO 1110 or 1060 for GEO 2950, and GEO 2050 is the prerequisite for GEO 4950. Different levels of assignments will be required for GEO 2950 and for GEO 4950.

Estimated total cost for the trips are: ca $1990 for Hawaii and ca $2950 for Iceland, which includes airfare, the entire cost at respective destinations, and course registration/tuition fee ($90 for Hawaii, and $200 for Iceland, respectively). The exact budget will be known after we know the exact number of registered students. Each trip will be led by two Geoscience faculty. Safety and a great educational experience are our highest priorities, but we also are working to keep the cost of both trips as low as possible. Therefore, we encourage students to register ASAP, as it will allow us to make earlier and less-expensive reservations for flights, ground transportation, and campgrounds. We will close the registration as soon as we have enough students (6-8 for Hawaii and 13-17 for Iceland). Please feel free to contact Dr. Marek Matyjasik for additional information (mmatyjasik@weber.edu).

How Internships Help You: Internships can play an important role in your educational plan. Internships give you the chance to explore the industry side of your program of study, and connect you with others who can become valuable mentors. Internships also give your prospective employer a chance to see your strengths first hand, hopefully giving you an edge when full-time positions become available.  We've attached an info graphic that shows some interesting numbers.

Here are some great sites for geosciences majors:

1. InternMatch; Specific URL for geology internships - https://www.internmatch.com/s/geology-internships

2. Indeed.com; in "What" field, type "geology internship", and then enter state (or leave state blank)

3. Fracking Jobs.com; Specific URL for geology internships - http://www.frackingjobs.co/oil-and-gas-industry-internships/

4. Geological Society of America; Specific URL for geology internships - http://www.geosociety.org/links/intrnshp.htm

5. National Park Services; Specific URL for internships - http://www.nps.gov/aboutus/jobsforstudents.htm

6. American Geosciences Institute; Specific URL for internships - http://www.americangeosciences.org/policy/get-involved/internships-and-fellowships

Spring Schedule for Geoscience Classrooms & Majors' Room: This spring all departments within the COS are making an effort to accommodate Math and Dev Math classes that have been displaced due to construction of the Tracy Hall Science Center.  For our part, we'll be sharing SL 328 and SL 332 (Majors' Room).  We will post the room schedules next to each door so that you can plan your days and on-campus study time.

COS STEM Den:  Remember, the College of Science now has a STEM Den in the eastern-most portable on the south lawn of the Science Lab Building.  This is a study space for all COS majors.  The hours of the STEM Den are Mon-Thur: 7am -11pm; Friday 7am-9pm; Saturday 8am-5pm. Closed Sunday.  ​

Positions Opening Soon with Caribou-Targhee National Forest:  News from yesterday's Government Career Fair, Caribou-Targhee National Forest will soon begin accepting applications for the 2015 Spring Region 4 Fire Hire.  The positions will be advertised under Demo and Merit Permanent FIRE OCR announcements that can be found here.​

First Newsletter of 2015: The next newsletter will be sent out on Friday, January 9, 2015.

Photos of the Week:

On Left; Graduating senior Geoffrey King (Geology BS) and Ken Zicker (recording data) surveying a channel cross section along the Weber River as part of a Geomorphology (GEO 3150) lab. Congratulations, Geoffrey!  On Right; Flashback to Laki, one of the largest lava fields in Iceland, during the 2010 Iceland Geology trip. From left; Michele Sanders, Tabitha Hathcock, George Muller, Natasha Kubricky, Jenny Jorgenson, Dr. Marek Matyjasik & Josh Poulsen.  

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See you next year!

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