The American Geosciences Institute’s (AGI) Status of Recent Geoscience Graduates 2016 provides an overview of the demographics, activities, and experiences of geoscience students that received their bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degrees during the 2015-2016 academic year. This research draws attention to student preparation in the geosciences, their education and career path decisions, as well as examines many of the questions raised about student transitions into the workforce.

The American Geosciences Institute’s (AGI) Status of Recent Geoscience Graduates 2015 provides an overview of the demographics, activities, and experiences of geoscience students that received their bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree during the 2014–2015 academic year. This research draws attention to student preparation in the geosciences and their education and career path decisions, as well as examines many of the questions raised about student transitions into the workforce.

The American Geosciences Institute’s (AGI) Status of Recent Geoscience Graduates 2014 provides an overview of the demographics, activities, and experiences of geoscience students that received their bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree during the 2013-2014 academic year. This research draws attention to student preparation in the geosciences and their education and career path decisions, as well as examines many of the questions raised about student transitions into the workforce.

AGI’s 2013 Status of Recent Geoscience Graduates provides an overview analysis of the demographics, activities, and experiences of geoscience students that received their bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree in the spring of 2013. This research draws attention to student preparation in the geosciences and their education and career path decisions. This report addresses many of the questions often raised when considering the transition into the workforce.

Introductory geoscience courses in higher education are a major source of public exposure for the geosciences and anecdotally are cited as an important source for recruiting geoscience majors. The number of geoscience majors has been decreasing since a peak in the 1980s, and because of this decrease in the number of majors, some geoscience departments have been under pressure by their institutions to increase the number of students taking introductory geoscience courses.

The American Geological Institute conducted a baseline survey of geoscience departments in the United States about the levels of enrollment in various categories of introductory geoscience courses. The survey resulted in an actual census of 137,180 students in 241 reporting departments. When a simple linear estimation is made from the responding sample, the likely maximum whole enrollment in introductory geoscience courses is approximately 385,000 students.

For nearly all geoscience employment sectors, exclusive of those that are academic and research oriented (college and university teaching, national laboratories, federal and industrial research) the master's degree is the preferred degree credential for new hires. Given this new-hire degree preference by employers, AGI conducted a survey to examine geoscience master's-degree programs in the United States to provide departments and students with a greater awareness of the degree's significance.

Traditionally in the geosciences, the Master’s degree is the degree for employment and most likely to promote career growth within the profession. Current workforce supply-and-demand trends indicate a net deficit of 135,000 geoscientists in the next 10 years. The discipline is facing a harsh reality where closing the long-term workforce supply gap will only be possible by producing well-trained geoscientists with the appropriate competencies and skills-portfolios that meet the scope and depth of employers’ requirements.

From the end of 2008 through the early part of 2009, an increasing number of representatives from academic institutions began expressing concerns about the viability of their geoscience programs in the face of cutbacks due to the economic downturn. To better assess this situation, the American Geological Institute added an optional survey as  part of the 2009 Directory of Geoscience Departments update process. The survey consisted of five questions that pertained to impacts of the economic downturn on geoscience departments.

This report describes the initial employment during the spring of 2007 of geoscientists who earned their Ph.D.s during the preceding academic year. The term geoscience is used throughout the report and refers to a broad range of fields in Earth, atmospheric, ocean, and space sciences (see Appendix for list of fine fields). The report is based on a survey of geosciences Ph.D.s whose degrees were awarded between April 2005 and December 2006 and who remained in the U.S. after earning their doctorates. The Appendix provides a detailed description of how the survey was conducted.