The overall mission of the Department of Geography is to conduct theoretical and applied geographic research in a dynamic and responsive manner that educates and inspires students to become critical and committed citizens who contribute to solutions for our planet.
A Penn State graduate, who earned his degree online, is leading an FBI team that is charged with overseeing the safety of athletes, spectators and visitors during the Winter Olympics.
As an emergency management specialist with the Federal Emergency Management Association, Adrienne Kramer is applying her geography skills to build maps, analytical tools and other resources to help the agency improve its response and recovery operations.
During a 2017 educational-based trip to Alaska that was focused on glacial systems, Courtney Rome began studying something that wasn’t on the syllabus. Her curiosity resulted in an award-winning poster at the annual EMS Undergraduate Poster Exhibition.
Never has the world been better positioned to predict and respond to natural disasters. The stream of data at our fingertips is seemingly endless. But the size of this mounting trove of information in itself poses a problem. For example, running flood calculations for a city facing heavy rains using a century of data is highly accurate. But the calculation is useless if it takes days or weeks to compute.
Penn State geosciences researchers are investigating an active volcano that could pose a hazard to millions of people in Nicaragua. Masaya volcano is located in an active volcanic and seismic zone and is nearby Managua, Nicaragua's capital. The researchers are using many methods, including drones, to study how the volcano and surrounding earth are changing over time. The drones are able to capture high-quality video footage and travel to places inaccessible to humans.