2021-2022 Course List

An interdisciplinary investigation into Quaternary environmental/climatic change and the impact of change on the behavior and evolution of humans. This course has three segments: 1) An examination of natural systems responsible for climatic change, the impact climatic fluctuations have on Earth systems, timing of Quaternary changes, evidence of climatic/environmental change from spatially distant, climatically distinct environments; 2) Investigation into worldwide evidence of human evolution, global dispersion, and adaptation to environmental systems; 3) Introduction into various methodological approaches in Quaternary archeologic, geomorphic, and climatic studies. Focus is on proxy records used for climate/environmental reconstruction, archeologic/geomorphic field methods, geochronologic dating methods.

Survey of natural resources emphasizing energy, metallic, fisheries, and water resources. Also addresses timber, wetlands, and wildlife on public and private lands.

Examines national and international economic geographical order and trade activities. Topics include economic development, competition, and impacts on the environment and people.

This course will introduce students to the multidimensional causes of human migration including immigrant and refugee populations, and their consequences for societies around the world. Students will gain knowledge on the trends and patterns of global migration across diverse geographic, socio-economic, and cultural regions. Additionally, the course will address contemporary issues like migrant and refugee categories; globalization and migrant labor in the economy; role of the state in migration processes; migration policies; migrant identities (race, class, gender, age, citizenship); and migrant rights as they relate to issues of equity and inclusion.

Hypotheses and generalization related to urban functions, structure, land use, distribution, growth, and decline. Emphasis will be mostly on the United States' urban places.

Introduction to theoretical frameworks for analyzing processes of economic, environmental, and social change in rural regions. Includes basic and advanced geographical principles and techniques for studying non-urban areas. Designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary for carving out research projects on rural environments.

Spatial problems and structure of governments, focusing on countries of the world. Covers such topics as boundary problems, strategic locations, and geopolitical explanations of international relations and conflict.

Concepts and theories concerning global and national social problems and the significance of geographic analytic methods for social research. Study of factors related to variations in regional standards of living.

Four major sets of ideas will be covered: (1) Introduction to Spatial Organization, (2) Network Analysis, (3) Allocation Methods, and (4) Urban Transportation. The emphasis is on these approaches to understanding the geography of transport by description, explanation, and normative or optimal methods.

Various excursions to study physical and cultural landscapes inside and outside Minnesota.

Regional geography covering the ecological and human environment of Central and South America and the Caribbean. Students can pick specific topics to study in detail. The geographic relations between the USA and Latin America are also covered.

Students will develop a knowledge of the environmental, cultural, historical, and economic geographies of Canada. Readings of best-selling fiction and scholarly works written by Canadians will provide a Canadian perspective on the nation's past, present, and future.

Cultural, environmental, and economic background of Europe west of the former USSR Following a general geographic survey, the course will cover major regions and countries.

<p>Examines the physical and human environments of eastern Asia, mainly China, Korea, and Japan. The class will be assisted by visual sources and hands-on use of primary documents.</p>

An applied course tailored to meet practical needs of a teacher, related to curriculum development and earth science lab equipment and supplies.

This course will cover basic strategies for conducting field surveys and gathering from the real world data appropriate to mapping the earth's surface. Emphasis will be upon simple but reliable techniques, ranging from compass-and-pacing to global positioning systems (GPS).

Comprehensive examination of GIS for manipulation and analysis of spatially-referenced data, including data structure and organization, input and output problems, data management, and strategies for analytical work.

<p>This is an introductory course on theories and techniques of remote sensing. Focus will be placed on providing students with a general overview of the application of remote sensing to practical problems, and hands-on experience for image processing and analysis.</p>

This course will introduce students to the fundamental knowledge and techniques of open-source GIS and geospatial data analysis. Students will learn the basic and advanced GIS functions in QGIS, a popular open-source GIS with advanced capabilities. The major topics that will be covered include open-source GIS data standards; working with projections and available GIS data; making maps in QGIS; spatial and attribute data query, editing, and manipulation; multi-criteria overlay analysis; raster image styling and analysis; 3D and terrain analysis; spatial pattern analysis; spatial interpolation; automating map creation and complex workflows using processing models; customize and extend QGIS.

Descriptive statistics, probability, hypothesis testing, introduction to non-parametric statistics, correlation, introduction to regression analysis, spatial statistics and principles of data representation in graphs, tables and statistical results.

This offering will include a variety of selected technical topics in geography, including (but not limited to) manual cartographic drafting and negative scribing, photomechanical techniques in production cartography, aerial photo interpretation, and advanced coverage of digital analysis of satellite-derived remote sensor data and global positioning systems.

Survey of theoretical frameworks for spatial analysis and geographic quantitative methods. Includes basic and advanced spatial analysis principles and methods for studying and examining spatial patterns. Designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary for carrying our research projects that demand spatial point pattern analysis and analysis of areal units.

This offering will include supervised project work in raster-based and/or vector-based GIS, using problems and data drawn from local or regional agencies or other professional-level organizations with whom the Geography Department maintains a relationship. Students must have completed one of the prerequisite courses, or professional-level experience.

Topics vary in physical, cultural, economic, political, and historical geography, as well as environmental conservation and geographic techniques.

<p>This course teaches students to reconstruct past landscapes and identify environmental hazards related to historical land use using GIS and remote sensing software. Applications include the identification of hazardous waste sites, wetland drainage, bluff erosion and other environmental hazards relevant to local history research, environmental consulting, archaeology, resource management, real estate, planning and civil engineering. Students will learn to use and interpret historical air photos and maps, digital imagery and LIDAR in problem-solving contexts and to report research findings in effective written, graphic and verbal presentation formats used by government agencies and private consulting firms.</p>

Prerequisites:

GEOG 373 and GEOG 673