Geography (GEOG) Courses

GEOG 101 Geog & Nat Environ (3) Survey of the earth's physical environment, including distribution and associations between energy, climate, vegetation, and landforms. Human interrelationships with the physical landscape. (Attributes: DP, GN)

GEOG 102 World Regional Geography (3) Geographic survey of the world's major cultural regions. Processes of spatial integration and differentiation of economic, geo-political, and cultural landscapes. Natural resource distribution and the contrasts and linkages between the developed and under-developed world. (Attributes: FGB, GS, GW)

GEOG 103 Geog And Contemp Soc (3) Examines aspects of culture such as population, agriculture, industry, and religion. Focus on the relationships between people and their environment and resulting regional contrasts. (Attributes: DS, GS)

GEOG 105 Geography Of United States (3) Major features of the United States. Emphasis on what gives character or distinctiveness to various places. (Attributes: GS)

GEOG 107 Hawaiʻi in the Pacific (3) (lecture/other) Introduction to the geographies of Hawaiʻi and the Pacific Islands region, emphasizing indigenous world views. Through lecture, discussion, and web based learning, the course focuses on the historical and contemporary links between Hawaiʻi and Oceania and provides a context for understanding the people, cultures, and environments of the region. (Attributes: DS, GAHP, GS, HPP)

GEOG 120 Weather & Climate Hawaiʻi (3) For non-science majors and prospective science teachers. Basic meteorology, sun-earth-ocean-atmosphere interrelationships, weather types, seasonal changes, trade winds, clouds, rainfall, with examples drawn from the local weather and climate. (Same as PHYS 120) (Attributes: ALEX, DP, GAHP, GCC, HPP)

GEOG 201 Interp Geog Data (3) Introduction to methods of analysis and display of a variety of geographical data. Introduction to geographical methods, basic computer programs, concepts of computer cartography, map interpretation and design, and more advanced techniques including GIS, GPS, and remote sensing. (Attributes: GQ)

GEOG 280 Introduction to Geostatistics (3) Application of statistical and mathematical models in a geographic context. The use of multivariate techniques in assessing spatial relationships. This course will cover basic theory, methods, and techniques for the statistical analysis of spatial data. Students will learn and employ elementary techniques for describing, modeling, and analyzing spatial data using Excel, ArcGIS, and/or MATLAB. Pre: GEOG 102 or GEOG 103 or GEOG 101 or ENSC 100. (Attributes: GQ)

GEOG 295 Pacific: Brown Bag Seminar Ser (1) (other) Weekly one hour seminars will cover a broad range of topics, current research and topical issues that are of relevance to contemporary ways of life in the Pacific. Seminars will also explore the application of Pacific Studies to the workforce. Credit is gained by weekly attendance and the submission of short summaries of the weekly seminars. (Same as ANTH 295).

GEOG 300 Climatology (3) Elements and controls of climate. Dynamic processes of atmospheric circulation: the distribution patterns of solar radiation, temperature, precipitation, and evaporation. Energy and water balance concepts, climate classification. Pre: GEOG 101 or consent of instructor.

GEOG 301 Global Warming/Climate Change (3) Concepts and processes of global warming and climate change: electromagnetic radiation and energy balance, greenhouse effect, past climates, and local and global impacts and mitigation strategies. We will read and analyze classic and current journal articles and gain experience working with simple climate models. Pre: ENSC 100 or GEOG 101. (Same as ENSC 301).

GEOG 309 Biogeography (3) Basic evolutionary and ecological principles underlying the dynamics of plant and animal population. Mechanisms of isolation, speciation, dispersal, migration, and competition as they affect past and present world distribution patterns. Island biogeography. Pre: ENSC 100 or GEOG 101 or BIOL 101 or 171 or 172; or consent of instructor. (Same as BIOL 309) (Attributes: GAHP) (Attributes: GAHP)

GEOG 312 Food and Societies (3) Different types of food production and consumption systems, and the cultural and environmental constraints operating to produce the resultant patterns. Globalization of agricultural production and consumption. Pre: one introductory geography course. (Attributes: ALEX, DS, GCC)

GEOG 319 Nat Hazards/Disasters (3) Survey of origins, processes, distributions, and effects of hazardous physical forces: hurricanes, tornadoes, drought, floods, earthquakes, volcanism, landslides, erosion, and beach degradation. Hazard perception and adjustment by humans also considered. Pre: GEOG 101 or ENSC 100 or consent of instructor.

GEOG 320 Earth Surface Processes (3) Processes of landform development at large and small scales. Theoretical and applied aspects, including human environment considerations. Field excursions may be required. Pre: GEOG 101 or GEOL 111 or equivalent. (Same as GEOL 342)

GEOG 321 Geog Of Economic Activity (3) Factors influencing the distribution of economic activities at different spatial scales: world, national, local. Consideration of general theories of decision making for urban and industrial locations. Pre: GEOG 103.

GEOG 325 Environments of Law (3) Examines elements of law in built, natural, and propertized environments. Topics include spatiality, eminent domain, borders, linear jurisprudence, fluid jurisdictions, public landscapes, and evolving tensions involving environment and justice. (Same as POLS 325) (Attributes: ALEX, DS, GCC)

GEOG 326 Natural Resources (3) Philosophy and history of the conservation movement in the United States. Ecological considerations in the management of renewable and nonrenewable resources. Current conservation issues in Hawaiʻi. Pre: GEOG 101 or ENSC 100 or instructor's consent. (Attributes: GAHP) (Attributes: GAHP)

GEOG 328 Cultural Geography (3) Key concepts in cultural geography and introduction to qualitative research methods in geography. Topics include: histories of cultural geography; landscapes; nature-society relations; critical cultural geographies. Pre: one introductory geography course.

GEOG 329 Rethinking Development (3) This course examines the theory and practice of development, whose goals include poverty reduction, improved human health, and environmental sustainability. We will analyze mainstream development’s successes and failures and explore alternative development models rooted in Marxist, feminist, and green perspectives. Pre: GEOG 101 or GEOG 102 or GEOG 103 or GEOG 107 or consent of instructor.

GEOG 331 Tourism Geographies (3) Survey of tourism geographies, addressing a wide-range of topics: tourism representations, tourism development strategies, indigenous tourism development, planning for “sustainable” tourism, and tourism's environmental impacts. Pre: junior or senior standing or instructor's consent.

GEOG 332 Geog Of Hawaiian Islands (3) Introduction to the physical and human geography of Hawaiʻi. Development of island ecosystems. Polynesian pre-history, post-contact resource exploitation and environmental transformation. History of land tenure and management. Spatial aspects of agriculture, urbanization, and tourism. Pre: GEOG 101 or 103, or consent of instructor. (Attributes: GAHP)

GEOG 335 Geog Of Oceania (3) Physical and human geography of the Pacific Islands region including Australia and New Zealand (excluding Hawaiʻi). Topics include: regional marine and terrestrial resources; human settlement and landscape transformation; population political geography; economic development, and resource management and environmental issues. (Attributes: GAHP, HPP)

GEOG 336 Political Ecology (3) We will use political ecology to examine how societies shape, and are shaped by, nature, with a focus on the powers and limits of capitalism and the state to transform, manage and produce nature. Pre: GEOG 101, GEOG 102, GEOG 103 or GEOG 107 or consent of instructor. (Attributes: DS)

GEOG 340 Intro to Land Use Planning (3) Land use planning and relationship of geographic concepts to urban, regional, and environmental planning. Emphasis on examples from Hawaiʻi. Pre: Junior or senior standing.

GEOG 382 Qualitative Research (3) Introduction to the ethics, methodologies, and practice of research in human geography, particularly standpoint epistemologies and associated methodologies. Combines lectures, workshops, and assignments. Students will conduct and report upon their own research. Pre: GEOG 103 or 102 or WS 151 or instructor's consent. (Same as WS 382)

GEOG 385 Field Methods in Geog/Env Sci (3) Geographic field methods for assessment and monitoring of the physical/biological/anthropogenic environment. Instrumentation, data collection, and analysis; planning and land management applications. Pre: GEOG 201 or instructor's consent. (Same as ENSC 385). (Attributes: GAHP)

GEOG 387 Climate Change Literature (3) A study of modern environmental writing, focusing on climate change fiction and non-fiction. Students will explore how humans transformed the earth and its atmosphere and now live with changes to various physical environments with implications for the future. Pre: C or better in ENG/ESL 100/T and one 200-level ENG course or consent of instructor. (Same as ENG 387)

GEOG 401 Confronting the Climate Crisis (3) An examination of how people and societies respond to climate change, through the lens of climate justice, and across academic disciplines, political ideologies, and geographical scale. Pre: Junior or senior standing or instructor’s consent.

GEOG 409 Princples of Landscape Ecology (3) Introduction to landscape ecology as a framework for landscape research, analysis and management. Emphasis on spatial patterning - the causes, development, importance of ecological processes, and the spatial interactions of dynamic processes. Focus on concepts, methods and applications of landscape ecology through reading classic and contemporary literature. Pre: GEOG 101 or GEOG 201 or GEOG 309 or BIOL 281 or consent of instructor. Some familiarity with geographic information systems (GIS) and statistics desirable. This course is dual listed with CBES 609.

GEOG 430 Gender, Place and Environment (3) Survey of trends in geography of gender related to place, space and the environment. Addresses spatial interactions of gendered bodies of different ages, class and ethnicities. Pre: junior or senior standing or instructor's consent. (Same as WS 430). (Attributes: ALEX, DS, GCC, GS)

GEOG 435 Senior Seminar Pacific Studies (3) (other) A reading and research seminar under the supervision of faculty from Anthropology, Geography, and/or History on indigenous issues in contemporary Oceania. Topics include indigeneity, sovereignty, climate change and sea-level rise, militarism, and ethnic tensions and violence. Pre: Junior or Senior standing. (Same as ANTH 435, HIST 415) (Attributes: GAHP, HPP)

GEOG 436 Environ Politics in Pacific (3) This course will examine the ways that government policies, economic development and globalization affect the environment in the Pacific region as well as the ways that environmental problems affect political debates and actions. Utilizing the research approach or political ecology this course for advanced students will explore contemporary viewpoints on terrestrial resource management, preservation, population growth, land degradation, marine and terrestrial resource management, environmental contamination, and other environmental issues across Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia. Pre: Junior or Senior standing and completion of any upper-level Pacific Island Studies Certificate course, or instructor's consent. (Same as ENSC 436) (Attributes: GAHP) (Attributes: GAHP)

GEOG 440 Community Planning (3) An introduction to comprehensive planning in Hawaiʻi with emphasis on the environmental, infrastructure, social, economic and other issues underlying good land use plans. Examples from General Plans and Community Development Plans. Pre: GEOG 340 or instructor's consent.

GEOG 441 Environmentl Impact Assessment (3) Introduction to the theory and methods of environmental impact assessment (EIA). Emphasis on the physical environmental, cultural, social and legal foundations of the federal and state EIA process as well as how to minimize negative impacts on economic development. Students engage in critical evaluation and preparation of EIS. Pre: junior or senior standing or consent of instructor. (Same as ENSC 441).

GEOG 470 Remote Sensing/Air Photo (3) Analysis of film and digital images of the Earth's surface collected from cameras and sensors aboard aircraft and satellites. Applications to resource planning, forestry, hydrology and geology. Pre: GEOG 201 or consent of instructor.

GEOG 480 Geog Info Sys & Visualization (3) (lecture/lab) Introduction to basic concepts and skills for using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to analyze and visualize geospatial data. Topics covered include: computer representation of geographic information, construction of GIS databases, geospatial analysis and applications. Additional focus on visualization skills including cartographic principles and techniques. Pre: GEOG 201 or instructor's consent.

GEOG 481 Advance Geo-Spatial Techniques (3) GEOG 481 is an advanced course in spatial analysis and modeling specific to Geospatial Information Science. This course will emphasize the application of Geospatial software tools along with the underlying theories and practices to analyze, model and visualize data. A focus on concepts and techniques utilized in GIS provides numerous opportunities for applied learning in terrain modeling, suitability modeling, predictive ecosystem mapping and data visualization. Further knowledge and skills will be developed by customization of GIS applications through interface. This course is dual listed with CBES 681. Pre: GEOG 480 or Instructor's Consent

GEOG 488 Advanced Geostatistics (3) This class is about understanding the uncertainty inherent in predictions made from spatial data. Probability theory, spatial analysis, variogram analysis, kriging, and stochastic simulations (conditional and unconditional). Our focus will be on the theory and application of geostatistical interpolation techniques to address real geographic and environmental problems using real data. Pre: GEOG 280, GEOG 480

GEOG 490 Senior Thesis (3) (lecture/other) Independent research on a significant topic related to the student's area of interest under the supervision of one or more faculty members in Geography and Environmental Science/Studies. Pre: Major in Geography and Environmental Studies or Environmental Science; Senior standing; Instructorʻs Consent; and one of the following: GEOG 328, GEOG 336, GEOG 382, GEOG 385, or GEOG 481

GEOG 494B Gis for Anthro & Geog (1–6) Please contact the department or division office for more information about this course.

GEOG 495 Senior Seminar in Geography (3) (other) Capstone course for Geography, Environmental Studies and Environmental Science majors, integrating previous coursework into disciplinary framework. Seminar focuses on research, writing and discussion of themes in contemporary geography and environmental studies and science. Pre: Major in Geography or Environmental Science, junior or senior standing, and one of the following: GEOG 328, GEOG 336, GEOG 382, GEOG 385, or GEOG 481. (Same as ENSC 495).

GEOG 496 Planning Internship (3) (other) Juniors and seniors majoring in geography may undertake in-service training in government or private agencies. Pre: junior standing and consent of instructor. (Attributes: ALEX, GAHP)

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GEOG x94 Special Topics in Subject Matter (Arr.) Special topics chosen by the instructor. Course content will vary. May be repeated for credit, provided that a different topic is studied. Additional requirements may apply depending on subject and topic.

GEOG x99 Directed Studies (Arr.) Statement of planned reading or research required. Pre: instructor’s consent.