THE FUTURE OF ENGINEERING GEOLOGY IN THE UNDERGRADUATE GEOLOGY CURRICULUM

Previously, three employment routes existed: petroleum, mining and civil engineering (engineering geology). After demand in the first two greatly diminished, two distinct areas of engr. geology emerged: geotechnical (related to civil construction,) and environmental, (contamination, hazardous waste, environmental assessment, property transfers). Consequently, programs in environmental geology/environmental science developed. This attracted some students with environmental furvor not equally matched by strong technical ability. Problem recognition alone was insufficient, as problem solving was required. An engineering geology course within the environmental program is critical. General geology graduates compete for jobs in environmental geology and to a lesser extent in geotechnical work. Engineering geology at the junior/senior level is extremely valuable for such entry-level geologists. Unfortunately, not all geology departments have faculty and/or interest in providing engineering geology studies. For undergraduate majors in engineering geology/geological engineering the engineering geology course leads to studies in hydrogeology and geotechnical engineering. This provides an employment advantage for both geotechnical and environmental work. As graduate students, engineering geology majors expand knowledge of hydrogeology, geotechnical engineering, rock mechanics and environmental applications. The challenge is to balance a thorough geological program with the above applied subjects. A final challenge to continuation of undergraduate engineering geology in the curriculum, is the pressure to update coursework. Commonly undergraduate programs have not changed substantially in 30 years; even including course titles. Newly developed topics require new courses added at the expense of the old. However, many students do not pursue graduate studies in these new fields, but are employed by consultants doing applied work. Engineering geology must be retained to train environmental and geology majors for areas of likely employment.