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University of Denver

Denver, Coloardo, USA

Unit: Department of Geography and the Environment

Founded in 1864, the University of Denver (DU) is the oldest private university in Colorado. To 2020, the Department of Geography and the Environment is 75 years old. The department has a wide range of education and research concentrations in physical geography, environmental science, GIS/RS, and human geography. Two master’s programs and one doctoral program, namely MS in GIS, MS in GIS (Online), and PhD in Geography, are operated here. MS in GIS is a traditional master’s program, and most of its courses are taught face-to-face; MS in GIS (Online) is mainly for students who are already employed but want to continue their studies in GIS via remote instruction. Students who have obtained a master’s degree can apply for the PhD in Geography program. GIS/RS related courses include cartography, spatial statistics, environmental/GIS modeling, ecological economics, spatial database, geovisualization, and WebGIS. The city of Denver is a transportation hub and information industry center in western United States. Many GIS-related agencies (e.g. USGS, USDA) and large companies (e.g. ESRI) have branch offices here. Many DU graduates are employed in these institutions, and there are many internship opportunities for GIS students, too. In addition, Denver is located in the transition zone between the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, with an altitude of more than 1,600 meters. It is nicknamed The Mile High City. There are more than 300 sunny days in a year. National parks and ski resorts can be reached nearby.

Professors:

  • Paul Sutton: sustainability science, ecological economics, urbanization science, and population geography;
  • Rebecca Powell: remote sensing, urban sustainability;
  • Jing Li: geovisualization, high performance geocomputation, spatiotemporal data modeling and analysis;
  • Guiming Zhang: volunteered geographic information (VGI), geospatial big data analytics, environmental modeling, geospatial computing;
  • Steven Hick: GIS, GPS, crime mapping and analysis.

University of Arizona

Tucson, Arizona, USA

Program：Department of Geography, Development & Environment

The Department of Geography, Development & Environment at University of Arizona confers MA and PhD degrees. The MA is a two-year research-based master’s degree, and the PhD is a four-year doctoral program that requires a master’s degree upon admission. In addition, the school also hosts a course-based master’s degree named MGIST (Master of Geographic Information Science and Technology), which takes 1.5 years to complete. The admission of MGIST does not require GRE scores.

Professors:

Arizona State University

Tampe, Arizona, USA

Unit: School of Geographical Sciences & Urban Planning

The School of Geographical Sciences & Urban Planning at Arizona State University (ASU) is strong in spatial analysis, spatial statistics, and urban meteorology. Currently, it is home to three fellows of the American Academy of Sciences. Research projects are conducted through three research centers, namely SPARC Spatial Analysis Center, Global Discovery and Conservation Science Center, and Urban Climate Research Center. GIS-related degrees include research-based masters and PhDs, and a course-based masters degree (1 to 2 years, STEM).

Professors:

  • Stewart Fotheringham: geographic information science, spatial analysis, migration, Good Health and Well-Being, Sustainable Cities and Communities;
  • Wenwen Li: Spatial analysis, GIS, space-time pattern analysis, cyberinfrastructure;
  • Greg Anser: remote sensing, biodiversity, conservation, ecology, Life on Land;
  • Daoqin Tong: GIS, transportation, optimization, energy conservation, urban planning;;
  • Michael Kuby: transportation, optimization;
  • David Sailor: climate with the built environment, urban heat island, air quality;
  • Soe Myint: remote sensing, GIS, land use and land cover, forestry, hydrology;
  • Peter Kedron: spatial analysis and statistics, economic geography, reproducibility, replicability;
  • Amy Frazier: remote sensing, GIS, UAV, landscape sustainability;
  • Elizabeth Wentz: shape and pattern analysis, geographic information science, applications of GIS to urban environment, urban remote sensing, water resource management;
  • Roberta Martin: remote sensing, biodiversity;
  • Matthew Quick: spatiotemporal analytical methods, urban planning, urban geography, criminology, public health;
  • Dylan Connor: big historical data, immigration, demography, intergenerational inequality, urban and regional development;
  • Jiwei Li: oceanography, biogeoscience;
  • B.L. Turner II: urban science, sustainability, deforestation, agriculture, land use and land cover;
  • Sharmistha Bagchi-Sen: urban development, spatial analysis.

University of Oregon

Eugene, Oregon, USA

Unit: Department of Geography and the S3C Lab

The Department of Geography is one of the oldest departments at University of Oregon. Originally, it was together with the geology department and later it became its own department in 1957. Alex Murphy, the former president of AAG, and Amy Lobben, the current presendent of AAG, are both there as faculty. This department is known for its programs in human geography, cartography, and spatial cognition. GIScience and spatial data scienc (including spatial analysis and geostatisitcs) has been rapidly developed there in recent years. In addition to degrees in geography, this department also offers an undergraduate degree in spatial data science & technology, and undergrads who completed their degrees could enter the 2-year masters program in this same department. Those who holds a masters degree could apply for the PhD program which lasts for 4 or 5 years. One thing to notice is that the PhD program requires a masters degree for entrance. The department encourages undergrads and masters students to continue pursuing a PhD degree. All admitted graduate students will be funded as a RA, TA or in other forms. Exceptionally good applicants might be provided with fellowships, such as Raymund Fellowship and Promising Scholar Award.

Professors:

  • Amy Lobben: neurogeography, human-environmental interaction, spatial decision making, geospatial cognition and thinking;
  • Carolyn Fish: cartography, map design, climate change communication, mapping environment-society interactions;
  • Hui (Henry) Luan 栾辉: spatiotemporal statistics, Bayesian analysis, public health, crime, big data analytics.
  • Patrick Bartlein: data analysis and visualization, environmental modeling, paleoclimatology;
  • W. Andrew Markus: hydrology, geomorphology, remote sensing;
  • Mark Fonstad: geomorphology, hydrology, remote sensing, environmental simulation;
  • Sarah Cooley: hydrology, climate change, the Arctic, remote sensing and spatial data analysis;
  • Johnny Ryan: glaciology, climatology, remote sensing, drones, spatial data analysis.

Oregon State University

Corvallis, Oregon, USA

Unit: College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences

The geography program at Oregon State is in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences. This program encourages students to perform interdisciplinarity research between different branches of earth sciences, including the GIS and RS. One of the three main directions of this geography program is the geospatial technologies and analysis. Major research topics include cartography, spatial analysis, spatial statistics and modeling, and web mapping. This program offers Masters of Science and PhD degree options.

There are also masters and doctoral programs in Forest Ecosystems and Society and Sustainable Forest Management at Oregon State.

Professors:

  • Julia Jones: spatial analysis and geospatial data science, spatiotemporal statistics, climate;
  • Robert Kennedy: remote sensing, satellite image analysis;
  • James R. Watson: GIS and spatial modeling on marine environment studies;
  • Jamon Van Den Hoek: GIS and remote sensing on marine resource management, GeoAI, remote sensing, GIS programming;
  • Mark Raleigh: remote sensing, image processing, polar climate, spatial analysis on snow distribution, geo-data science.

University of Nevada, Reno

Reno, Nevada, USA

Unit: Department of Geography

University of Nevada operates MS and PhD programs in geography. The duration of the MS program is usually 2 years, and MS students need to perform original research. There are 2 options for MS graduation requirements, including submitting a masters thesis, or submitting a research report. The duration of the PhD program is 5 years for those entered without a master’s degree, or 4 years for those who had already completed a master’s degree.

Professors:

  • Douglas Boyle: GIS, remote sensing, climate, hydrology, water resource;
  • Thomas Albright: spatial analysis, biogeography;
  • Scott Bassett: spatial modeling, environment issues, landscape ecology, urban planning;
  • Anne Nolin: remote sensing, hydrology, modeling;
  • Ken Nussear: GIS, spatial ecology, species distribution, biogeography;
  • Scott Kelley: spatial analysis, energy, transportation, quantitative methods.

University of California Berkeley

Berkeley, California, USA

Unit: College of Environmental Design

UC Berkeley is the most prestigious public research university in the United States. The geography, environmental policy, and environmental design units as well as the Energy and Resources Group have master’s and doctoral programs closely related to GIS.

University of California, Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara, California, USA

Unit: Department of Geography

UCSB is regarded as one of the top schools for geography PhDs. It is one of the 3 universities in the NCGIA (National Center for Geographic Information and analysis). Notable former faculty members include Waldo Tobler who proposed the first law of geography, Michael Goodchild who is a member in the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow in the British Academy, Richard Church who is a celebrated professor in spatial optimizing and regional science, and Helen Couclelis who is a celebrated professor in GIS and spatial cognition. The UCSB NCGIA was founded in 1988 with professor Michael Goodchild as its first director. It is the forerunner of the UCSB Center for spatial studies (spatial@ucsb). Currently, the spatial@ucsb is directed by professor Krzysztof Janowicz. The UCSB geography department offers masters and doctoral programs. Batchlors degree holders may apply for the 2-year MA program or the 2+3 years joint MA/PhD program. Masters degree holders may apply for the 5-year PhD program. Statistics of GRE and GPA of admitted students in the past years can be found here. Specialties of geography professors at UCSB include geospatial semantic and knowledge graph, social sensing and urban computing, transportation and traffic management, mobility study, spatial optimization, cartography, climate change, and land use and land cover change.

Professors:

  • Werner Kuhn: GIScience, geospatial semantics, knowledge graph, geospatial ontology, GIS theory;
  • Trisalyn Nelson: movement data analysis;
  • Krzysztof Janowicz: geospatial semantics, knowledge graph, spatially-explicit machine learning, GeoAI, social sensing, urban computing;
  • Somayeh Dodge: movement advances spatial data science, geographic visualization, analysis and modeling of movement;
  • Kostas Goulias: transportation, neighborhood study，traffic management and prediction;
  • Alan Murray: spatial optimization, spatial analysis;
  • Keith Clarke: cartography and spatial analysis;
  • Dar Robert: imaging spectrometry, remote sensing of vegetation, spectroscopy (urban and natural cover), land-use/land-cover change mapping with satellite time series, height mapping with lidar, fire danger assessment;
  • Vena Chu: remote sensing, Greenland ice sheet meltwater dynamics.

### University of California Riverside (UCR)

Riverside, California, USA Faculty: School of Public Policy University of California Riverside does not offer M.S. or M.A. program in GIS, but its school of Public Policy is tightly related to GIScience. It brings together an interdisciplinary team of professors from diverse disciplinary backgrounds such as Economics, Environmental Sciences, Geography, History, Political Science, and Sociology. Center for Geospatial Sciences (CGS) is affiliated to the school of Public Policy and Department of Computer Science and Engineering, which represents a major investment by UCR in geospatial sciences.

Professors:

  • Tony H.Grubesic: Data Science, Geocomputation, Technology, Policy and Society, Urban and Environmental Planning, Public Health, Transportation, Human Environmental Interaction, Remote Sensing;

University of Washington

Seattle, Washington, USA

Unit: Department of Geography

The Department of Geography at UW is the research cradle for Critical GIS and Geography, and it is also a powerhouse in the fields of human geography and geographic theories. Previously, the department was home to several big names like John Sherman, who pioneered in the computer-based cartography, and William Garrison, who launched the quantitative revolution in geography. The department requires applicants to contact with at least 2 faculty members and ask them to be the potential advisors. In addition to the 1-year GIS program, the department also operates the 2-year masters program and the 4-to-5-year doctoral program. These two programs are totally separated and there is no joint masters/doctoral program. Usually, applicants to the doctoral program should already have a master’s degree in geography. Required classes for both masters and doctoral students include modern geographic thinkings, contemporary geographic research design, 3 quaters of seminars in geography, and at least 1 class in quatitative methods (such as quantitative geography, GIS analytics, urban analytics, coastal GIS, and GIS decision support system).

Professors:

  • Bo Zhao：big data, geographic information systems, geovisualization, mapping science and technology, social media, cartography, mininformation;
  • Sarah Elwood：geographic information systems, geovisualization, justice, mapping, poverty;
  • Mark Ellis：immigration, migration, segregation, labor, statistical methods;
  • Michael Brown：cities, critical theory, feminism and feminist theory, health, history, queer studies, research methods, urban studies, urban politics, political geography;
  • Suzanne Davies Withers：population, poverty, research methods, urban studies.

Central Washington University

Ellensburg, Washington, USA

Unit: Department of Geography

The geography department at CWU offers a MS in Cultural and Environmental Resource Management as well as a certificate in GIS.

The University of Southern California

Los Angeles, California, USA

Unit: Spatial Sciences Institute

The Spatial Sciences Institute at the University of Southern California brings together a variety of outstanding scholars engaged in GIS research and education. Their research domains include spatial design, spatial analysis, spatial economics, spatial big data processing, geostatistics, geocoding, GIS and health, human security and geospatial intelligence and many other related topics. Professor John P.Wilson, a well-known GIS scholar and editor-in-chief of the top journal Transactions in GIS, serves as the founding director of this institute. The institute offers a wide range of master’s programs, including: Master of Science in Spatial Data Science, Master of Science in Spatial Economics and Data Analysis and Master of Arts in Global Security Studies. Additionally, the institute offers a variety of GIS online programs including: Master of Geographic Information Science and Technology, Master of Human Security and Geospatial Intelligence, and several graduate certificates. At the doctoral level, the institute offers an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Population, Health and Place. The core GIS courses offered here include: principles of geodesign, spatial data acquisition using drones, geospatial technology management for sustainability science, spatial data science, concepts for spatial thinking, spatial econometrics, GIS programming and customization, the practice of geospatial leadership, and remote sensing for GIS.

Professors:

  • Laura C. Loyola:Assistant Professor (Teaching) of Spatial Sciences and Director of Undergraduate Studies, interests in behavioral ecology;
  • Yi Qi:Associate Professor (Teaching) of Spatial Sciences, interests in remote sensing, geographic information systems and spatial data science in ecological monitoring, environmental studies and natural resource management;
  • Darren M. Ruddell: Associate Professor (Teaching) of Spatial Sciences and Director of Graduate Studies, interests in urban sustainability, urban heat island, geodesign, geospatial technologies;
  • Elisabeth J. Sedano: Assistant Professor (Teaching) of Spatial Sciences, Outdoor Advertising, interests in Urban Studies, Urban Planning, GeographyGIS;
  • Jennifer N. Swift: Associate Professor (Teaching) of Spatial Sciences, interests in Web GIS, Mobile GIS, GeoDesign, GIS & TMicrozonation;
  • Diana Ter-Ghazaryan: interests in cultural geography, geospatial technology, Armeniapost-Soviet urban landscapes;
  • Robert O. Vos: Associate Professor (Teaching) of Spatial Sciences and Director of Graduate Studies, interests in industrial ecology, environmental policy, sustainable cities;
  • John P. Wilson: Professor of Architecture, Civil & Environmental Engineering and Computer Science, Population and Public Health Sciences, Sociology and Spatial Sciences, and Founding Director, Spatial Sciences Institute,interests in GIS, Spatial Analysis, Environmental Modeling;
  • An-Min Wu:Assistant Professor (Teaching) of Spatial Sciences, interests in environmental sciences, geographic information science;
  • Steven D. Fleming:Adjunct Professor of the Practice of Spatial Sciences, interests in applications of geospatial technologies for national defense; emerging terrestrial, airborne and space-based image collection systems; online, blended education/training using mobile devices; dynamic mapping of coastal regions;
  • Guoping Huang:Associate Professor (Teaching) of Spatial Sciences, interests in Landscape planning, GIS, Geodesign;

San Diego State University

San Diego, California, USA

Unit: Department of Geography

The SDSU is a member of the 23-campus California State University system. The graduate program of the geography department at SDSU offers MA, MS and PhD options. The MS degree program includes the focus of GIS, and the main research scope is applied GIS, cartography, data science, spatial analysis, and modeling. The PhD progam is a joint program between SDSU and UC Santa Barbara. It requires a strong background in geography-related fields for entrance.

Professors:

  • Atsushi Nara: applied GIS, geocomputation, spatial analysis and modeling, data science;
  • Ming-Hsiang Tsou: applied GIS, cartography and geovisualization, geocomputation, spatial analysis and modeling, data science;
  • Trent Biggs: hydrological processes and modeling, remote sensing for watershed science, social-ecological Systems, spatial analysis and modeling, land cover and land use change analysis, environmental planning and Policy, sediment, erosion, and water quality, data science;
  • Fernando De Sales: regional climate modeling, remote sensing and watershed science, land cover and land use, Wildfire processes, landscape ecology;
  • Piotr Jankowski: models and methods of spatial decision support, GIS approaches to planning and decision making, sensitivity analysis in space-time models;
  • Li An: land cover and land change, environment, applied GIS, cartography, visualization, spatial analysis and modeling;
  • André Skupin: geovisualization, geocomputation, spatial analysis, applied GIS, data science.

University of New Mexico

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Unit: Department of Geography and Environmental Studies

The Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of New Mexico operates PhD and Masters programs. The PhD program is jointly operated between this department and the Department of Geography at the New Mexico State University which is located in Las Cruces. Masters students can choose from Plan I and Plan II. Plan I is academia-oriented and a thesis defense is required before graduation. Plan II is skill-training-oriented which requires an independent Master’s project. Research topics covered are geospatial data science, cartography, geovisualization, and health GIS. The Center for the Advancement of Spatial Informatics Research and Education (ASPIRE) is in collaboration with the Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories.

Professors:

  • Scott M. Freundschuh: GIScience, spatial cognition, spatial information design, cartography;
  • Xi Gong: spatiotemporal data mining, big data science & analytics, machine learning, health & The environment, GIS-based modeling;
  • Yan Lin: GIScience, spatial data analysis, WebGIS, health & medial geography, spatial epidemiology, health disparities;
  • Caitlin Lippitt: remote sensing of vegetation, fire ecology, biogeography, invasive species;
  • Chris Lippitt: remote sensing, GIScience, time-sensitive geographic information;
  • Bo Romero: GIScience, spatial analysis, geoprocessing, geographical uncertainty, representation, and visualization;
  • Liping Yang: GIScience, GeoAI, visual (image & text) big data analytics, geovisualization, indoor Navigation;
  • Yolanda C. Lin: natural hazards and disasters, risk and resilience, spatial analysis, earthquake engineering, data visualization, uncertainty, systems thinking

University of Idaho

Moscow, Idaho, USA

Unit: Department of Geography

The Department of Geography at the University of Idaho offers MS and PhD degrees, of which MS degrees are available in research-based and course-based types. The research-based degree requires the completion of a thesis, and the course-based degree requires the completion of a smaller research project (with a final project) plus courseworks. GIS-related research topics in thie department mainly include GIS applications in urban development, ecology, and natural resources. In addition, the IDEA Lab of the computer science department at Idaho also has research opportunities related to the geoinformatics.

Professors:

  • Felix Liao: GIS, spatial analysis, urban informatics, planning;
  • Raymond J. Dezzani: spatial statistics and modeling, globalization, economic geography;
  • Karen Humes: application of GIS and remote sensing on hydrology, environmental informatics, water and energy nexus;
  • Xiaogang Ma (Dept. of Computer Science): geoinformatics, semantic web, knowledge graph, participatory knowledge engineering, data interoperability.

University of Utah

Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

Unit: Department of Geography

The GIScience is a key research direction of the Department of Geography at the University of Utah. The special thing for this department is that it is a research base for mountain glaciers. The department offers MS, MSGIS and PhD degrees. MS is a two-year research-based master, and the PhD is a four-year researc program. MSGIS is a two-year class-based master’s degree program, and GRE scores are not required for it.

Professors:

University of Colorado, Boulder

Boulder (west of Denver), Colorado, USA

Unit: Department of Geography

CU Boulder is the flagship campus of the University of Colorado system. It is located at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, close to the Rocky Mountain National Park. It is the headquater of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), so geology and geography are dominant disciplines at CU Boulder. The Department of Geography can grant master’s and doctorate degrees. It is strong in physical geogrpahy, but there are also many GIS-related research opportunities. Babs Buttenfield (a famous cartography educator, lifetime fellow of UCGIS and ACSM) works here.

Professors:

University of Colorado, Denver

Denver, Colorado, USA

Unit: Department of Civil Engineering, Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences, and Architecture and Planning College

The Department of Civil Engineering at University of Colorado, Denver offers postgraduate courses in Geomatics Engineering and GIS, operating degree programs for Master of Science and Master of Engineering, and also a GIS Certificate. Most of the GIS courses are online, and the GIS Certificate can be completed remotely, but students in the Master of Science and the Master of Engineering programs need to be on campus to take related courses in geography or computer science departments. The study and research focuses of the Master of Science are mainly on the principles of GIS, while the focuses of the Master of Engineering are more interdisciplinary.

The Geography and Environmental Sciences department offers GIS-related graduate degrees including MA in Applied Geography and Geospatial Science and MS in Environmental Science. The MS program requires a lot of geography courses.

The Architecture and Planning College also has a MURP (Masters in Urban and Regional Planning) program, as well as a PhD in Geography, Planning, and Design.

Professors:

  • Peter Anthamatten: cartography, GIS, environmental health, children
  • Christy Briles: paleoecology, biogeography, climate change, palynology
  • Frederick Chambers: physical geography, glaciology, climatology, environmental science
  • Anne Chin: coupled human-landscape dynamics, fluvial processes, watershed management, interdisciplinary education, the “Anthropocene”
  • Kirsten Christensen: urban geography, cultural geography, world history, urban planning
  • Benjamin Crawford: urban weather and climate, air quality, sensor networks
  • Lisa Kelley: human-environment geography, agrarian and forest change, land use, political ecology, remote sensing
  • Katharine Kelsey: climate change, carbon cycling, biogeochemistry, human-environment interaction, Arctic
  • Rafael Moreno: GIS Science and Technology, open source software for geospatial applications, natural resource management, sustainable development, forestry and land use planning in Latin America
  • Brian Page: economic geography, historical geography, urban landscape change, gentrification, globalization, development and environmental change, geospatial science and the humanities
  • Gregory Simon: human-environment interactions, environmental policy and governance, political ecology, critical development studies, science and technology studies
  • Amanda Weaver: cartography, food geography, geography of South America, geospatial systems and analysis, GIS, urban geography
  • Bryan Wee: childhood and nature, environmental education, visual methodologies

Colorado School of Mines

Golden (west of Denver), Colorado, USA

Unit: The GIS & Geoinformatics Program

The Colorado School of Mines operates an interdisciplinary GIS & Geoinformatics master’s program. It is a class-based Master of Engineering (ME) degree program. In addition to GIS classes, required courses include GIS applications in watershed management, geological engineering, mining engineering, geomorphology, and earth sciences. Students can also enroll in this program while pursuing other research-based graduate degrees at CSM.

Professors:

  • Wendy Zhou: GIS applications in natural resource management, remote sensing, SAR, hazards, environment, numerical methods;
  • H. Sebnem Duzgun: geoinformatics, VR and gaming in earth science, mine environment monitoring;
  • Terri Hogue: remote sensing, hydrology, urbanization, civil engineering.

University of Alaska, Fairbanks

Fairbanks, Alaska, USA

Unit: Department of Geosciences

The geosciences department at UAF operates research projects in RS and GIS. MS and PhD degrees are granted there. This department hosts the 3 most important GIS-related cyberinfrastructures of Alaska:

Many of GIS-related projects in the department are based on these three infrastructures. UAF is has the highest latitude among all four-year universities in the United States. It is close to the Arctic Circle and also close to the Pacific Rim volcanic zone. Because of its unique location, the department has formed a unique research direction of GIS, namely the application of spatial science and geostatistics in the studies of polar environment and climate, glacial geomorphology, volcanology, and polar oceanography.

Professors:

  • Chris Maio: spatial analysis, 3D visualization, coastal erosion, paleotemperature;
  • Franz Meyer: remote sensing, SAR;
  • Rudiger Gens: remote sensing, GIS for integrated analysis and change detection, visualization;
  • Uma Bhatt: spatiotemporal models, numerical geospatial models, climate;
  • Mark Fahnestock: remote sensing for sea ice;
  • Pavel Izbekov: remote sensing for volcanology.

Boise State University

Boise, Idaho, USA

Unit: Department of Geosciences

Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Idaho. It is a partner institution of NASA and there is an astronaut training center on campus. As the campus is close to the wilderness of the western United States, Boise State has a strong program in geosciences, offering research opportunities in geology, hydrology, climatology, geophysics, and geography. It is particularly well-known in the United States for its isotope geochronology projects. This department has started GIS-related undergraduate and postgraduate programs in recent years. The types of graduate programs include the GIS Certificate, Master of Science, Master of Earth Science, and PhD. Except for the Certificate, the themes of students’ research works are related to their advisors’ research interests.

Professors:

  • Ellyn Enderlin: remote sensing, glaciers, geophysics;
  • Hans-Peter Marshall: geostatistics, remote sensing, spatial variation of snow, glaciers, geophysics;
  • Nancy Glenn: remote sensing, geo-data science, geological engineering;
  • Jen Pierce: land use, wildfire, climate, geomorphology, geoscience education;
  • Ed DeYoung: GIS.

California State University Long Beach

Long Beach (close to Los Angeles), California, USA

Unit: College ofProfessional and Inernational Education

California State University Long Beach (CSULB), also known as Long Beach State University, is a public university near Los Angeles and one of the 23 campuses of the California State University system. The university has a Master of Science in Geographic Information Science degree program under its College of Professional and International Education. This is a one-year course-based master’s degree. Its main courses include Geospatial Professionalism, Applied GIS, Cartographic Visualization, Enterprise GIS Development, Programming for Geospatial Professionals, and Applied Remote Sensing. There are also research projects.

California State University Northridge

Northridge (close to Los Angeles), California, USA

Unit: Department of Geography and Environmental Studies

California State University Northridge (CSUN) is one of the 23 campuses of the California State University system,. It is located in the Northridge area to the north of downtown Los Angeles. The Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at CSUN is one of the largest geography departments in the United States. The department offers two master’s degrees, namely MA and MS, of which MS is mainly for geographic information systems. This is a course-based master’s degree aimed at training students for GIS and tech-oriented careers in geography-related industries. Its main courses include Remote Sensing, Digital Cartography, WebGIS, Spatial Database, and GIS Application. The direction of MA mainly includes urban geography, regional geography, and economic geography. Entry requirements include holding a bachelor’s degree and an undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or higher, of which the GPA of the last two years should not be below 2.75.

California State University San Bernardino

San Bernardino, California, USA

Unit: Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Department of Geological Sciences and Department of Geography and Environmental Studies

The CSUSB is one of the 23 campuses of the California State University system. The Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at CSUSB offers a MS in Environmental Science and a MS in Geology (co-hosted with the geological science department) in which trainings and research related to GIS and remote sensing are conducted. The Department of Geography and Environmental Studies also provides undergraduate trainings in geography. The is also a research lab (Water Resources Institute) associated with this university where archives of GIS data and related studies are conducted.

San Francisco State University

San Francisco, California, USA

Unit: Department of Geography and Environment

The SFSU is one of the 23 campuses of the California State University system. It operates a MS in GIS program under the Department of Geography and Environment. The university is also home to the Institute for Geographic Information Science in which a Professional Certificate of GIS training program is offered.

University of Redlands

Redlands, California, USA

Unit: Department of GIS

The University of Redlands is located close to the headquarter of ESRI. It operates master’s degree programs in GIS. The MS in GIS program is mainly for recent graduates who want to improve their skills in GIS, and the Masters of GIS (MGIS) is mainly for those who have already worked in the industry. Many instructors of the department are adjunct faculties working at ESRI.

University of Hawaii, Manoa

Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

Unit: Department of Geography and Environment

University of Hawaii, Manoa is the flagship campus of the University of Hawaii system. It has MA and PhD degree programs in geography. There are 3 clusters of research themes in this department, namely physical geography, human geography, and GIS. Among them, topics covered by the GIS theme are geoinformatics, remote sensing, drone technology, GPS, spatial data science, land use, and computer cartography.

Professors:

  • Qi Chen: remote sensing, GIS, environment sciences;
  • Daniel Spencer: tourism, planning, management;
  • Abby Frazier: ecology, climate, spatial analysis;
  • Yi Qiang: spatiotemporal data science, visual analytics.

Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science

Willowbrook, California, USA

Unit: Medical Geographic Information Systems Laboratory (CDMGIS)

The Charles Drew University is a historically black graduate medical school in greater Los Angeles. Currently it also hosts undergraduate programs in public health and nursing. The CDMGIS provides trainings in medical geography and health GIS. It facilitates interdisciplinary collaboration by linking the computing facilities, spatial databases and the resident expertise at the this lab with other research and teaching activities occurring at Charles Drew University, UCLA and other RCMI institutions of NIH.