|
 |
|
 |
||
 |
||
 | ||
(14.03.10)
 |
||
The Institute of Earth Sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem offers graduate degrees (Ph.D. and M.Sc.) in Oceanography, Geology and Atmospheric Sciences. It also offers undergraduate (B.Sc.) degrees in Geology and Atmospheric Sciences. Undergraduate program As in all majors of the Faculty of Natural Sciences an undergraduate program that entitles the student to a B.Sc. degree includes 144 credit points (each credit point is the equivalent of 1-hour per week of frontal teaching during a 14-weeklong semester so on average a student have 24 hours of frontal teaching per week) for 6 semesters (3 years). The attitude developed in the Institute that the selection between the two main disciplines: Geology and Atmospheric Sciences should only be made by the students after they were exposed, in some preliminary manner, to the two disciplines. This philosophy of the Institute is made possible by the fact that the courses taken by the students in their first year include mostly the basic scientific disciplines (administered by the Faculty): Basic- and Advanced- Calculus, Physics (Waves and Mechanics) and Chemistry. In addition to these courses all the students have to take courses in Earth Sciences during the first semester of their first year (Introduction to Climate and the Dynamic Earth) regardless of their specific/future academic interests. In Geology, the students begin their studies with courses geared at providing them with the necessary basic tools for doing field works and for producing maps from observations at a specific site. The field trips and camps (the average student has to participate in about 35 days in the course of his/her studies) are an important element in our training of geologists. In addition the curriculum includes many laboratory analyses of rocks and mineral as well as classes on geological processes and the theory of various aspects of geology. For a geology student, a day in the field (be it in a camp or on a field trip amounts to half a credit point (i.e. the equivalent of 7 hours of frontal teaching). In Atmospheric sciences the mathematical knowledge of the students is first strengthened so they can handle vectorial operators, complex numbers and ordinary differential equations before studying such complex variables as vorticity and atmospheric waves. Instability is not studied in the undergraduate curriculum but the concept is introduced as part of linear wave dynamics. The main areas of studies are radiation transfer in the atmosphere, cloud physics, dynamics and synoptic meteorology. In addition to the two majors in Geology and Atmospheric Sciences the Institute offers a cluster of courses in Oceanography, some of which are opened to Faculty's students outside of Earth Sciences. This provides the students with an opportunity to broaden their horizons to marine sciences and attract them to graduate degrees in this field. We avoid the vast subject of Biological Oceanography on our teaching and give our students only an elementary course in this area due to the weak biological background in the basic curses they can select in the early years of their studies. Instead we concentrate in our teaching of Oceanography on Chemical, Physical and Geological Oceanography since in these areas our students have a much stronger background. Faculties of the Institute offer courses outside the majors offered in the Institute to programs in Geography, Agriculture and to the program in Environmental Sciences, which is administered by the Faculty of Natural Sciences as a shared program of Life sciences and Earth Sciences. A summary of the various study modules is given at the bottom of this page 
top of pageGraduate program M.Sc. Degrees are offered at the Institute in Geology, Atmospheric Sciences and in Oceanography (the latter division includes members from Life Sciences specializing in Biological Oceanography). The students have to take 32 credits, complete a research thesis, which in most cases amounts to a scientific publication and take a general comprehensive exam. The emphasis in our M.Sc. program is on conducting high quality research and on summarizing this research by writing it in a publishable form (according to the prevailing standards in the particular discipline). Most of our graduate students are our former undergraduates but some of our graduate students come from other institutions/tracks on the Hebrew University as well as other universities (including overseas). The total number of M.Sc. students in all three tracks of the Institute is close to 50 and most students receive their degree during the fifth semester of their studies. The 32 credit points taken by the students comprises of courses aimed at widening their general knowledge in their general area of research, specific courses that are necessary as tools for carrying out their proposed research and general sciences courses. Ph.D.program A Ph.D. candidate in the Faculty has to take 12 credit points since most candidates have a prior M.Sc. degree. The work on the thesis takes about 4-5 years and the productivity is very similar to the spirit of a Ph.D. degree in a research US university - about 3 papers. The total number of Ph.D. candidates at the Institute is about 25. The course load of a candidate is very minimal (12 credit points only) since the majority of these candidates have a M.Sc. degree before entering the Ph.D. program. Those who have excelled in their undergraduate studies can transfer to the Ph.D. program only after they complete the required 32 credit points for the M.Sc. degree and upon having the Ph.D. thesis approved by a committee appointed by the Authority for Research Students (which administers the Ph.D. program in the four "Experimental faculties").
top of pageSummary of current undergraduate study modules. A B.Sc. degree in the Faculty of Science requires ~140 credits. In the Division of Earth Science (as well as in Life Sciences or Environmental Sciences) we require that the student takes ~40 credits in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Programing. The other 100 credits may be earned through a few possible combinations. (a) ~90 credits in a comprehensive course in Geology plus 12 points of free choice (in geology or elsewhere in the HU). (b) ~50-60 points in a partial course in Geology or Atmospheric Sciences and another 50-60 credits in another partial course, either within Earth Science or in the Program in Environmental Science or elsewhere in the Faculty of Science (c) ~50-60 points in a partial course in Geology or Atmospheric Sciences + one section of ~30 credits (either those in Geology, Atmospheric Science or Oceanography, or elsewhere in the faculty of Sciences) + complementary Science courses to complete the 144 credits. The section and the partial course must be in different courses. (d) ~50-60 points in a partial course in Geology or Atmospheric Sciences + two sections (either those in Geology, Atmospheric Science or Oceanography, or elsewhere in the faculty of Sciences).
top of page |
