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Department of Geography
We are a scholarly community of 250 faculty, staff, and students committed to pursuit of geographical and meteorological knowledge. We strive to make positive impacts on people, places, environments that enhance and sustain social and environmental systems for the present and future generations.
Our Mission is to …
- Deliver high quality teaching and learning at all levels, impactful research, and engaged outreach.
- Develop current and new understandings of the diversity of the Earth’s physical and social systems, the value of spatial perspectives, and connections between peoples and their environments at a variety of geographical scales.
- Provide students with intellectual skills to synthesize information, be critical thinkers, develop into better and more informed citizens, and find success in employment or further academic training.
Emphases
- Environmental Systems – Patterns and processes of vegetation, weather/climate, water, and landforms.
- Human Systems – The spatial organization and processes of urban systems, demographic change, human health, regional development, and cultural change.
- Human-Environment Interactions – How culture, economy, politics, gender and globalization shape the planet’s urban, rural, and natural resources and influence human livelihoods and wellbeing.
- International Development – Relations between developed and developing countries and the impacts of globalization at local, regional, and national scales.
- Geospatial Analysis – Principles and applications of geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing, digital mapping, and quantitative spatial analysis.
Examples of Big Questions We Pursue in Classes and Research
- How are humans changing the physical environment?
- How are climate and other environmental changes affecting risks and vulnerabilities of human systems and how might humans adapt to promote resilience and sustainability?
- How does where people live affect their health?
- How is the movement of people, goods and ideas transforming local places and the world more broadly?
- How might we better observe, map, analyze and visualize a changing world?
News
Students scale new heights during Rocky Mountain field course
Class of 2019: Geography major Neil Schubel charts a path around the world.
Meteorology internships help ready the next generation of U.S. Air Force weather officers.
Dr. Stephanie Zick, an expert on tropical storms, was featured on WFXR discussing Hurricane Florence.
Alumnus James Morrow (BS Meteorology ’14), a weather forecaster in the Raleigh National Weather Service office, was interviewed on CTV about the statue of Hurricane Florence as it approaches the Carolina coast.
Dr. Thomas Pingel is appointed associate professor: Dr. Thomas Pingel joins the department this fall as an associate professor. Dr. Pingel previously was at Northern Illinois University. He is specializes in geospatial theory and applications of near earth and terrestrial remote sensing to problems in human geography. His innovative work and teaching involve LiDAR, UAV-based photogrammetry, and 2D/3D immersive representations. Dr. Pingel is teaching a course on geovisualization this fall.
Dr. Timothy Baird promotion: The Virginia Tech Board of Visitors recently approved Dr. Timothy Baird’s application for promotion and tenure. Dr. Baird’s promotion to associate professor with tenure is effective July 1, 2018. Congratulations to Dr. Baird.