From the 1970's until around 2010, women have been an increasingly large part of the geoscience student and graduate population.  The participation rates have levelled off in recent years, largely believed related to the energy-driven increase in overall geoscience enrollments.

US college and university geoscience program enrollments have been consistently tracked since 1955.  Over this time, the number of programs has expanded substantially and enrollments have varied widely.  The overall driver of enrollments through the history has been the price of petroleum, though the dependency on that factor is not as strong as it was in the 1980's and earlier.

The American Geosciences Institute has tracked enrollments and degrees granted in the geosciences over time.  AGI collects the data in October and November of each year for the prior academic year.  The latest year data should be considered preliminary as programs do report revisions for their data up to two years following their initial report.

Description and Purpose

Data Collection and Participation

This survey was developed to ascertain from geoscience degree recipients the relevant experiences in school and their immediate career plans upon graduation.

The AGI Workforce Program collects data on geoscience programs globally.  This data is used by a wide range of individuals and groups, including academic programs, government agencies, companies, and publishers.  We rely on the collaboration of the geoscience programs to maximize the quality of this data.  Below you will find some of the most frequently request data with an accompanying PDF for use in presentations and reports with proper credit.

General Interest Workforce and Human Capital Data

Impacts of COVID-19 on the Geoscience Enterprise (NSF Grant # 2029570)

AGI's Geoscience Student Exit Survey

National Survey of the Geoscience Workforce

Geoscience Career Master's Preparation Survey (NSF Grant# 1202707) 

The AGI Workforce Program was built on data collection and analysis.  Since 1955, AGI has maintained databases of academic geoscience programs in the United States, and more recently, globally.  In addition, the Workforce Program also conducts regular surveys on geoscience graduates and reports on the state of the geoscience workforce biennially. We also provide baseline data from federal and industry sources on general interest items, such as salaries and employment levels.