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"The study of geography is about more than just memorizing places on a map. It's about understanding the complexity of our world." - Barack Obama
A Fulani herder moves livestock in Senegal in 2015. Credit: Jonathan Salerno
Andrea Gaughan and Forrest Stevens, Professor and Associate Professor, respectively, in the Department of Geographic and Environmental Sciences, are shedding light on this complex issue through a study led by Colorado State University on rural-to-rural migration. Published as "Rural migration under climate and land systems change" in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Sustainability, their research aims to inform policies that help communities adapt to environmental changes and anticipates how land use and those changes interact.
Andrew Day, Associate Professor of Geographic and Environmental Sciences, was awarded a Kentucky Water Resources Institute grant that advances previous work on historical spatiotemporal shifts in extreme high and low daily streamflow events across the Kentucky River Basin in the context of changing environmental and climate conditions. By quantifying these flow extremes within the wider area of the basin, Day hopes to inform future flood/drought planning processes not currently covered by existing sub-basin management plans. The grant will support an undergraduate student and run for the next year.
Collins-Key, S.A., Rochner, M.L., King, K.E., Kaiser, A.L., Harley, G.L., Foley, Z., Bekker, M.F., and von Arx, G. (2025). Evaluating the influence of high-resolution image capture on the signal strength of blue intensity and quantitative wood anatomy metrics from whitebark pine. Dendrochronologia, 90, 126305. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dendro.2025.126305
Rochner, M.L., *Moriarty, K.J., and †Weatherbee. S. Dendrochronological analyses of tree growth and climate response across an urban-rural gradient, Louisville, Kentucky. Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, 104, 128592. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2024.128592
King, K.E., Harley, G.L., Maxwell, J.T., Rayback, S., Cook, E., Maxwell, S., Rochner, M.L., Therrell, M., Bregy, J., Bergan, E., and Foley, Z. Reconstructed late summer maximum temperatures for the southeastern United States from tree ring blue intensity. Geophysical Research Letters, 51(13), e2024GL109099
William Scott Gunter, Quint M. Long, (2024) A Mesonet-Based Climatology Of Severe Convective Winds in West Texas, E-Journal of Severe Storms Meteorology.
Kristen de Graauw, Maegen Rochner, Saskia van de Gevel, Lauren Stachowiak, Savannah Collins-Key, Joseph Henderson, Zachary Merrill, and Amy Hessl; Comparing the impact of live-tree versus historic-timber data on palaeoenvironmental inferences in tree-ring science, eastern North America (Sept 2023)
Dr. C. Andrew Day and Jialiang (Daryl) Chen. 2023. Hydrometeorological observations from the Upper Kentucky headwaters flash floods, 26–29 July 2022.
Weatherhttps://doi.org/10.1002/wea.4448
Dr. C. Andrew Day and Quint Long. 2023. An application of the Kentucky state Mesonet system to explore spatial and seasonal characteristics of erosive storm activity. Weather. https://doi.org/10.1002/wea.4426
Kimberly Koenig and Dr. C. Andrew Day. 2023. Microstegium vimineum habitat suitability analysis in the Kentuckiana region using Geographic Information System (GIS) Modeling. Southeastern Geographer 63 (2): 183-202. DOI: 10.1353/sgo.2023.0014.
Geographers investigate the character and possible associations between a subject and its environment. The Department of Geographic and Environmental Sciences educates students to view the world in a spatial and time-dependent context to determine relationships between people and their immediate and global environment.
Bachelor of Science: The department offers Bachelor of Science degrees in four different concentrations:
The M.S. in Applied Geography is designed to provide students with the analytical skills and background knowledge needed to solve real-world problems with geographic dimensions. Graduate students experience a nucleated body of coursework designed to foster and support the theoretical knowledge and advanced skill sets demanded for the professional and academic/research fields. Coupled with the enhanced level of course content; quantitative, qualitative and spatial data analysis applications; and the Departmental emphasis upon critical reasoning, effective writing and communication skills, graduates will be capable and prepared for effective integration into a broad diversity of professional fields.
The Department of Geography and Geosciences offers two minors:
Learn more about a Minor in Geography or Environmental Analysis
Our graduates work for local, state and federal governments; environmental consulting firm;, retail businesses; and research and educational organizations. Departmental graduates also have been admitted to some of the nation’s finest graduate programs.
Visit College of Arts & Sciences Advising for assistance with your major or minor.