Overview - Master of Applied Geography (MAG)

The Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at NMSU offers graduate study leading to the Master of Applied Geography (MAG). Our graduate program emphasizes specialized, independent, and applied scholarship built on a solid foundation of general geographic knowledge and skills. That is, we provide students with opportunities to acquire essential geographic knowledge and skills through a variety of graduate and advanced undergraduate courses and, subsequently, support students to carry out their own research in collaboration with a faculty advisor and an advisory committee composed of other faculty members and/or professionals from the private or public sectors.

We work closely with our students to accommodate their unique needs and career goals (e.g., working for local, state, or federal governments; getting a job in the private sector; pursuing a Ph.D. degree). Students may specialize in any of the areas in which the geography faculty members offer expertise, including but not limited to geographic information science and technology (e.g., remote sensing and geographic information systems), urban geography, cultural geography, biogeography, geomorphology, and environmental planning.

The Department of Geography is a participant in the NMSU Master's Accelerated Program (MAP):

  • Students can take up to 12 hours of graduate level courses in their junior or senior year and get dual course credit that can be applied to both an undergraduate and master's degree.
  • Well-prepared advanced students can substitute graduate courses for required or elective courses in an undergraduate degree program and then subsequently count these same courses as fulfilling graduation requirements in a related graduate program that the institution offers.

Students may also take advantage of expertise in affiliated departments at NMSU such as the departments of Animal and Range Sciences; Anthropology; Agricultural Economics and Agricultural Business; Biology; Civil Engineering; Computer Science; Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Ecology; Geological Sciences; History; or Plant and Environmental Sciences.

Moreover, students may tap into on- or off-campus private and public sector resources like the Jornada Long-Term Ecological Research Program, Water Resources Research Institute, Physical Science Laboratory, Bureau of Land Management, or National Park Service, for example. Our department has good working relationships with all of these units.

In addition, our department supports basic and applied geographic research through lab and field resources. Students have access to various kinds of geospatial analytical software (e.g., ArcGIS, ERDAS IMAGINE, and ENVI) in our contract research laboratory ( Spatial Applications Research Center: SpARC) and computer teaching laboratory. Students may also support their research through our field vehicle and various kinds of field equipment (e.g., GPS units).

For more information on our Graduate Program:

The Department of Geography at NMSU also offers a Graduate Minor in Geographic Information Science & Technology (GIS&T).