Department of Geography

Forest photo by Robert Boyd

Header photo is one of the forest restoration sites at Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Photo by Robert Boyd. An innovative research project at Kent State University promises to make significant contributions to the field of forest recovery assessment and environmental conservation. Robert Boyd, a first-year ecology and evolutionary bi...

Close up of Sydney Weber taking a photo.

Capturing images that engage a viewer's attention, beyond just a glance, is Sydney Weber’s goal when she takes a photograph. Weber is a senior, majoring in visual communication design in Kent State University’s School of Visual Communication Design within the College of Communication and Information, with a minor in photography. ...

extreme weather

Whether it’s the 110-plus-degree days being reported out West, severe flooding events in Kentucky and Pennsylvania, or the 100-degree water temperatures being measured off the coast of Florida, it’s hard not to wonder if these extreme weather events are just a fluke of nature, part of a cyclical weather pattern or a harbinger of something ...

Drone education at Bioblitz 2023

Young scientists from Kent State's Child Development Center (CDC) learned about how drones can assist in learning about natural environments at the Bioblitz event held at Kent State's Battaglia property. Andrew Scholl, Ph.D., an assistant professor and director in Kent State's Department of Geography, showed Bioblitz attendees how to op...

Students with Lego city

The class is gathered around a large, low table. Upon which, sprawls (in a miniature way) the layout of a small city, built using Lego elements. It includes roads, apartments, businesses, parks and city utility buildings. Looking closer, nearly all these structures have been modified, some using Lego pieces and others using pieces of paper...

Drone footage shows the freight train derailment, Feb. 6, 2023, in East Palestine, Ohio. (Photo courtesy of Ntsbgov/via Reuters)

The derailment of a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials occurred on Feb. 3 in East Palestine, Ohio. Nearly three weeks later, the media spotlight continues to shine on the village of 4,700 located about 50 miles southeast from the city of Kent. Kent State University faculty members have been contacted by various media ou...

Florence, Italy

Starting in Spring 2023, the Department of Geography will have a continuous study abroad program for the first time. Both Environmental Studies majors and Geography majors can take classes for their major while spending either a semester in Florence, participating in the Florence Summer Institute, or both.   Course offerings will i...

Environmental Science and Design Research Institute
Wharton State Forest coastline

Kathryn Burns is an upperclassman who transferred to Kent State during the pandemic.  Last academic year, she became a fellow within the Environmental Science and Design Research Institute (ESDRI) at KSU, which falls under the Division of Research and Sponsored Programs (RASP).  Kathryn is from the region and her family – as well...

Kent State Uses Geospatial Technology to Map Violence

Everyone expects Death Valley in July to be "hot" and Minneapolis in February to be "cold", right? Much research has been done to study the extreme temperature events that take place in these and other regions. But, what about 81 degrees in Anchorage in July or 2 degrees in Dallas in February? Such events are often called "relat...

Geography Students at Kent State

Scott Sheridan, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Geography, in the College of Arts and Sciences at Kent State University, was recently selected to become an inaugural American Geophysical Union (AGU) LANDInG (Leadership Academy and Network for Diversity and Inclusion in the Geosciences) Academy Fellow. The two-year professi...