The department of Earth Science and Geography incorporates a natural science (Earth Science) and a social science (Geography) to provide students with an integrative place to learn about the ways we experience and occupy our environment.
In Earth Science, you can learn how development affects water resources and pollution, how soils form, and what makes them support the food we eat, about environmental justice in the Anthropocene, or about the history of our earth, its climates, and the creatures that evolved here.
In Geography, you can learn how political, economic, and cultural forces shape spatial order and the flows of people, ideas, and resources in our world. We explore both social and natural forces that shape sustainable landscapes and communities, global economic systems, inequality and sustainability in cities, and the spatial underpinnings of social justice and human rights.
Students in both programs learn analytical skills such as GIS (computer mapping and analysis), modeling, and field techniques. Both disciplines also share an interest in climate, environmental quality, and their impacts on communities around us.
Students can choose to major in Earth Science, in Geography, in the combined Earth Science and Society major, or in a joint Geography-Anthropology major, which integrates studies of culture with the understanding of geography.
Related Links
- Department GIS blog
- Terra Firma! Newsletter
- Department History
- Department Facebook and Facebook group
Want to get involved? there are lots of project opportunities, and we've listed a few of them in our