Geography Overview
What Do Geographers Do?
The term geographer is rarely used either in the title or description of career
positions, but geography majors possess unique analytical skills that enable
them to succeed in a remarkable range of occupations. Employers welcome the
geographer’s comprehensive knowledge of natural and social sciences coupled
with his/her distinctive understanding of spatial patterns. There is a high
demand in business, industry, and government for geographers with training in
physical geography, human geography, and geographic information science (GIS).
Physical geographers study weather, climate, water and coastal processes,
plant and animal distributions, landforms, soils, and natural hazards. Their
objective is to improve the understanding of the way the environment operates,
both naturally and in response to human-induced changes. Physical geographers
evaluate the potential of natural resources, make environmental impact
assessments, monitor environmental change, map exotic species expansion, and
determine the risks of harm from natural hazards such as storms, volcanic
eruptions, landslides, and floods.
Human geographers examine economic, social and political dimensions of
the landscape. They study population, agriculture, industry, tourism, cities,
transportation networks, migrations, commodity flows, political units, and
behavioral patterns. Their objective is to improve our understanding of how
people use the land and help plan more rational uses of natural resources that
will benefit society while protecting the environment from excessive
deterioration.
Both physical and human geographers direct their attention toward two fundamental
research questions:
“Where are things located?”
“Why are they located there?”
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Take this YaNG! Test.
(You’re a Natural Geographer!)
If you answer “Yes” to 10 or more of the questions below, you should seriously consider becoming a Geography major at the University of South Alabama.
- Do you like maps?
- Do you like to travel?
- Are you curious about places?
- Do you enjoy working outdoors?
- Do you enjoy group study projects?
- Do you like to work with computers?
- Do you like to read National Geographic?
- Do you prefer the window seat on airplanes?
- Do you watch the Discovery Channel on TV?
- Have you participated in school science fairs?
- Do you like to do scientific research and solve problems?
- Would it interest you to study people and what they do for a living?
- Do you like “hands on” classes that allow you to develop new research
skills?
- Are you concerned about deforestation, soil erosion, pollution, global
warming and other environmental issues?
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A Geographer may work in the private or public sector as a:
- demographer
- transportation analyst
- cartographer
- geographic information systems analyst
- market researcher
- travel consultant
- real estate developer
- resource analyst
- environmental consultant
- surveyor
- remote sensing specialist
- high school teacher
- location research analyst
- city/regional planner
- traffic planner
- park ranger
- soil conservationist
- soil surveyor
- administrative analyst
- waste management coordinator
- university professor
- cultural affairs manager
Ready to take the first step? Want more information on what Geography at the
University of South Alabama has to offer?
Contact us,
and we will be happy to help you begin your journey to a fun and rewarding
career as a Geographer!
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