Boone Pickens School of Geology

Program Overview

The Professional Geoscience Master’s program in the Boone Pickens School of Geology is a new fast-track program to orient a student towards industry and businesses. It is a 36 credit hour program, which includes three core courses (9 credit hours), four track-specific courses (12 credit hours), four electives (12 credit hours), and a capstone project (3 credit hours).

The core courses create the professional and geoscientific foundation for the student. All students enroll for a mandatory MBA course. Then, in consultation with a mentor, The student chooses two Geoscience courses from a predefined list. The track-specific courses advance a student's knowledge-base in one of the three topics - geophysics, petroleum geosciences, and hydrogeology. The student chooses four courses from a predefined track-specific list in consultation with a mentor.

The inter- and transdisciplinary electives open pathways for enabling geoscience implementation in a broader context and are meant to complement knowledge earned through core and emphasis courses. Currently, electives are being drawn from disciplines such as computer science or petroleum engineering or business and provide opportunities for graduate certificates. The student selects a minimum of four electives to complete the degree requirements.

Ultimately, a capstone project (an industry internship or an independent research project that addresses an industry-relevant problem) provides the student an opportunity to demonstrate the ability to address a cutting-edge problem using the skillsets earned through the program.

Table of Contents

Why Professional Master’s Program
Courses
Faculty
Admissions and retention
costs and assistance
OSU-Tulsa

Why Earn a Professional Master’s Degree?

The 21st century workforce demands readiness, flexibility, and a wide knowledge-base. Boone Pickens School of Geology, which has a legacy of creating prolific business-ready graduates for petroleum and groundwater industry, addresses the issue of workforce preparedness through its state-of-the-art professional science master’s program. The program will allow individuals to attain leadership in science and technology by specializing in one of three topics of their choice – geophysics, petroleum geosciences, and hydrogeology – while broadening their skillsets through a variety of elective courses such as big data analytics, high-performance computing, and business management. The “Professional Geoscience Master’s” program is our comprehensive answer to the post-pandemic needs of businesses that look for dynamic and committed employees with a broad knowledge of the field of Geosciences.

Lauren Haygood

our psm goal

Courses

All courses, unless otherwise specified, are 3 credit hours.

Core

Mandatory

1.MBA Collection:

MBA 5300: Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility (1hr)
MBA 5400: Descriptive Analytics (1hr)
MBA 5500: Project Management (1hr)

Select any two.

GEOL 6213: Plate Tectonics
GEOL 5383: Sequence Stratigraphy
GEOL 5223: Advanced Methods in Structural Geology
GEOL 5333: Applied Geostatistics
GEOL 5103: Introduction to Geophysical Exploration
GEOL 5113: Seismic Interpretation

Track-Specific

Geophysics

These courses will help a student understand the acquisition, processing and interpretation of a variety of geophysical datasets (seismic, electrical, gravity, and magnetics). Select any four.

1. GEOL 5103: Intro to Geophysical Exploration
2. GEOL 5113: Seismic Interpretation
3. GEOL 5990: Seismic Data Processing
4. GEOL 6103: Gravity and Magnetic
5. GEOL 6303: Electrical and Electromagnetic

Petroleum
These courses will help a student understand how oil and gas are generated, how they migrate through the Earth, and why and where they accumulate. Select any four.

1. GEOL 4023: Petroleum Geology
2. GEOL 5253: Diagenesis of Clastic Rocks
3. GEOL 5133: Structural Styles in Exploration
4. GEOL 5283: Subsurface Geologic Methods
5. GEOL 5353: Advanced Well Log Analysis
6. GEOL 5363: Carbonate Depositional Systems

Hydrogeology
These courses will help a student understand Groundwater systems for water supply, contaminant transport or remediation. Select any four.

1. GEOL 5453: Groundwater Modeling
2. GEOL 5463: Physical Hydrogeology
3. GEOL 5483: Integrated Petroleum Water Resources Management
4. GEOL 6553: Contaminant Transport
5. CIVE 5033: GIS for Water Resources

Electives

Select any four. We recommend selecting courses from the same group.

Big data

1. STAT 5093 : Statistical Computing
2. CS 5783 : Machine Learning
3. CS 5433 : Big Data Management
4. CS 5683 : Big Data Analytics

Geo-int

1. GEOG 5263 : Unmanned Aerial Systems
2. GEOG 5303 : Geographic Analysis I
3. GEOG 5343 : Advanced GIS
4. GEOL 5990 : Remote Sensing

High performance computing

1. CS 5033 : Parallel Algorithms and Programming
2. CS 5123 : Cloud Computing and Distributed Systems
3. CS 5513 : Numerical Computation
4. STAT 5053 : Time Series Analysis

Business management

1. BAN 5733 : Descriptive Business Analytics
2. BAN 5743 : Predictive Business Analytics
3. MSIS 5633 : Business Intelligence
4. MSIS 5643 : Advanced Data Base Management

Environmental engg

1. CIVE 3714 : Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering
2. CIVE 3813 : Environmental Engineering Science
3. CIVE 4123 : Legal & Regulatory Civil Engineering
4. SOIL 4893 : Soil Chem. and Environmental Quality

Capstone

GEOL 5000: Internship / Independent Study

Faculty

Admissions and Retention

Admission Requirements

1. An undergraduate degree from an accredited institution.

2. A minimum of 3.0 cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA). Students with lower GPA admitted to the program will be put on probation and will need to fill their knowledge gap through deficiency courses that will be determined by the admission committee at BPSG.

3. Demonstration of competency in core geosciences undergraduate courses through a “C” or better grade or professional experience:

i. Physical Geology (at least 3 Student Credit Hours (SCH))

ii. Historical Geology (at least 3 SCH)

iii. Mineralogy and Petrology (at least 3 SCH)

iv. Structural Geology (at least 3 SCH)

v. Sedimentology and Stratigraphy (at least 3 SCH)

4. Demonstration of competency in core geosciences undergraduate courses through a “C” or better grade or professional experience:

i. Calculus I (at least 3 SCH)

ii. Calculus II (at least 3 SCH)

iii. Physics I (at least 3 SCH)

iv. Physics II (at least 3 SCH)

v. Chemistry I (at least 3 SCH)

vi. Chemistry II (at least 3 SCH)

5. Three letters of recommendation from current or former professors or employee supervisors. Personal endorsement letters (such as from friends or family members) will not be accepted.

6. Statement of Purpose (no more than one-page).

Retention

1. The student will complete a Progress Report every semester in consultation with the mentor clearly highlighting previous achievements and immediate expectations, indicating how well the student is progressing towards degree completion.

2. Enrollment in minimum of one course per semester or an approved leave of absence.

The following are required for graduation:

1. Completion of a capstone project to the satisfaction of the student’s committee along with a written report

2. No pending Incomplete (“I”) grades in the coursework contributing towards the professional master’s degree. A student can take more than 36 credit hours of course work. However, only 36 credit hours of coursework will be counted towards degree completion.

Cost and Assistance

Many students help finance graduate education through part-time, paid employment as a graduate assistant.

» Cost and Assistance

» Assistantships and Funding Opportunities

OSU-Tulsa

LOCATION: OSU-TULSA

World-class academic programs in an urban setting.
Plans in place to invest up to $1B in infrastructure strengthening .

WHY OSU-TULSA?

Large working adult population.
State-of-the-art teaching facilities.
Great housing facility and awesome food scene.
Easy industry and human resource access.
Connectivity with the world.

Founded: 1999
Student Population: 2,475 (2021)
Degree Programs Offered: bachelor's, master's, doctoral, graduate certificate OSU Gateway16 Location: Greenwood District, Downtown Tulsa

As a public comprehensive research university located in Tulsa's Greenwood District, OSU-Tulsa offers Oklahoma State University’s world-class academic programs in an urban setting. OSU-Tulsa offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in areas including business, education, engineering and technology, human services and liberal arts. Undergraduate students generally transfer to OSU-Tulsa after earning their associate degree or completing about 45 hours of freshman and sophomore-level coursework.

OSU-Tulsa students graduate with the same OSU degree that students in Stillwater receive. OSU-Tulsa’s downtown location adds to the value of that degree by giving students access to the internship and volunteer opportunities, cultural attractions and social scene that come with an urban campus.

https://tulsa.okstate.edu/

Professional Geoscience Masters