What Skills Will I Gain by Completing this Program?

Professionals working in the Geosciences and Engineering need many skills which require development beyond what they receive in traditional programs, including::

• ability to write and orally communicate
• ability to work in diverse teams
• ability to build coalitions and consensus
• ability to look a complex problems from broad and diverse
  perspectives
• ability to devise long range strategies and solutions to
  multidimensional problems
• ability to assemble, assimilate and analyze large data sets
• ability to budget and manage projects
• ability to work in other countries and cultures

Employment in the future will increasingly demand these skills. In addition the need for professionals in areas related to geological hazards is expected to increase during the next century as the costs of natural hazards mounts steadily. The Peace Corps experience is valuable for professionals as it addresses many of these needs by providing an extended field experience abroad where natural hazards problems are being addressed in the context of a developing country. Because of the prevalence of natural geological hazards, this field experience is itself valuable and different from any experience the student could get in the US.