The Department of Geography at the University of South Carolina is the only program in the state to offer Bachelors, Masters' and Ph.D. degrees in Geography. The 17 full-time faculty members represent three broad areas of expertise within the discipline (human/regional; physical/environmental; and geographic techniques). We also participate in interdisciplinary programs — International Studies, Southern Studies, Women's Studies, and the School of the Environment — in the College and University.

PhD student Peng Gao has received a College of Arts and Sciences Dean's Dissertation Fellowship for the 2012-2013 academic year. Peng's working dissertation title is "Applying novel regionalization methods to the study of biotic distributions and connectivity".

Dr. David Cowen, Carolina Distinguished Professor Emeritus, has been inducted along with Dr. Luc Anselin, Mr. Jack Dangermond, Dr. Gerard Rushton, and Dr. Waldo Tobler as a member of the UCGIS Fellows. They will be formally presented at the upcoming UCGIS symposium (http://www.ucgis.org/symposium2012/).

They join the distinguished group of current UCGIS fellows who have contributed to the advancement of geographic information science and technology. The grade of Fellow is bestowed on the recipient who has had an extraordinary record of accomplishments in any of the spatial disciplines and Communities of Practice that use spatial information to complement and support their business operations or personal activities. A complete list of Fellows can be found at: (http://www.ucgis.org/fellowsprogram/inductees_by_alpha.htm).

May Yuan Ph.D., UCGIS President

The Department of Geography's Spring colloquium series concluded with a presentation highlighting the career of Dr. John R. Jensen on Friday April 20. Drs. Russ Congalton, Bruce Davis and Jason Tullis highlighted the accomplishments of Dr. Jensen's career in remote sensing and digital image processing. Photos from this event can be found here. Just click on the files listed to download.

Master's student Brittany Cook was awarded a nationally competitive Foreign Language Area Studies scholarship to study Arabic at an intensive summer program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Brittany will begin doctoral studies at the University of Kentucky in the fall.

Dr. Amy Mills was awarded a 2012 American Research Institute in Turkey Fellowship in the Humanities and Social Sciences in Turkey for summer research. The project is titled: “Istanbul in Satirical Images: Modernity, Urban Social Geography, and National Identity in Republican Era Turkey.

Graduate students Leanne Sulewski, Mike Dubois, Yi Chang, Sara Flecher, Shufan Liu and Gao Peng were awarded second place in the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) 2012 Annual GeoLeague Challenge. Their research project in this competition was "Object-oriented Classfiication Solution for Updating the National Coastal Wetlands Inventory".

Doctoral student Manali Baruah will be conducting year long research as part of the Responsible Forest Governance Initiative (RFGI), an Africa-wide comparative environmental governance research and training program of Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and The University of Illinois. 

Manali will be working in the Wassa Amenfi West district of Ghana and will be part of a team of 35 researchers from around the world working in 10 countries in Sub Saharan Africa, focusing on forestry and rural livelihoods in the context of Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) and climate-adaptation interventions.

Congratulations to doctoral student Elbie Bentley on her recongintion at the 39th CaGIS Annual Map Design Competition. Her submission "Natural Hazards of South Carolina" received the Arthur Robinson Award for Best Printed Map and her map "Religious Diversity in South Carolina" received Honorable Mention in the same category.

AAG 2012 Awards

Dr. Will Graf won the Water Resources Specialty Group Distinguished Career Award.

USC graduate students won both of the Coastal and Marine Specialty Group student paper competitions. Nate Kettle (supervised by Kirstin Dow) won the human dimensions award and Patrick Barrineau (supervised by Jean Ellis) won the physical sciences award. Graduate student Caglar Koylu earned the second place in the 2012 AAG GIS Specialty Group (GISSG) Honors Competition for Student Papers in Geographic Information Science.

Geographic Alliance staff member Monti Caughman received the Outstanding Support for Geography Education Award at the National Council for Geographic Educators 2011 Conference. “The Outstanding Support for Geography Education Award is designed to recognize and honor individuals whose work takes place outside of the formal classroom, but who have made outstanding contributions to support geography education or geography educators.”

In other news:

Students in all degree programs in the Geography Department continue to excel and are recognized for their accomplishments. Read about their efforts on our Student Kudos & Awards page.

USC Geography ranks among the best graduate programs nationally according to the recent National Research Council (NRC) Report.  The NRC bases its evaluation on twenty factors include faculty achievements (e.g. number of publications and citations, number of awards), student credentials (e.g. GRE scores, percent with fellowships) and general characteristics of PhD programs (average time to complete a degree, measures of ethnic and gender diversity).

Department of Geography • Callcott Building, Room 127 • 709 Bull Street • Columbia, SC 29208

Phone: 803-777-5234 • Fax: 803-777-4972