The Ph.D. in Geography is a specialized, research-focused degree that prepares students for professional careers in academia, government, private industry and non-profit sectors – with alumni represented in each of these. The program trains students to design and carry out original research under the supervision of a faculty advisor. Students complete a minimum of 72 credits, of which a maximum of 24 can be transferred from the master’s degree. In the first two years of the program students generally take coursework in their area of specialty and prepare for the comprehensive examination. Students then research, write, and defend their dissertation, enrolling in a minimum of 24 dissertation credits.<br><br>Department of Geography faculty members possess a range of interdisciplinary strengths and expertise in the areas of human, human-environment and physical geography, supported by the use of computational technologies such as geographic information systems, remote sensing, modeling and data analytics. The faculty is renowned for its teaching and mentoring, with individual members having garnered university, state and national teaching awards.<br><br>Department research specialties span the full range of the discipline, including: Hydrologic modeling, Urban and economic geography<br> Cultural and historical geography, Political geography and geopolitics, Qualitative methods, Human-Environment relations and political ecology, Urban and regional planning, GIS and geotechnologies