Department of Geography

MORE than a decade ago, when Michelle Boivin told her father she had decided to major in geography, he was not impressed. “What are you going to do with a geography degree?” she recalled him saying. “All you can do with geography is teach.” Ms. Boivin proved her father wrong.

Read the article "Technology Reveals New Worlds to Map," appeared on Fresh Start, the New York Times monthly column about emerging jobs and job trends.

Geotechnology is "one of the three most important emerging and evolving fields," noted by the Nature magazine in the article "Mapping Opportunities." According to this research report, demands for specialists in Geotechnology, which includes GIS, Remote Sensing, and GPS, will surge in the coming years. In a recent study sponsored by the US Academy of Science, spatial literacy was identified as a core competence requirement for US workers in the global economy. The Geography Department at CMU is well equipped to help our students meet these challenges successfully.

In the 2008 IMAGIN Student Poster & Paper Competition, CMU students dominated the event by winning the first, second, and third places in the undergraduate poster competition and first and second places in the graduate paper competition. Erika Espeland (see picture on the left), currently graduate student in Geographic Information Science, won first place with her poster "3D Mapping for the Cloud Forest in Tropical Areas." Joe Pomerville, Geography senior with concentration in Geographic Information Science, won second place for his project "Identifying the Most Suitable Habitat for the Florida Panther." Ken Robertson, Geography junior with concentration in Geographic Information Science, took third place with his cartographic project "African American Migration in the United States." Biology Graduate students Maxwell Field and Heather Stricker won first and second places in the graduate paper competition. Max's award winning paper is on "Common Loon Habitat Modeling in Northern Lower Michigan Using Binary Logistic Regression." Heather's research is about "Monitoring Wolf Recovery in Michigan's Northern Lower Peninsula."

Dr. Xiaolan Wu, Geography Professor specialized in Geographic Information Science, was the faculty adviser for Erika and Joe as well as Max and Heather. Dr. David Patton, Geography Professor specialized in GISci and Cartography, was the faculty adviser for Ken Robertson.

Central Michigan University has launched a new graduate certification program in data mining, which is the only program in the nation to incorporate Geographical Information Systems studies. CMU's program also is the only data mining certification program available in Michigan. (Read more ...)

Imagine a bird's-eye view of bird flu with comprehensive maps showing where and the severity the with which disease is spreading. These maps are consolidated into one sleek, interactive program for the federal government. This is one use for Geographic Information Science (GISci), a field combining classic cartography techniques with computer software and technology. (Read more about this recent interview with graduate students in GISci, CM-Life, 9/7/07)

CMU's meteorology program is making a meteoric rise.  The program is the only one of its kind in the state and is gaining popularity.  "There's a lot of interest in the program," said Leigh Orf, assistant geography professor. "It was a lot of work getting the program on the books, but it was worth it." (Read more about this article published in CM-Life, 9/24/07)