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Undergraduate

Why study spatial sciences at USC?

You can make a real-world difference

Want to fight climate change, foster healthy communities or promote sustainability? You can, as a USC Spatial Sciences student.

Using resources in landscape architecture, geographic information science, geospatial technologies, urban and regional planning, environmental science, and computer and data science, work side-by-side with our world-renowned faculty in real projects that are addressing complex global challenges.

From mapping homelessness in downtown Los Angeles to supporting urban renewal in the Netherlands and China, our students are front-line scholars who win awards, present their research and make positive impacts that improve our quality of life and planetary health.

Join us.

SSI undergraduate programs

Our majors and minors combine well with other majors and minors, such as Environmental Studies, Urban Studies and Planning and Architectural Studies. We have had students integrate their studies with journalism, cognitive science, international relations, health and human behavior, applied data–even music!

Be a researcher on one of the SSI faculty teams that are creating urban forests to promote livability, increasing food and nutrition access and analyzing the impact of the war in Ukraine. Be an intern to explore what it’s like to work in companies, agencies and not-for-profit organizations that are hiring individuals with spatial sciences backgrounds and capabilities.

SSI undergraduate programs

Talk with us about your passions – the spatial sciences can make them realities.

  • B.S. in Geodesign
  • B.S. in Global Geodesign
  • B.S. in Human Security and Geospatial Intelligence
  • Spatial Studies Minor
  • GIS and Sustainability Science Minor
  • Human Security and Geospatial Intelligence Minor

Satisfy your GE requirements

Get a taste of the power of spatial sciences in one of these General Education courses.

  • SSCI 135g: Maps in the Digital World
  • SSCI 165Lgw: Sustainability Science in the City
  • SSCI 175g: Food, Health and Place
  • SSCI 214g: Human Populations and Natural Hazards
  • SSCI 265Lg: The Water Planet

Study abroad with SSCI 350: International Geodesign

Want to help preserve lagoons, wetlands and estuaries along the coast of the Gulf of Guinea in Ghana with geodesign?

Learn about and apply core concepts of geodesign, sustainable development, people and place, urban and landscape planning and geospatial technologies in the 2025 International Geodesign four-week intensive program (May 19 – June 13, 2025) with Professor Guoping Huang of the USC Spatial Sciences Institute.

After a one-week on-campus orientation, you will travel first to Accra, the capital city of Ghana, to learn about the environmental problems facing the coastal communities near the Korle Lagoon and Jamestown with faculty at the University of Ghana, Legon, and local guides. You will then move to Winneba, to work with local foresters and faculty at the University of Education to develop conservation strategies to protect the beautiful Muni Lagoon.

Excursions in Winneba include a visit to slave castles in Cape Coast and to Kakum National Park to observe various wildlife species.

For more information, please email Dr. Huang at [email protected].

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Contact Us

Spatial Sciences Institute

University of Southern California
3616 Trousdale Parkway, AHF B55
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0374
213.740.5910
[email protected]
Hours: Mon-Fri 8:30 am – 5:00 pm

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Undergraduate Programs

Dr. Diana Ter-Ghazaryan
213.821.1190 | [email protected]

Graduate Programs

Dr. Darren M. Ruddell
213.740.0521 | [email protected]

Masters Programs

Dr. Katherine A. Lester
213.821.0672 | [email protected]

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