The Department of Geography and Planning has five state-of-the-art laboratories.
GIS Teaching Lab
We have one teaching lab with fifteen student computers and a teaching station. The teaching lab also has a projection system to better facilitate instruction. Computers in the lab are linked to the Buffalo State computer network and are loaded with ESRI Geographic Information System (GIS) software, including ArcMap, ArcInfo, and ArcView. The teaching lab is used to teach a variety of courses ranging from basic computing (GEG 199) to GIS (GEG 425) and statistics (GEG 390).
Water Quality Lab
The second lab in the Department is a water quality lab that is used for instruction and research. The water quality lab includes colorimeters and numerous meters and kits to analyze a suite of metals, nutrients, bacteria and conventional parameters. The department also maintains a groundwater monitoring well on campus that is used for class instruction and student research projects.
Meteorology Lab
The third lab in the Department is a meteorology lab that is used for instruction, weather forecasting, and research. The meteorology lab includes six computers, which can be used as individual stations or used together as a forecasting ensemble. The meteorology lab is directly linked to the college weather station. Computers in the lab are loaded with ESRI GIS software, as well as with specialized state-of-the-art software applications for weather monitoring, forecasting, and broadcasting. The meteorology lab houses a micro-balance and meteorology-related equipment. Bench space is available for experimental work.
Bahamas Research Lab
In partnership with the Gerace Research Center (The College of the Bahamas), the Department of Geography and Planning also helps maintain an equipped lab on the Island of San Salvador, Bahamas. This lab is used for our Bahamas Field Experience course, as well as by faculty and students conducting research on the island. San Salvador is the island on which Christopher Columbus first made landfall in the New World. The island and lab offers our students an opportunity to study numerous physical geography topics (e.g. off-shore environments, beaches, surveying and mapping, dunes, karst and caves, vegetation patterns), as well as the geography of human settlement (e.g. original aboriginal peoples, slavery, plantations, island culture) in a tropical environment. Funding for the lab is provided through the College, by the SUNY Research Foundation.
Student Lab
Our fifth lab is a student computer lab that has nine computers. The student lab provides a place where Geography and Planning majors can complete assignments and work on projects. Computers in this lab are also linked to the Buffalo State computer network and are loaded with ESRI GIS software. The Department has two color laser printers, a wide-body plotter, and a large-format scanner.
