Earth and Space Science (BS) - Astrophysics and Planetary Geology Track

Program Overview

Earth and Space Science is an interdisciplinary field which works to advance humanity’s understanding of the Earth and the wider universe. Students are provided with a solid foundation in earth systems and processes (geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere) and the impacts humans have on these systems, both past and present. Additionally, students will learn about the origins of the planets and the exploration of the solar system. All four tracks in ESS combine classroom, laboratory, and field experiences, as well as provide opportunities for mentored research projects and hands-on learning experiences.

Astrophysics is the study of planets, stars, galaxies and the universe itself. Planetary Geology is the study of planets beyond Earth, and to an extent the study of Earth as a planet. This concentration offers students a set of foundational courses in astronomy, physics, mathematics, and geology, as well as principles of astronomical observation and experimental analyses. These principles are then applied to a student’s particular interests within the field of astronomy and space science. These programs provide students with the background and tools to be successful in academia, public and private research organizations, and space-related private industry.

Career Opportunities

Majoring in a physical science, such as our Astrophysics and Planetary Geology degree, sets you up for a wealth of possible careers because you will become an excellent problem solver. Working for or with NASA as they move into the 2030s and beyond is only one of the many possibilities. People with similar degrees also work as writers, doctors, lawyers, and engineers.

Physics degree holders are in the top 2 scoring groups of majors on the MCAT (2003 statistics)

NASA expects not to have enough people to replace those who will be retiring in the next 20 years. NASA funds missions to study the Earth as well as astronomical objects.

News outlets need science journalists, and movies often employ scientists as consultants.

Staff for Members of Congress and patent lawyers need technical and scientific backgrounds.

Becoming an Astrophysics and Planetary Geology major will open up a world (or even a universe!) of possibilities for you after you leave Columbus.

Program of Study

Course List
Code	Title	Credit Hours
Core IMPACTS Area : Institutional Priorities		7
Take the following courses
RIVR 1101	Taking the Plunge
RIVR 1102	Charting your Course
RIVR 2101	Navigating Deeper Waters
Core IMPACTS Area : Mathematics & Quantitative Skills		3-7
DATA 1501	Introduction to Data Science	3
MATH 1001	Quantitative Skills and Reasoning	3
MATH 1101	Introduction to Mathematical Modeling	3
MATH 1111	College Algebra	3
MATH 1113	Pre-Calculus	4
MATH 1131	Calculus with Analytic Geometry I	4
MATH 1132	Calculus with Analytic Geometry II	4
MATH 1401	Introduction to Statistics	3
MATH 1501	Calculus I	4
STAT 1401	Elementary Statistics	3
Core IMPACTS Area : Political Science and U.S. History		6
HIST 2111	U. S. History to 1865	3
or HIST 2112	U. S. History since 1865
POLS 1101	American Government	3
Core IMPACTS Area : Arts, Humanities, and Ethics		6
Select one Fine Arts course		3
ARTH 1100	Art Appreciation
ARTH 2125	Introduction to the History of Art I– Prehistoric through Gothic
ARTH 2126	Introduction to the History of Art II– Renaissance through Modern
MUSC 1100	Music Appreciation
THEA 1100	Theatre Appreciation
ITDS 1145	¹
Select one Humanities course		3
ENGL 2111	World Literature I
ENGL 2112	World Literature II
ITDS 1155	The Western Intellectual Tradition
ITDS 1774	Introduction to Digital Humanities
PHIL 2010	Introduction to Philosophy
ITDS 1145	¹
Core IMPACTS Area : Communicating in Writing		6
ENGL 1101	English Composition I	3
ENGL 1102	English Composition II	3
Core IMPACTS Area : Technology, Mathematics, and Sciences ²		7-11
ANTH 1145	Human Origins	3
ASTR 1105	Descriptive Astronomy: The Solar System	3
ASTR 1106	Descriptive Astronomy: Stars and Galaxies	3
ASTR 1305	Descriptive Astronomy Lab	1
ATSC 1112	Understanding the Weather	3
ATSC 1112L	Understanding the Weather Lab	1
BIOL 1125	Contemporary Issues in Biology Non-Lab	3
BIOL 1215K	Introductory Biology	4
BIOL 1225K	Contemporary Issues in Biology with Lab	4
CHEM 1151 & 1151L	Survey of Chemistry I and Survey of Chemistry I Lab	4
CHEM 1152 & 1152L	Survey of Chemistry II and Survey of Chemistry II Lab	4
CHEM 1211 & CHEM 1211L	Principles of Chemistry I and	4
CHEM 1212 & 1212L	Principles of Chemistry II and Principles of Chemistry II Lab	4
CPSC 1105	Introduction to Computing Principles and Technology	3
CPSC 1301K	Computer Science I	4
CPSC 1305	Introduction to Computing Principles and Technology Lab	1
ENVS 1105	Environmental Studies	3
ENVS 1205K	Sustainability and the Environment	4
GEOG 2215	Introduction to the Geographic Information Systems	3
GEOL 1110	Natural Disasters: Our Hazardous Environment	3
GEOL 1121	Introductory Geoscience I: Physical Geology	3
GEOL 1121L	Introductory Geoscience I: Physical Geology Lab	1
GEOL 1122	Introductory Geo-sciences II: Historical Geology	3
GEOL 1322	Introductory Geo-sciences II: Historical Geology Lab	1
GEOL 2225	The Fossil Record	4
PHYS 1111 & PHYS 1311	Introductory Physics I and Introductory Physics I Lab	4
PHYS 1112 & PHYS 1312	Introductory Physics II and Introductory Physics II Lab	4
PHYS 1125	Physics of Color and Sound	3
PHYS 1325	Physics of Color and Sound Lab	1
PHYS 2211 & PHYS 2311	Principles of Physics I and Principles of Physics I Lab	4
PHYS 2212 & PHYS 2312	Principles of Physics II and Principles of Physics II Lab	4
Core IMPACTS Area : Social Sciences		3
Select one course
ECON 2105	Principles of Macroeconomics
ECON 2106	Principles of Microeconomics
PSYC 1101	Introduction to General Psychology
SOCI 1101	Introduction to Sociology
ANTH 1107	Discovering Archaeology
ANTH 1105	Cultural Anthropology
ANTH 2105	Ancient World Civilizations
ANTH 2136	Language and Culture
ENGL 2136	Language and Culture
GEOG 1101	Introduction to Human Geography
HIST 1111	World History to 1500
HIST 1112	World History since 1500
ITDS 1156	Understanding Non-Western Cultures
Core IMPACTS Total Hours		42

¹: ITDS 1145 , though listed under both Fine Arts and Humanities, may be taken only once and can only be counted for one of the two required courses.
²: At least 4 of the credit hours in this area must be in a lab science course.

Major Requirements

Course List
Code	Title	Credit Hours
Core Requirements
Complete the core requirements for this program		42
Core Total		42
Field of Study Requirements
Complete all Field of Study courses with a minimum grade of C.
ESSC 1000	Earth and Space Sciences Convocation	0
ENVS 1205K	Sustainability and the Environment	4
GEOL 1121	Introductory Geoscience I: Physical Geology	3
GEOL 1121L	Introductory Geoscience I: Physical Geology Lab	1
Select two of the following courses:		6
ASTR 1105	Descriptive Astronomy: The Solar System ¹
ATSC 1112	Understanding the Weather
MATH 1111	College Algebra ¹
Select one of the following sequences:		4
Introductory Physics Sequence:
PHYS 1111	Introductory Physics I
PHYS 1311	Introductory Physics I Lab
Principles of Physics Sequence:
PHYS 2211	Principles of Physics I ¹
PHYS 2311	Principles of Physics I Lab ¹
Field of Study Requirements Total		18
Required for the Major
Complete all Required for the Major courses with a minimum grade of C.
Students are encouraged to apply the lower-level courses listed here to Core requirements wherever possible. MATH courses may also be satisfied with a sufficient placement score. When Required for the Major credits are thus reduced, a corresponding number of additional credits shall be taken in Major Electives to compensate. Applicable courses are marked with a footnote. ²
ASTR 1106	Descriptive Astronomy: Stars and Galaxies ²	3
ASTR 1305	Descriptive Astronomy Lab ²	1
ASTR 3105	Introduction to Planetary Science	3
ASTR 3115	Introduction to Astrophysics	3
ASTR 3205	Observational Techniques for Astrophysics	4
ENGR 3165	Thermodynamics	3
ESSC 4796	Senior Capstone	1
GEOL 3201	Mineralogy and Petrology I	4
MATH 1113	Pre-Calculus ²	4
MATH 1131	Calculus with Analytic Geometry I ^2,3	4
MATH 1132	Calculus with Analytic Geometry II ²	4
PHYS 2212	Principles of Physics II ²	3
PHYS 2312	Principles of Physics II Lab ²	1
PHYS 3100	Waves and Optics	3
PHYS 3200	Twentieth Century Physics	4
PHYS 4100	Survey of Quantum Mechanics	3
Required for the Major Total		48
Major Electives		12
A minimum of 12 credits must be taken as Major Electives. In addition, when courses listed under Required for the Major are applied in Core IMPACTS or satisfied via math placement score, a corresponding number of credits shall be added as Major Electives to compensate.
Select at least 11 credits from the following upper-level courses:
ASTR 4899	Undergraduate Research in Astronomy
ASTR 4960	Astronomy Senior Thesis
ASTR 5555U	Special Topics in Astronomy and Astrophysics
ATSC 5116U	Meteorology
ATSC 5117U	Global and Climate Change
BIOL 3215K	Cell Biology
BIOL 3216K	Genetics
DATA 3111	Data Analytics I
DATA 3112	Data Analytics II
ESSC 5715U	Earth and Space Sciences Seminar
GEOL 4201	Mineralogy and Petrology II
GEOL 4275	Structural Geology
GEOL 4795	Senior Geology Seminar
GEOL 5115U	Geochemistry
GEOL 5135U	Oceanography
GEOL 5165U	Hydrology
GEOL 5235U	Geographic Information and Global Positioning Systems
GEOL 5258U	Field Methods in the Earth and Environmental Sciences
GEOL 5555U	Selected Topics in Geology
MATH 3107	Differential Equations
MATH 5175U	Mathematical Statistics
PHYS 4899	Undergraduate Research in Physics
STAT 3127	Statistical Computing
UTCH 3215	Research Methods
The following courses may be taken in Major Electives provided the required minimum of 39 upper-level credit hours has been met:
ATSC 1112L	Understanding the Weather Lab
BIOL 1215K	Introductory Biology
CHEM 1211	Principles of Chemistry I
CHEM 1211L
CHEM 1212	Principles of Chemistry II
CHEM 1212L	Principles of Chemistry II Lab
CPSC 1301K	Computer Science I
CPSC 1302K	Computer Science II
DATA 1501	Introduction to Data Science
ENGR 2206	Digital Logic
ENGR 2217	Robotics Engineering Design
GEOG 2215	Introduction to the Geographic Information Systems
MATH 2135	Calculus with Analytic Geometry 3
PHYS 1125	Physics of Color and Sound
PHYS 1325	Physics of Color and Sound Lab
STAT 1401	Elementary Statistics
Other ASTR, ATSC, BIOL, CHEM, CPSC, GEOL, ENGR, ENVS, MATH, or PHYS courses may be used toward Major Electives requirements as approved by the student's advisor.
Major Electives Total		12
Total Credit Hours		120

¹: ASTR 1105, PHYS 2211, PHYS 2311, and MATH 1111 (or sufficient math placement score) are required for this degree track.
²: Students are encouraged to apply these courses in Core IMPACTS (or satisfy MATH courses with a sufficient placement score) wherever possible. When this occurs, a corresponding number of additional credits shall be taken in Major Electives to compensate.
³: If applying MATH 1131 in Core IMPACTS causes core credits to exceed 42 hours, the excess may be counted in Required for the Major.

Admission Requirements

Students are presumed to enter the program with the equivalent of MATH 1111 College Algebra. Students without that background may need to take additional classes to meet course prerequisites.

Additional Program Requirements

There are no program specific academic regulations.

Academic Catalog 2026-2027