Graduate Program

CSULB Geology Graduate Program

Earning a Master’s Degree in geology in our Department will prepare you for a rewarding career in the geological profession, or for entry into any of the elite Ph.D. geology programs around the country. You have already made a significant accomplishment by completing your undergraduate major in geology or earth science. Study in a Master’s program is the next logical step in your professional development, and will open the door to lucrative and satisfying employment in the petroleum industry, geotechnical/environmental firms, government agencies and more.

At CSULB you will receive advanced training from some of the most highly regarded geologists, with active research programs.   You will work alongside other graduate students who came to us from all over the world.

Our M.S. degree program is open to any qualified student who has completed a B.S. or B.A. degree in geology, earth science or similar field. Students whose degrees are in other science disciplines will be considered on a case-by-case basis. If your undergraduate degree is in a non-science discipline, we encourage you to consider a second Baccalaureate program in our department.

A number of financial aid opportunities exist. The Johnson-Conrey Graduate Fellowship is available on a competitive basis to incoming graduate students. It provides a stipend of $15,000 a year for two years. Teaching and graduate assistantships are available. For out-of-state applicants who demonstrate unusual promise, we can request an out-of-state tuition waiver. Many of our faculty have external research grants that specifically support graduate student research assistants. The Department also welcomes any students who bring support with them, such as Fulbright scholarships.

A Master’s thesis project is a central requirement for the M.S. degree in our Department. Every graduate student has a faculty thesis advisor, and works on a research project under that professor’s direction.  Our faculty are active in research and in obtaining grants to support their graduate students’ research projects. Below are listed research directions that you as a graduate student can participate in for your thesis research. We encourage you to contact any professor listed below whose research you are interested in. It is quite possible, and desirable, for you as an incoming student to already have identified a research direction, and professor who would become your thesis advisor. For further advice and information about our program, please contact the graduate advisor, Dr. Greg Holk.  

Research Interests and Programs in the Department

• Matthew Becker, Conrey Endowed Chair, Hydrogeology
• Richard J. Behl, Sedimentology/Stratigraphy, Paleoceanography, Earth Systems Science
• Paleoceanography of the California Margin
• Sedimentology and Diagenesis of the Miocene Monterey Formation of Coastal California
• Stratigraphy of the Eocene-Miocene Sespe Formation in the Santa Ana Mountains
• Methane Hydrates and Climate Change: The Clathrate Gun Hypothesis
• Stanley C. Finney, Paleontology, Stratigraphy, Geochronology, Tectonics
• Argentina
• Late Ordovician mass extinction
• The Roberts Mountains
• Graptolites
• Chronostratigraphy
• Robert D. Francis, Basin and Range Detachment Faults, Marine Seismic Studies (Palos Verdes Fault System)
• Roswitha B. Grannell, Precise Gravimetry in Environmental Geology and Tectonics
• Gregory Holk, Geochemistry, Isotope Geology, Metamorphic Core Complexes
• Thomas Kelty, Structural Geology
• Nate Onderdonk, Tectonics, Geomorphology
• Neotectonics of the northern San Jacinto Fault Zone
• Uplift of the San Jacinto Mountains  (no link yet)
• Rotation of crustal blocks in Southern California and implications for crustal dynamics
• Tectonic evolution of the Santa Maria Basin, southern California
• Mud Volcanoes in the Salton Trough
• Lora Stevens (Landon), Paleoclimatology, Paleolimnology, Isotope Geochemistry
• Paleodrought in Montana
• Hydrologic variation in Iran
• Monsoon history of Vietnam

• Begin new career opportunities by studying in our dynamic department
• Most classes offered at night for your convenience
• Financial aid is available
• Exciting marketable fields such as hydrogeology and petroleum geology
• Variety of potential M.S. thesis projects available, with some based in Asia and South America
• Carl W. Johnson-Bert Conrey Graduate Fellowship in Geological Sciences