THINKING BROADLY ABOUT THE STUDENT-TO-PROFESSIONAL TRANSITION: HOW ARE OUR STUDENTS PREPARED AND WHERE ARE THEY GOING?

With a forecast deficit of 135,000 geoscientists in the next 5-10 years, our discipline is facing a harsh reality where producing well-trained geoscientists with the appropriate skills portfolios that meet the scope and depth needed in the workforce is absolutely imperative for the health and success of our field. Additionally, another major challenge is guiding students to pursue geoscience positions that develop appropriate competencies while still engaging their passions. The American Geosciences Institute (AGI) is investigating these two issues through a collaborative project with the Association of American Geographers (AAG): Geoscience Career Master’s Preparation Survey (Geo Career MaPS).

Geo Career MaPS is supported by NSF to investigate how faculty are preparing students in Master’s degree programs, what students are learning in their programs, and compare their preparation to what non-academic professionals indicate as the most important skills and competencies for their geoscience occupations. Michael Solem from AAG will be discussing the final results from this research in a previous presentation. This talk, however, will interpret those final results of the Geo Career MaPS research in a broader context by discussing Master’s students’ skills preparation, non-academic professionals’ experiences and compare these to data on recent graduate employment trends and career ambitions from AGI’s Geoscience Student Exit Survey. Also, how Geo Career MaPS will impact our community and what resources will be developed to close the workforce supply gap will be discussed.