Departmental Unit № 1
Department of Geography
PhD in Geography (GIScience / Spatial Analysis / Physical Geography Track)
100% Full Funding Guaranteed (5 Years)
Funding Package: Full tuition waiver + 9-to-12 month living stipend (~$26,000–$31,000/yr) + comprehensive student health insurance guaranteed through Graduate Teaching Associateships (GTA) and Graduate Research Associateships (GRA).
Fall Priority Deadline: December 1 (Fellowship Deadline) / January 15
GRE Policy: Not required / Waived
English Minimums: TOEFL iBT 79 minimum or IELTS 7.0 minimum (Speaking 28 for automatic GTA)
MA / MS in Geography (Thesis Track)
100% Full Funding on Thesis Track!
Funding Reality: Ohio State Geography routinely funds admitted MS thesis students as Graduate Teaching Associates! Consistently ranked in the top 5 geography departments in North America.
Application Deadline: December 1 / January 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. Desheng Liu
Professor of Geography and Statistics
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
He combines statistical mathematics and artificial intelligence to train computers to automatically recognize rivers, forests, and floodplains in satellite pictures with extreme accuracy.
Core Research Topics: GIScience, satellite remote sensing, GeoAI, spatial statistics, machine learning for environmental mapping, high-resolution satellite image segmentation.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: Joint appointment in Geography and Statistics. Develops novel spatial-temporal machine learning algorithms and object-based image analysis (OBIA) methods to classify complex land-cover change, forest disease, and hydrological water bodies from satellite imagery.
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: GeoAI, spatial statistics, satellite image processing (Landsat, Sentinel, Planet), object-based image analysis, Python (scikit-learn, GeoPandas), R.
Recruiting Context: Leading researcher in GIScience and remote sensing methodology. Outstanding match for candidate!
Candidate Match:
GISRemote SensingGeoAIGeographyPython
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Discussing your background in GIS, remote sensing, and programming, expressing strong interest in his GeoAI spatial statistical algorithms and satellite image classification research."
Prof. Bryan G. Mark
Professor of Geography; State Climatologist of Ohio; Byrd Polar & Climate Research Center
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
He is the State Climatologist and climbs glaciated mountains to sample rushing meltwater rivers, discovering how melting glaciers will cause future water shortages for millions of people.
Core Research Topics: Glacial hydrology, water resources in mountain watersheds, drone photogrammetry, hydrochemical isotope tracing, flood and drought hazards.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: State Climatologist of Ohio. Uses drone photogrammetry, water sampling, and hydrological modeling to study how retreating mountain glaciers alter river water supplies, flood risk, and drinking water availability in the tropical Andes and Ohio river basin.
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: Drone photogrammetry, geochemical and isotopic water tracing, hydrologic watershed models, field automated weather stations, GIS terrain analysis.
Recruiting Context: Core member of the world-famous Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center with active NSF funding.
Candidate Match:
HydrologyFlood ModelingRemote SensingGISLab Water Testing
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Highlighting your environmental science laboratory water testing and GIS mapping background, referencing his mountain watershed hydrology and drone photogrammetry research."