Departmental Unit № 1
Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences
PhD in Geography
100% Full Funding Guaranteed (5 Years)
Funding Package: Full tuition waiver + 9-to-12 month living stipend (~$24,000–$28,000/yr) + health insurance guaranteed through Graduate Assistantships (GA/TA/RA).
Fall Priority Deadline: December 15 (Fall Admission)
GRE Policy: Not required / Waived
English Minimums: TOEFL iBT 80 minimum or IELTS 6.5 minimum
MS in Geography (Thesis Track)
100% Full Funding on Thesis Track!
Funding Reality: MSU Geography actively funds admitted MS thesis students as Graduate Teaching Assistants in GIS and physical geography! Excellent funded Master's target.
Application Deadline: December 15
Admissions Advisory: If full funding is required and MS is self-funded, students are strongly advised to apply directly to the PhD track.
Vetted Matched Scholars (2 Profiles)
Prof. Jiaguo Qi
Professor of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences; Director, Center for Global Change
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
He uses satellites and watershed computer simulations to study how massive hydroelectric dams upstream alter floodplains and threaten water and food supplies downstream.
Core Research Topics: Satellite remote sensing, land-use/cover change (LULC), food-energy-water nexus, hydrological modeling (SWAT), dryland environmental sustainability.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: Director of the Center for Global Change and Earth Observations (CGCEO). Leads international NASA-funded research across the Mekong Basin and Central Asia coupling satellite remote sensing with SWAT hydrologic models to track dam impacts on floodplains and irrigation agriculture.
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: SWAT hydrologic watershed model, optical/microwave satellite remote sensing, Google Earth Engine, GIS spatial decision support, Python.
Recruiting Context: Director of major global change center with substantial NASA and international grants.
Candidate Match:
Remote SensingGISHydrologyFlood ModelingGeography
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Referencing his NASA-supported water-energy-food nexus research in transboundary river basins, presenting your background in GIS, remote sensing, and SWAT hydrological modeling."
Prof. Jiquan Chen
Professor of Geography and Center for Global Change
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
He erects giant sensor towers in grasslands and forests that measure how much water trees breathe into the sky every second, pairing tower data with satellite maps.
Core Research Topics: Landscape ecology, ecosystem water fluxes, eddy covariance flux towers, satellite remote sensing of evapotranspiration, dryland ecohydrology.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: Directs the Landscape Ecology and State Science (LEES) Lab. Operates large networks of eddy covariance flux towers integrated with satellite Earth observations to track carbon and water exchange between vegetation and the atmosphere across global drylands.
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: Eddy covariance micro-meteorological towers, satellite image processing, spatial landscape metrics, micrometeorological dataloggers, Python/R.
Recruiting Context: Directs premier landscape ecology and ecohydrology research group with continuous funding.
Candidate Match:
Remote SensingGISGeographyHydrologyEnvironmental Science
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Discussing your interest in satellite remote sensing of ecohydrological processes and land-atmosphere water vapor fluxes in the LEES Lab."