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curriculum is only acceptable for students   school through dual enrollment programs,   CONCLUSIONS
         also majoring in another program.   advanced  placement  courses,  or  credits   We started accepting students into the geol-
          Next, we identified programs with simi-  transferred from two-year institutions. ISU   ogy+ program in fall 2019, and there are cur-
         lar math, physics, and chemistry require-  offers 30 concurrent B.S./M.S. or B.S./MBA   rently eight students from civil engineering,
         ments and professional similarities with the   programs that allow students to earn a B.S.   biology, meteorology, and environmental sci-
         broad field of geology (materials science   and M.S. or MBA in five years in engineer-  ence who have declared geology as a second-
         and engineering, civil engineering, and   ing, agronomy, chemistry, and more.  ary major. So far, there are a handful of stu-
         environmental science) or that complement   The ability to earn concurrent B.S. and   dents pursuing the B.S./M.S. option. However,
         it (biology and meteorology). Collectively,   M.S. degrees within five years is moti-  we foresee this as an attractive recruiting tool
         there are close to 2,000 undergraduates   vated in part by the M.S. becoming the   and an opportunity to diversify the student
         majoring in these programs at ISU. Just   degree of choice in many disciplines,   body through partnerships with university
         1%–2% of these students pursuing a geol-  including the geosciences (e.g., in oil and   programs to attract women and underrepre-
         ogy+ degree would add a significant num-  gas, federal government) (Levine, 2011;   sented minorities to STEM fields.
         ber of majors to the program.       Wilson, 2019). Taken sequentially, it takes
          Working with advisors and departmental   on average >6.5 years to earn both degrees   ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
         and college curriculum committees, we put   (Wilson, 2018). This extended time could   I wish to thank Craig Ogilvie and Marzia Rosati
         together and received approval for four-year   discourage students interested in a STEM   for introducing me to the physics+ program and two
         plans for each of these programs, fulfilling   career from pursuing a degree in geosci-  anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions
                                                                                on the manuscript.
         all primary major requirements while add-  ences in favor of a degree in engineering,
         ing the geology core courses as a secondary   for example, where starting positions require   REFERENCES CITED
         major. Since this is a different approach   only a B.S.                Cervato, C., and Flory, D., 2015, Earth, wind & fire:
         than the one developed in physics, and there   We developed B.S./M.S. and B.S./MBA   A learning community approach to build ties be-
         are no other examples at ISU, the validation   geology programs aimed at students pursu-  tween degree programs in a geoscience depart-
                                                                                  ment: Journal of Geoscience Education, v.  63,
         process for these double majors required   ing a career in industry or as consultants. To   p. 41–46, https://doi.org/10.5408/14-018.
         approval in each college involved.  our knowledge, there are only three other   Drummond, C., and Markin, J., 2008, An analysis
          Some characteristics that make this path-  B.S./M.S. geoscience programs in the U.S.   of the bachelor of science in geology degree as
         way to geology attractive to students include   (two at Penn State and one at the University   offered in the United States: Journal of Geosci-
         the ability to graduate in four years with two   of Texas at El Paso), and none that include   ence Education, v. 56, no. 2, p. 113–119, https://
                                                                                  doi.org/10.5408/1089-9995-56.2.113.
         majors, the added professional benefit of a   the MBA. While the primary goal is career   Gonzales, L., and Keane, C., 2020, Geoscience
         geology degree in a competitive job market,   preparation, the B.S./M.S. program might   Workforce Projections 2019–2029: https://www
         and the opportunity to pursue a career or   be a potential mechanism to increase the   .americangeosciences.org/geoscience-currents/
         graduate degree in geology. It is not unusual   number of students who pursue a Ph.D. in   geoscience-workforce-projections-2019-2029
         for geology graduate programs to admit stu-  geosciences (~18% of B.S. graduates in   (accessed 19 Feb. 2021).
         dents with degrees in biology, chemistry,   2017; Wilson, 2018).       IPEDS, 2021, Integrated Postsecondary Education
                                                                                  Data Center of the National Center for Education
         physics, civil engineering, or environmental   Students apply to the graduate program   Statistics:  https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/
         science.  Completing the  core geology   in their junior year after identifying a grad-  (accessed 22 Feb. 2021).
         courses in addition to their primary major’s   uate advisor and complete graduate courses   Levine, A.J., 2011, M.S. or Ph.D.: Which is right for
                                                                                  me?: American Geophysical Union, 25 p.
         requirements would make the transition into   in their fourth and fifth years. Using this as   Stokes, P.J., Levine, R., and Flessa, K.W., 2015,
         a geology graduate program relatively   a  recruiting tool for  students transferring   Choosing the geoscience major: Important fac-
         smooth. Also, the M.S. geology degree has   from two-year institutions that tend to have   tors, race/ethnicity, and gender: Journal of Geo-
         historically been the preferred professional   a higher percentage of underrepresented   science Education, v. 63, p. 250–263, https://doi
         degree for private-sector jobs in geoscience   minorities would potentially provide an   .org/10.5408/14-038.1.
         (Wilson, 2019), whereas the Ph.D. is the   opportunity to increase a program’s diver-  Wilson, C., 2018, Status of Recent Geoscience Grad-
                                                                                  uates: American Geosciences Institute Report,
         graduate degree of choice for some programs   sity (Wilson, 2018). As for the traditional   https://www.americangeosciences.org/sites/
         like materials engineering.         M.S. geology degree, there is a thesis and a   default/files/ExitSurvey_2017_Online_041018.pdf
                                             rarely pursued non-thesis (creative compo-  (accessed 19 Feb. 2021).
         GROWING GRADUATE PROGRAM            nent) option. Students are eligible for grad-  Wilson, C., 2019, Status of Geoscience Workforce:
         THROUGH CONCURRENT B.S./M.S.        uate teaching and research assistantships in   American Geosciences Institute Report, 163 p.
         DEGREES                             their fourth and fifth years and reduced or   Manuscript received 24 Feb. 2021
          Increasing numbers of students enter uni-  free tuition as part of the graduate assis-  revised Manuscript received 6 apr. 2021
         versity with college credits earned in high   tantship package.        Manuscript accepted 12 apr. 2021












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