Pumpkinhead Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 I've recently begun the process of applying to universities. I know that there are a variety of universities in Ontario (Where I live, and I think I will be staying in-province for post secondary education) which offer geology programs but I'm curious to know if anybody here has any first hand experience in any of them. So far I feel as though my top picks are Laurentian, Queens and Western. If any of you have an opinion about these places or feel as though I should consider other universities as well I would really appreciate any input. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Depends what your goals are. If you want to be involved in paleontology (a small minority of geologists) then definitely University of Ottawa...the Geological Survey of Canada is there and you want to get a research job part time or volunteer. The potential for doing field work in the summer months...incorporate this into your thesis, etc. The best overall in Canada would be University of Calgary...again, large Geological Survey facility beside the university, Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, etc. Also, if paleontology proves not to be your thing, much more chance of future employment in the energy sector out West than in the Mining sector in Ontario. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pumpkinhead Posted November 19, 2015 Author Share Posted November 19, 2015 I don't know what specific career I want to pursue after my education, but the University of Ottawa does sound very appealing. Going to Calgary would be wonderful but I don't think that it is practical for me to go to school out of province. Ideally, I would want to have a job in the Paleontology minority within Geology but from what I have heard the employment prospects are not as viable, hence my current decision of pursuing other avenues of this field. thanks for your suggestions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolmt Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 Queen's is a great school but it is not the place to go at an undergraduate level if you have a serious interest in paleontology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossil Girl Posted December 10, 2015 Share Posted December 10, 2015 I go to a Fossil Show each year at University of Waterloo - they have an Earth Science program, but I don't know much about it. Perhaps their website has more information on degrees and courses. Sorry, McMaster grad! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted December 11, 2015 Share Posted December 11, 2015 (edited) Is there any "real" paleontology still at the University of Ottawa? I looked over the faculty research pages on the geology department web site, and saw some quaternary paleoecology projects but nothing dealing with Paleozoic, Mesozoic, or Paleogene rocks or fossils. When I was a biology undergrad there, Owen Dixon worked on Paleozoic heliolitid corals and had lots of students working on Silurian corals and brachiopods from the arctic. Times, and research funding opportunities, change. Paul Copper is still at Laurentian up in Sudbury but I think he is emeritus now and I have no idea if he is taking students. He mainly works on brachiopods but also has published on corals and other things. Jisuo Jin is at Western in London (London, Ontario that is); he is very active publishing on brachiopods. Both those fellows do a lot of work on Anticosti Island, which is a fossil paradise (Ordovician and Silurian). A little further afield, you might consider the University of Manitoba in Winterpeg. Bob Elias there is the leading Canadian expert on Ordovician and Silurian rugosan corals. However I think you should also consider that the Manitoba Museum has a very active research program led by Graham Young; they are doing very exciting work on some Ordovician laggerstatten that have yielded a whole new fauna of eurypterids, the oldest horseshoe crabs, etc. Don Edited December 11, 2015 by FossilDAWG 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCanadian Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 Try Carleton University, in Ottawa. They have a variety of Geology programs, though they are classified as Earth Science. They even have a nice Paleontology specialization program. I currently am enrolled their Paleontology program now. As for University of Ottawa, while they still offer paleo classes, they don't have a paleontology program. http://earthsci.carleton.ca/ I hope this was helpful to your decision and good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 That website has to be one of the least informative I have encountered. The section under "Research" says not one word about any of the research programs at Carleton, it's just a "infomercial" about how research helps us all in some vague way. The section under "Faculty" just gives names, email addresses, and in some but not all cases links to a faculty web page. So to find out about paleontology at Carleton you have to go to the departmental page, then to the faculty listing, then click one at a time through all the faculty and read 10 irrelevant bios to find one person doing micropaleontology with foraminiferans. Several faculty have no web page so there is no way to discover what research they do. Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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