Opportunities

Student summer research endeavors are usually paid and in conjunction with a faculty member at Gustavus, another college or university, or a government agency.

• Every summer, the Gustavus First-Year Research Experiences (FYRE) and Second-Year Experience at Research (SEAR) programs match interested first- and second-year students with faculty who are doing summer research in the realms of the natural sciences, psychological sciences, or math and computer science. Applications for this competitive program are due in late-February/early-March.
• Sometimes, individual EGE faculty members will have funding to hire one or more summer student collaborators. We recommend that in December or January you ask professors if they’ll be taking on summer students, and if so what their application process will be.
• Many EGE students with a natural science focus apply for paid National Science Foundation Research Experiences of Undergraduates (NSF-REU) summer internships at other colleges and universities. The project page is updated in December–January, and applications are due February–March.
• EGE students have also obtained summer research positions and internships at government agencies, private companies, and nonprofits. For government agencies, you can look everywhere from the local level (e.g., city watershed protection organizations, county parks) to the state level (e.g., Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources) to the national level (e.g., U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Energy). You can ask your professors for more specific ideas.

Research opportunities vary each academic year (outside of regularly offered courses and major requirements that include research). Sometimes professors will offer a research course during May term. Other times, professors have funding to pay a student research assistant for a certain number of hours or work per week. Occasionally, a student will create an independent study course with the supervision and approval of a professor, wherein the student leads a research project.

We strive to make field trips accessible to all students and will communicate early and often with class members to ensure that everyone feels safe and has what they need to maximize learning on field trips. Yes, it’s possible that you’ll feel nervous about a field trip beforehand! Any new experience can seem daunting, and for some students this might be well outside of your comfort zone. However, we ask you to be attentive to the difference between feeling unsafe versus feeling uncomfortable. We want to ensure that everyone feels safe! And, we recognize that sometimes the best growth – whether it’s as a student, or athlete, or artist, or as a human in general – comes when we’re outside our comfort zone.

Geology: Every introductory level course has field trips within the designated lab time, and almost every upper-level course has an overnight field trip so we can get further away from campus to see different geology. Recent destinations include water sampling at the Minnesota River, studying geomorphology along Lake Superior’s shoreline, and collecting fossils in Decorah, Iowa. The longest course-based field trip we offer is in GEO 262: Evolution of the Earth, which has a required spring break field trip to the American Southwest.

Geography: Some introductory courses have field triirps within the designated lab time, and a few upper-level courses have day-long field trips. Recent destinations include Seven Mile Creek Park near campus, and the U.S. Immigration Court in Minneapolis.

Environmental Studies: Some core courses have field trips within the designated lab time, and a few upper-level elective courses (particularly those in the Earth Science and Life Science concentrations) have longer field trips. Recent destinations include canoeing on a local lake to collect water samples, and identifying plants at Kasota Prairie. 

We’ve found that even students who’ve never yet slept in a tent, cooked a meal outdoors, or gone for a hike in the woods find these experiences meaningful and empowering. We will give you all the information and gear you need to succeed. We’ve had many first-time campers on our trips, and we’ve gotten tons of enthusiastic, positive feedback afterward! Most overnight field trips are associated with Geology (GEO) and Biology (BIO) courses.

Our Geology and Biology instructors have a lot of experience teaching “in the field.” If you are camping, we’ll make sure every student has a good sleeping bag, sleeping mat, and a tent situation that makes sense for them. We have a camp kitchen with stoves, pans, dishes, silverware, and cups for cooking and eating together “family style.” The class will help choose the meal plans, ensuring that everyone’s dietary needs are met, and the Department will purchase the food. We’ll usually assign small groups of students to cook each meal, under the supervision of the instructor if needed. Everyone will take a turn with doing dishes, and we’ll help teach you how to do that, too, if it’s new to you!

• Load up our College vans on a Friday afternoon after classes are over, then drive a few hours to a state park campsite
• Set up the tents, cook dinner together, eat dinner, do dishes, then get an orientation to the area
• Often students will hang out around the campfire for a while, or play cards or some other game before heading to bed at a reasonable hour
• In the morning, we’ll have a set time for breakfast so that everyone knows when to get up. We’ll make coffee, tea, and cocoa, have breakfast, take down the tents, and pack up the vehicles
• We’ll head out to do some work! That might involve short hikes, collecting rocks, interviewing local residents, taking measurements, having discussions, learning from local experts, touring farms, etc.
• We’ll often have a picnic lunch at a park or scenic lookout, then continue doing work in the afternoon

The EGE Department encompasses three majors and several minors, which lead to many possible paths after Gustavus! In most years, about one-third of our graduates go directly to graduate school to seek a master’s or doctoral degrees related to their major. About one-third of our graduates decide to enter the workforce in a job related to their major. And, about one-third of graduates decide to try something completely different after college; in this case, the competence and skill sets they’ve gained in their major courses are still very important contributors to post-college success.

More about graduate school

For some career paths, a graduate degree is either necessary or at least will give you a big advantage in getting the job you want. Graduate school is very different than college: 

• In some fields, like the natural sciences, the university will pay your tuition, health insurance, and a modest salary in exchange for you working in a research lab or helping teach a course while you complete your studies. In other fields, you may be expected to pay more of the costs.

• You usually take fewer courses in a semester

• You spend a large portion of your time doing research and creating your own ideas, data, writing, and/or artistic creations (depending on the field)

• In some fields, you apply to a university’s graduate program and must find a match with a professor who agrees to take you on as an advisee. In that case, when choosing a school you need to identify which faculty member you’d like to work with and reach out to them to see if they are taking new graduate students that year.

More about entering the workforce

Our recent graduates are employed in a wide variety of settings. 

National Council for Geographic Education Excellence of Scholarship

The NCGE/AAG Excellence of Scholarship Award recognizes graduating seniors majoring in geography for outstanding academic achievement. Award winners are chosen by individual geography departments on the merits of academic performance, Gamma Theta Upsilon membership, departmental service, dedication, and enthusiasm.

Aaron Insley Prize for Excellence in Geographic Information Systems and Cartography

The Insley prize honors Aaron Insley, a Gustavus alumnus and Geography major. Aaron excelled at GIS and cartography from the start, creating an animated digital map depicting the diffusion of punk rock music for his first Geography course, GEG-101. He loved the mountains and landscapes of the West; Dr. Bob Moline's "American West" course was one of his favorites. Aaron planned to continue his geography studies in graduate school but suffered a head injury in a car accident in 2007. The Insley prize was established with a generous gift from Aaron’s parents, Tom and Carol Insley, and friends of their son.

MN GIS/LIS Outstanding Student Representative

Each Minnesota post-secondary college and university having a recognized GIS program selects a student to be recognized as a GIS/LIS Outstanding Student Representative. This is an honorary award and provides no monetary support. All Outstanding Students are given free registration for the annual conference.

The Geography Honor Society

Gustavus Adolphus College is home to the Lambda Iota chapter of Gamma Theta Upsilon (GTU), an international geography honor society. Gamma Theta Upsilon was founded in 1928 and became a national organization in 1931.

• Benefits of Membership: Gamma Theta Upsilon membership is earned through superior scholarship and is an honor and a professional distinction. Members receive a certificate suitable for framing and can wear a GTU honor cord at Commencement. During your first year of membership you will receive two copies of the Geographical Bulletin, containing articles of geographical interest. No further membership dues are paid to the national organization after the initiation fee. Members are eligible to apply for Gamma Theta Upsilon scholarships, and some employers give hiring preference to honor society members.
• Eligibility: Members of GTU have met academic requirements and share a background and interest in geography. Initiates must have completed a minimum of three geography courses, have a B average in geography, must rank in the upper 35% of their class (GPA of approximately 3.5) and shall have completed at least three semesters of college coursework.

Robert Moline Environmental Studies Program “Cherish the Earth” Award

Established in 1998 to honor Professor Emeritus Robert Moline (taught 1961–1998), the founder and longtime director of the Environmental Studies Program at Gustavus. Awarded annually for excellence in Environmental Studies and for awareness of and commitment to environmental issues.