Faculty members in GES have research and teaching expertise in diverse areas. The following Research Concentrations reflect these domains of faculty engagement and areas of emphasis within the department. These are not formal program tracks and students are not expected to focus on just one area. Rather, students may use the list below to identify departmental themes and strengths when organizing their graduate program of study.
Environmental Health
Health and environmental change; health and the built environment; health disparities, vulnerability, and environmental justice.
Climate Change
Global and regional climate science; climate change mitigation and adaptation; paleo-climate studies; urban heat islands.
Cities and Nature
Edge-city fire vulnerability; urban development and habitat disruption; disaster planning, management, and response; sustainable resort development; urban-ecological landscape restoration; green buildings and sustainable cities.
Food Systems
Political-economy of agriculture; sustainable food production and distribution systems; urban farming, zoning, and local governance; urban farm agronomy and animal husbandry; food justice; farm-to-table movement.
Sustainable Development
New economic geographies, globalization, neoliberalism, uneven development, environmental equity, and vulnerability.
Environmental Management and Policy
Social and policy context of resource management; eco-tourism; adaptive management; stakeholder processes; urban farm soil and water conservation; cultural heritage resources.
Spatial and Environmental Histories
Historic urban layers; gentrification and redevelopment; cities and resource hinterlands; industrialization and environmental transformation; nature and regional identity; paleoenvironmental reconstructions.
Environmental Change
Sustainability; landforms and processes; hazards; settlement and migration; land use-land cover change; river and fluvial processes; socio-ecological analysis; disturbance and vegetation change; impacts of resort development; environmental changes at tourist destinations.