Master of Arts - Applied Geography and Geospatial Science

In the United States and around the world, balancing the preservation of the natural environment with the imperatives of economic development along with concerns for social well­being has led to a growing demand for broadly trained individuals who can identify and understand pressing social and environmental issues, collect and analyze relevant data, and develop and implement innovative solutions. Graduates of the proposed M.A program in Applied Geography and Geospatial Science will have the knowledge, training, and tools to become leaders in this rapidly growing field.

The program’s research focus is human-environment interaction, a longstanding hallmark of the discipline of Geography. Within this area of critical geographic inquiry, the program emphasizes geospatial science, a federally recognized STEM subject area that includes geographic information systems (GIS) as well as computer cartography, remotely sensed image analysis, and spatial statistics. Students apply their geospatial research skills in the context of hands-­on, faculty-­led research projects that stress professional development through community engagement and interactive service learning.