Click here to apply to NMSU Geological Sciences MS Program
Graduate student Vanessa Swenton mapping in southern New Mexico
Graduate student Eric Gottlieb mapping in northern Alaska
Information for Prospective Graduate Students
The NMSU Department of Geological Sciences has one of the strongest MS-only programs in Geology in the country. We accept between 5-6 new students each year, so the student/advisor ratio tends to be very low, typically 2 students per advisor. Our students go on to jobs in industry or government, and recent graduates have continued in Ph.D. programs such as Stanford, U.C.L.A., Purdue, LSU, and UNC-Chapel Hill.
General information on our graduate program, and the application procedure, can be found here.
If you are making inquiries about working in my research group, I have ongoing projects related to structural geology, tectonics, U-Pb geochronology, isotope geochemistry, petrology, and more.
I am always looking for good, enthusiastic students to join the Amato Research Group (ARG!).
Please read some of our publications and recent abstracts to learn more about our research.
For more information, such as reprints of papers, please email me your address.
I can lobby for your admission if I know more about you. Sending your overall GPA and GPA in geology classes can also be useful. Let me know if you have done undergraduate research, what your mapping experience is, and what your research and career interests are. Note that we do not require the GRE scores, however you will likely* need a 3.0 or higher GPA to qualify for a TA. (*there are exceptions–talk to me if you are CLOSE to 3.0)
Also, submitting all of your application materials EARLY definitely helps.
Finally, if you email with specific questions I would be happy to answer them. It is difficult to respond to vague requests for “information” because I don’t know if you are serious or if you have sent the same email to 100 schools.
I look forward to hearing from you.
-Jeff Amato
Field Photos from the Schoolhouse Mountain Caldera
I also have projects on the Proterozoic geology of southern New Mexico–mapping of foliations to determine the style of deformation, as well as investigation of contact aureoles near plutons. These photos feature graduate students Chelsea Ottenfeld (MS 2015) and Colby Howland (current).
Last modified 11/17/20
