IDENTIFYING ALIGNMENT AND GAPS IN SKILLS DEVELOPMENT FOR STUDENTS AND NEW GRADUATES: INSIGHTS FROM THE GEOSCIENCE COVID-19 IMPACTS STUDY

The COVID-19 pandemic brought many changes to both instructional and workplace environments, including skillsets needed to thrive in the geoscience profession. The emergence of virtual learning and working environments have required faculty, students, and professionals to adapt and are leading to new ways of doing geoscience. Through AGI’s NSF-supported Geoscience COVID-19 Impacts study that began in May 2020 and will continue through December 2022, we have tracked the changes in work and learning environments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic including how views about the importance of technical, business and core geoscience skills have changed.

This presentation delves into the similarities and differences in perspective between academic departments, geoscience employers, students, recent graduates, and professionals pertaining to technical, business and core geoscience skills needed within the profession. We examine how departments prepare students, what skills pandemic-era graduates wish they would have obtained prior to graduation, and the preferred and required skillsets employers are looking for in new hires. We will look at where the gaps are in expectations for skill acquisition, where there is alignment between departments and employers in terms of skills development, and how these have changed over time.