Administrator | Penn State Department of Geography

alt: "Three people stand on a dirt pathway with lush green hills in the background in Malawi."

For two Penn State undergraduates, July 2025 brought an experience far from campus classrooms. Geography majors Jesse Ehrlich and Cadence O’Brien spent a month in Malawi as part of the ECODRYFOREST project.

Graphic that says GIS Day with Penn State University Libraries Mark and Shield

Penn State University Libraries will observe GIS Day, an annual event celebrating the technology of geographic information systems (GIS), on Nov. 17.

Naomi Bird analyzes documents on her computer

As a teen, Naomi Bird witnessed the sudden vaping boom among her peers. Research she did as an undergraduate student at Penn State gave her a greater insight into what she was witnessing.

A Ghanaian farmer carries a bucket of grass in a field

Thelma Abu, assistant professor of environment and human interactions at the University of Connecticut, will deliver the Department of Geography's Coffee Hour talk on Oct. 31.

Three people stand on a dirt pathway with lush green hills in the background in Malawi.

For two Penn State geography graduate students, fieldwork in Southern Africa offered more than a research assignment. It provided a front-row view of how science, community and collaboration come together in the effort to restore landscapes undergoing rapid environmental change.

a group of five people stand in front of Penn State's Old Main building

Associate Professor of Geography Jenn Baka is one of four Penn State researchers who have been selected as 2025 fellows of the Institute of Energy and the Environment (IEE).

Harrison Cole, a person with short brown hair and glasses, wearing a black sweater over a collared shirt, stands outdoors in front of a brick building and trees.

The hallways of Penn State’s Walker Building helped launch Harrison Cole’s cartography career, eventually leading him to one of the biggest names in the field: National Geographic.

Mook Bangalore, assistant professor of environmental policy in the Penn State School of Public Policy, will deliver his talk at noon on Friday, Oct. 24.

A group of people in high-visibility vests observe a solar panel outdoors.

A new Penn State geography course is giving students the chance to question what sustainability means and how it can be practiced in everyday life.

Kirk Goldsberry, wearing glasses and a light blazer, poses with a globe-print basketball in front of maps and charts.

Penn State Geography alumnus Kirk Goldsberry returned to Penn State’s campus this fall to share how spatial data transformed professional basketball and his own career from the classroom to ESPN, the San Antonio Spurs and beyond.