A typical course load includes preparing and delivering lectures on subjects like structural geology or atmospheric thermodynamics, supervising lab and field work, and grading assignments and exams. Many professors split their time between teaching and research, and the job also comes with less visible duties: planning and revising curricula, keeping attendance and grade records, and serving on academic or administrative committees that shape department and institutional policy. It's a role built around a PhD in the field, typically following years of specialized graduate training.
Pros
High upside earning potential, up to $203k, above most postsecondary science teaching fields
Broad subject range spanning atmospheric, earth, marine, and space sciences keeps material varied
Work includes supervising field and lab research alongside classroom lecturing
Cons
Above-average hours, expect more than a standard 40-hour work week
Only about 1,000 positions nationwide, a fairly narrow academic specialty
Requires a PhD, a long path through graduate school before qualifying to teach
A typical day
The 9am oceanography lecture ends with a demo — density currents in a fish tank that make abstract stratification visible — then office hours where a first-year discovers geology might be their major. The professor's research afternoon is a chart of the discipline's variety: processing sediment-core data from last summer's cruise, a Zoom with co-investigators about a hurricane-modeling grant, edits on a master's student's thesis chapter. Field course planning intrudes pleasantly — next month's trip needs vans, hammers, and permits. Around it all sits the steady faculty metabolism of committees, reviews, and recommendation letters. Semesters teaching, summers at sea or in the field: the calendar is the perk.
Tasks at the job
Maintain student attendance records, grades, and other required records.
Plan, evaluate, and revise curricula, course content, and course materials and methods of instruction.
Serve on academic or administrative committees that deal with institutional policies, departmental matters, and academic issues.
Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as structural geology, micrometeorology, and atmospheric thermodynamics.
Evaluate and grade students' class work, assignments, and papers.
Supervise laboratory work and field work.
Workplace & working conditions
Work happens indoors in a climate-controlled setting.
There's a regular, moderate amount of time pressure, and you're expected to exercise significant independent judgment day to day. The work is highly structured, following set procedures.