The study program is individually designed by the student and a faculty committee. The Washington, D.C. metropolitan area is an exceptional location in which to pursue geographic research. International and non-governmental agencies are located within easy reach, including the National Geographic Society, The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, World Bank and many others. Corporations, businesses and non-profit organizations that use geographical applications are also well represented. Libraries on campus and nearby are unrivaled elsewhere in the world.
Many opportunities exist for students to participate in externally funded research projects.
Graduate students find these research programs a rich source of ideas for dissertations as well as providing opportunities to join projects as paid research assistants and, often, identifying openings for employment on completion of their studies. The Department is housed on the main College Park campus. Teaching laboratories include facilities for wet analysis, cartography and two dedicated to computer-based instruction, while the facilities needed for virtually any type of investigation are available through collaborations with other departments. The primary computer environment is UNIX, with 20 machines dedicated to teaching and graduate research. The research laboratories support an additional 40 UNIX machines including very high performance processors and peripherals.