Summer Field Camp

We are now accepting applications for the 6-credit Summer Geology Field Course for 2023. Course dates are tentatively set from May 24 to June 28, 2023, although these dates are subject to change. The exact exercise schedule will be formulated over the coming academic year, but we intend to run field exercises in eastern California and eastern Nevada that center around geologic themes of the North American Cordillera and Basin and Range extension. This course will involve camping for the entire duration of the camp.

If you have questions, please contact the Camp Director, Andrew Zuza.

Applications are due February 15, 2023. Send them directly to Camp Director Andrew Zuza. Students will be notified of their acceptance into the course in March 2023. If we are unable to fit you into the course, deposits will be refunded.

The course fees total $3,300, which includes tuition costs, vehicle use, campsite fees, operating costs, field manuals, course materials and supplies, cooking supplies and propane, and other miscellaneous fees associated with running the course. Non-residency fees are extra. Food is not included, but we provide group camping gear to cook great backcountry meals, including several campsite cooking stoves, pots/pans, and utensils.

The Department of Geological Sciences and Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno, offers a comprehensive, capstone, five-week, six-credit summer geology field camp class.  The focus of the course will be to develop advanced field skills, including rock description, generation of geologic maps, and illustrating the geometries of deformed rocks with cross-sections.  Through a series of mapping-based exercises, field camp students will gain the ability to understand complex field relations in three dimensions.  This is enhanced by the incredible geologic setting of these exercises, which includes several world-class geologic sites in eastern Nevada, in the heart of the Basin and Range province, and in eastern California, where the Basin and Range meets the Sierra Nevada.

Students will traverse the North American Cordillera during field exercises across Nevada and Utah, with especially memorable field trips to Great Basin National Park and the Snake Range metamorphic core complex.

Course information

• Course Title: Geology 451 (6-semester credits)
• 2023 Fees: $3,300 (non-resident fees also apply for out-of-state students)

Prerequisites

Courses in mineralogy/petrology, sedimentology/stratigraphy, structural geology, and field methods.  If you are lacking one or more of these courses, it may still be possible to attend camp. Please contact the Field Camp Director to discuss your individual situation.  Credit will be posted in the office of the registrar at the end of the summer term (mid-August).

Field Camp Scholarships

We are excited to announce that we have secured funding to offer two $1,000 scholarships for the 2023 Field Camp. This support comes from the National Science Foundation through the GEOAllies project to improve diversity and inclusion in the geosciences. Awards will be based on financial need and merit, and final selection will be made by a committee of University geoscience faculty.

To be considered for this scholarship, we require (1) a letter statement and (2) a letter of recommendation. The letter statement should focus on your plans for the future, and how field camp and this scholarship will be beneficial to these plans. Both items should be sent to the Field Camp Director, Andrew Zuza. You can submit your letter statement with your Field Course application, and please ask your letter writers to email their recommendation letter directly to Andrew Zuza.

This scholarship is open to all University and non-University Field Camp students. Awardees will be notified in Spring 2023 and is contingent on attendance to the course.

Please note, there are additional scholarship opportunities through the Geological Society of America and Geological Society of Nevada. We strongly encourage students to look into these great opportunities.

Field Camp alumni

Students from all over the U.S. participate each year. Below is a list of schools where our Field Camp alumni have come from.

• Arizona State University
• Boston University
• Case Western Reserve
• CCNY
• Central Michigan University
• Clemson University
• Colby College
• College of Charleston
• CSU Bakersfield
• Edinboro University of Pennsylvania
• Grand Valley State University
• Harvard University
• Keene State College
• Muskingum College, Texas
• Pacific Lutheran College
• Portland State University
• Sacramento State University
• Saint Lawrence College
• San Francisco State University
• San Jose State University
• Sonoma State University
• Southern Mississippi University
• Texas A&M University
• UCLA
• University of Alaska, Fairbanks
• University of Arkansas
• University of Delaware
• University of Maine
• University of Maryland
• University of Nebraska, Omaha
• University of Nevada, Las Vegas
• University of New Hampshire
• University of North Carolina
• University of Puget Sound
• University of Southern California
• Vanderbilt University
• Washington University
• Whitman College
• Whittier College