Geospatial Science Major

View course descriptions and suggested course sequence.

The Geospatial Science program emphasizes learning about diverse cultures, physical landscapes, and geospatial tools that Expeditionary Air Force officers use. This major offers a diverse and challenging program focusing on contemporary world problems. A flexible curriculum has been carefully designed to permit either an in-depth or cross-disciplinary approach to the study of geospatial science, maximizing a cadet’s ability to design her/her academic program beyond the core disciplinary requirements. Course offerings within the discipline represent an excellent cross-section of the key geospatial science sub-fields including physical, human, and regional geography, as well as state-of-the-art geographic information processing methods such as digital image processing and geographic information systems. Furthermore, cadets who wish to complement their major in Geospatial Science with a foreign language minor will usually be able to achieve both without carrying an overload of academic courses.

The Geospatial Science major provides excellent preparation for any assignment in the Expeditionary Air Force. The major also helps cadets develop international insight and cultural understanding of the battle space. Most Geospatial Science majors use their education as pilots or intelligence officers. Many intelligence officers become Foreign Area Officers.

The goals of the Geospatial Science program are to develop Air Force officers who can:

• Effectively communicate spatial information
• Analyze the Earth’s physical form, processes, and biota
• Synthesize the spatial characteristics, distribution, cultural differences, and interactions of human populations
• Synthesize how relationships between humans and the physical environment impact the battle space
• Solve ill-defined geospatial problems

Cadets who excel in this program are eligible to compete for scholarships to graduate school.  These scholarships include not only the prestigious national scholarships, such as the Rhodes, Fulbright, and Marshall, but the USAFA Graduate Scholarship Program, in which graduates are sponsored by the Air Force Institute of Technology to earn their master’s degree from a civilian institution.