Funding (Assistantships and Fellowships)

Teaching and Research Assistantships and University Graduate Fellowships are available on a competitive basis, with a waiver of tuition and most fees. We consider all applicants for such support, and also encourage you to discuss such possibilities with your prospective advisor who may have graduate student funding for specific projects.

 

For Prospective Students

Dear Prospective Graduate Student,

Welcome to the web site for the Department of Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. We are anxious to provide to you with information about our graduate degree programs and the Department of Geosciences in general, and can do so efficiently if you use the links below.

Information requests about the various graduate degree programs in the Department of Geosciences are handled by the main Graduate School Information Request Webpage.  Make sure you select both the “Geography (M.S.)” and “Geosciences (M.S., Ph.D.)” Areas of Interest towards the bottom of that page if you are interested in both.  Note that Geosciences-specific information requests must be placed via the Graduate School Information Request Webpage mentioned above--requests sent directly to the Geosciences’ Graduate Program Directors will *NOT* be honored.

We suggest that you explore the current research projects and general research interests in the Department by visiting the individual web pages of faculty whom you may consider as possible advisors. We encourage you to write them directly about current projects they may be involved in, or for which they have graduate student funding.

The University of Massachusetts Graduate School maintains its own website at http://www.umass.edu/gradschool/ which hosts lots of general information for prospective students, as well as the official online version of the Graduate School Bulletin and Course Catalog which outlines specific requirements for the Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees.

If possible, we encourage you to visit the Department to meet potential advisors and current graduate students to get a feeling for the program and the environment.

If you decide to apply to UMass Geosciences for graduate study, the Graduate School Online Application Page is the preferred route. But you may also request a traditional paper application with your initial information request, or download a printable Adobe Acrobat PDF version of the application.

Applications for Geosciences M.S. or Ph.D. are due by January 15 for
the Fall semester and October 1 for the Spring semester. Applications
for the Geography M.S. are due by February 1 for the Fall semester
and October 1 for the Spring semester.

After you receive your information packet from the Graduate School, if you have specific questions about the department and the graduate program that are not covered by that information, you can e-mail as appropriate the Graduate Program Director for Geosciences (Dr. Laurie Brown), or the Graduate Program Director for Geography
(Dr. Piper Gaubatz).

Thanks for your interest!

Dr. Sheila Seaman
Graduate Program Director for Geosciences

and

Dr. Piper Gaubatz
Graduate Program Director for Geography