The Geology Department recently looked at what its majors have gone on to do since graduation, specifically examining reports provided by the HEDS (Higher Education Data Sharing Consortium). They focused on reports documenting the U.S. undergraduate institution from which Ph.D. recipients in Earth Sciences earned their bachelor’s degrees. The results:

• During the 1970s (1971-1980), eight Earth Science Ph.D.s were awarded to Colorado College graduates, a number that ranked 25th (tied with Antioch and Wittenberg) among U.S. undergraduate liberal arts institutions.
• During the 1980s (1981-1990), 16 Earth Science Ph.D.s were awarded to Colorado College graduates, a number that ranked eighth among U.S. undergraduate liberal arts institutions.
• During the 1990s (1991-2000), 18 Earth Science Ph.D.s were awarded to Colorado College graduates, a number that ranked fourth (tied with the College of Wooster) among U.S. undergraduate liberal arts institutions, behind Carleton, Colgate, and Oberlin.
• During the 2000s (2001-2010), 28 Earth Science Ph.D.s were awarded to Colorado College graduates, a number that ranked third among U.S. undergraduate liberal arts institutions, behind Carleton and Williams.
• Over the most recent five years for which data are available (2007-2011), 19 Earth Science Ph.D.s were awarded to Colorado College graduates, a number that ranked second among U.S. undergraduate liberal arts institutions, behind only Carleton.
• Over that last five-year period, CC ranked 21st among all U.S. institutions as baccalaureate origin for Earth Science Ph.D.s — tied with Boston University, Dartmouth, MIT, University of North Carolina, and William and Mary; just ahead of Duke, Rice, University of Illinois, University of Maryland, and University of Texas-Austin, and also ahead of Princeton, Yale, and Columbia.

“Not only are a large number of Colorado College graduates getting Ph.D.s in the Earth Sciences, many are going on from there to college- and university-level teaching and research positions, or applying their scientific training in the public policy arena,” said Geology Professor Eric Leonard.

Among the CC Geology alumni who graduated after 1990, at least 19 (10 men and nine women) currently have college or university faculty positions. At least three other post-1990 graduates hold senior research positions at universities or museums, and another is a senior federal government science policy adviser.