The National Mall: Geography and America’s Front Yard
The National Mall is the United States’ most important public space. Professor Lisa Benton-Short looks at the Mall as a symbol of the American story.
Research
Research in the Department of Geography spans a range of topics across our core focus areas. From South Asia to South America to the Middle East, geography faculty are widely published experts in regions across the world. Faculty are also dedicated mentors to students, helping them pursue awards, present at research conferences and gain the skills they need to pursue competitive careers.
Undergraduates engage in independently funded projects under faculty guidance and can travel abroad for short-term research classes around the globe. Graduate students work closely with faculty on grant-funded projects and as research assistants in the topic areas that interest them. Recent student research projects have examined the role of adult soccer leagues in immigrant communities, the impact of wildfires in the West, climate change impacts on the Arctic, reprecincting in Texas and protecting mangrove trees in Costa Rica. On campus, students also take advantage of the department’s state-of-the-art Spatial Analysis Lab and other research centers.
Research Expertise Areas
The Department of Geography represents a vast diversity of research expertise across the main three subfields of the discipline: physical, human and techniques. The department spans both the natural and social sciences and is engaged in research and teaching that addresses the world’s most critical issues, in six areas of notable strength. Collectively, these research areas holistically address a more sustainable and just future using qualitative and quantitative analytical approaches.
Many of these six areas are intersectional and interconnected: work on urban stormwater also addresses issues of sustainability; research on poverty integrates theory and geospatial application; and study of climate change also analyzes its impact on urban infrastructure.
"In my time here, the professors' doors have always been open. ... I've always felt that I had the support I need to pursue the research that I'd like to pursue."
Kean McDermott
MA '17
Department Initiatives and Centers
Geographers in the Field
Geography Research in Action
Geographers Redefine Immigration Trends
For generations, many people believed that most immigrants to the United States were people with limited education or training who came for economic opportunity
A Climate Change Mission in the Arctic
A cohort of GW undergraduate and graduate students traveled to the Siberian tundra to see first hand how climate change has ravaged a polar environment.