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Dawn (MES candidate, Laurier) conducted surveys among anglers in the Yukon.
Carcross Foot Bridge, Yukon Territory. Dawn (MES candidate, Laurier) conducted surveys among anglers in the Yukon. Photo credit: Dawn Adams
Student taking deep sea measurements
Palau. Alan Lim (PhD, Waterloo) took hyperspectral measurements along coral reefs to support remote sensing data. Photo credit: Ellsworth LeDrew
Student describing image on side of UW Jeep to local Kenyans
Kenya. Ryan (PhD candidate, Waterloo) conducted participatory field research among the pastoral Maasai. Photo credit: Ryan Snider
Bright green Northern Lights above log cabin with antlers
Old Crow River, Yukon Territory. Kevin (PhD candidate, Laurier) researches the impacts of climate change on lake water levels. Photo credit: Kevin Turner
Student taking precise measurements in wetlands topography
James Bay. Pete (PhD candidate, Waterloo) researches the impacts of mining-related dewatering on wetlands. Photo credit: Pete Whittington
Student with backpack of supplies hiking on steep mountainside in Chile
Laguna Negra, Chile. Students measured the movement of rock glaciers as part of a field course. Photo credit: Jason Goetz

Welcome from the Director

Thank you for your interest in the Waterloo-Laurier Graduate Program in Geography (W-LPIG). We are a large program, currently comprising 179 graduate students and 42 faculty members. This makes us the second largest graduate geography program in Canada and, in fact, the sixth largest in North America1. The program was created in 1992 from two established graduate geography programs at the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University2. The breadth and depth of expertise in faculty, staff and graduate students this represents creates a rich intellectual environment.

Here, students explore a range of research interests from the analysis of pressing social and environmental problems to theoretical questions of philosophical and technical import. They do this within a wide variety of geography sub-disciplines and often as part of on-going multi-disciplinary projects. Moreover, problem solving from a geographic perspective is particularly useful in this time in our history when changes to, and movements and displacements of, biotic and abiotic systems within the landscape are largely being driven by the global and local impacts of human activity and human induced climatic change.

Please take a few moments to explore some details of our program. To learn more about W-LGPIG I encourage you to contact our faculty, current graduate students or support staff, any of whom would be happy to answer questions, meet with you or arrange a tour. A good starting point for general enquiries is either of our support staff Alan Anthony (UWaterloo) or Jennifer Drowns (Laurier).

Dr. Sanjay Nepal
Professor
Director of Waterloo-Laurier Graduate Program in Geography
snepal@uwaterloo.ca
519-888-4567, ext. 31239

References:

  • 1 American Association of Geographers (AAG), Guide 2010-11.
  • 2 Martin, G. F., "All Possible Worlds: A history of geographical ideas, fourth edition", Oxford University Press, 2005. pp. 294.

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University of Waterloo

Wilfrid Laurier University