Geography
Geography is the study of natural Earth systems, human societies and their interactions, and is home to a variety of researchers working on the issues of Society, Water and Climate. We use a collaborative and integrated approach to help understand complex 21st century challenges such as climate change, globalization, sustainability, urbanization, and living with hazards. Faculty with current research relevant to the SWC include:
- Simon C. Brewer studies past and present climate change, paleoecology, environmental modeling, and data mining and analysis.
- Andrea Brunelle is a paleoecologist who studies climate change, environmental change, and fire and beetle disturbance history with an emphasis on land management implications and contributions.
- Philip Dennison uses remote sensing and geospatial modeling techniques to investigate drought impacts on vegetation and wildfire. His work deals with connections between climate, vegetation, and wildfire.
- Richard R. Forster is a glaciologist who uses remote sensing for hydrological applications including glaciers, snowpack properties, aquifers, and ground subsidence.
- Kathleen Nicoll researches desert hydroclimate, geomorphology and the sedimentary processes of rivers and saline lakes in aridlands.
- Mitchell J. Power is a biogeographer who is interested in paleoecology, historical plant geography, climate history, and fire history from local to global scales.
- Vincent V. Salomonson, studies spaceborne remote sensing of Earth-atmosphere processes and trends with emphasis on hydrological processes, regional and global snow cover dynamics.
- Yehua Dennis Wei is an economic/urban geographer, studying regional and sustainable development, globalization and urbanization, land use and environmental change including climate change and water pollution, and GIS spatial analysis with a geographic emphasis in China.
- Kathryn Grace primarily focuses on the population and health impacts of seasonal and annual variations in food availability among farmers and peri-urban dwellers in west and east Africa which is impacted by climate change and water availability.