Program News

  • Congratulations to the Class of 2021!
    Margot Powers ’21 Geography BA: Globalization and International Studies “I officially became a Geography major in my sophomore year. I was able to take classes that fulfilled my major both here at UMass and when I studied abroad in Brussels, Belgium in my junior year. This year, I was a Research Intern at the…
  • Congratulations to Joyia Smikle, this year’s recipient of the Garrett G. Hollands Memorial Scholarship!
    Joyia is a rising senior from Sunderland, MA with a double major in Landscape Architecture and Geography and a minor in Afro-American Studies. She is interested in urban geography utilizing GIS technology, city patterns, and sustainable studies to build a better future for those in low income, high-density areas. Joyia plans to use her…
  • Geography Awards!
    Congratulations to Margot Powers and Lily Crandall-Oral for the Outstanding Seniors in Geography Award and Le Tran for the Geography Service Award!
  • Isabel Mezzina, MS-GIST Student Presents Public Road Vulnerability in Massachusetts
    Isabel “Izzy” Mezzina, is pursing her Master’s in Geographical Information Science and Technology and has recently presented research, Public Road Vulnerability Massachusetts: Structural Condition and Flood Risk at the Association of American Geographers (AAG) conference in April. Please view her virtual poster, here!
  • 3 New Summer Courses!
    We are excited to bring 3 new summer courses to the Geography Program this summer! To view all summer course offerings click here. Seminar- Geographies of Climate Justice (GEOGRAPH 393C) This course is taught by Shaina Sadai, a recipient of the University’s 2021 Distinguished Teaching Awards. World Regional Geography (GEOGRAPH 220) A popular course during…
  • Dr. Eve Vogel Discusses the Texas Power Failure
    Associate Professor Eve Vogel co-published an article on ProMarket discussing the failure of the Texas Power Grid during the February deep freeze in Texas earlier this year. The article discusses the limitations of markets, biophysical limitations, and new ways of governing. The article features a map in the MS Geography-GIST students Emily Piersak and…
  • Book Announcement
    The Geography Program is pleased to announce the November 29, 2020 publication of The Chinese City (Routledge, 2021), by Professor Piper Gaubatz (Geography Program) and Professor Weiping Wu (Director, Columbia University Graduate Program in Urban Planning). This is a completely revised second edition of their 2012 book.  The book engages with major recent changes in Chinese…
  • UMass Geography Club Wins at NESTVAL 2020!
    Congratulations to the UMass Geography Club for winning the 2020 World Geography Bowl at the American Association of Geographers New England-St Lawrence Valley (NESTVAL) Division Meeting on November 13th, 2020. This is the club’s 5th win recent win, with wins in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and placing third in 2018 and 2019.
  • AAG Denver 2020 Events
    This year’s American Association of Geographers meeting will be held in Denver on April 6-10, 2020. Several UMass faculty members and students will be participating in the Denver AAG meeting through presentations, papers, panels, and even by participating in the World Geography Bowl.  Rutherford Platt, professor emeritus in the Geosciences department,  will be paneling on the Special…
  • UMass Geography Club Spring 2020 E-Board!
    The UMass Geography Club is proud to announce the new E-Board members for the Spring 2020 semester! Kelsie Butler (President) and Molly Autery (Vice President) will continue to be members of the Geography Club E-Board. Freshmen Mark Doherty and Dan Finn, both among the six top scorers at NESTVAL GeoBowl, will enter new roles…
  • UMass Geography Club Competes at NESTVAL
    The UMass Geography Club attended the NESTVAL Geography Bowl on October 18th, 2019, hosted by Framingham State University. UMass competed against five other teams and placed 3rd. Salem State University took the top spot, followed by the University of New Hampshire in second place. Our own Daniel Finn and Mark Doherty were selected as…
  • UMass Geography Club Takes a Trip to The Amherst Farmer’s Market
    The UMass Geography Club took a trip to the Amherst Farmer’s Market on Saturday, September 21st. Dozens of individual tents were set up with baked goods and fresh produce from local farms and shops. After purchasing various baked goods, the Geography Club gathered on the town common to enjoy the beautiful weather and some…
  • Congrats 2019 Graduates!!!
         
  • Follow the Geography Club on Instagram!
    Follow the UMass Geography Club on Instagram at umassgeographyclub
  • Lily Holland – Geog. Bowl Championship
    Congratulations to Geography senior Lily Holland, who made excellent contributions to the New England-St Lawrence Valley team at the 2019 World Geography Bowl national championship in Washington, DC.  The team, composed of the top-scoring students from the regional competition held in October 2018, performed well in the tournament of 9 teams representing the 9…
  • Geography Club Trivia Night!
      The UMass Geography Club  had a fun and successful trivia night on 4-24-19.  Graduating senior Natalie Howe won the competition, with Le Tran and Alex Heilmann tied for second place.
  • Congratulations, UMass Geobowl Team!
    Once again, the UMass Amherst Geography Club performed well against tough competition at the regional World Geography Bowl during the New England-St Lawrence Valley (NESTVAL) divisional meeting of the American Association of Geographers, October 12, 2018, at Keene State College. The team as a whole placed third in the region, which includes colleges and…
  • Congratulations 2018 Graduates!
    Congratulations to the thirteen students who graduated from the UMass Geography BA program in 2018: Primary or Dual majors: Emily Brown Tyler Deauseault Jonathan Gregg Ben Griffiths Secondary majors: Nick Becker Kachi Choi Chris Mahoney Juan Toro-Killion Matt Wagner Georgina Wetzel Mid-year (Feb 2018) Graduates: Lingxiao Duan Andrew Prestridge Will Kostick
  • Applegate awarded Khan Institute Fellowship
    Dr. Toby Applegate, a lecturer in the Geography program, has been awarded a year-long fellowship from Smith College’s Kahn Liberal Arts Institute to contribute to an interdisciplinary project on refugees and forced migration. The fellowship provides both support for ongoing research and an opportunity to participate in a year-long faculty seminar. The 2018-19 seminar…
  • UMass gets top score at World Geography Bowl!
    The UMass Amherst Geography Club was the top-scoring team for the fourth consecutive year in the World Geography Bowl held at the 2017 New England-St Lawrence Valley (NESTVAL) divisional meeting of the American Association of Geographers. The highest scoring team, geography students Kevin Bean, Carson Caraluzzi, Becca Feidelson, Will Kostick, Simon Perreira, and Le…
  • Geography Awareness Week 2017 – Nov 12-18
    PROGRAM MISSION AND HISTORY Too many young Americans are unable to make effective decisions, understand geo-spatial issues, or even recognize their impacts as global citizens. National Geographic created Geography Awareness Week to raise awareness to this dangerous deficiency in American education and excite people about geography as both a discipline and as a part…
  • Congratulations, 2017 Grads!
    Andrew Prestridge, Owen Bragdon, Dan Riecker, Khalif Nunnally-Rivera, Tom Sandberg, Wes Smith Owen Bragdon, Kat Kowalski, Tyler Maren, Dan Riecker, Brendan Dolan Not pictured: Paul Makowicz, Galya Neffinger, Ina Shkurti,
  • UMass Geographers Compete in 2017 World Geography Bowl National Championship
      UMass Geography students Kevin Bean and Owen Bragdon competed for New England at the National World Geography Bowl competition in Boston, April 8, 2017.  
  • Geographer Eve Vogel interviewed on NEPR
    UMass Study Recommends Better Preparation For Inevitable New England River Floods by: Henry Epp, DECEMBER 2, 2016, AMHERST, Mass. Rivers and streams in New England will inevitably flood, and there are some low-cost steps that federal and state governments can take to help communities be better prepared. That’s the message from a recent UMass Amherst report.…
  • Geography Week 2016
    Geography Awareness Week 2016 is upon us! #GeoWeek encourages citizens of all ages to think and learn about the significance of place and how we affect and are affected by it. This year’s theme is “Explore the Power of Parks,” in honor of the National Park Service’s centennial celebration. This week, take the opportunity…
  • Undergraduate GIST Certificate now available
    The Geography Program is now offering an undergraduate certification in Geographic Information Science and Technology (see curriculum below).  For more information, contact Professor Qian Yu. GISTCertificate
  • Geographer Eve Vogel featured in UMass’ Annual Research Report
    Geographer Eve Vogel (on left), with co-researcher Christine Hatch, is featured in this year’s UMass Annual Research Report.  See the feature at https://www.umass.edu/researchnext/feature/riversmart-communities
  • UMass Geography student Peter Huntington wins Innovation Challenge!
      Congratulations to Geography MS student Peter Huntington for winning this year’s Innovation Challenge Minute Pitch! The Isenberg School of Management’s Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship hosts an annual “Innovation Challenge Minute Pitch.”  Huntington, who is advised by Eve Vogel (chair) and Toby Applegate, entered with an idea for a biochar company, “Maine Carbon Solutions”…
  • UMass wins 2016 World Geography Bowl!
    Congratulations! UMass Geography wins the New England-St Lawrence Valley World Geography Bowl. Caption for photo:   (left to right: Owen Bragdon, Will Kostick, Paul Makowicz, Kevin Bean and Nicole Plasse) UMass Geographers are the 2016 New England champions! Once again, the UMass Geography Club brought home the gold trophy from World Geography Bowl held at…
  • Congratulations 2016 Graduates!
  • 2016 National “World Geography Bowl”
    Congratulations to Geography BA student Tyler Maren and Geography MS student Julian Hartmann-Russell, who represented UMass on the New England-St. Lawrence Valley World Geography Bowl team at the national World Geography Bowl Competition, Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers in San Francisco on April 1, 2016.  Although Team New England did not…
  • AP Geography Credit at UMass
    Notice for students interested in earning AP credit for geography at UMass.  YES!  We still offer AP credit.  This year we changed the designations of our introductory courses – Geosciences 100 and Geosciences 102 to Geograph 100 and Geograph 102.  The AP documentation still says “Geosciences,” which has led to some student concern that…
  • Boundless Horizons: Career Opportunities in Geography
    “Geography can lead to all manner of exciting careers…” see http://www.aag.org/galleries/jobs-careers-files/boundless_horizons_extract.pdf
  • Take World Regional Geography Online!
    UMass Amherst is offering Geography 220 – World Regional Geography online through Continuing Education.  UMass students can earn general education SB & G credit with this 4-unit course.  This is a great course for anyone interested in learning more about the world and the complex interplay of political, social, economic, cultural and environmental issues.…
  • Stan Stevens featured on “Inside UMass”
    UMass Geographer Stan Stevens was featured in an article on “Inside UMass” this week about the launch of his new book at the World Parks Congress in Sydney, Australia.  Click here to read the article: http://www.umass.edu/newsoffice/article/geographer-stan-stevens-launches-book
  • UMass Geographers Win 2014 NESTVAL World Geography Bowl
    On Friday, October 24, a team of 6 undergraduate UMass Amherst geography majors came home with the championship trophy from the 2014 NESTVAL (Association of American Geographer’s New England-St Lawrence Valley Division) World Geography Bowl. The team members (Steve Bailey, Will Kostick, Ronan Lucey, Tyler Maren, Vitya Romanov and Spencer Weinstein), are all working…
  • UMass Amherst Geographer’s New Book Calls for Expanded Role of Indigenous Peoples in Worldwide Conservation Planning
    Stan Stevens‘ new book, Indigenous Peoples, National Parks, and Protected Areas integrates wide-ranging, multidisciplinary intellectual perspectives with detailed analyses of new kinds of protected areas in diverse parts of the world.  It makes the case for a paradigm shift in conservation from exclusionary, uninhabited national parks and wilderness areas to new kinds of protected areas…
  • Now Hiring – Lecturer, Human Geography
    University of Massachusetts Amherst – Lecturer, Department of Geosciences https://www.interviewexchange.com/jobofferdetails.jsp?JOBID=51156 Job Description: The Department of Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst invites applications for a one year lecturer to teach two large lecture-based introductory courses each semester: an introductory course in human geography and world regional geography. The position begins on September 1,…
  • Geography Club competes in the Where in the World Challenge
    In Spring 2014, UMass was one of seven universities competing in the nationwide “Where in the World Challenge.”  The challenge is designed to to develop anticipatory spatiotemporal analytic skills to create and report “from the future” on the five best and five worst places to live on earth in the year 2025.  University teams…
  • Congratulations! 2014 Assoc. of American Geographers * Tampa
    Congratulations to Steven Bailey (2nd from right) who competed on behalf of New England at the 2014 World Geography Bowl at the Tampa AAG. UMass participants in the Association of American Geographers’ Annual Meeting included faculty members Piper Gaubatz, Anita Milman, Eve Vogel and Qian Yu; graduate students Nicole Gillette, Jim Macallister, Xin Li,…
  • Geomorphology/Earth Surface Dynamics/Landscape Evolution
    FACULTY POSITION: We are advertising for a Geomorphology/Earth Surface Dynamics/Landscape Evolution tenure-system position.  This new faculty member will contribute to the geography program.  Applications are due before November 18, 2013. For more information, see: http://www.geo.umass.edu/about/job-opportunities
  • 2013 Student Awards
    Congratulations to the 2013 Geography student award recipients: Outstanding TA: Xin Li and Changjiang Ye Outstanding Seniors: Rachel Labrie and Marielys Velez Research funding awards: Xin Li, Sainan Lin, Changjiang Ye, Jiwei Li              
  • Geography Conference (NESTVAL)
    The New England-St. Lawrence Valley Geographical Society (NESTVAL) Conference will be held October 18-19, 2013, at Clark University in Worcester, MA. The themes will be “Climate Justice,” “Economic and Financial Crisis,” and “Reimagining Mid-Sized Cities;” however, presentations on any topic of interest to the membership are encouraged. Abstracts for papers and posters of no more than…
  • Environment & Sustainable Development Leadership Program
    Prof. Piper Gaubatz gave an invited presentation on the future of Chinese cities at the “Environment & Sustainable Development Leadership Program,” a forum hosted by Yale University for a high-level delegation of mayors of large Chinese cities. (June 26, 2013)
  • Estuaries: high resolution/large scale CDOM monitoring
    Dr. Qian Yu and recent UMass geography graduate Dr. Weining Zhu recently published two papers in top remote sensing journals, Remote Sensing of Environment and ISPRS Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. They developed a semi-analytical method to retrieve colored dissolved organic matter from hyper spectral remote sensing and mapped the CDOM in global major rivers. The work provides…
  • Beaver Island Research
    Grad students Jiwei Li and Changjiang Ye are conducting summer research in Beaver Island, Michigan with Dr. Qian Yu. They are working on an NSF funded project to understand terrestrial carbon leaching from land to lake or ocean. The experiment uses aquatic mesocosms and green house incubation at Central Michigan University Biological Station to simulate litter…
  • Geography Club!
    There will be an organizational meeting for a new geography club on Monday, Feb 11, 2013 at 5:30pm (Hasbrouck 236). Come and help us start up a new club devoted to fieldtrips and other geographical activities in the Pioneer Valley. Membership is open to all 5-College students.
  • UMass Geographers @ 2012 AAG Meeting
    Eight UMass geographers will be participating in the 2012 Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting in New York City, February 24-28.  This conference will host more than 7,000 geographers from around the world and feature over 4,000 presentations. UMass Geography participants include faculty members Piper Gaubatz, Stan Stevens, Eve Vogel and Qian Yu; and graduate…
  • NESTVAL 2011 – Montreal Oct 14-16
    The 2011 New England-St. Lawrence Valley (NESTVAL) Annual Geography Conference will be held at Concordia University, in Montreal, Canada, from Friday, October 14 to Saturday, October 15, with some additional field trips on Sunday, October 16. All interested participants (students and faculty) are invited to submit abstracts (no longer than 200 words), and proposals for…
  • Environmental Geography Concentration Approved
    The environmental geography concentration for the geography B.A. has now been approved by the faculty senate.  See https://websites.umass.edu/umgeog/undergraduate-programs/environmental-geography-concentration/ for more information.
  • Geography Alumni…Where are they now?
    Undergraduate students in Geosciences 314 – Writing in Geography this year decided to analyze data on UMass B.A./B.S. Geography graduates for their group project.   They mapped alumni data for graduates from 1970-2010 in terms of place of residence, occupation and gender.  You can find their analysis and more information on the geography program at:…
  • Geography Students win Departmental Awards
    2010-2011 Outstanding Senior in Geography: Christopher Braun 2010-2011 Outstanding Teaching Assistant in Geography: Weining Zhu Summer funding for research: Colleen Kelley, Jim MacAllister,  Melishia Santiago, Mingma Norbu Sherpa, Changjiang Ye, Weining Zhu
  • Congratulations! 2010-11 Geography MS Degree Recipients
    Five UMass students will be awarded MS degrees in Geography at the May 13, 2011 graduate graduation:  Jared Gasco, John Legrid, Ethan Miller, Mingma Norbu Sherpa, and Melishia Santiago-Ramirez.  Congratulations to all!  A list of all Geography MS recipients and their theses (since 2000) is available at: https://websites.umass.edu/umgeog/graduate-program/recent-ms-theses-degrees/
  • Fall 2011 Courses
    Check out the Fall 2011 Geography courses for undergraduates at the Fall 2011 Courses tab on https://websites.umass.edu/umgeog
  • UMass Geographers to Give Talks at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting
    UMass Geographers at AAG 2011 UMass Amherst geographers will present eight different papers at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington, April 12-16, 2011. (Detailed abstracts and times for these papers follow this list) Janelle Cornwell* – Ph.d Candidate, University of Massachusetts – Amherst Subjects of Scale: scale methodologies and the…
  • Qian Yu awarded grant to study carbon export processes from land to coastal waters
    Assistant Professor Qian Yu (PI) was recently awarded a three-year grant by the NSF Collaboration in Mathematical Geosciences program to study dissolved organic carbon (DOC) dynamics in coastal regions using remote sensing and mathematic modeling. Qian will lead a collaborative team with three co-PIs in statistics, biogeochemistry and GIS-based hydrological modeling from both the…
  • Stan Stevens and ICCA Consortium at the UN COP10 Meeting
    Stan Stevens (Senior Lecturer, Geography) participated in the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (the UN environmental treaty developed at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio) in Nagoya, Japan, Oct. 18-29 as a member of the delegation of the ICCA Consortium ( www.iccaforum.org). The COP10 meeting in Japan was…