Research
Research is an integral part of Geology at William & Mary. The faculty is actively engaged in generating new knowledge and publishes their results in journals such as Nature, Geology, American Journal of Science, Geomorphology, Paleobiology, Journal of Geoscience Education, and Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology. Our research is wide ranging: from questions that concern evolution and extinction to the fate of lead in the environment to the nature of faulting deep in the Earth’s crust. This research is funded by agencies such as the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Geological Survey.
William & Mary Geology students also make meaningful research contributions. All Geology majors complete a year-long senior research project. Typically these projects include close collaboration with the faculty and many students are funded to work on their research in the summer. Senior research projects commonly involve a combination of field, laboratory, and analytical research. Geology students present the results of their research at professional meetings such as the American Geophysical Union and Geological Society of America and commonly win awards for the quality of their work. Some have even published their undergraduate research theses in journals such as Geology, Journal of Structural Geology, Paleobiology, Journal of Paleontology, and Global Change Biology.
