Oil, the environment, and attrition may create a demand for geoscientists that will reverse a 7-year decline in the field |
For several years in the 1970s and early 1980s, enrollment in the geosciences had climbed steadily to a peak of 36,000 in 1983. In less than a decade, however, that number has dropped by almost two-thirds, with 1990 figures from the American Geological Institute (AGI) Student Enrollment Survey showing a total of 13,055 geoscience undergraduates.
Even so, geologists believe their field is beginning to grow again. "It looks like the decline has bottomed out,"...
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