Geography (Ph.D.)

Doctor of Philosophy. Major in Geography.

All general Ph.D. requirements apply. An M.S. degree is required. Admission is by faculty approval based on evaluation of the applicant's potential to carry out original research. Each student's training and research plan is developed by the student and the major professor with the advisory committee's approval. The advisory committee typically consists of three faculty members in the department and one faculty member from another department. Students are not allowed to register for dissertation credits (GEOG 600) until they have advanced to candidacy via successful completion of their preliminary examination. The dissertation must be of an original research nature and be in a topic spanned by the research interests and expertise of the major professor and committee members.

1. Breadth of knowledge of the fields of both human and physical geography, history of geography, and techniques of spatial analysis.
2. Depth of knowledge in specialty field within physical or human geography or geotechniques.
3. Ability to structure scientific problems with appropriate data and analytical methods.
4. Ability to gather and analyze appropriate data and write results in context of existing literature and significance of the analysis.
5. Ability to communicate research in oral presentations and written peer-reviewed materials.