The faculty, staff and students in the Department of Geography at UCSB investigate a broad range of human, social and physical geographic topics on regional to global scales using methods including mathematical, theoretical and stochastic analyses, conceptual, statistical and dynamical numerical models, and field experimentation. Research projects range in size from small studies involving individual scientists to large national and international programs involving teams of scientists. The main research areas include: terrestrial, ocean, atmospheric and climate, population and public health, urban and regional, cognitive and behavioral, and geographic information and geoinformatic sciences. Faculty and students often work in more than one area and thus the interdisciplinary nature of the research is a hallmark of the department. This gives the department the unique ability and position to tackle the complex and frontier scientific issues that require an understanding incorporating physical, chemical, biological, socio-economic and behavioral information.
