OU Dept. of Geography and Environmental Sustainability

04/13/2026

Congratulations Dr. Aditi on your successful defense of your dissertation titled: Worlding Dreams, Messy Realities: Deconstructing Dialectical
Images of Urban Future and the Politics of Difference in New Delhi
Smart City.

04/13/2026

Congratulations Dr. Anderson, wishing you all the best in your next steps🎉

04/13/2026

03/10/2026

Oklahoma in the NASAEarth Observatory.

Oklahoma’s Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge attracts rare and diverse species—and enthusiasts looking for a distinct type of crystallized gypsum.

02/23/2026

12/15/2025

Photos from the Senior Showcase held on December 12th. Students presented posters or StoryMaps of their Capstone projects for faculty to review.

12/11/2025

From the Dean of the College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences regarding recent degree changes in DGES.

10/09/2025

GIS major Noah Holderbaum presented his Provost's summer URECA fellowship project on October 2. His project looked at the connections between urbanization, air pollution, and demographics in Houston and Phoenix.

Noah’s official description of the project:
This research examines the relationship between changes in air pollution, demographics, and urbanization in the cities of Phoenix, Arizona and Houston, Texas between 2000 and 2022. Air pollution data from the Washington University’s Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group’s SATPM2.5 V5.NA.05 model was used, while demographic data was obtained from the 2000, 2010, and 2020 decennial censuses through IPUMS NHGIS. Urbanization data was received from the National Land Cover Database’s Land Cover and Percent Impervious Surface products. Using these sources, this study aims to determine spatiotemporal trends in air pollution as well as explore connections between air pollution, demographics, and urbanization. This research also looks at variations between these relationships between different time periods and neighborhoods within the two study areas.

We are very proud of Noah’s accomplishment and grateful to have him as member of the DGES community.

09/25/2025

Dr. Anni Yang and undergraduate student Liv Elias discuss Anni’s research and work at The Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability. This is the first in what will be a series of videos featuring DGES staff members.

09/12/2025

Tonight!

08/26/2025

Dr. Renee McPherson, professor and director of the South Central Climate Adaptation Science Center, was a featured speaker at KGOU’s Oklahoma Future Forums last Thursday at Yellow Dog Coffee. Dr. McPherson, an author on the National Climate Assessment, was joined by Keli Pirtle, a former NOAA employee who retired earlier this year during the DOGE cuts, and Alan Gerard, who also retired earlier this year and worked at the National Weather Service and National Severe Storms Laboratory. The three discussed budget cuts and increased scrutiny from the current administration. You can read more at The Norman Transcript.

PAXSON HAWSMANAGING EDITOR Weather and climate panelists discussed cu

07/18/2025

“My time at OU and specifically DGES has been huge in my development as a GIS professional. The opportunities and connections presented to me through the department and through my time working at the Center for Spatial Analysis enabled me to be in the position I’m in today. I just recently started a full-time position as a GIS Professional at Devon Energy in Oklahoma City where I’m able to apply a lot of the map making and data management skills that I learned through DGES and CSA on a day-to-day basis. On top of that, the opportunities to get involved with SCAUG, GIS Day, and AAG as an undergraduate gave me the resources to establish myself and build connections with the current network of GIS professionals early in my career.”

- Daniel Ziegler, Class of 2025