Environmental Geology (B.S.)
The Environmental Geology Program at New Mexico Highlands is unique in New Mexico. It is the only degree specifically designed to provide the geological and technical training for students to fill professional and technical environmental geology positions in the public and private sector, both in New Mexico and throughout the United States.
Degree Options
B.S. in Environmental GeologyWith a concentration in Geology
B.S. in Environmental Geology
With a concentration in Watershed Management
Minor in GeologyWhy Environmental Geology?Nationwide employment studies show a steady increase in the need for well trained professionals in the fields of environmental and engineering geology.
Population growth will increasingly place humans directly in contact with natural geologic hazards; specialists will be needed to mitigate loss of human life and engineer solutions to environmental geology problems.
Growing ground water needs, coupled with shallow aquifer contamination problems, have boosted the need for well trained specialists in ground water hydrology.
Abandoned mine sites and acid mine drainage problems throughout the mountain west have created a great need for environmental geologists.
The majority of employment opportunities for geology graduates are now with companies and government agencies specializing in environmental concerns.
Geologists employed in environmental fields need a broad-based background in geology to understand past and present ecosystems.
New Mexico Highlands University is ideally located to provide a field-based undergraduate education for students interested in their natural surroundings.
The Environmental Geology Program
- The Environmental Geology Program is a field-oriented major emphasizing earth materials, mineral, rock, and water interactions, surface and ground water hydrology, and natural geologic hazards.
- The Environmental Geology Program provides undergraduate students with scientific knowledge, research skills, and technological abilities to understand the how the Earth works and how to address environmental hazards.
- The Environmental Geology Program maintains an assortment of equipment for landscape surveying, geologic mapping, water sampling, and other field studies. These include a total station, GPS hand-held units, a differential GPS unit, an on-campus monitor well, a gamma ray spectrometer, a seismograph, and a magnetometer.
- The Environmental Geology Program holds various analytical equipment for rock, soil, and mineral analyses, including petrographic microscopes, a Vreeland spectroscope and a powder x-ray diffractometer. Access to a scanning electron microscope (SEM), a nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer (NMR), and other instruments is available through the Chemistry Department.
- The Environmental Geology Program, in conjunction with the Natural Resources Management Division, has a state-of-the-art computer laboratory in the new Hilton Science Complex. The lab is equipped with 26 high-end networked computers that have GIS functionality (ArcGIS, Spatial Analyst, and 3-D Visualization) plus a 36-inch digital plotter.
- Cooperative agreements with nearby Los Alamos National Laboratory and the NM State Environment Department offer students the potential for additional hands-on training during the summer months.
What makes us special?
- A low student-to-faculty ratio provides students with a superior learning environment, in both upper and lower-level courses.
- A strong undergraduate research program supplements formal classroom instruction.
- Faculty, not teaching assistants, teach laboratory sections.
- All upper-division courses incorporate one to three field trips.
- Environmental geology students have proven marketable skills. Highlands' graduates continue to be quite successful in obtaining interesting and well-paying jobs in a variety of fields.
- A unique location. Nestled in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Highlands campus has been cited as one of New Mexico's best-kept secrets. The surrounding areas offer opportunities for studying and addressing environmental geology issues. The university is within a one to two hour driving distance from Cenozoic volcanic fields, Precambrian rock exposures, glaciated valleys, desert terrains, and several world-renowned geologic features - the Valles Caldera, the Rio Grande Rift, and the Harding Pegmatite Mine.
- A newly developed Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute focuses on the management of montane watersheds in the southern Rocky Mountain and high plains ecological provinces.
Department Majors
ENVIRONMENTAL GEOLOGY |
FORESTRY Available Minors:Biology
Biology for Teachers
Environmental Science and Management
Geology