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Jackson School of Geosciences

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Jackson School of Geosciences
Jackson-school-UT-logo.png
Established 2001/2005*
Dean Sharon Mosher
Address 2305 Speedway Stop C1160, Austin, Texas, 78712, United States
30.285827�N 97.735743�WCoordinates: 30.285827�N 97.735743�W
Website www.jsg.utexas.edu
The school was founded in 2001 and elevated to the level of a college in 2005
The Jackson School of Geosciences at The University of Texas at Austin unites the
Department of Geological Sciences with two research units, the Institute for
Geophysics and the Bureau of Economic Geology.

The Jackson School is both old and new. It traces its origins to a Department of
Geology founded in 1888 but became a separate unit at the level of a college only
on September 1, 2005.[1] The school's formation resulted from gifts by the late
John A. and Katherine G. Jackson initially valued at $272 million.[2] The school's
endowment as of December 31, 2015 is $442.3 million.[3]

Dr. Sharon Mosher is the Dean of the Jackson School of Geosciences.[4]

Contents
1 Academics
2 Research Units
3 References
4 External links
Academics
Academic Quick Facts
U.S. earth science grad school ranking: 9th
Undergraduate Enrollment (Fall '12): 314
Graduate Enrollment (Fall '12): 333
Undergraduate Degrees Awarded ('08-'09): 45
Graduate Degrees Awarded ('08-'09): 46
Faculty: 59.[5]
The Department of Geological Sciences offers the following undergraduate degree
programs: Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science in General Geology, Bachelor of
Science in Geophysics, Bachelor of Science in Hydrogeology/Environmental Geology,
Bachelor of Science in Teaching, Bachelor of Science in Geosystems Engineering and
Hydrogeology. There is also an undergraduate Geological Sciences Honors Program. In
the 2006-2007 academic year, the department awarded 49 undergraduate degrees.

The department offers the following graduate degree programs: Master of Science
(with thesis), Master of Arts (with report), and Doctoral Degree. In the 2006-2007
academic year, the department awarded 52 graduate degrees.

In April 2010, U.S. News & World Report ranked the Jackson School of Geosciences
ninth among U.S. earth science graduate programs. In addition to the overall
ranking, the Jackson School earned top 10 rankings in two of four earth science
specialty areas, placing No. 3 in geology and No. 6 in geophysics and seismology.
[6] Other areas in which the school is actively involved are paleontology,
sedimentology, stratigraphy, hydrology, environmental geology, climate, petroleum
exploration, petrology, geochemistry, structural geology and tectonics.

Students may also graduate with an interdisciplinary Master of Arts Degree through
the Energy & Earth Resources (EER) Graduate Program. The EER Graduate Program
provides the opportunity for students to prepare themselves in management, finance,
economics, law and policy leading to analytical and leadership positions in
resource�related fields. Private sector and government organizations face a growing
need for professionals that can plan, evaluate, and manage complex resource
projects, commonly international in scope, which often include partners with a
variety of professional backgrounds. This program is well suited for those looking
towards 21st century careers in energy, mineral, water, and environmental
resources. Dual degrees in Energy & Earth Resources and Public Affairs are also
available through the Jackson School and the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public
Affairs.

Research Units
Research Quick Facts[7]
Research Scientists: 125
Research & Support Staff: 150
Annual Research Budget: $25 million (US)
The Jackson School's faculty and research scientists pursue 200 active research
projects a year with annual funding of over $25 million.[8] Research is often
collaborative across the three scientific units and interdisciplinary with other
departments at The University of Texas at Austin.

Bureau of Economic Geology

The Bureau of Economic Geology was established in 1909 as a successor to the Texas
Geological Survey and the Texas Mineral Survey. Dr. William Battle Phillips was the
Bureau's first director.[9][10] Before 1909 the Texas legislature established and
funded three Texas Geological Surveys, which lasted from 1858�1867 (with a four-
year suspension), 1873�1876, and 1888�1901 (with the last five years unfunded).[11]
Today the Bureau functions as a research unit of The University of Texas at Austin,
the State Geological Survey, and the Regional Lead Organization for the Petroleum
Technology Transfer Council.

Beg seal transparent.png

Currently under the leadership of Dr. Scott Tinker,[12] The Bureau conducts
research in two broad areas: energy and environment.

The Bureau's energy research focuses largely on oil and natural gas. Major
approaches include salt tectonics, carbonate and clastic reservoir
characterization, fracture characterization and prediction, multicomponent seismic
applications, and basin analysis. The Bureau works to bring insight and innovation
from outcrop studies to the evolving science of reservoir characterization. With
70% of in-place reserves typically remaining in the ground at the time of oil field
abandonment, this research has enduring economic and societal importance.

The Bureau's environmental research group conducts a wide range of basic and
applied research in groundwater resources, vadose zone hydrology, coastal studies,
near-surface geophysics, and geologic mapping. The group also has programs that
relate energy and the environment, including a major initiative in geological
sequestration of greenhouse gases. A variety of approaches are used to investigate
characteristics and processes of shallow Earth systems and impacts of human
activities on those systems. Remote sensing, including satellite (GRACE and MODIS)
and airborne geophysics are used to quantify regional scale evapotranspiration,
groundwater storage, and saline plume characterization. Subsurface geologic and
hydrogeologic characterization provides critical information on sustainability of
water resources and potential for carbon sequestration and desalination. Although
many of the studies are focused in Texas, insights and process understanding are
applied to other regions globally (such as China, India, Africa, and South
America).

The Bureau provides wide-ranging advisory, technical, informational, and research-

based services to industries, nonprofit organizations, and Federal, State, and
local agencies. The Bureau also provides facilities and management to the office of
Publication Sales, Core Research Laboratories, and the Geophysical Log Facility,
all of which serve the public.

Institute for Geophysics

Founded in 1972, the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG) is an

Organized Research Unit within The University of Texas at Austin, conducting
academic research in geology and geophysics.UTIG works with the UT Department of
Geological Sciences and Bureau of Economic Geology to provide basic and applied
geophysical research opportunities for graduate students at the MA and PhD level
through its worldwide programs in solid earth geophysics, marine
geology/geophysics, and multi-channel reflection seismology. Some of its scientists
also participate in the university's Environmental Science Institute.

UTIG-logo.png
UTIG research activities are carried out all over the world and include large-
scale, multi-investigator, multi-institutional field programs. The importance of
geophysical measurements and their mathematical interpretation in the exploration
for petroleum and economically useful minerals has also led to valuable
partnerships between UTIG and industry. UTIG plays a role in K-12 education through
formal teacher-training programs and informal outreach efforts.

UTIG strives to conduct research that expands the frontiers of knowledge in earth
science, has societal and economic relevance, and is of human interest. Dedicated
to basic and applied research alike, the Institute aims to enhance humanity's
fundamental understanding of the dynamic geophysical processes that have influenced
and continue to influence Earth's structure and climate.

Geographically, UTIG's scope includes the ocean basins, continental margins,

Antarctica, and all sites of seismic activity. Chronologically, its scope is no
less vast: from the development of tectonic evolution models that reconstruct
continental arrangements as much as a billion years ago to predicting how future
climatic scenarios would impact sea-level changes and thus the habitability of
densely populated coastal regions. The Institute's research is highly relevant to
natural resource exploration, the assessment of geologic hazards, and the
mitigation of environmental damage. The development of new mathematical models,
data processing and imaging techniques, and geophysical instrumentation is also an
integral part of UTIG's ongoing research and future goals.

Department of Geological Sciences

University of texas at austin department of geological sciences logo.png

Founded in 1888, the Department of Geological Sciences is the main academic unit of
the Jackson School. However, scientists and students in the Department do conduct a
wide range of research and collaborate with researchers at the Institute and
Bureau, as well as with colleagues around the world.

Scientists in the Department conduct research and teach courses in 9 main areas:
Atmospheric Sciences, Computational Geosciences, Geochemistry/Thermo- & Geo-
chronology, Geophysics/Seismology, Hydrogeology/Glaciology,
Paleontology/Geobiology, Petrology/Mineral Physics, Sedimentary
Geology/Stratigraphy, Structural Geology/Lithospheric Geodynamics.[13]
The Department houses one of only a handful of non-medical CT scanners at an
academic institution anywhere in the world. The High Resolution X-Ray CT (UTCT)
Facility has been used to non-destructivley scan precious, one-of-a-kind specimens
such as Lucy (an ancient human ancestor and the world's most famous fossil),[14]
Archaeopteryx (one of the oldest and most primitive birds known), one of the first
books printed in the New World, and a meteorite thought by some to contain signs of
life on Mars. The UTCT is an NSF-supported shared multi-user facility. Data and
imagery from the research are freely available online for scientists, students and
the general public via the DigiMorph web site.[15][16]

Other major lab facilities include: Aqueous Geochemistry, Electron Microbeam (EPMA,
SEM, ESEM, and XRD), Fission Track Thermochronology, Geomicrobiology, Geophysics
(Landmark and Geoquest software for seismic processing and interpretation), ICP
Mass Spectrometry, Isotope Hydrology, Mineral Physics, Paleomagnetics, Petrographic
Imaging, Stable Isotope, Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometry (TIMS), and U-PB
Geochronology.[17]

The Department, in partnership with the Texas Natural Science Center, also
maintains two major paleontology collections: the Vertebrate Paleontology
Laboratory (focusing largely on the American Southwest and Texas) and the Non-
vertebrate Paleontology Lab.

References
Historical Milestones of the Jackson School
http://www.jsg.utexas.edu/about/history/
Gifts contributed by oilman John A. Jackson to The University of Texas at Austin
total $272 million "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-08-28.
Retrieved 2009-01-13.
http://utimco.org/scripts/PrivateEndowInfo/collList.asp?comp=10
Sharon Mosher, National Geoscience Leader, Becomes Dean of Jackson School of
Geosciences http://www.jsg.utexas.edu/news/2009/06/sharon-mosher-national-
geoscience-leader-becomes-dean-of-jackson-school-of-geosciences/
http://www.jsg.utexas.edu/about/
U.S. News & World Report Rankings of Graduate Programs 2010 http://grad-
schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools
Jackson School Quick Facts "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-04-
23. Retrieved 2009-04-27.
Research at the Jackson School of Geosciences http://www.jsg.utexas.edu/research/
William Battle Phillips � Bureau of Economic Geology Archived 2013-12-17 at the
Wayback Machine
PHILLIPS, WILLIAM BATTLE | The Handbook of Texas Online | Texas State Historical
Association
GEOLOGICAL SURVEYS OF TEXAS | The Handbook of Texas Online | Texas State
Historical Association
Tinker profile Archived 2012-01-13 at the Wayback Machine
Jackson School of Geosciences Research Disciplines
http://www.jsg.utexas.edu/research/disciplines/
Researchers Complete First CT Scan of Ancient Human Ancestor Lucy
http://www.jsg.utexas.edu/news/2009/02/researchers-complete-first-ct-scan-of-
ancient-human-ancestor-lucy/
High Resolution X-Ray CT Facility http://www.ctlab.geo.utexas.edu/index.php
DigiMorph http://digimorph.org/
Department of Geological Sciences Resources and Facilities
http://www.jsg.utexas.edu/research/facilities/
External links
Jackson School of Geosciences
Institute for Geophysics
Bureau of Economic Geology
Department of Geological Sciences
vte
The University of Texas at Austin
Categories: University of Texas at Austin schools, colleges, and departmentsEarth
science research institutesResearch institutes in the United StatesEducational
institutions established in 2005Geological surveys
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