Skip to content
Melissa Santiago in lab

Out of all of the U.S. geography programs, Clark University has granted the largest number of doctoral degrees. Clark’s Graduate School of Geography is top-ranked by the National Research Council, and our Ph.D. students graduate with a deep body of knowledge and a slate of research publications that enrich the field.

Research Interests

From agro-forestry to urbanization, and environmental modeling to post-colonial theory, our doctoral students’ research interests are multifaceted and interdisciplinary, touching on the four main areas of geography:

  • Earth System Science
  • Geographic Information Science and Remote Sensing
  • Human-Environment/Nature-Society Geography
  • Urban-Economic Geography

Peer-Reviewed Journal Publications

Professional publications play a large role in our Ph.D. students’ academic careers. By the time they graduate, our Ph.D.  students, on average, have published several peer-reviewed journal articles. Students collaborate with their advisers and sometimes with their committee members, and they also publish as sole authors.

Grants, Fellowships and Awards

Our Ph.D. students are extremely successful in securing grants to support their studies and their research. From 2014 to 2018, Ph.D. students secured more than $1.4 million in grants, often in collaboration with faculty, who provide critical feedback on proposals and write letters of support.  Students’ funding comes from the National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement (NSF-DDRI) program, Society of Women Geographers, NASA and other organizations.

In addition, students earn fellowships and grants — such as the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, Switzer Fellowship, Fulbright, Inter-America Foundation Fellowship, and Edna Bailey Sussman Fund Graduate Research Fellowship — for field work and other research activities.

The Graduate School of Geography supports Ph.D. students’ conference attendance and presentations through internal travel awards.

Recent Dissertations

Our Ph.D. students conduct research across the world on issues ranging from the impact of mining on communities in South America to the decline of ice in the Arctic and Antarctica. For dissertation titles before 2012, visit the Burnham Index.

Contact Information

Graduate School of Geography

Office Location
  • Jefferson Academic Center, Room 220
    950 Main Street
    Worcester, MA 01610

  • 1-508-793-7336
  • 1-508-793-8881 fax
  • geography@clarku.edu