UC Santa Barbara Geography / Graduates / Student Handbook
Graduate Study in Geography
Welcome to the graduate program of the Department of Geography. The material within this Handbook will hopefully answer most of your questions about our graduate program. The first edition of the Handbook was written in 1989 at the suggestion of a grad student. Please read it and hold on to it - you will find it to be a valuable resource!
In this chapter:
- Areas of Emphasis
- The Faculty
- The Graduate Advisor
- The Graduate Program Assistant
- The Graduate Committee
» Areas of Emphasis
The Geography Department at UCSB offers specialized graduate training leading to the Master's and Ph.D. degrees. Areas of concentration include:
Earth System Science (ESS)
This systematic area emphasizes the measurement, analysis, and modeling of hydrologic, atmospheric, oceanic, and terrestrial systems and the interactions between systems. A large proportion of the problems addressed by researchers in ESS involve three common elements: large regional issues; mathematical and computational modeling; and large, spatially-indexed datasets.
Human-environment Relations (HER)
This systematic area covers the major components of Human Geography offered by the Department, including: human spatial behavior; spatial decision making and decision support; spatial and geographic cognition; urban and regional modeling, planning, and policy; human movement and transportation systems; resource and environmental management; environmental ethics; human response to the changing environment.
Modeling, Measurement and Computation (MMC)
This area is the investigation of those sets of techniques from the areas of analysis, statistics and computation that are particularly well-suited to the modeling of the complex, geographic phenomena that are the subject of investigation in both ESS and HER. Important sub-areas include numerical modeling, spatial statistics, remote sensing, computational modeling and database systems (including GIS) and visualization, all of which are increasingly dependent on a knowledge of computational theory and practice.
» The Faculty
A full listing of Faculty and Affiliated Faculty, including areas of interest and contact information, can be found on the faculty page.
» The Graduate Advisor
The Graduate Advisor for 2007/2008 is Dar Roberts.
Each department's Graduate Advisor is an official faculty representative of the Graduate Dean in matters affecting graduate students or graduate programs in the academic departments. The Graduate Advisor is an administrative appointment, made by the vice chancellor, separate from the department chairperson, the department, and the Academic Senate. The Graduate Advisor's signature is the only Departmental signature, other than the chairperson's, recognized as official on forms and petitions presented by graduate students. It is the Graduate Advisor who evaluates and approves students' study lists, advises them on advancement to candidacy, considers their petitions to change majors, to add or drop courses, to waive or substitute requirements, to take leaves of absence, etc. The Departmental Graduate Advisor should not be confused with your thesis/dissertation advisor (the Chair of your thesis/dissertation committee).
» The Graduate Program Assistant
The Graduate Program Assistant (GPA) provides administrative and clerical support for the graduate program (and sometimes is just a sympathetic ear). Assisting in the coordination of the admissions process, the GPA is often the student's initial contact in the department. The GPA assists the graduate advisor in monitoring students' progress toward their degrees, and provides information about departmental and Graduate Division policies and procedures. Faculty and students alike rely heavily on the GPA for information, but ultimately faculty must be responsible for academic planning.
» The Graduate Committee
The mission of the Department of Geography is to maintain an active and dynamic environment to help cultivate and build a strong geographic community. We would like to ensure that all graduate students have a positive experience while at UCSB. The Graduate Committee (GC) is a mix of Geography faculty members, plus the Graduate Program Assistant. The responsibilities of the GC include reviewing all graduate applications, making admission decisions, annual review of graduate student academic progress, and general problem solving for graduate matters. It provides a safe and confidential forum for solving problems during your time as a graduate student. Should a problem arise, please feel free to contact any of the individual members of the committee.
The Graduate Committee for 2007/2008 consists of:
