Human Geography with GIS (formerly ENVS 0120) How do geographers study spatial interactions between people and the environment? How does socio-economic status relate to spatial patterns of settlement, social organization, access to resources, and exposure to risks? How can geographic information systems (GIS) help geographers explain these spatial patterns and processes? In this course we will apply GIS to a wide range of topics in human geography including urban, environmental, political, hazards, and health. We will learn how to gather, create, analyze, visualize, and critically interpret geographic data through tutorials, collaborative labs, and independent work that culminate in cartographic layouts of our results.

Human Geography with GIS (formerly GEOG 0120) How do geographers study spatial interactions between people and the environment? How does socio-economic status relate to spatial patterns of settlement, social organization, access to resources, and exposure to risks? How can geographic information systems (GIS) help geographers explain these spatial patterns and processes? In this course we will apply GIS to a wide range of topics in human geography including urban, environmental, political, hazards, and health. We will learn how to gather, create, analyze, visualize, and critically interpret geographic data through tutorials, collaborative labs, and independent work that culminate in cartographic layouts of our results.

Place and Society: Local to Global This course is an introduction to how geographers view the world and contribute to our understanding of it. Where do the phenomena of human experience occur? Why are they there? What is the significance? These questions are fundamental for explaining the world at different scales from the global to the local. Throughout, we will focus on the spatial basis of society, its continual reorganization through time, and how various human and environmental problems can be usefully analyzed from a geographic perspective.

Seminar in Geographies of Climate Change Adaptation and Development Rapid anthropogenic climate change cannot be fully mitigated, requiring humans to adapt to changing climate conditions.  How will developing countries with high sensitivity and few resources manage to adapt to a changing climate?  Geography is uniquely suited to research social dimensions of climate change by integrating human and physical geography in the traditions of hazards, human-environment systems, and political ecology research.  In this seminar we will contrast approaches to three related concepts: resilience, vulnerability, and adaptation.  We will review their use in current academic research and literature, international climate negotiations, and adaptation planning and financing in least developed countries.  We will culminate the seminar with independent research into a particular case of planned climate change adaptation in a least developed country.

Open Geographic Information Science (formerly GEOG 0323) In this course we will study geographic information science (GIS) with open-source software and critical GIS scholarship. In labs, we will practice techniques to include: data acquisition and preparation for analysis, spatial SQL database queries, automating analysis, spatial interpolation, testing sensitivity to error and uncertainty, and data visualization. We will read and apply critical research of GIS as a subject and with GIS as a methodology. Spatial data sources for labs and independent research projects may include remote sensing, micro-data, smart cities and open government data, and volunteered geographic information (e.g. OpenStreetMap and social media).

Data Science Across Disciplines In this course, we will gain exposure to the entire data science pipeline—obtaining and cleaning, large and messy data sets, exploring these data and creating engaging visualizations, and communicating insights from the data in a meaningful manner. During morning sessions, we will learn the tools and techniques required to explore new and exciting data sets. During afternoon sessions, students will work in small groups with one of several faculty members on domain-specific research projects in Biology, Geography, History, Mathematics/Statistics and Sociology. This course will use the R programming language. No prior experience with R is necessary.  BIOL 1230: Students enrolled in Professor Casey’s (Biology) afternoon section will use the tools of data science to investigate the drivers of tick abundance and tick-borne disease risk. To do this students will draw from a nation-wide ecological database.  GEOG 1230: In this section, we will investigate human vulnerability to natural hazards in the United States using location-based text data about hurricane and flood disasters from social media. We will analyze data qualitatively, temporally, and spatially to gain insights into the human experience of previous disasters and disaster response. We will present findings using spatial data visualizations with the aim of informing future disaster preparedness and resilience.  HIST 1230: In U.S. history, racial differences and discrimination have powerfully shaped who benefited from land and farm ownership. How can historians use data to understand the history of race and farming? Students will wrangle county- and state-level data from the U.S. Census of Agriculture from 1840-1912 to create visualizations and apps that allow us to find patterns in the history of race and land, to discover new questions we might not know to ask, and to create tools to better reveal connections between race, land, and farming for a general audience.    STAT 1230: In this course students will dive into the world of data science by focusing on invasive species monitoring data. Early detection is crucial to controlling many invasive species; however, there is a knowledge gap regarding the sampling effort needed to detect the invader early. In this course, we will work with decades of invasive species monitoring data collected across the United States to better understand how environmental variables play a role in the sampling effort required to detect invasive species. Students will gain experience in the entire data science pipeline, but the primary focus will be on data scraping, data visualization, and communication of data-based results to scientists and policymakers.  SOCI 1230:  Do sports fans care about climate change? Can sports communication be used to engage audiences on environmental sustainability? In this section of the course, students will use the tools of data science to examine whether interest in sports is associated with climate change knowledge, attitudes and behaviors, as well as other political opinions. Participants will use survey data to produce visualizations and exploratory analyses about the relationship between sports fandom and attitudes about environmental sustainability.

Human Geography of Hazards Why do storms, earthquakes, and other hazards result in disastrous loss of life in some places, and only minor losses in others?  In this course we will study human geographies of population, economic development, politics, and culture to explain the diverse outcomes from biophysical hazards.  We will compare hazard geographies at the global, regional, and local scales using diverse approaches, including quantitative analysis, geographic information systems (GIS), and comparative case studies.  We will examine how geographic analysis and technologies are used in disaster planning and response.  We will practice applying human geography theory and methods to hazards research through practical exercises, exams, and research projects.

Open Source Geographic Information Science In this course, we will study geographic information science (GIScience) by reproducing published research with open-source geospatial software. We will debate issues in GIScience by applying critical GIS scholarship, fundamentals of spatial data and analysis, and evidence from our reproduction studies. We will practice open GIScience by collaboratively developing research plans, acquiring and describing spatial data, analyzing and visualizing data with SQL and R, and testing for error and uncertainty. Our research products and results will be published with open science standards in public portfolios. We typically investigate research with themes of human-environment interactions, health, hazards, urban development, and more.These research themes require and integrate social/demographic data, environmental data, and big data.

Joseph Holler

Reviews and ratings for Joseph Holler at Middlebury College.Joseph Holler teaches Human Geography with GIS, Place And Society, Geog of Climate & Development and more.  Explore top rated instructors and find the best for you.Is Joseph Holler good ? Find out on MiddCourses.

I think poor Joe Holler had a rough go of it this semester, overstressed, overworked, under-appreciated. My experience is symptomatically steeped in this unfortunate circumstances. He's very sweet, lots of sociopolitically relevant readings (that were otherwise sort of a reach for class). Exams were lowk tricky. Labs were fine. I was a bit bored... 

I enjoyed Joe's teaching style. He employs a flipped-classroom type method that allows for conceptual learning to happen outside of class based on videos he creates and practical demonstration to happen in class. However, I do think that there is some element of you either get it or you don't with GIS that can make this class very difficult if you don't excel with computers/spatial reasoning.

I took this class with professor Kimambo and she did a solid job teaching it. If you are looking to pursue a career that uses GIS on a daily basis, this class is a must. I went from not knowing how to do anything with GIS to being able to use both R and GIS to gather data and make some cool maps with it