Bachelor of Science in Geology

at University of Regina Canada

Geography and environmental studies differ from other subjects due to their emphasis on space, place, and how humans connect and interact with their environment. Major global challenges of our time, such as climate change, depletion of natural resources, water availability, migration, war and conflict are better understood and addressed by those who have an in-depth knowledge of geography and environmental studies. The subject is diverse and is based on both natural science and social studies.

What is Geography and Environmental Studies?
Geography and Environmental Studies encompasses three areas:

• Human geography
• Physical geography
• Environmental studies

Human geography analyses the way humans use and understand the world and addresses the spatial differentiation and organization of human activity and its interrelationships with the physical environment.

Physical geography—a component of Earth sciences—is the study of the natural processes that occur at and above the surface of the Earth.

Geography is one of mankind’s earliest scientific disciplines and studies the environment – everything that surrounds us, including human beings.

Environmental Studies encompasses the study of the planet and its intricate variety of living and non-living elements and processes, how human beings connect with the physical structures, institutions and economies we build, and the politics, language and culture by which we communicate.

The Department of Physics at the University of Regina offers programs leading to the B.Sc. and B.Sc. Honours degrees in Pure and Applied/Industrial Physics degrees in Experimental and Theoretical Subatomic Physics. Co-operative Education programs with local industry play an important role in our undergraduate degree programs.

The University is a member of the TRIUMF subatomic physics laboratory in Vancouver, and has a close relationship with the Jefferson Laboratory in Newport News, Virginia, USA. As of January 1, 2010, the University became a member of the Southeastern Universities Research Association. This honour was in recognition of two decades of productive research by U of R physicists at Jefferson Lab.

Research
Our programs offer experiential learning in the classroom and lab. Our students spend time at TRIUMF and the Jefferson Lab, gaining experience with large, experimental physics facilities. Undergraduates have the opportunity to do their own, independent research projects, learning alongside graduate students and experienced faculty, while our graduate students can build their skills working closely with supervisors who will guide and support their growth as researchers.

Environmental and ecological issues, wildlife and fish biology, plant and animal physiology, microbiology, the workings of the human body and disease, and plant health are just some of the areas you can explore in our Biology programs.

The U of R’s biology programs provides hands-on, experiential learning with specialized laboratories as well access to state-of-the-art equipment and technologies in faculty and staff research labs.

The Biology department has one Tier-1 Canada Research Chair, several NSERC panel members, and editors and associate editors of key Canadian and international scientific journals. Several of our biology professors are recognized leaders in undergraduate education.

In addition to the general biology program, you can also choose from two optional areas to focus your studies:

• Cellular and Molecular biology concentration
• Ecology and Environmental biology concentration

Use advanced labs to help earn your broad-based industrial systems engineering degree in the University of Regina's industrial systems engineering bachelor’s program.

Study topics such as:

• Strength of materials
• Heat transfer
• Computer-aided engineering
• Mechanics of fluids

Make use of these four industrial systems engineering labs:

• Thermodynamics
• Process Engineering
• Materials
• Manufacturing

The Faculty of Social Work is committed to a graduate education program that will enhance the quality of individual and community well being.  Our focus is with the development of advanced social work intervention methods as well as with broader aspects and issues of service delivery, professional leadership, social policy analysis, and social welfare research.

Students may select major areas of study such as: social policy, social justice and human rights, direct practice, community development and research.  The MSW program provides an option to complete the program with a thesis or a practicum.

Program Objective
The MSW program is designed to enable students to undertake a variety of responsibilities in management, policy formulation, program consultation, planning, research roles, and advanced direct social work practice within human services. Fundamental to the program is an emphasis on integrative analysis as a means of understanding the manner in which social research, direct social work practice, social policy development, and social administration are interrelated.
Candidates may be enrolled on either a full time or part time basis. Students must maintain candidacy. No more than two semesters may elapse before a student is required to register. Students have a maximum of five years to complete the thesis program and six years to complete the practicum program.

The Bachelor of Geographic Information Science (B.GISc) is an innovative program offered by the Department of Geography & Environmental Studies at the University of Regina. The Bachelor of Geographic Information Science is a unique designation that is not offered in this format anywhere else in North America.

Geographic Information Science (GIScience) is the intellectual understanding behind the development and application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). GIS are used by resource exploration companies to locate areas of new reserves, power utilities to plan new power line routes, municipalities to manage their infrastructure, school boards to optimize school bus routing, health districts to examine the spread of infectious diseases, police departments to identify crime hot spots, and businesses to document the geographic distribution and demographics of their customers.

Some of the questions asked in GIScience are:

• What are the implications of using latitude and longitude, a postal code, or a street address to locate a crime scene?
• How do you encode the flight pattern of a butterfly in a computer?
• Is there a spatial correlation between diabetes and socio-economic status?

GIScience is an emerging academic discipline and is being used throughout the world to solve problems in multiple disciplines:

• Biologists use GIS to map the nesting and foraging habitats of endangered wildlife. Environmental engineers have built hydraulic models into GIS to forecast peak river flow conditions.
• Crime mapping with GIS has revolutionized the work done by justice and police professionals.
• Social planners and social workers use GIS to optimize the delivery of social services to segments of the population in most need.
• Business analysts enter data on customer purchasing patterns, demographic trends, and the location of competitors into a GIS to identify ideal locations to establish new business enterprises.
• Health professionals use GIS to track the spread of infectious diseases and to search for the social and environmental conduits along which the viruses travel the fastest.

The Petroleum Systems Engineering program in the Faculty of Engineering offers graduate programs focused on conducting research in the areas of enhanced oil recovery (EOR), reservoir modeling and simulation, heavy oil recovery through SAGD and VAPEX processes, miscible and immiscible displacement, fluid-rock interactions, and underground storage of carbon dioxide in depleted or partially-depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs. These graduate programs lead to masters and doctoral degrees.

Electronic Systems Engineering conducts research and offers graduate courses in selected areas of microelectronics, signal processing, instrumentation and communications. The Master of Engineering degree program with a project report attracts practicing engineers. It complements the Graduate Cooperative Education Program which seeks to integrate the academic experience with professional, on-the-job experience to facilitate professional development.

The Department of Music’s MMus and MA degrees can lead to career opportunities in performance, education, library science, music publishing, media, and arts administration, among others. It also provides exciting potential for further studies at the doctoral level. Our programs promote study in areas as traditional or contemporary as you are, with individualized instruction, and excellent performance and rehearsal facilities. There is also ample opportunity to explore interdisciplinary studies with the other Media, Art, and Performance areas.

Master of Music (MMus) in Conducting
This 30 credit hour program offers intensive individualized studies in conducting for wind ensemble, orchestra, or choir. Students undertake a wide range of conducting projects and score study. The program culminates with a concert in which the student conducts a major work for large ensemble. All students also take graduate courses in critical theory in the fine arts, and in research techniques specific to music. This degree is an excellent choice for anyone interested in enhancing their conducting skills, including high school teachers who wish to gain extra qualifications.

The Master of Public Policy (MPP) provides students with opportunities to conduct research and contribute to the study of public policy and the application of policy expertise in the real world. Students graduating from this program possess the research skills necessary to play integral roles in the civil service, research organizations and industry associations. Top students from this program may go on to doctoral programs in public policy.