Be a Participant

As a student, the GeoEngage program provides opportunities to:

  1. Learn how knowledge from introductory science courses is applied by geoscientists to help solve problems facing society by completing related hands-on activities, such as calculations to understand the stability of hillslopes, experiments to determine the chemical weathering that leads to sinkholes, and demonstrations that show heat transfer that melts ice.
  2. Discover career options in the geosciences in relation to the course that you are enrolled in. You will find out about academic preparation for specific career options, potential work tasks and employers, and typical salaries.
  3. Participate in an extracurricular hands-on geoscience project to help serve a community need. Working with your peers, faculty, and working professionals, you will investigate local geologic features and their importance to society and develop educational material about these features for the benefit of the general public. You will benefit by
    • Hands-on application of course knowledge
    • Gaining work-related experience focused on a local geoscience issue
    • Developing new skills, both academic (e.g., problem solving) and professional (e.g., working in teams)
    • Interacting with working professionals
    • Networking with students, faculty, and professionals
    • Receiving a financial incentive for participation
    • Check out past projects by student participants
  4. Be paired with a geoscience peer mentor to facilitate your development as a geoscientist and help build a sense of belonging to the local community of geoscientists.

students at Government Canyon State Natural Area

The GeoEngage program is operated at Northwest Vista College (NVC), Palo Alto College (PAC), and the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). Students enrolled in introductory courses in geoscience (physical geology, earth sciences), chemistry (general chemistry I and II), and physics (university physics I and II), will learn more about geosciences, how it is used to address issues and challenges faced by society, and possible options for pursuing a degree in the geosciences and rewarding career trajectories.

If you want to be involved, contact your course professor.

Explore Career Opportunities

  • GeoChats - Through these recorded videos, learn about a typical day of professionals from various domains of the geoscience workforce, why they chose their career, and how they reached their career goals.
    Speaker Graduation from UTSA Job Title
    John Casiano M.S. Geology, 2017 Petroleum Geologist
    Alex Fraps M.S. Geology, 2019 Geoscientist
    Aman Gupte B.S. Geology, 2019 Petroleum Geologist
    Creighton Meyers M.S. Geology, 2017 Hydrologist - Geospatial analyst
    Rebecca Nunu M.S. Geology, 2020 Research scientist - Groundwater hydrology
    Kristin Shaeffer M.S. Geology, 2016 Physical Scientist
  • GeoGrad - Through these recorded videos, learn about alumni from our graduate program at UTSA, why alumni decided to pursue a graduate degree, and how they navigated their graduate experience.
  • GeoWork - Through these recorded videos, learn about the work being done by a professional in the geosciences.

Want To Know More About Possible Careers?

Disclaimer

NSF logo

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number 2119446. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.