If you have a curiosity about how nature and people together shape the environment and what makes one place different from another, majoring in geography will let you examine the physical and social processes that help explain why features on the earth’s surface are located where they are and how people interact with their environment. You will examine the physical properties of the natural environment (water, climate, landforms and vegetation) and the role that human beliefs, activities and decision-making have in shaping the world around us. As you progress, you will select a concentration in a core area of geography—listed below as Areas of Study—to deepen your understanding of important environmental and social issues like climate change, vegetation, environmental degradation, agricultural systems, geopolitical decision-making, human migration and settlement. You will gain marketable skills (such as geographical information systems (GIS), fieldwork, interviewing or computer modeling) through coursework in research design, data collection and data analysis. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the use of geographic information technologies and data to answer environmental and societal questions is driving the job market for geographers at a rate that is almost twice that of all other occupations.