Courses
GEOG 49073|59073|79073: Environmental Data Analysis in R
The aim of the course is to teach students basic concepts, skills, and tools for working with data in R. R is an open source (free!) programming language for statistical computing and graphics that is widely used by statisticians, scientists, data miners, and geographers. This is a hands-on course designed for students with no programming experience. However, this course does not teach statistics: understanding of basic statistics and common statistical tests is assumed and prior coursework in statistics is encouraged. With the knowledge gained in this course, students will be ready to undertake their own data analysis in R and increase their efficiency through reproducible workflows. This course covers the following sections: Basic Building Blocks, Exploring and Visualizing Data, Statistical Analysis of Data, Working with Spatial Data, and Programming in R. Recent syllabus available here.
Format: Lecture and Lab, offered in Fall
GEOG 49230|59230|79230: Remote Sensing
Remote sensing is the retrieval of information about an object without being in contact with that object. This course is designed to provide students with a working knowledge of the principles and applications of remote sensing. It provides a survey of the concepts and techniques of remote sensing and image analysis for mapping and monitoring a variety of the planet’s spheres. Lab assignments are conducted using Google Earth, Idrisi TerrSet, ESRI ArcGIS and QGIS and cover analysis related to water, rock, vegetation, anthropogenic surfaces, snow and ice. Note: cross listed with GEOL 42030|52030|72030. Recent syllabus available here.
Format: Lecture and Lab, offered in Spring
GEOG 41051|5051|71051: Natural Disasters and Society
This course is a study of natural disasters, the physical processes responsible for hazards, and their effects on the physical and social environment. This course will focus on the science of natural hazards and how we can use our knowledge of these natural events and processes to reduce the occurrence or mitigate the effects of natural disasters. Natural disasters include earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, landslides, thunderstorms and tornadoes, heatwaves and droughts, floods, coastal hazards, and wildfires. This course is taught through lecture and analysis of numerous case studies of global natural disasters. Recent syllabus available here.
Format: Lecture and Discussion, offered in Fall
GEOG 41195|51195|71195: Landscape Ecology
Landscape ecology is the study of the interaction between spatial pattern and ecological processes. The emphasis on spatial patterning – its development and importance for ecological processes – often focuses on broad spatial and temporal scales. This course aims to provide a comprehensive introduction to the field by coupling theoretical concepts (lecture, readings, discussion) with applications through modeling projects (exercises in quantitative approaches) to provide hands-on practical experience with landscape analysis tools and ideas. This field of study combines the spatial approach of the geographer with the functional approach of the ecologist. The course should be useful to students in geography and ecology as well as those with interests in natural resource, landscape architecture, land use planning, etc. Recent syllabus available here.
Format: Lecture, Lab, Discussion; offered in Spring 2022