Master of Science in Earth and Environmental Sciences

The MS program is a two-year program with guaranteed financial support by the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (EARTH). Students may also opt to earn an embedded MS while pursuing a PhD. In this case, courses are double-counted and the student writes a master's thesis in addition to a PhD dissertation. MS students admitted into the PhD program will take the Qualifying Exam in the fourth term of their graduate program. MS students must complete at least 24 credits at the graduate level of which at least 22 must be in courses and seminars. Master's thesis research credits (EARTH 709) may be used in partial fulfillment of these requirements but are excluded from the 22 credits of coursework. Of these 22 credits, at least 12 credits must be in EARTH. EARTH 599 and other independent study courses are excluded from the 12 credits required in EARTH courses but may be used in partial fulfillment of the remaining non-cognate credit requirements; no more than 4 credits may be in seminars; at least 3 credits must be in cognate courses offered by other academic units that broaden expertise in areas related to the student’s research. Onboarding seminars EARTH 531 (“Seminar in Geologic Problems”) and EARTH 495 (“Methods in Research for Natural Sciences”) are required for all first-year students. EARTH 531 is offered in the fall term. EARTH 495 is offered in the winter term and satisfies the U-M Responsible Conduct of Research and Scholarship (RCRS) training requirement.