Information for Prospective Students

Students sharing an interest in hydrogeology  — and particularly the links between hydrogeology and the fields of geology, ecology, and oceanography — are always welcome! Please check out some of our publications, and we will add more links to current projects soon.  Some of our work has an important field component, and nearly all of the questions we’re interested in require numerical models to understand flow paths and fluxes in complex settings.

Minimum requirements for incoming students are a geology undergraduate degree or equivalent, at least 2 semesters of calculus (but preferably through vector calculus), and a full year of physics.  Contact Dr. Wilson if you are unsure of your preparation. 

Required:

Environmental Hydrogeology

Soil Hydrology

Numerical Modeling/Numerical Methods

Partial Differential Equations (PhD students only)

Common electives:

Solute Transport in Geologic Media

Geochemistry

Environmental Geophysics

First year students who haven’t already had them should expect to take fluid mechanics, vector calculus, elementary differential equations and linear algebra.

Coursework at USC depends on the student’s research interests and preparation, but is normally built around the following courses:

Awards winners at Grad Day (plus advisor)!