Undergraduates in climate sciences: career opportunities

• How do decide?• Graduate school• Jobs

How to decide future?• 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 – 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

Consulting likely to have much more demand

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.html

• Some jobs opportunities for MS/PHD—some of which might work for BS level: