Geography and Environment (GEO) is the study of places and the relationships between people and their environment. Geographers explore both the biophysical processes of Earth’s surface and the human societies spread across it. It examines how cultural and political economic institutions interact with the natural environment, and the way that locations and places can impact people, and how these relationships change over time. The department offers students interdisciplinary academic training to study critical issues that face modern society, such as globalization and its regional implications, climate change and its effects, resource use and sustainability, cultural change and environmental consequences, geopolitics, and the use of geospatial technologies.
Major Academic Areas
- Asia
- Biogeography
- Climate Change
- Conservation and Policy
- Culture
- Development
- Eco-Hydrology
- Environment
- GIS
- Pacific
- Political Ecology
- Remote Sensing
Specialties
- Environmental Geography engages in a systematic study of the Earth’s physical environment, natural resource management and global environmental change. Its focus is on global change and its impact on different parts of the world in the terrestrial and marine environments.
- Human Geography investigates the cultural, economic, and political processes that shape human activities on the Earth. It focuses on issues related to globalization, cultural and political changes and its relationship to the environment.
- Geographic Technology includes the study of cartography, geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing, and the use of these technologies in understanding spatial environmental issues. This is a fast-growing area in geography with many research and job opportunities.
Department of Geography and Environment
Office: Saunders Hall 445
Email: uhmgeog@hawaii.edu
Telephone: (808) 956-8465
Website: geography.manoa.hawaii.edu