Transcript Undergraduates in climate sciences: career opportunities

Undergraduates in climate sciences:
career opportunities
• How do decide?
• Graduate school
• Jobs
How to decide future?
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Consider your skills
Look at different options
Chose several for further consideration
Work out your careers goals, and exam overlaps between
different careers and what you like
Narrow down your choices
Talk with real people
Try out different options while in school (during summer or
after classes)
Consider working for a few years after undergraduate, or
doing research before starting graduate school to help
decide
Resources for deciding what you
what
• Online career tests
• Books (e.g. what color is my parachute?)
• Cornell’s career center has more information.
Try things out now:
• Summer school programs
– Forestry/natural resources (e.g. Michigan Botanical
Station)
– Oceanography (Shoals, Semester at Sea program)
– Atmospheric (???)
• Research
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Many options (see web sites with a few)
Most universities, DOE labs, NOAA labs, etc.
NSF has a ‘superlist’ so you can search
Cornell during semester
• Work (internships)—talk about more later
– Government
– Private industry
More reasons to try things out:
• Employers and researchers want folks with
experience—easier to get jobs
• Find out what you like!
• Get more one-on-one time (better
recommendation letters for grad school or
jobs)
• Earn money (some)
• Earn more money later (you have experience
in jobs, so start at higher salary)
Graduate school
• Getting a PhD is a lot of work—make sure you
love what you do.
• Can switch areas, take time before graduate
school.
• Some tips for choosing a graduate school. In
geosciences
Graduate school in atmospheric
sciences (from Nielson-Gammon et al., submitted to BAMS)
• MS/PhD programs: normally get financial aid (as
opposed to MS program)—most institutions offer
full support
• 18% of applicants end up at a particular school
• Minimum GPAs: 3.3-3.4 median (range from 2.7
to 3.7)
• GREs: 600 minimum, 700+ median quantitative;
verbal more range.
• Most important: strong grades in math and
science, overall GPA, GREs, undergraduate
research (next slide)
What is important for getting into
graduate school?
This example is for atmospheric sciencesNielsen-Gammon et al., submitted to BAMS
Job opportunities
• Atmospheric science related (weather forecasting, etc)
• Climate sciences: more folks are hiring
• Environmental consulting—traditionally a good place
to get a job, and going up faster in the future
• Government work: National Weather Service, new
Climate Service, NOAA, EPA, USGS.
• Education
• Energy
• Insurance and investment
• Media
Resources for finding a job (or
internship)
• Career services at Cornell—great help with
resumes, and job listings
• Disciplinary societies have some information:
– Advancing the science of limnology and oceanography
( ASLO; careers)
– American Geophysical Union (AGU—tiled towards
graduate school/postgraduate)
– American Meteorological Society students
• Journals for specific fields (e.g. Air and Waste
Management Association)
Statistics for atmospheric and space sciences
(doesn’t include teaching professors) from Department of Labor
Industry
Manufacturing
Transportation
Information
Professional,
Educational
Government
Consulting likely to have much more
demand
2006 to 2016 change
Government
Educational
Professional,
Information
2006 to 2016 change
Transportation
Manufacturing
Total
-10
-5
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Environmental scientists and
hydrologists
• About 35 percent of environmental scientists
were employed in State and local governments;
21 percent in management, scientific, and
technical consulting services; 15 percent in
architectural, engineering and related services;
and 8 percent in the Federal Government. About
2 percent were self-employed.
(http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos050.htm#emply).
• Projected to grow faster than average.
More links
• Oceanography jobs (but not just
oceanography):
http://www.phys.ocean.dal.ca/hotlists/jobs.ht
ml
• Some jobs opportunities for MS/PHD—some
of which might work for BS level: