What industries or government departments hire volcanologists and igneous petrologists/geochemists in the United States?
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$\begingroup$ Do you have a specific country in mind? $\endgroup$ – Gimelist May 21 '18 at 5:50
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$\begingroup$ I'm sorry, I should have added that I'm in the US. $\endgroup$ – Steven May 21 '18 at 6:09
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The first department that comes to mind is obviously academia, i.e. faculty or research positions at universities. However, there are many other career paths available (hopefully: there are not enough academic positions for every student completing a Ph.D...). For volcanologists, there is actually a nice site called volcanologists outside academia. As the name suggests, it compiles various testimonies about people who got a Ph.D. in volcanology but now work outside academia. They have also conducted a survey to gather more data. The results show that there are very diverse employment possibilities, including (but not restricted to):
- Outreach/science communication
- Museums
- Academic publishing
- Data analysis
- Material science
- Instrument companies
- Tourism...
I'm not sure for igneous petrologists/geochemists, but I think the possibilities are pretty close.
Edit: I just realized I completely forgot to mention volcano observatories, which represent a "large" source of employment for the community (relative to its size). IAVCEI's Early Career Network has put up a series of videos where observatory workers describe their job. Another series about careers in academia is planned, so stay tuned!
answered Jan 27 at 15:59
