[meteorite-list] Degrees in Meteoritics

[Chris Peterson]

There is no such thing as an undergraduate degree in meteoritics. Many good 
schools, however, should provide independent study opportunities for 
students with astronomy, geology, geophysics type majors to explore the 
area.

The situation is different with graduate studies, however. Here, you would 
look for an academic researcher as an advisor, and you'd work on an advanced 
degree under that person (and whatever department he happened to be 
associated with). You don't get a PhD in any particular subject, you choose 
your research and specialization based on your own interests and the 
expertise of your advisor and other staff at a particular institution.

IMO there is more than enough room for some more meteoritics researchers, so 
there's no reason to discourage high school students from pursuing this 
area. Realistically, very few will actually do so. They should focus their 
undergraduate studies in the physical sciences.

Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <MeteorHntr at aol.com>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 2010 10:38 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Degrees in Meteoritics


> Hello List,
>
> I have just had a high school  aged viewer of our show "Meteorite Men"
> contact me asking for all the  Universities that offer some type of 
> Meteoritics
> degrees, as it seems after  watching some of our episodes, this is now the
> direction this young man wants to  pursue as a vocation.
>
> I was curious if there is a comprehensive list of  the institutions that
> offer either undergraduate or post graduate courses  in what might be 
> grouped
> as "Meteoritics"?  As Geoff and I begin to do more  work speaking to 
> Junior
> High and High School aged kids, it would seem that this  might be a common
> question for us to be asked, and I would want to be prepared  to offer the
> best answer possible.
>
> On a side note, is there much demand  for new meteorite scientists out
> there?  If all the slots are filled, or  someone isn't likely to be able 
> to get
> a job once they would get a degree, I  might want to caution kids not to 
> get
> too serious about this field for a career  without seriously evaluating 
> the
> options first.  But since I am not one to  try to quash anyone's dreams, I
> would like to be as helpful as  possible.
>
> And as a reminder, tonight is our Dry Lake Bed hunt episode of  Meteorite
> Men on Science Channel with our amazing guest stars Sonny Clary and  his 
> dog
> Brix.  I hope the fun we had on this expedition comes through in  the 
> final
> cut.  The only time I ever experienced anything close to what  happens
> tonight was 13 years or so ago when I took several trips to Imilac and I 
> found a
> lot of small pieces in a small area.  It was a blast to shoot this 
> episode
> and I look forward to being able to share it with the world.    I will be
> putting some of the meteorites I found on the show up on Ebay with buy  it
> now, so if you want one of the finds, check that out a little later today.
>
> Steve Arnold