The geography of economic, social, and environmental well-being and inequality. The course will provide an integrated perspective on the causes, interconnections, and consequences across time and space of, among others, globalization, climate change, poverty, employment, migration and urban growth, agricultural productivity, rural development, policies and international trade. Portraits of selected countries and regions will be developed.

Catastrophic Environmental Events (CCE) that are becoming more common i this time of global environmental change and it is essential that today's students be equipped with the knowledge and skills to be leaders as we, as a society, understand the upheaval that these CCEs are causing. Students will examine how CEEs shape human society and ecosystem from the interdisciplinary perspective afforded by the field of Geography. Students will use the latest geographic science concepts and techniques in exploring these events.

Introduction to technical methods used in gathering, analyzing, and presenting geospatial information, addressing the needs of geospatial analysis, such as environmental monitoring, situational awareness, disaster management, and human systems. Topics include basics of locational reference systems, map projections, satellite and airborne remote sensing, global positioning systems, geographic information systems, cartography, and introductory statistics and probability. The course is a gateway to more advanced technical classes in geoinformatics.

A systematic introduction to the processes and associated forms of the atmosphere and earth's surfaces emphasizing the interaction between climatology, hydrology and geomorphology.

Purpose: increase student knowledge of professional development opportunities in Geography through classroom activities and invited speakers, and to build awareness of career development tools and strategies. The main focus of the class is to prepare students to use the tools needed to pursue professional opportunities, including internships, jobs, and graduate school. Special emphasis will be on résumé building, cover letter writing, communication skills, and job, internship, and graduate school research.

Concepts and principles of Earth observation and remote sensing in relation to photographic, thermal infrared and radar imaging. Methods of obtaining quantitative information from remotely-sensed images. Interpretation of remotely-sensed images emphasizing the study of spatial and environmental relationships.

Essentials in the quantitative analysis of spatial and other data, with a particular emphasis on statistics and programming. Topics include data display, data description and summary, statistical inference and significance tests, analysis of variance, correlation, regression, and some advanced concepts, such as matrix methods, principal component analysis, and spatial statistics. Students will develop expertise in data analysis using advanced statistical software.

Principles of managing scarce resources in a world where everyone faces tradeoffs across both time and space. Focuses on the relationship between globalization processes and changing patterns of locational advantages, production, trade, population, socioeconomic and environmental grace and sustainability. (Human Geography)

Characteristics and organization of geographic data; creation and use of digital geospatial databases; metadata; spatial data models for thematic mapping and map analysis; use of geographic information system in society, government, and business. Practical training with use of advanced software and geographic databases. (Technical)

Supervised field training to provide career experience. Introduction to professional level activities, demands, opportunities. Placement at a public agency, non-profit organization, or private firm. Participation requires application to the internship advisor in preceding semester.

Supervised field training to provide career experience. Introduction to professional-level activities, demands, opportunities. Placement at a public agency, nonprofit organization, or private firm. Participation requires application to the internship advisor in preceding semester.

Applied introduction to field methods. This class is built around a two week field trip (mid-August) with a base camp in the headwaters of the Potomac River in the mountains of West Virginia. During the camp the following topics are covers: GPS (global positions system), stream hydrology measurements, vegetation classification and ordination, micrometeorlogical measurements, soils, water quality, remote sensing and GIS, local environmental issues, geomophology and paleohistory, and natural and cultural history. (Technical)

To develop an understanding of the geographic contexts of Sub-Saharan Africa, including an overview of the physical,
bioclimatic, historical, cultural, political, demographic, health and economic geographies of Sub-Saharan Africa. Students will ‘fill in the map’ of Africa by studying the spatial distribution within each of these geographic domains. In addition to an overview of geography South of the Sahara, the Congo will be taken as a more intensive case study through additional readings, lectures and discussions. (Integrated Geography)

Basic issues concerning the natural history of humans from the perspective of the geographer. Basic components of selected behavioral and natural systems, their evolution and adaptation, and survival strategies. (Human Geography)

This course will provide an introduction to modern econometric techniques in general and spatial econometrics in particular. It is designed for senior and graduate students of geography department who may have relatively limited background in statistics, mathematics, and econometrics but are keen to learn this ‘difficult’ subject. This course will use the popular open source statistical computer language R. Its focus is on using statistical computing to produce analytical reports for real-world applications, research papers, and dissertations.

Biogeographical topics of global significance, including a consideration of measurement techniques, and both descriptive and mechanistic modeling. Topics may include: scale in biogeography, climate and vegetation, global carbon cycle, biodiversity, interannual variability in the biosphere, land cover, global biospheric responses to climate change, NASA's Mission to Planet Earth and Earth Observation System. (Physical Geography)

Advanced skills of computer mapping using more sophisticated software packages. Map projection evaluation and selection, coordinate system conversion, techniques of quantitative thematic mapping, map design and generalization, hypermedia and animated cartography. Emphasis on designing and making cartographically sound sophisticated thematic maps. (Technical)

Introduction to key aspects of database design for GIS applications; major database models that support spatial data; formal models for key spatial relationships that underlie many different GIS applications; basics of SQL for making queries on datasets; design and construction of ArcGIS geodatabases; ArcGIS tools for geoprocessing. Lab sections will occasionally meet in LEF 1136 or 1138. Students must pay a $40.00 lab materials fee.

This course is intended as a survey of the theory and methods pertaining to social networks. Class time will be devoted to learning principles, theoretical perspectives, and appropriate software packages (mainly those in R) for designing a study for gathering network data, and analyzing those data. The readings are a combination of introductory-level material, classic, scholarly readings in the field, and empirical studies that apply social network analytic techniques to topics relevant to the social sciences as a whole.

Introduces students to the nature and practice of science in physical and human geography, including practical methods for research productivity, professional, societal and ethical obligations of scientists, the philosophy of science, and the scientific literature. Students will prepare and critically evaluate research proposals.

Biogeographical topics of global significance, including a consideration of measurement techniques, and both descriptive and mechanistic modeling. Topics may include: scale in biogeography, biodiversity, carbon geography, climate and vegetation, interannual variability in the biosphere, land cover, global biospheric responses to climate change, NASA's Mission to Planet Earth and Earth Observation System. The class focuses on both natural and athropogenic controls, impacts of biography on climate and ecosystem services and different methods in biogeography.

This course covers how to create, test, and publish mobile GIS applications that work across multiple platforms (Android, iOS, and Black Berry Tablet OS) and adapt to a smartphone or tablet display.

Provide foundations and understanding on various issues related to modeling and simulation in GIS context. It will addresses the concepts, tools, and techniques of GIS modeling, and presents modeling concepts and theory as well as provides opportunities for hands-on model design, construction, and application. The focus will be on raster-based modeling. This course is also application-orientated, particularly in these fields such as terrain modeling, LULC modeling, hydrological modeling, suitability modeling, etc.

Detailed examination of land remote sensing instruments, observatories and resultant measurements in the optical portion of the EM spectrum. Includes computer-based exercises that examine the importance of data geo-registration and radiometric calibration in land measurements.

This course will provide an introduction to modern econometric techniques in general and spatial econometrics in particular. It is designed for senior and graduate students of geography department who may have relatively limited background in statistics, mathematics, and econometrics but are keen to learn this ‘difficult’ subject. This course will use the popular open source statistical computer language R. Its focus is on using statistical computing to produce analytical reports for real-world applications, research papers, and dissertations.

This course is intended as a survey of the theory and methods pertaining to social networks. Class time will be devoted to learning principles, theoretical perspectives, and appropriate software packages (mainly those in R) for designing a study for gathering network data, and analyzing those data. The readings are a combination of introductory-level material, classic, scholarly readings in the field, and empirical studies that apply social network analytic techniques to topics relevant to the social sciences as a whole.

This course is intended as a survey of the theory and methods pertaining to social networks. Class time will be devoted to learning principles, theoretical perspectives, and appropriate software packages (mainly those in R) for designing a study for gathering network data, and analyzing those data. The readings are a combination of introductory-level material, classic, scholarly readings in the field, and empirical studies that apply social network analytic techniques to topics relevant to the social sciences as a whole.

Contact Course Instructor.

Each student must undertake a project as a demonstration of his/her competence in geospatial science and technologies. The data and materials for this project can originate from an internship (internal or external to the department), or from relevant work experience at the student's current employer. The Department of Geographical Sciences will work with each student individually to determine the best mechanism for obtaining the necessary data and experience.