GEOG 113-01 10350 |
Geography, Environment, and Society: Global Processes and World Regions |
Days: M W F
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Time: 08:30 am-09:30 am
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Room: CARN 06A
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Instructor: William Moseley
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Details
This course introduces students to geography, a dynamic field that focuses on human-environment interactions, spatial patterns, global connections, and regional differences. Students learn key analytical tools, concepts, and perspectives in geography and then explore the significance of these for understanding our world. Students also gain analytical and critical thinking skills unique to geography that will enrich their education in the liberal arts and propel them along their chosen career path or specialization. Course assignments emphasize hands-on and field-based learning activities. This is one of three introductory course options in geography. This course begins with an exploration of global flows and connections, and then takes you on a scholarly tour of the world, with stops in Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Along the way, you systematically investigate major human and physical geography themes such as population dynamics and migration, agricultural change, human-environment interactions, health and disease, economic change and development, urbanization, and cultural shifts. Students may take only one of GEOG-111, GEOG-113, or GEOG-115 as an introductory course for the Geography major or minor (students can also earn credit equivalent to this course by scoring a 4 or 5 on the Advanced Placement Exam in Human Geography).
General Education Requirements:
Internationalism
Distribution Requirements:
Social science
Course Materials
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GEOG 203-01 10351 |
Introduction to Urban Ecology |
Days: T R
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Time: 01:20 pm-02:50 pm
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Room: CARN 107
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Instructor: I-Chun Catherine Chang
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*First day attendance required; cross-listed with ENVI 203-01 (10352)*
Details
Urban ecology is both a concept and a field of study. It focuses on the interactions between humans, urban ecosystems, and the built environment. With over half of the world's population now living in cities, cities have assumed a critical role in shaping local, regional, and global ecologies. In this course, we will examine the distinctiveness of the interconnected urban biophysical, socio-economic, and political processes. In order to disentangle the complexity of human-environment relations in cities, we will take an interdisciplinary approach and learn theories and concepts in natural science ecology, environmental studies, geography, urban planning, sociology, and public policies. We will use our campus and the Twin Cities as a "living laboratory" and apply these theories and concepts to laboratory exercises, field observation, case studies, and research on contemporary urban sustainability initiatives.
General Education Requirements:
Distribution Requirements:
Social science
Course Materials
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GEOG 225-01 10353 |
Introduction to Geographic Information Systems |
Days: M W F
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Time: 09:40 am-10:40 am
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Room: CARN 107
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Instructor: Kelsey McDonald
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*Permission of instructor required*
Details
This course provides an introduction to cartography, visualization, and analyses of geospatial data, as well as hands-on experience with geospatial technologies in the GIS laboratory. Students will learn the basics of mapping/cartography (e.g. scale, projections, map design) and Geographic Information Systems. Students will create maps with commonly used digital data (e.g., aerial photographs, census boundaries, digital elevation models, etc.), and master basic methods of spatial analyses. Both concepts and techniques will be taught in this course. Hands-on assignments include classification of demographic data and query/analysis of vector and raster data. One and one half laboratory hours per week required. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor.
General Education Requirements:
Quantitative Thinking Q2
Distribution Requirements:
Social science
Course Materials
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GEOG 225-L1 10354 |
Intro Geog Info Sys Lab |
Days: W
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Time: 12:00 pm-01:30 pm
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Room: CARN 108
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Instructor: Ashley Nepp
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*Permission of instructor required*
Details
This course provides an introduction to cartography, visualization, and analyses of geospatial data, as well as hands-on experience with geospatial technologies in the GIS laboratory. Students will learn the basics of mapping/cartography (e.g. scale, projections, map design) and Geographic Information Systems. Students will create maps with commonly used digital data (e.g., aerial photographs, census boundaries, digital elevation models, etc.), and master basic methods of spatial analyses. Both concepts and techniques will be taught in this course. Hands-on assignments include classification of demographic data and query/analysis of vector and raster data. One and one half laboratory hours per week required. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor.
General Education Requirements:
Distribution Requirements:
Course Materials
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GEOG 225-L2 10355 |
Intro Geog Info Sys Lab |
Days: R
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Time: 09:40 am-11:10 am
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Room: CARN 108
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Instructor: Ashley Nepp
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*Permission of instructor required*
Details
This course provides an introduction to cartography, visualization, and analyses of geospatial data, as well as hands-on experience with geospatial technologies in the GIS laboratory. Students will learn the basics of mapping/cartography (e.g. scale, projections, map design) and Geographic Information Systems. Students will create maps with commonly used digital data (e.g., aerial photographs, census boundaries, digital elevation models, etc.), and master basic methods of spatial analyses. Both concepts and techniques will be taught in this course. Hands-on assignments include classification of demographic data and query/analysis of vector and raster data. One and one half laboratory hours per week required. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor.
General Education Requirements:
Distribution Requirements:
Course Materials
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GEOG 232-01 10356 |
Food, Agriculture and the Environment |
Days: T R
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Time: 03:00 pm-04:30 pm
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Room: CARN 06A
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Instructor: William Moseley
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*First day attendance required; cross-listed with ENVI 232-01 (10357)*
Details
This course introduces you to the study of human-environment interactions from a geographic perspective, with a special emphasis on food and agriculture. We examine environmental issues in a variety of geographic contexts (Global South and Global North) and the connections between environmental problems in different locations. Beyond agriculture, we also explore other sectoral issues in relation to farming and food security. These themes include: human population growth, consumption, biodiversity, climate change, and environmental health. We try on a number of theoretical lenses from geography's broad human-environment tradition (such as physical geography, cultural ecology, commodity chain analysis, political ecology, resource geography, the human dimensions of global change, hazards geography and environmental justice). In other words, we not only explore a range of agricultural and environmental issues, but also grapple with theory and how this informs our understanding of the human-environment interface.
General Education Requirements:
Internationalism
Distribution Requirements:
Social science
Course Materials
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GEOG 241-01 10358 |
Urban Geography |
Days: M W F
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Time: 03:30 pm-04:30 pm
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Room: CARN 06A
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Instructor: Daniel Trudeau
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*Registration limit has been adjusted to save 5 seats or incoming FYs*
Details
This course introduces you to the interdisciplinary study of cities and emphasizes a geographical lens. The central point of the course is to examine how the built environments of cities are shaped by human activity and how, in turn, urban life is shaped by the built environment. The course focuses on American cities and Minneapolis-St. Paul in particular. This course takes advantage of Macalester's location by introducing you to the urban environment of the Twin Cities and connecting you to its history, landscapes, communities, and institutions through case studies, field study exercises, and visits with experts working in organizations and institutions in the local community. This course will demand a lot from you, but it should be a lot of fun and offer a formative learning experience, not only about cities, but about the discipline of geography, the liberal arts, and even yourself. Field work required.
General Education Requirements:
Distribution Requirements:
Social science
Course Materials
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GEOG 242-01 10359 |
Regional Geography of the US and Canada |
Days: M W F
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Time: 10:50 am-11:50 am
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Room: CARN 107
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Instructor: Laura Smith
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*Registration limit has been adjusted to save 4 seats for incoming FYs*
Details
This course explores the ways in which diverse groups of people interact with the natural environment to produce the contemporary landscapes (human and physical) and regional differentiation (social and cultural) of the U.S. and Canada. The course emphasizes patterns of human settlement, economic activity, and land use, with special attention given to social and legal issues relevant to Native populations in the U.S. and the historic and current status and development of Native lands. Case studies and a field study to the Boreal Forest region of northern Minnesota will be used to demonstrate broad themes at a more personal scale.
General Education Requirements:
U.S. Identities and Differences
Distribution Requirements:
Social science
Course Materials
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GEOG 244-01 10360 |
The Political Economy of Asia |
Days: T R
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Time: 09:40 am-11:10 am
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Room: CARN 107
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Instructor: I-Chun Catherine Chang
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*First day attendance required; cross-listed with ASIA 244-01 (10361)*
Details
Whether the twenty-first century will be dominated by the "rising Asia" has spurred recurring debates in policy and academic circles. But what is Asia? How can we understand this diverse region where more than half of the world's population resides? In this course, we will first deconstruct the idea of Asia as a cartographic entity to excavate the layered social-cultural meaning and geographical diversity of the "Asias." We will also place the "Asias" in a global context to reveal how contemporary Asia anchors the changing world political economy and cultural imaginations outside the West. We will begin with important theoretical debates on (East) Asian development that prevailed in the 1980s and 1990s, including discussions about the colonial past, the path-dependency of development and uneven industrialization, regional disparities and mega-urbanization. We will then use these debates as the foundation to explore the contemporary globalizing Asia. What are the important connections between Asian countries, and with other parts of the world? What are the roles of the "Asias" in international governance and geo-politics? Can China replace the United States as the dominant geo-economic power? These are the questions we will explore in this course.
General Education Requirements:
Writing WP
Internationalism
Distribution Requirements:
Social science
Course Materials
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GEOG 256-01 10362 |
Health Geography |
Days: M W F
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Time: 01:10 pm-02:10 pm
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Room: HUM 216
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Instructor: Eric Carter
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*Registration limit has been adjusted to save 5 seats for incoming FYs*
Details
This course examines the geographical dimensions of health and disease, emphasizing global and domestic public health issues. Key approaches and themes include the social determinants of health; health equity; how place influences individual health; health equity; epidemiological mapping and spatial analysis; environmental health; environmental justice; the relationship among demographic change, economic development, and population health; the geography of pandemics; the disease ecology approach to infectious and vector-borne diseases; and the challenges of global health governance in the 21st century, with special emphasis on emerging infectious diseases.
General Education Requirements:
Internationalism
Distribution Requirements:
Social science
Course Materials
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GEOG 258-F1 10363 |
Geography of Environmental Hazards |
Days: M W F
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Time: 10:50 am-11:50 am
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Room: CARN 05
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Instructor: Eric Carter
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*First-Year Course Only; cross-listed with ENVI 258-F1 (10364)*
Details
The study of environmental hazards stands at a key point of intersection between the natural and social sciences. Geography, with its focus on human-environment interactions, provides key analytical tools for understanding the complex causes and uneven impacts of hazards around the world. We will explore the geophysical nature and social dimensions of disasters caused by floods, droughts, earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, tornadoes, hurricanes, and wildfires. For each of these hazard types, we apply theoretical concepts from major hazards research paradigms, including quantifying the human and economic impacts of disaster; assessing, managing, and mitigating risk; and reducing the impacts of disaster, not only through engineering works but also by reducing social vulnerability and enhancing adaptive capacity. Looking into the future, we will discuss how global-scale processes, such as climate change and globalization, might affect the frequency, intensity, and geographical distribution of environmental hazards in the decades to come.
General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Distribution Requirements:
Social science
Course Materials
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GEOG 261-F1 10365 |
World Urbanization |
Days: M W F
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Time: 10:50 am-11:50 am
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Room: CARN 105
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Instructor: I-Chun Catherine Chang
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*First-Year Course Only*
Details
We now live in a world where the majority of the population already lives in cities. And yet every year, hundreds of millions of people continue to move into cities to pursue a better future. The contemporary social, economic, and political changes are intrinsically linked to divergent urban processes across the world. This paramount shift poses important theoretical and empirical questions to our age. This course uses the critical perspective of "global urbanism" to both contextualize and connect different urban experiences across places. We will introduce various urban settings and demonstrate how complex relations between urbanization, globalization, and economic development produce spatial unevenness and social inequality. We will study the dominant paradigm of world and global cities, which prioritizes development trajectories of cities in the global North, and discuss contesting views focusing on "ordinary cities" from the global South. Drawing on case studies in the developed and less-developed world, we will also learn how to apply the relational comparative urbanism approach as well as regionally based theoretical perspectives to comprehend the diverse urban landscapes around the globe.
General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Internationalism
Distribution Requirements:
Social science
Course Materials
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GEOG 277-01 10366 |
Qualitative Research Methods in Geography |
Days: T R
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Time: 03:00 pm-04:30 pm
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Room: CARN 105
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Instructor: Daniel Trudeau
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Details
Social scientists use qualitative methods to understand the ways in which societal associations operate and how people experience, contribute to, or try to change these associations. Qualitative methods are thus concerned with analyzing processes and how people experience them. This course trains students to use qualitative research methods to collect data, analyze it, draw authoritative conclusions, and observe professional research ethics. The course emphasizes how qualitative methods contribute to scientific research and how ethical treatment of research participants affects the practice of qualitative research. Above all, the course focuses on training students to conduct qualitative research that contributes to our understanding of human geographies. Students will develop these skills by engaging in a semester-long research project. Prerequisite(s): GEOG 111 or GEOG 113 or GEOG 115, or permission of instructor.In Fall 2024, students in the class will work collaboratively with the East Side Freedom Library (ESFL) to conduct interviews and archival research to investigate how immigration has shaped the development of the Payne-Phalen neighborhood on the East Side of St. Paul. Research findings will be shared with a wider public by elaborating on a walking tour that ESFL has created to examine development and change on the east side of St. Paul through specific stories about people and places in the neighborhood.
General Education Requirements:
Writing WP
Distribution Requirements:
Social science
Course Materials
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GEOG 294-01 10367 |
Geographies of Resilience: Climate, Livelihoods and Adaptation |
Days: M W F
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Time: 12:00 pm-01:00 pm
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Room: CARN 06A
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Instructor: Holly Barcus
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*Cross-listed with ENVI 294-02 (10862)*
Details
As climates continue to change and indications of ecological stress emerge across the globe, the concept of resilience and resilient socio-ecological systems, has gained support across different scientific communities. Although the concept of resilience has its roots in the ecological sciences literatures, new inquiries into the many dimensions of resilience are emerging, including the greater inclusion of humans in social-ecological systems and the inter-linkages between social, cultural and economic dimensions of resilience. Scholars argue that rural resilience is a pathway towards an end goal of sustainability, one in which the linked socio-ecological circumstances of a community are able to adapt to and survive when faced with significant shocks. Such shocks may include changing climates and natural disasters on the ecological end of a spectrum to the ability of communities to adapt socially to economic crises, such as economic restructuring on the other end of a spectrum. Community resilience inherently involves engaging multiple and many voices and perspectives from within a community to address small and large crises. Community engagement practices are one strategy for creating resilience at the community scale, but other scales, such as ecological systems scales, or individual resilience are also embedded in concepts of resilience. In this course, we will explore the varied conceptualizations of “resilience” from ecological and sustainable development framings to more individual, community, and spiritual conceptualizations. We will specifically discuss the concept of resilience at various spatial scales, from the individual to community-scale practices of resilience. Topics are likely to include agricultural resilience, cultural resilience, livelihood adaptation strategies for resilience. Guest lecturers will provide case studies from around the world presented by scholars from these places who are actively working in resilience studies and will complement discussions, readings and field excursions.
General Education Requirements:
Distribution Requirements:
Social science
Course Materials
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GEOG 294-02 10368 |
Monuments and Memory |
Days: M
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Time: 07:00 pm-10:00 pm
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Room: CARN 06A
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Instructor: STAFF
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*Cross-listed with AMST 294-03 (10887)*
Details
Monuments to enslavers, colonizers, torturers, dictators, war criminals, and other unsavory historical figures often garner substantial news media attention and hold symbolic and cultural significance. The death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police forces in 2020 reignited an ongoing global discussion over such monuments that points to their continuing importance as a global issue and their role in political efforts to reshape narratives around national and regional identities. Monuments are also increasingly connected to movements to decolonize places and pursue (or deny) social justice. This interdisciplinary geography course focuses on monuments and memory within a contemporary global context. It surveys controversies over tearing down, re-contextualizing, removing, renaming, and relocating problematic monuments and memorials, as well as efforts to construct new monuments (sometimes called counter-monuments or counter-commemoration) to underrepresented, colonized, or otherwise marginalized groups. Monuments to enslavers across the Americas in countries like the United States and Brazil and to colonizers in Europe, Africa, and Asia will occupy much of the course reading and discussion. The course will also involve a field-based component in which we physically visit, reflect on, and interpret local memorials in the Twin Cities area.
General Education Requirements:
Distribution Requirements:
Social science
Course Materials
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GEOG 294-03 10369 |
Introduction to Critical Digital Geographies |
Days: T R
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Time: 09:40 am-11:10 am
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Room: CARN 06A
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Instructor: Elizabeth Calhoun
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*Cross-listed with MCST 294-02 (10873)*
Details
This course introduces students to the interdisciplinary study of how digital technologies create and mediate social, spatial, and political formations. We will focus on how these technologies entrench or restructure existing class, racial, gender, and global inequities and attend to the ways they make (often complicated) space for collective resistance. Students will gain a strong grasp of core geographic concepts as well as modes of analyzing how these concepts are reshaped in the digital era. Our readings include critical perspectives from a range of geographic locations, structured into four thematic units: ‘Identity and Belonging across Virtual/Material Space: A Critical look at Apps,’ ‘Race, Surveillance, and Policing in Urban Spaces,’ ‘Redefining War, Borders and Sovereignty,’ and ‘The Shifting Landscapes of Labor.’ We will pay particular attention to emerging methods for researching the digital, and students will work throughout the course towards a final project that draws on their own ethnographic research into a digital field site.
General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Distribution Requirements:
Social science
Course Materials
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GEOG 365-01 10370 |
Urban GIS |
Days: T R
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Time: 01:20 pm-02:50 pm
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Room: CARN 109
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Instructor: Laura Smith
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*Permission of instructor required; students must complete the corresponding Permissions and Waitlists form to be permitted to enroll, see the department website to access the form.*
Details
General Education Requirements:
Quantitative Thinking Q2
Distribution Requirements:
Social science
Course Materials
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GEOG 394-01 10371 |
Advanced Geospatial Analysis: Problems and Applications |
Days: M W F
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Time: 02:20 pm-03:20 pm
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Room: CARN 105
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Instructor: STAFF
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*Permission of instructor required; students must complete the corresponding Permissions and Waitlists form to be permitted to enroll, see the department website to access the form.*
Details
This course examines the fundamental theories of geospatial analysis as they relate to knowledge discovery and decision-making. We will begin with an overview of why "Spatial is Special” including definitions of geospatial data types (vector vs. raster), spatial dependence, heterogeneity, and stationarity. These foundational concepts will then be implemented in conventional spatial analysis methods including: Spatial Autocorrelation, Spatial Regression, Point- Pattern Analysis, and Interpolation. More advanced topics will be based on student interest and could include: Spatial Scaling, Networks, Geographically Weighted Regression, Clustering, and Weighted Linear Combinations in Suitability Analysis. Major assignments in the course encompass problem-solving and techniques application to demonstrate how geospatial thinking is used to address real-world issues.
General Education Requirements:
Quantitative Thinking Q2
Distribution Requirements:
Social science
Course Materials
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GEOG 476-01 10372 |
Transportation Geography Sem |
Days: W
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Time: 07:00 pm-10:00 pm
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Room: CARN 105
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Instructor: Laura Smith
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*Permission of instructor required*
Details
A research seminar in which students explore and discuss current transportation research and issues and conduct an individual inquiry into transportation geography, from the effects of transportation on urban form and land use to the environmental and human dimensions of transport. Through readings, discussions, guest speakers, and local field experiences, students are introduced to a variety of research areas and applications, data sources, and research methods. We will also take advantage of our location within the Twin Cities metropolitan area to host alumni who are currently working in transportation, in order to gain exposure to a professional view of the field. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor.
General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Distribution Requirements:
Social science
Course Materials
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