This blog-site documents the background work, resulting recommendations and marketing efforts of the UBC Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science’s Quantitative Earth Sciences Transformation (QuEST) project.

• Background work includes research about current state of undergraduate quantitative Earth science degrees in EOAS and the academic and non-academic geoscience sectors more generally.
• Recommendations are based on background research, current perspectives of EOAS faculty, and precedent from literature and engagement with peers and education experts.
• Marketing strategies include activities that are completed or underway and suggested further actions for attracting and retaining QES undergraduate students.

PDF versions of this website are in the following three files (split since WordPress “media” files must be less than 20Mbytes):

• All Blog pages – NOT including data sets and reports – are gathered in this 165-page PDF.
• Data sets and corresponding reports are gathered in this 166 pg PDF.
• Faculty discussions from the Data and Reports page are gathered in this 30 pg PDF.

Documentation outline

1. Home / Outline – this page.
   1. Executive summary
   2. Project inspiration, goals
   3. Personnel & sources 
   4. Methods
   5. Student perspectives
   6. Frameworks
   7. Next Steps
2. Background – current quantitative curricula & careers.
   1. Current curriculum in EOAS
      
      1. Current degree specializations
      2. Current course sequences
      3. Current EOAS course content
      4. Current EOSC 1xx courses
   2. Context
      1. Global decline in geoscience students
      2. Demand for geoscience & related expertise
      3. Departmental & institutional context
   3. Early priorities
   4. Desirable Skills
3. Recommendations for enhancing quantitative Earth science learning.
   
   1. Introduction to recommendations
   2. Recommendations outline list
   3. Enhancing courses
   4. Enhancing Existing degrees
   5. Adjusting Degree Specializations
   6. Department level actions
   7. Student support
   8. Career preparation
   9. Professional registration
4. Marketing – recommendations and actions for attracting and inspiring students
   1. Marketing Activities: Completed or in-progress marketing activities.
   2. A new first year QES course
   3. Marketing recommendations
   4. QES professions: pointers & references showcasing geoscience career options
5. Data, resources, references and appendices
   
   1. Data sets & results (list)
   2. References used throughout.
   3. Appendices with tools, discussions, and resources produced and used during QuEST.

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Licensing for all pages in this blog: Creative Commons License:
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/ 
© Francis Jones, Dec. 2023, UBC Dep’t Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences.