International Development
We are a global society. The U.S. economy, culture, health, and environment are intricately connected to almost every other nation on earth. Some connections are readily apparent (global climate change, conflict over limited resources, international trade) others more subtle (e.g., long range atmospheric transport of dust and its potential impact on health thousands of miles away from its source, or the global diffusion of micro-finance and its impact on the quality of life of women in developing countries). Our ability to craft a positive future for the U.S. and humanity in general, depends greatly on an understanding of processes at local, regional, and global scales.
Students interested in international issues will have the opportunity to learn from leading authorities in areas such as the development and political organization in West Africa, health care, pollution, microfinance in India, and land use and land cover change in Ecuador, Thailand, and China. The close ties between The Department of Geography and the University of Iowa’s International Program provides students with opportunities to engage in a broad range of formal and informal learning activities.
Some of the areas of research in International Development at Iowa include:
- Assessing changes in access to health services in developing countries.
- Cultural struggles over human rights in the U.S. and abroad.
- Facilitating access to computer technology in African universities in conjunction with the WiderNet project.
- Grassroots political organizations in Nigeria
- Spatial analysis of health data and access to health services
- Spatial decision support systems for planning services in developing countries.
- Using satellite imagery to monitor land cover change across Africa and in specific locations in China
- Using simulations to study the dynamics of land cover change at frontiers of development in Ecuador and Thailand.
Faculty who do related research include:
