UMD- Department of Geographical Sciences-Students & Alumni

08/28/2026

🗓️ Mark your calendar for these two upcoming GEOG seminars:

Join us at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 3 and 10 in River Road and on Zoom.

Summer GEOG Fellowship recipients will share their summer research made possible through their fellowship awards.

The Sept. 3 seminar will feature Ph.D. students Xin D**g and Adebowale Daniel Adebayo.

The Sept. 10 seminar will feature Haijun Li, postdoctoral associate, and Ph.D. students Jiaxun Sun and Haolin Shao.

Congratulations to all of this year’s fellowship recipients, and we hope you’ll join us to learn more about their work!

Location: 4600 River Road, room 325 or Zoom.

More info:

Summer GEOG Fellowship Presentations: Part 1 Breadcrumb Home Event Summer GEOG Fellowship Presentations: Part 1 Join us at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 3 in River Road and on Zoom. Summer GEOG Fellowship recipients will share their summer achievements and research made possible through their fellows...

08/27/2026

Can we rely on AI to predict famine?

GEOG researchers and colleagues caution that AI can miss emerging threats and struggle with unreliable or limited data, particularly in conflict zones. In a new Nature Food commentary, they argue for using AI where it works best while keeping human experts in the loop.

Read more:

AI Can Help Predict Food Crises, but Experts Advise Caution Breadcrumb Home Featured Content AI Can Help Predict Food Crises, But Experts Advise Caution UMD researchers warn that relying on algorithms alone to forecast famine risks costly errors in conflict zones and data-poor regions.  As humanita...

08/24/2026

🎓 Meet the newest members of the UMD Geographical Sciences Ph.D. community!

Our incoming cohort is united by a shared passion for using geographical sciences to help address complex real-world challenges. 🌎

Welcome to UMD!

Introducing Our New Ph.D. Students Breadcrumb Home Featured Content Introducing Our New Ph.D. Students We’re excited to welcome the newest cohort of Ph.D. students to our program!  They bring diverse perspectives, experiences and expertise from around the world, along with a shared passion for ad...

08/19/2026

This summer, high school students in UMD’s Terp Young Scholars program explored remote sensing, satellite imagery and geographical science through GEOG 172: Earth From Space, with Associate Research Professor Evan Andrew Ellicott.

Students used real satellite data to track wildfire smoke before it reached the D.C. region, examine tornado damage, identify wildfire hotspots and investigate how landscapes change over time.

Read what the students had to say about the class, what surprised them and how it’s shaping the way they think about their futures.

And learn more about Terp Young Scholars w/ Extended Studies - University of Maryland

High School Students Saw the Wildfire Smoke Coming From a UMD Classroom Breadcrumb Home Featured Content High School Students Saw The Wildfire Smoke Coming From a UMD Classroom A GEOG summer course is teaching them to read satellite imagery, while exploring how geospatial science connects to their i...

08/18/2026

Did you attend last week?

You may have seen GEOG PhD students Atreyi Guin, Adebowale Daniel Adebayo & Sumi Lee, volunteering with the conference's publicity team, Zhen Liu and Monojit Saha , presenting research, among others 🤩

08/17/2026

From AI and satellite imagery to climate resilience and environmental sustainability, 12 high school students from across the region spent six weeks conducting real-world research through our Geographical Sciences’ High School Internship Program (HIP).

Their projects explored:

🛰️ Cloud segmentation with machine learning
🌳 Detecting new tree plantings
🏗️ Data center site selection
☁️ Cloud height estimation
🌊 Chesapeake Bay storm surge risk
🔥 Wildfire-related transmission line exposure
🚚 Miami-Dade supply chain flood risks
🗺️ Cultural risk on Majuli Island

A huge thank you to all the students, mentors, faculty and research staff who made this internship program possible! 👏

High School Interns Tackle Real-World Challenges Through AI, Remote Sensing and Geospatial Research Breadcrumb Home Featured Content High School Interns Tackle Real-World Challenges Through AI, Remote Sensing and Geospatial Research The summer program gave high school students the opportunity to con...

08/12/2026

Can warmer temperatures and drought affect tropical forests in very different ways? 🌳

A study in Nature led by Assistant Professor Matheus Henrique Nunes finds that local conditions shape how forests respond to climate change across the Amazon, Congo Basin & Southeast Asia.

Learn more:

UMD Study: Climate Has Unequal Impacts on Different Tropical Forests Breadcrumb Home Featured Content UMD Study: Climate Has Unequal Impacts On Different Tropical Forests Geographical sciences researchers show warmer temperatures and drought have worse impacts on some areas than others. A new study....

08/11/2026

What if making a rare species harder to obtain makes it more desirable?

A new study by UMD-Criminology's Greg Midgette and GEOG Professor Meredith Gore finds that scarcity can drive demand in some illegal wildlife markets, potentially making conventional strategies like trade bans counterproductive.

Published in PNAS, the study introduces a framework for understanding how different wildlife markets operate—and why conservation strategies should be tailored to each market.

Read more:

Study Challenges One-Size-Fits-All Policies for Illegal Wildlife Trade Breadcrumb Home Featured Content Study Challenges One-Size-Fits-All Policies For Illegal Wildlife Trade GEOG Professor Meredith Gore co-authors paper showing how scarcity drives demand for rare species and why dominant policy res...

08/06/2026

Don't miss this hybrid seminar next Wed, Aug. 12!

USP - Universidade de São Paulo Prof Matheus Pinheiro Ferreira will talk about forest monitoring & applied remote sensing projects in Brazil.

Details: https://geog.umd.edu/event/seminar-deep-learning-based-fusion-optical-and-sar-imagery-canopy-height-mapping-brazil

08/03/2026

What happens when a protected forest ends at its legal boundary? 🌳

New research published in shows that while Indigenous Lands in the Brazilian Amazon remain highly effective at preventing deforestation, the forests surrounding them face growing pressure from illegal land occupation and resource exploitation.

The international study, co-authored by Assistant Research Professors André Lima and Matheus Henrique Nunes, found that deforestation in the 200-kilometer zone surrounding the Vale do Javari Indigenous Land was 187.5 times higher than inside the protected territory in 2022.

The findings reinforce decades of evidence that Indigenous Lands are among the world's most effective conservation strategies. But they also highlight the need for stronger legal protections beyond territorial boundaries.

The researchers propose establishing buffer zones around Indigenous territories to help reduce external pressures, conserve biodiversity, protect Indigenous communities and preserve the Amazon's critical role in regulating the global climate.

Read more about the study:

New Study Calls for Legal Protection Around Indigenous Lands to Safeguard the Amazon Breadcrumb Home Featured Content New Study Calls For Legal Protection Around Indigenous Lands To Safeguard The Amazon Research shows that Indigenous Lands remain highly effective at protecting forests, but surroundi...