Geography students can get course credit for individualized and directed research under supervision of a faculty member. Geography students who have shown academic promise and excellence in the classroom also can complete a research project or thesis that requires original research and writing for Departmental Honors.
Geography Research & Scholarship
Geography Research & Scholarship
The research and teaching interests of the faculty span a broad range of systematic, technical, and regional specializations.
Primary areas include the following:
- Environmental Geography (environmental assessment, analysis and management; conservation; environmental planning)
- Nature-Society Relationships (human-environment interactions; cultural and political ecology)
- Geospatial Techniques (geographic information science; cartography and geovisualization; remote sensing)
- Regional Development Studies (rural livelihoods; the developing world; gender issues; Latin America; Southeast Asia; Sub-Saharan Africa; North America)
- Physical Geography (biogeography; geomorphology; meteorology and climatology)
Research Areas We Focus On
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Environmental and Social JusticeUsing nature-society frameworks and spatial analysis to understand how inequality and inequity are built into everyday life.
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Sustainability and PlanningExamining the strategies for balancing environmental quality, economic development, and social equity.
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Globalization and DevelopmentExploring global issues and other parts of the world to better understand our own in an increasingly globalizing world.
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Earth's Physical SystemsExamining atmospheric, ecological, and landform systems, how they change through time, and how they interact with each other.
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Earth Observation and GISRevolutionizing how we explore the geography of places, cultures, environments and processes.
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Cities, Places and RegionsUnderstanding the nature of places and delimiting regions, analyzing spatial differentiation across the Earth’s surface.
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Graduate Research Opportunities
The Geography Department offers a master's-only graduate program, giving students the opportunity to work closely with faculty. The program fully prepares graduates for professional positions or a Ph.D. program.
Geography Research Facilities
Labs for atmospheric analysis, GIS, remote sensing, geomatics, geovisualization, geomorphology, and more.
Geography Research Fair
Held at the end of fall semester, the annual Research Fair serves as a holiday season gathering for the department and a showcase for GEOG 4800 student research posters.
Geography Scholars in the News
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Anderson Studies German Catholic Settlement with Baker Fund Award
Dr. Timothy Anderson was awarded a $10,054 ÃÛèÖÊÓƵ Research Committee (OURC)/Baker Fund grant for “Immigrant Entrepreneurs: The Flusche Brothers and Organized German Catholic Settlement in the United States, 1872-1930.â€
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From Athens to Antarctica, Ryan Fogt Navigates Worlds of Weather
What’s it like to study Earth’s climate, forecast the weather, and train the next generation of meteorologists? ÃÛèÖÊÓƵ professor Ryan Fogt has done it all—from researching Antarctica’s past weather patterns to working with students in the Scalia Laboratory for Atmospheric Analysis.
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Grad Student Allan K’oyoo Receives Early Career Award
Geography M.S. student Allan K’oyoo has received the Early Career Award at the 2025 Global Flood Partnership Annual Conference in Budapest, Hungary, recognizing his outstanding work on flood risk reduction in Nairobi’s informal settlements and his current research on risk governance under the mentorship of Thomas Smucker.