Environmental Geology Professional

Why Study Environmental Geology Professional at Northwest

Want to be certified in environmental geology? This program opens many opportunities for professional geologists! The environmental geology professional certificate program is designed to equip students with a common set of background skills required by an environmental geologist. Skills include, but are not limited to, water and soil sampling, rock and mineral identification, geospatial methods and mapping, hydrogeological and geophysical methods, data analysis, presentation and scientific writing!

Faculty at Northwest are committed to providing students with profession-based learning experiences. Here are a few examples:

• Mozingo Outdoor Education Recreation Area (MOERA) features more than 320 acres of land dedicated to providing experiential learning opportunities. Students in the wildlife ecology and conservation major construct Sherman traps for small animals, pitfall traps for reptiles and amphibians, and conduct vegetation surveys.
• Nodaway Valley state conservation areas give students opportunities to learn and conduct vegetation and habitat surveys and locate and identify birds, amphibians and reptiles.
• Northwest’s taxonomy lab helps students identify museum specimens and conduct sampling and computer analysis of wildlife animals. 
• Garrett-Strong Science Building offers 26 labs where students gain profession-based experience on campus. The building is home to a synthetic cadaver, aquarium, two museums and living animals that include a hedgehog, rats, iguanas and others kept in labs.

This certificate program is intended to be completed in conjunction with a bachelor's degree; it is not a stand-alone program.