Welcome to the Department of Earth Sciences
Memorial University has one of the largest and most diverse Earth Science departments in Canada. With 30 faculty members, 15 staff members, and leading-edge teaching and research facilities, the department is able to offer high quality undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Graduates of Memorial’s Earth Sciences department have gone on to careers in academia, government, and the private sector.
The Province of Newfoundland and Labrador is an excellent natural laboratory in which to study Earth sciences and many of our courses have field-based components. The cross section of geology that can be studied in Newfoundland and Labrador is unparalleled and spans a large part of Earth’s history. Our department’s long-standing, excellent reputation is, in part, due to its close proximity to this world-class geology.
Our faculty and their students, both undergraduate and graduate, and post-doctoral fellows, are engaged in applied and basic research projects in virtually all major areas of Earth sciences throughout the world. Some faculty are engaged in research in the offshore of Newfoundland and Labrador, in marine and petroleum geology, and in exploration geophysics as it pertains to oil and gas resources. Others are researching mineral resource development and environmental issues in the Province and elsewhere.
The Earth Sciences department at Memorial University maintains close ties to the mining and petroleum industries of Canada, the USA, and elsewhere. Each year, leading petroleum and mineral exploration companies recruit at Memorial University because of the excellent education and training our students receive, and have taken with them throughout the world. Many of our undergraduate and graduate students also find government and industry employment opportunities during the summer within the Province and elsewhere in Canada.
Our department also participates in an interdisciplinary graduate programme in Environmental Sciences. With the pristine terrestrial and marine environments in many parts of the Province, as well as other environmental issues that need to be addressed, there are unlimited opportunities in this specialty.
This is an exciting time to study Earth sciences! I invite you to visit our web page and learn more about Earth sciences at Memorial University.
Students interested in the Department of Earth Sciences, in either the undergraduate or graduate program, are invited to contact any faculty member for information or contact Ms. Michelle Miskell, our Manager of Academic Programs.
John M. Hanchar
Professor and Head