Top-ranked geography Ph.D. programs take a global view of place.
Geography is a complex study of integrated disciplines that relate to and affect each other and the movement of people and ideas across a changing planet. Ph.D. programs that prepare scholars to contribute to the field are tough, wide-ranging courses of study that involve as much social science and computer modeling as map reading. The U.S. has some of the leading geography doctoral programs that focus on making new discoveries about the world.
UC Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara has one of the highest-rated geography Ph.D. programs in the U.S. The program offers Ph.D. emphasis in the areas of Earth System Science: measurement, analysis and interactions among atmospheric, oceanic and terrestrial systems; Human-environment Relations: resource and environmental management, environmental ethics, human responses to changing environments, human movement and transportation; and Modeling, Measurement and Computation: statistical analysis, modeling of geographic phenomena and more. Doctoral students may petition for an additional emphasis in three areas: Cognitive Science, an interdisciplinary social sciences focus; Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences, which involves a cross-section of departments, from communications to psychology; or Transportation: study of systems planning, design and operations. With a master's degree, the Ph.D. program requires five years to complete.
Department of Geography
Ellison Hall 3611, UC Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
805-893-8789
geog.ucsb.edu
Penn State University
The Penn State Department of Geography also vies for the top spot in national rankings for geography programs. The school's emphasis is on broad knowledge and deep specialization. The Ph.D. Human Geography focus looks at how human interaction with the built and natural environment is affected by a variety of factors. Research and teaching areas in Human Geography include geographic education, gender, urban spaces, political economy and political geography, justice and nature, and historical and cultural geographies. There are studies in global change processes, water governance, climate change adaptations, and agro-biodiversity. Physical Geography explores such areas as snow hydrology, ecological biogeography and ecosystem dynamics, wetlands ecology and management, coastal and inland hazards and more. Additional focuses are offered in Nature/Society and Geospatial Information Systems (GISciences).
Department of Geography
302 Walker Building
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802
814-865-3433
geog.psu.edu
SUNY Buffalo
The State University of New York, Buffalo has an internationally well-regarded Geography program and is among the top in the nation. Its approach is to examine geography through a human lens by researching topics such as urban growth and development, interactions of people over space and time, where industries locate, transportation, regional planning and physical and ecological environments, among other topics. Scholars develop specializations in the diffusion of information and ideas, and the spatial arrangement of human and natural phenomena. SUNY's areas of focus encompass digital cartography and the tracking of events over geographic space---Geographic Information Science; Economic Geography and International Business and World Trade; issues of Urban and Regional Geography, such as land use, retail and service locations, crime and health patterns, information and communication technologies, political economy and other topics related to geography; and Earth Systems Science, the environment and physical geography.
SUNY Buffalo
Department of Geography
105 Wilkeson Quad
Buffalo, NY 14261
716-645-2722
geog.buffalo.edu
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