Co-op, Minors, Certificates and Engineering Concurrent Programs for Students
Co-operative Education Program (Science Co-op) in Earth Sciences
Co-op Academic Advisor: Dr. Tarah Wright
The Science Co-op degree option enables students to apply their academic knowledge directly while providing them with work experience that assists in making educated career choices. Science Co-op is available to students in BSc (120 credit hour) Honours or Major programs in Earth Sciences, or in Combined Honours or Double Major programs with Earth Sciences as the primary subject. Further information details on Science Co-op can be found in the academic calendar under Work-Integrated Learning & Co-operative Education and the Co-op office’s website at dal.ca/wil
Minors available to students in Earth Sciences
Minor programs allow students to develop subject specialties in addition to their major or honours subjects. Minors in other subjects are normally added to 120 credit hour BSc or BA programs (including Science Co-op).
Students in a BSc or BA (120 credit hour) program in Earth Sciences may choose to include a Minor selected from the list of approved Minors. Courses counted toward a Major or Honours subject cannot be used to fulfill the requirements of a Minor program.
Certificates
In combination with a BSc or BA in Earth Sciences, students may obtain one or more Certificates. A Certificate indicates that a student has achieved a certain level of proficiency in a given area or subspecialty. Courses counted toward a Major, Honours or Minor subject may also be used to fulfill the requirements of a Certificate. Students must apply to the Certificate Coordinator to be considered for a Certificate. Certificates are awarded upon graduation and are noted on the student’s academic transcript.
A complete list of Faculty of Science Certificates and requirements can be found at the beginning of the Faculty of Science section. Students may also work toward obtaining Certificates offered by other Faculties; some of these are listed in the College of Arts and Science Degree Requirements section.
Certificates of particular interest to students enrolled in a BSc or BA program in Earth Sciences include:
Knowledge Requirements for Professional Practice as a Geoscientist
Geoscience is a regulated profession in most of Canada. Individual provinces and territories have acts that restrict the practice of geoscience to individuals who are registered members of professional associations. In Nova Scotia, the Association of Professional Geoscientists of Nova Scotia (APGNS) is the licensing body which fulfils this mandate. APGNS and other provincial geoscience associations, under the guidance of Geoscientists Canada, ensure high standards of geoscience practice and education.
Students who intend to pursue geoscience as a profession, or simply want the most in-depth education in geoscience, should follow the guidelines laid out in the Geoscience Knowledge and Experience handbook provided by Geoscientists Canada. The Geoscience Knowledge and Experience handbook outlines comprehensive sequences of courses intended to prepare a student for professional practice in modern geoscience, and to meet formal requirements for registration in the Geology and Environmental Geoscience streams.
Professional geoscience knowledge requirements are more specific and stringent than degree requirements in terms of the courses required in Earth Sciences and in the Foundation Sciences (mathematics and physics in particular). Earth Science students can meet the knowledge requirements within a 120 credit hour degree by careful selection of ERTH courses and Foundation Science courses, and this should begin in the first year. Less than judicious course selection, and/or combining Earth Science with another subject which also has numerous specific course requirements, may result in a student needing extra courses (beyond the 120 credit hours) in order to meet knowledge requirements for registration. Consult the professional associations -- Geoscientists Canada and APGNS - for additional information on registration.
BSc/BEng or BA/BEng Concurrent Program
Students interested in combining their interest in Program with a degree in Engineering may choose a BSc/BEng or BA/BEng Concurrent Program, normally completed in a 5 year period. Over the first three years, students complete the requirements for a 90 credit hour BSc or BA degree in Earth Sciences and a Diploma of Engineering (the first two years of engineering studies). Two more years of engineering studies are then required to obtain a BEng. Interested students should see undergraduate advisors from Earth Sciences and from the Faculty of Engineering in their first year of study.