How To Become A Research Geologist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a research geologist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

Loren Babcock PhD

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a research geologist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $55.96 an hour? That's $116,391 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 5% and produce 1,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a research geologist?

Loren Babcock PhD

Professor, School of Earth Sciences and Director, Orton Geological Museum, Ohio State University

It depends on the type of geologic job. There is quite of variety of occupations that involve geology, not all of which have “geology” in the title. Some who are employed in private industry mine for rock or minerals, some drill for fluid resources; others are employed in searching for new Earth resources and developing plans for mining or drilling for them. Some geologists work with water resources: sampling, testing, or exploiting. Some geologists in government or service professions compile information about geologic resources or conduct research. Some geologists track earthquakes, track volcanoes, study rocks brought from the Moon, or ones that fell to Earth as meteorites. Some geologists study rock layers to refine the chronology of Earth history. Others study climate change and its effects on Earth’s landforms and life forms. There are many, many options open to geologists.

ScoreResearch GeologistUS Average

Salary

8.0

Avg. Salary $116,391

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.5

Growth rate 5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.59%

Asian 5.64%

Black or African American 0.90%

Hispanic or Latino 6.36%

Unknown 4.69%

White 81.82%

Gender

female 22.06%

male 77.94%

Age - 44

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 44

Stress level

5.5

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.8

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.4

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a research geologist

Explore research geologist education requirements

Most common research geologist degrees

Bachelor's

61.2 %

Master's

23.9 %

Doctorate

9.0 %

Start to develop specific research geologist skills

Skills	Percentages
GIS	39.74%
Geological Survey	17.67%
R	15.23%
Geological Data	11.69%
Research Projects	8.10%

Complete relevant research geologist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New research geologists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a research geologist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real research geologist resumes.

Research research geologist duties and responsibilities

Foster cross laboratory collaboration between physics labs and between engineering, biology, and chemistry departments to accomplish share goals.
Synthesize and characterize colloidal room-temperature ferromagnetic CoFe2O4 nanoparticles.
Conduct research by administering quantitative and qualitative surveys to low income fathers and entering and analyzing the data using SPSS

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