AI exposure: Atmospheric, Earth, Marine, and Space Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary
Teach courses in the physical sciences, except chemistry and physics. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching, and those who do a combination of teaching and research.
Reading this score
computed44.6% of this occupation's weighted task load is exposed, which puts Atmospheric, Earth, Marine, and Space Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary at the 80th percentile of 923 occupations. The capability is largely there. Its average task scores 2.7 out of 4 on what a current system can produce, and the frictions that hold other jobs in place are comparatively weak here.
What holds the line here is context. Across this occupation's 26 tasks it averages 1.77 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work depends on knowledge the model cannot hold. Much of this job runs on things that were never written down: what this particular organisation does, what happened last week, what the person across the table actually meant. That context is the barrier, and it erodes as systems are given more access.
The most exposed thing this job does is Collaborate with colleagues to address teaching and research issues, at 86.7%. The least is Serve on academic or administrative committees that deal with institutional policies,..., at 0.0%. A gap of 86.7% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within educational instruction and library occupations, this one is more exposed than most. The median across the 62 roles in the group is 41.9%, and only 15 of them score higher than this. Occupational families are not uniform, and the spread inside them is often wider than the gap between them.
What would move this score. Of 26 tasks, 19 are currently banded exposed, 0 assisted and 7 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take systems being given deeper access to the organisation's own records and history, which is already happening. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Task by task
26 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Collaborate with colleagues to address teaching and research issues. | 86.7% | 13.3% | 0.0% | 3.54 | exposed |
| Compile bibliographies of specialized materials for outside reading assignments. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 2.82 | exposed |
| Answer questions from the public and media. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 2.76 | exposed |
| Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 4.15 | exposed |
| Write grant proposals to procure external research funding. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 3.39 | exposed |
| Conduct research in a particular field of knowledge and publish findings in professional journals, books, or electronic media. | 70.0% | 17.5% | 12.5% | 3.77 | exposed |
| Maintain student attendance records, grades, and other required records. | 66.7% | 33.3% | 0.0% | 4.43 | exposed |
| Plan, evaluate, and revise curricula, course content, and course materials and methods of instruction. | 64.2% | 23.3% | 12.5% | 4.16 | exposed |
| Select and obtain materials and supplies, such as textbooks and laboratory equipment. | 55.0% | 20.0% | 25.0% | 3.44 | exposed |
| Participate in campus and community events. | 55.0% | 20.0% | 25.0% | 2.81 | exposed |
| Review papers or serve on editorial boards for scientific journals, and review grant proposals for federal agencies. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 2.76 | exposed |
| Participate in student recruitment, registration, and placement activities. | 47.5% | 27.5% | 25.0% | 2.98 | exposed |
| Evaluate and grade students' class work, assignments, and papers. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.23 | exposed |
| Provide professional consulting services to government or industry. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 2.44 | exposed |
| Purchase and maintain equipment to support research projects. | 43.8% | 18.8% | 37.5% | 3.18 | exposed |
| Maintain regularly scheduled office hours to advise and assist students. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | 3.64 | exposed |
| Advise students on academic and vocational curricula and on career issues. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | 3.60 | exposed |
| Act as advisers to student organizations. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | 2.84 | exposed |
| Compile, administer, and grade examinations, or assign this work to others. | 38.5% | 28.1% | 33.3% | 4.22 | exposed |
| Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, and participating in professional conferences. | 27.5% | 10.0% | 62.5% | 3.97 | untouched |
| Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as structural geology, micrometeorology, and atmospheric thermodynamics. | 11.7% | 13.3% | 75.0% | 4.37 | untouched |
| Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions. | 11.7% | 13.3% | 75.0% | 4.04 | untouched |
| Supervise undergraduate or graduate teaching, internship, and research work. | 11.7% | 13.3% | 75.0% | 3.44 | untouched |
| Supervise laboratory work and field work. | 9.2% | 15.8% | 75.0% | 4.20 | untouched |
| Perform administrative duties, such as serving as department head. | 8.3% | 16.7% | 75.0% | 3.25 | untouched |
| Serve on academic or administrative committees that deal with institutional policies, departmental matters, and academic issues. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.29 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 2.68 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 0.39 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 1.27 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.83 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.77 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.35 | 0-3 |
What this means in practice
Where most of a role's weighted task load is exposed, the work that survives is usually the part of the job nobody wrote into the job description: deciding what should be produced rather than producing it, and being answerable for the result. The tasks lowest on this page are a better guide to where to spend your time than any general advice about the future of work.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.