Employment of Volcanologists and Petrologists

Question

What industries or government departments hire volcanologists and igneous petrologists/geochemists in the United States?

Answer 1

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!