“I was so gung-ho on getting a master's degree straight out of undergrad,” begins geotechnical project manager Margaret Dunkelberger (MSAG ’25). Back in 2020, she was expecting to start a traditional on-campus graduate program in the geosciences in the fall. “Then COVID-19 happened. I was out of luck for a bit, but it all worked out,” she says. Soon after pivoting her focus to launching a career, Margaret discovered a new path to graduate school—and professional advancement. This May, Margaret graduated from Penn’s Master of Science in Applied Geosciences program and was honored with the 2025 Earth and Environmental Sciences Award for Excellence in Applied Geosciences. Without interrupting her burgeoning career, Margaret has achieved a combination of education and work experience that puts professional licensure within reach.
By spring 2021, Margaret recalls, she started her first professional role as a field technician with ECS Limited, a national engineering firm. “I really enjoy what I do,” she says. “Sometimes I'm behind a drill rig or an excavator examining the subsurface profile for potential construction, and sometimes I'm fixing a sinkhole. It’s never the same thing twice.” After a year with the firm, Margaret was eligible for continuing education benefits. “I was also exposed to the professional licensure process in Pennsylvania,” she says, “and I realized that I was a couple of credits short to sit for my Geologist in Training exam.” (The GIT is an early-career credential that can be earned on the path to becoming a Professional Geologist (PG).) “So, I revised the idea of getting a master’s degree that I had my heart set on originally,” she shares.
When she heard that Penn’s geosciences degree was offered fully online, she reached out to learn more. “The Master of Science in Applied Geosciences program is great because it offers the flexibility to work during the day,” she says. “Because it’s delivered in an asynchronous online format, I can slow down or speed up the recorded lectures. I like that I can pause and rewind to listen multiple times and take notes,” she says. The coursework is also practical and applicable. “A lot of the classes are project-based,” she says, noting that assignments often mimicked her experience working in the field, where she has sources to reference in real time to solve problems. In Carl Mastropaolo’s course Geocomputations, for example, students learn about the three-point problem in surveying, which Margaret found herself using on the job. Dr. Siobhan Whadcoat’s Landslides course, which she took as an elective, overlapped with Margaret’s work with slope stability and retaining walls. “I’ve also taken a couple of engineering-based classes, which are really helpful as a geologist working in an engineering firm,” she adds. “Being able to break things down to say, ‘this is the formula for bearing capacity, this is how it applies to building loads,’ has helped me better understand what we do and why.”
Informed by her job experience and her coursework, including an elective, Water Resources for Geologists and Environmental Scientists with Michele Adams, Margaret focused on water infiltration and sinkholes in karst regions for her capstone project. Sinkholes are a common problem in Pennsylvania due to a regional landscape underlain with the soluble carbonate rock. In her research, Margaret discovered that the Pennsylvania Stormwater Best Management Practices Manual, which guides the state’s infiltration practices, contains few references or studies on the topic. “As I dug deeper, I realized that there's not a lot of research on karst and infiltration systems in general.” Her research, which she presented at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences’ 17th annual Graduate Student Research Conference in April, has proven to be a valuable stepping stone to further work on the topic. Margaret’s findings may even be shared with the state’s Department of Environmental Protection to encourage more research on stormwater and sinkholes for a new edition of the manual.
Throughout her time at Penn, Margaret left a positive influence on the student experience. She met frequently with her advisor (and program lecturer) Tony Sauder, to offer feedback. She encouraged other students to engage with each other and with faculty, creating a text group of classmates. For one course, she suggested optional drop-in office hours to build connection and accountability, which the instructor enthusiastically put in place. She even arranged a virtual Friendsgiving with MSAG students and the department’s other professional master’s degree, the Master of Environmental Studies. “Just being able to connect in that way with other students is helpful,” she says. Margaret also served as a teaching assistant for the undergraduate courses like Oceanography, offered online during the summer, calling on her experience as a tutor during her undergraduate days.
At the May graduation ceremony, which Margaret attended in person, she was recognized for receiving the 2025 Earth and Environmental Sciences Award for Excellence in Applied Geosciences. The honor is given to a graduating MGAS student who has contributed to the field of applied geosciences as well as helped the Master of Science in Applied Geosciences program or the Department of Earth and Environmental Science in a significant way.
Other achievements have come, as well. Halfway through her studies at Penn, Margaret had completed enough advanced geology courses to sit for the Pennsylvania GIT exam, which she passed in spring 2024. “So I have been Margaret Dunkelberger, Geologist in Training, for a year,” she beams. With the completion of her master’s degree, combined with her four years of experience at ECS, Margaret now is eligible to sit for the Professional Geologist (PG) exam, which she plans to take this fall. And, she adds, with a few more years working under a professional engineer she can add PE (Professional Engineer) to her postnominal letters. “So I will be Margaret Dunkelberger, PG, PE. There aren’t too many of those,” she says.
As part of her long-term professional goal, she is also considering teaching at a graduate program, where she can apply her professional experience to the classroom, like many of her Penn MSAG instructors.
As she looks forward to the next step in her career, Margaret shares some parting words for future MSAG program students. “You’ve got to have self-discipline for some of these classes, especially being online,” she advises, “but engagement can help get you through. Don't be afraid to reach out to your professors or your classmates, because your experience is what you make it.”
