Geography B.S.

Geography is a discipline for the curious and the open-minded. It answers the need in our society for an integrated, critical understanding of the relation between people and their natural and built environments. As a geography major, you will develop the knowledge and skills to confront the challenges of a changing world. There is no one way to be a geographer; climate scientists, ecologists, economists, planners, data scientists, and scholars of race and gender have all found their home in a field that builds an integrative approach to problem-solving. Geographers are skilled observers of the world who possess unique critical thinking skills and are attuned to the role that space, place, and environment play in everyday life.

The B.S. in Geography will provide you with scientific skills to understand your world and its conjoined social, spatial, and environmental processes. It offers you an area of specialization, enhances your quantitative analytical skills, and encourages engagement with a range of cognate sciences.

Students follow one of two tracks:

Environmental Geography students study natural environments and systems, both in themselves and as they relate to human beings. Some of the focus areas of our Environmental Geography track are:
- Climate and Paleoclimate. How do humans affect the climate? What was climate like in the past, and how can we learn from it as we plan for the future?
- Changing Environment. What places are most prone to fire, flooding, and other hazards, and why? How have human land management decisions altered the evolution and functioning of biophysical landscapes?
- Biogeography, Sustainability, and Conservation. Why do animal and plant populations grow, shrink, or shift ranges as global temperatures change? How do species transform the makeup of environmental systems?

Geographic Information Science combines digital data with cutting-edge computational approaches and theories to advance our knowledge of natural and societal phenomena and processes.
- Geographic Information Science develops technologies to gather, manipulate, and analyze spatial data, ranging from centuries-old mapping methods to new approaches like artificial intelligence and big data.
- The GIS and society focus examines interactions between social systems and technologies and how they shape each other.
- Urban spatial analysis uses various technologies to determine how to serve different people and many different needs, such as locating facilities, planning transportation routes, and planning services.
- Spatial health and epidemiology use spatial analysis methods to examine the social and environmental determinants of human well-being.

A wide variety of career options are open to students with a B.S. in Geography. Local, regional, and federal agencies seek geographers for positions in natural resource management, environmental conservation and restoration, city and regional planning, transportation, and community development. Private industry consulting, environmental and marketing firms, the nonprofit sector, and non-governmental organizations seek the geographic skills taught in the Geography B.S.