SPRING 2013
EDITORIAL STAFF Editor: Juliana Hardymon Editorial Assistant: Sam Kay Contributors: Department faculty, staff, students, and alumni Design/Editing: Arts and Sciences Communications Services
The Ohio State University Department of Geography is ranked in the top five of the United States and is internationally renowned. It supports four official concentrations to organize undergraduate majors and graduate studies: Urban, Regional, and Global Studies; GIS and Spatial Analysis; Atmospheric and Climatic Studies; and Environment and Society.
CONTENTS 4
WELCOME FROM THE CHAIR
14 FACULTY GRANTS AND AWARDS
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FACULTY RESEARCH
16 CENTERS
8
DEPARTMENT NEWS
19 STUDENT NEWS
FACULTY HIRES, PROMOTIONS,
22 A LOOK BACK‌
AND APPOINTMENTS
23 GIFTS IN ACTION
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FACULTY RECOGNITIONS
23 IN MEMORIAM
14
FORMER CHAIR NEWS
25 ALUMNI NEWS
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CHAIR WELCOME As you know, the Department of Geography has been very fortunate in its more than 100-year history to enjoy the generous support of our alumni and donors. This was especially so in the past year, when we received an exceptional endowment from geography alumni Robert W. (BS/BA, 1949) and Mary F. (BS/BA, 1950) Reusché. Because of Bob and Mary’s generosity, we have created the department’s first endowed chair: The Bob and Mary Reusché Endowed Chair in GIScience. We are currently conducting an international search to fill this position. Additionally, our alumni’s generosity has allowed us to establish several other endowments, which provide numerous fellowships and scholarships for faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates and that support an exceptionally wide range of research and educational activities. You will read more about these special endowments on page 27.
Dear Friends of Ohio State Geography: One of my greatest pleasures as chair is to share with you some of the exciting things that we are doing in the Department of Geography at Ohio State. Particularly pleasing is re-launching the department newsletter, GeoSpectrum 2.0. This will give you a glimpse of the lives of our students, faculty, staff, and alumni during the past year including, of course, their many accomplishments. The department now consists of 24 faculty members representing the full range of interests of the discipline, giving us a competitive edge to provide an even richer and more comprehensive curriculum to our undergraduate and graduate students. As an indicator of our success, this is significantly above our size historically, an upward trend that began in the early 2000s. Presently, we have 220 undergraduate majors, specializing in geography, atmospheric science, geographic information science, and air transportation studies, a number that is close to our peak. Further, we are in the midst of launching initiatives that should significantly enhance the number of majors, exceeding previous years. At the graduate level, we welcomed another strong class of students last fall, resulting in a graduate program of more than 75 students who come from diverse backgrounds.
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I am pleased to announce that, thanks to the generosity of friends and colleagues, a new endowment has been established in honor of the late S. Earl Brown, who retired in 1989, after 32 years serving as professor in the department and dean of the social and behavioral sciences. This is in recognition of his dedicated service, excellent teaching, and strong relationships with students at all levels. Generous support from generations of alumni and friends has made Ohio State Geography one of the nation’s preeminent departments for both undergraduate and graduate study. We need your continued support to maintain and exceed that achievement. As you will see throughout this GeoSpectrum 2.0, you do indeed make a difference. On behalf of our faculty, staff and students, I extend to you our heartfelt thanks and appreciation for your support of geography. Best wishes to you and your families for a happy, healthy, and productive 2013. Keep in touch!
Daniel Sui Distinguished Professor of Social & Behavioral Sciences and Chair, Department of Geography
FACULTY RESEARCH Graduate student Alfonso Fernandez retrieves climatic data from a datalogger overlooking the Llanganuco Valley in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru.
Each issue of GeoSpectrum 2.0 features an in-depth account of current research that might be of particular interest to our alumni, friends, and current department members. Two such projects are presented here. Please send any comments or inquiries to Juliana Hardymon at hardymon.7@osu. edu. We appreciate and will respond to all feedback or questions.
BRYAN MARK Most of the world’s tropical glaciers are found in a range of the Peruvian Andes known as the Cordillera Blanca, and they are melting fast. Bryan Mark, associate professor of geography, and his research group use an integrated perspective to study the resulting environmental changes throughout the Santa River watershed flowing to the Pacific coast. The internationally collaborative project has involved graduate and undergraduate students, research
geography.osu.edu
staff, postdoctoral researchers, and faculty. Fieldwork and practice have been deliberately integrated so that individuals from different disciplines are sharing time in the field to acquire and assess observations together.
composition, examining historical archives, and conducting interviews of households and key institutional personnel. Some rather surprising results suggest that the short-term increase of water expected as glaciers melt has already occurred, perhaps even decades ago, contrary to previous studies. So while water supplied by these melting glaciers has provided a short-term
Bryan and his team are asking questions such as how much glacier volume has actually been lost, what impact has this had on water resources, and how are local people perceiving and responding to these changes. To answer these questions, Bryan has combined a wide range of interdisciplinary methods, including flying airborne LiDAR surveys to map glacier volume change, constructing hydrochemical mixing models to identify source contributions to stream flow, installing wells in proglacial wetlands to measure groundwater, conducting biogeographic 48 Hour Glacier-Hydro Party! surveys of changing plant
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FACULTY RESEARCH {continued} increase in water available for humans to use, the watershed as a whole has already passed a critical threshold the team has termed “peak water,” meaning future river supplies will decrease to a lower level. At the same time, the demands on the available water in the entire watershed have grown, including massive industrial agricultural irrigation projects. A chronicle of Bryan’s research activities, findings and student involvement can be found at bprc.osu.edu/glacierchange
OLA AHLQVIST Mr. Singh is looking out over his four acres of wheat fields in northern Punjab, India, and wondering if it might be worth using his savings to buy artificial fertilizers again, or if he should join the co-op in his village that plans to invest in pipe irrigation. The last few years have been favorable but you just never know what the monsoon season has in store. His fields are close to the river so the investment is feasible.
to support our family? We just had another child. Chris, a history major, logs off from the GeoGame assignment for his World Regional Geography class. “I’ll decide tomorrow what Mr. Singh (his game character) will do. Maybe I can check some literature and see what might be a good strategy. I think my professor said we’re going to relive the droughts in the 1970s. I could check some weather stats.” Judy (Mrs Chaalai), a business major, leaves a message on the co-op discussion board. “We might have the Singh family join us. Can someone run a new cost analysis for the irrigation system again so we can give them a firm estimate of the costs?” She logs out and continues to an English assignment.
student Jason Elliott wanted to design a new game map for the Days of Wonder board game, “Ticket to Ride” as an independent cartography project using Canada as the backdrop for the game. Ahlqvist and Elliott discussed incorporating realistic aspects into the game so individuals could learn as they played. The two also talked about creating online versions of the game and tapping into online mapping services. Through many iterations, capstone projects, and small seed grants, Ahlqvist and Elliott have developed a first of its kind web application that uses live online maps, with any spatial information from the Internet, as part of a game that is played with multiple participants through a web browser. The game is currently being used in the classroom to help students better understand what the Green Revolution means to farmers on a more personal level. The game has proved to have a dramatic impact on students – for example, test users reported that they become emotionally upset when they learn that one of the children in their virtual family dies because of a drought.
The current prototype is just one game but the software is built to make modifications and development of other He notices that games possible. Although Mrs. Chaalai is out Ahlqvist’s NSF grant from and asks what her the Cyberlearning program family will do. She is focused on how learning Farmers from Athienou, Cyprus play Athienou Agricultural Game Simulareplies that they happens with this type of tion (AAG-SiM), an application of the game developed by Ola Ahlqvist’s have decided to join technology, several students student David Massey. the co-op. Several are investigating other other neighbors have also joined The vignette above describes the applications for online map games, so the cost has gone down a bit, type of educational game that is such as for training mass evacuation but now farmers downstream have currently under development as part skills and understanding farming started to worry about the water of a two-year, NSF-funded research practices. supply. Will all that irrigation turn project led by Ola Ahlqvist, associate the river into a trickle? And now professor of geography. with crop prices getting lower and lower, how are we going to be able Five years ago, then undergraduate
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Atmospheric and Climatic Studies at Ohio State examines atmospheric systems at many spatial and temporal scales. Our leading faculty in climate sciences and physical geography offer strong quantitative understanding of the natural environment’s dynamic processes and patterns, both in the atmosphere and on the Earth’s surface.
DEPARTMENT NEWS GOING BEYOND THE CLASSROOM WALLS Jessica Barnes, graduate teaching associate, is getting ready to reach out and engage with students around the globe as she launches the Department of Geography’s first ever online course this spring. This spring semester, Barnes will be teaching World Regional Geography (Geography 2750) to students on campus and some as far away as Iraq. Barnes has been passionate about distance learning for quite some time now. A native of Woodman, Wisconsin — a rural village of 49 households in southwest Wisconsin — Barnes knows first-hand the need to make education accessible to people outside the boundaries of the traditional campus. “I think of distance learning as emancipatory,” said Barnes. “It offers education to non-traditional learners – it fits their schedule, place, and learning speed.” World Regional Geography will introduce students to basic geographic concepts, such as place, space, regions, globalization, and development, to help them better understand the complexity of world regions in global context. Barnes has “built in” a series of discussion/ community groups to provide the energy and intimacy that one gets from a traditional classroom to allow students to network across space.
Jessica Barnes
What does Barnes hope that students take away from this course when all is said and done?
“By the end of the semester, students will be able to contextualize global happenings, whether environmental, economic, political, social, or a combination of these, and use this knowledge to better understand their place in the world.” So far, 119 students are already signed up to take Barnes’ course – including two students who are deployed in the Middle East and one completing an internship in Florida. For more information on this new online course, check out the geography department website at: geography.osu.edu or contact Jessica Barnes, at barnes.418@osu.edu.
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Brooke Raake, undergraduate advisor.
NEW UNDERGRADUATE ADVISOR Brooke Raake joined the department in September to serve as our undergraduate advisor. She is responsible for advising undergraduate students, serving as the advisor for both the Undergraduate Geography Club and the Meteorology Club, coordinating Geography Awareness Week and National GIS Day, and leading the department’s undergraduate recruitment efforts. “I am very excited to be working in the Department of Geography with some of the most acclaimed faculty, exceptional staff, and extraordinary students at The Ohio State University and around the world,” said Brooke. “My goal as an academic advisor is to assist each student to become a successful researcher, graduate student, or working professional in the field of geography, atmospheric sciences, GIS, spatial analysis, or air transportation. Along the way, I hope to establish relationships with my students that extend beyond academic advising and into personal and professional development.” Raake earned an undergraduate degree in marketing and a master’s degree in higher education and student affairs, both from Ohio State. She brings several years of experience in advising undergraduate students in the Fisher College of Business as well as with Ohio State’s undergraduate admissions and the First Year Experience (FYE) program.
OTHER STAFF NEWS Jens Blegvad spent much of the summer and fall finishing major software and hardware upgrades to the geography department computer labs and servers. He also finished improvements to the network infrastructure in Derby Hall. Blegvad furthermore maintains the department website and Facebook page. Now, he anxiously awaits, more SNOW.
Diane Carducci has started her 15th year in geography as the assistant to the chair. She continues to work with donors and alumni, coordinates speakers’ visits, and assists with course scheduling. You can always find her with a camera to capture the moments at the department’s special events. On a personal note she and her husband will be welcoming their third and fourth grandchildren in 2013! Juliana Hardymon continues to serve as fiscal and human resources officer. She recently assumed responsibilities for editing the department’s newsletter and managing the department’s new visual identity initiative. She recently married and is enjoying her new life with her husband. Colin Kelsey works with prospective and current graduate students within the Department of Geography. He also is charged with maintaining the department’s Facebook page and organizing various departmental events. Personally, he recently got engaged over the Christmas holiday.
NEW SOCIAL SCIENCES AIR TRANSPORTATION MAJOR GETS OFF THE GROUND The College of Arts and Sciences, in collaboration with Ohio State’s Center for Aviation Studies, has launched the new social sciences air transportation major. The core of the new BA program includes an introduction to the transportation industry, the science of physical conditions, aircraft and flight, as well as an introduction to the social, economic, and political considerations that help to explain the regulations and other measures of industry structure. The major features courses from both geography and aviation, which are supplemented by social science electives in communication, economics, international studies, political science, psychology, and sociology. Students will have ready access to both aviation and geography advisors.
Michael Goodchild from UC Santa Barbara leads a VGI workshop at the GIScience conference on September 18, 2012. Apparently, somebody is tweeting it live using her iPhone!
Hong Kong; Douglas Richardson, executive director of the Association of American Geographers (AAG); and Peter K. Bol, the Charles H. Carswell Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University. In addition to lectures and poster sessions presenting basic research findings from across the field of GIS, workshops and tutorials were offered on topics ranging from modern accelerator technologies for GIScience to the role of volunteered geographic information in advancing science. The department hosted a reception at Ohio State’s Faculty Club for conference participants, along with colleagues and former students. The reception was followed by a panel discussion of future directions for the discipline.
JIM DEGRAND RECEIVES OUTSTANDING STAFF AWARD
For more information, please contact Brooke Raake at raake.5@osu.edu.
GISCIENCE 2012 CONFERENCE The Department of Geography co-sponsored the seventh biennial conference on Geographic Information Science in Columbus. Keynote speakers included Noel Cressie, Distinguished Professor of Mathematical and Physical Science and director of the program in spatial statistics and environmental statistics at Ohio State; Jack Dongarra, University Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at University of Tennessee; Helen Couclelis, professor of geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara; Yee Leung, professor of geography and resource management at the Chinese University of
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Jim DeGrand (center) with Dan Sui (left) and Mat Coleman (right)
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DEPARTMENT NEWS {continued} The College of Arts and Sciences awarded Jim DeGrand, systems manager, with the Outstanding Staff Award for 2011 in recognition of his excellence in overall job performance and for enhancing our department. From establishing the Department of Geography’s first computer-based teaching facility to teaching a field course on the use of meteorological instruments and leading research teams in the field, Jim has made a tremendous impact on the department.
Brooke Raake led the GAW/GIS Day programming for 2012, which included an undergraduate Geography Bowl, a forum on Hurricane Sandy: Frankenstorm, a discussion on careers in the local community by a panel of recent alumni working in the field and a keynote lecture by Derek Gregory, Peter Wall Distinguished Professor and Professor of Geography at the University of British Columbia. Visit geography.osu.edu for a recap of Geography Awareness Week/GIS Day 2012 and for results of the Geography Bowl. In 2011, we hosted Jerome (Jerry) Dobson, professor of geography at University of Kansas and President of the American Geographical Society for a presentation on Through the Macroscope: Geography’s View of the World. Other activities included a geocaching treasure hunt, an open house at Byrd Polar Research Center and a Geography and GIS Fair.
Joseph Steinmetz, executive dean and vice provost, College of Arts and Sciences and Jerry Dobson (right) from University of Kansas
GEOGRAPHY AWARENESS WEEK AND GIS DAY Geography Awareness Week (GAW) is held the third week of November and is organized nationally by the National Geographic Education Programs. Similarly, GIS Day is held during GAW to demonstrate appreciation for geospatial technology. Each year a team of faculty, staff, graduate and undergraduate students organizes local GAW/GIS Day programming at Ohio State, including a keynote speaker and events to raise awareness of the field of Geography.
Gary Sharpe meets with Cory Martin (right), recipient of the 2012 Sharpe Scholarship for Outstanding Undergraduates.
GARY SHARPE VISITS DERBY HALL Gary Sharpe (BA, 1970) is founder, chairman, and CEO of Healthcare Logistics, Inc. and established the Sharpe Scholarship Fund in Geography. In June 2012, Gary visited Derby Hall and met faculty, staff, and students, including undergraduate Cory Martin, a 2012 Sharpe scholarship recipient. Gifford Weary, divisional dean, social and behavioral sciences, College of Arts and Sciences,and development director Tammy Parker hosted a lunch for Sharpe at the Faculty Club. Sharpe has stated that his education as a geography major provided him understanding of international issues, transportation, and economic geography that has helped propel his current career.
Winners of the inaugural Geography Bowl: (from left) Jasper Lee, Jarret Greene, Jack Gillespie, Max Bucher, and Nandan Gokhale with Brooke Raake and PhD student James Baginski.
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FACULTY HIRES, PROMOTIONS, AND APPOINTMENTS DEPARTMENT WELCOMES ALVARO MONTENEGRO Alvaro Montenegro, assistant professor of geography, focuses on climate dynamics. He studies land coverclimate interactions, particularly problems related to afforestation and deforestation, using both climate models and satellite data. Alvaro is also interested in paleoclimate modeling, especially problems related to the carbon cycle. “I enjoy problems that require multidisciplinary, collaborative approaches and believe that Ohio State’s Department of Geography offers an ideal setting for this type of work,” Alvaro said. “I am super happy to be here, the department is great, the university is great and my family and I really like Columbus.”
PROMOTIONS Mat Coleman, Desheng Liu, and Mary Thomas were promoted to associate professor effective September 1, 2012. Coleman’s research interests include geopolitics, immigration, and the geography of law. His current research focuses on immigration law and politics, specifically issues related to the U.S.Mexico border, interior immigration enforcement, critical geopolitics, political geography, states and statecraft, geographies of power and resistance.
geography.osu.edu
Liu specializes in remote sensing, spatial statistics, GIScience and land cover change. His research focuses on geospatial data analysis methodologies for monitoring and modeling environmental and ecological processes. Thomas specializes in feminist geography and theory as well as urban social geography. Her research focuses on urban education in the United States, youth and racialization, girlhood and agency, urban space and identity, and subjectivity and space. She holds a joint appointment in geography and the Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies.
MORTON O’KELLY TAKES CHARGE OF CURA Morton O’Kelly, professor of geography, was appointed director of the Center for Urban and Regional Analysis (CURA), effective September 1, 2012. Morton served as the original project leader for the Urban and Regional Analysis Initiative, which was charged with establishing CURA in 2001. Morton has continued to be very involved with CURA, serving as a member of the oversight committee and as chair of the Department of Geography. His extensive knowledge and understanding of the center and
its mission will be instrumental in the continued success of one of Ohio State’s most important centers.
DANIEL SUI TO SERVE ON TWO NATIONAL COMMITTEES Department Chair Daniel Sui has been appointed to an advisory committee of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to explore the applications of geospatial technologies to human rights issues. Sui will be especially concerned with geographic research as it pertains to legal and ethical issues; volunteered geographic information; and ways in which geospatial technologies could be applied in new and innovative ways to the study of human rights. Sui has also been reappointed to serve another three-year term on the National Mapping Science Committee (NMSC) of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council. The committee organizes and oversees National Research Council studies that provide independent advice to society and government at all levels on geospatial science, technology, and policy.
DARLA MUNROE APPOINTED ASSOCIATE EDITOR OF GEOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS In May 2012, Darla Munroe, associate professor, was appointed associate editor for the journal Geographical Analysis, an internationally renowned outlet for theoretical geography, spatial analysis, and modeling.
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FACULTY RECOGNITIONS In his one and only covert operation (code name: “Einstein”) during his first year as chair, Dan Sui (left) joined Bryan Mark (right) on a secret trip to Philadelphia to surprise Ellen Mosley-Thompson and Lonnie Thompson (center), at the 2012 Franklin Institute Awards Ceremony hosted by CBS’ Bob Schieffer.
LONNIE THOMPSON AND ELLEN MOSLEY-THOMPSON WIN THE BENJAMIN FRANKLIN MEDAL Ellen Mosley-Thompson (PhD, 1976), Distinguished University Professor of Geography and director of the Byrd Polar Research Center and her husband, Lonnie Thompson (PhD, geology, 1979), Distinguished University Professor of Earth Sciences, received the 2012 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Earth and Environmental Science from The Franklin Institute. This is among the most prestigious recognitions—an honor previously awarded to scientists such as Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Jane Goodall, and Jacques Cousteau. In addition, both Ellen and Lonnie received the 2012 Arts and Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award for their work on paleoclimatology and climate history.
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KEVIN COX RECOGNIZED BY AAG FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT Kevin R. Cox, Distinguished University Professor, received the Association of American Geographers (AAG) 2012 Lifetime Achievement Honors Award. The AAG Honors Committee recognized Cox for his superlative achievements that have led, defined, and transformed multiple fields within the discipline of geography; and for a career marked by a generosity of spirit in the training of generations of intellectual leadership. Cox has been an internationally recognized scholar in the areas of geography of voting, and behavioral geography, and currently in the politics
of urbanization and globalization. His long and outstanding career also includes exceptional mentoring of students and colleagues. Cox is the author of 13 major books and more than 100 articles and chapters. He has received numerous prestigious recognitions, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and Ohio State’s Distinguished Scholar Award. In 2003, Cox was awarded the title of Ohio State Distinguished University Professor, the university’s highest honor.
MORTON O’KELLY SELECTED AS HUBER FACULTY FELLOW Morton O’Kelly was selected as one of three Social and Behavioral Sciences Joan N. Huber Faculty Fellows for 2012. O’Kelly is recognized nationally as one of the leading transportation geographers in the U.S. His coauthored textbook on transportation
Sara Santiago and Kendra McSweeney
geography is used as a major transportation text in North America. O’Kelly’s dominant research area, in which he is a pioneer, is transportation hub-and-spoke network design, which deals with networks that channel flows between nodes through a set of hubs. Another research focus is spatial interaction, retail location, and trade area analysis. His most recent NSF-funded project focuses on the environmental impact of gateways and hubs in international air transportation. O’Kelly served as chair of the Department of Geography from 2003 to 2011 and associate dean of the social and behavioral sciences from 2000 to 2003. The department has been very successful in the Huber Fellowship competition since its establishment in 1999. Previous fellows from the department include Ellen MosleyThompson (2000), Jeff Rogers (2002), Ed Malecki (2003), and Mei-Po Kwan (2005).
EDWARD MALECKI NAMED MARTHA CORRY FACULTY FELLOW Edward J. Malecki, professor of geography, was selected as the Dr. Martha L. Corry Faculty Fellow in Geography. The fellowship is named in honor of Corry (PhD, 1941), who was in the vanguard of women who pursued a professional career as a geographer at the PhD level. This is the department’s highest recognition for a faculty member.
geography.osu.edu
Malecki specializes in urban, rural, and regional economic development; technological change; regional policy; research and development; technology policy; telecommunications; and corporation location and behavior. In 2007, he was selected as fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), for pioneering research defining technology’s role in economic and regional development, and for distinguished research on the dynamics of local, regional, and national competitiveness.
KENDRA MCSWEENEY RECEIVES DISTINGUISHED UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH MENTOR AWARD Kendra McSweeney, associate professor of geography, received the 2012 Distinguished Undergraduate Research Mentor (DURM) Award for her mentoring of Sara Santiago on Sara’s project, Investigating a Proposed Large Scale Hydroelectric Dam: The Indigenous Response in Rural Honduras. Mentors are nominated by undergraduate students and must demonstrate excellence in teaching and mentorship. Previous recipients from geography include Bryan Mark (2011) and Becky Mansfield (2010).
MARY THOMAS NAMED LAWRENCE A. BROWN FACULTY FELLOW Mary Thomas was named the 2012 Lawrence A. Brown Faculty Fellow, an award given to a junior faculty member in recognition of individual excellence and promise. Thomas joins seven previous Brown Faculty Fellows: Kendra McSweeney (2005), Jason Box (2006), Bryan Mark and Darla Munroe, (2007), Mat Coleman and Ningchuan Xiao (2009), and Desheng Liu (2011). The fellowship is funded by the Lawrence A. Brown Faculty Fellow Fund, established in 2002 with gifts from alumni, faculty and friends of the Department of Geography.
Edward Malecki and Mary Thomas
JOEL WAINWRIGHT RELEASES NEW BOOK Joel Wainwright, associate professor, is the author of a new book, Geopiracy: Oaxaca, Militant Empiricism, and Geographical Thought (Palgrave Pivot), a critique of the Bowman expeditions—a project through which geographers with funding from the U.S. Army are mapping the “human terrain” of foreign lands. Earlier in the year, Wainwright, along with Geoff Mann, associate professor of geography, Simon Fraser University, wrote a paper on the political consequences of the responses to the threats of climate change for Antipode, a radical journal of geography.
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FACULTY GRANTS AND AWARDS OLA AHLQVIST RECEIVES NSF AWARD FOR CYBERLEARNING PROPOSAL
FORMER CHAIR NEWS John Rayner (chair, 1975-1995) resides in Dublin, Ohio, with wife Valerie, of 55 years, and continues to be very much involved in family life. Rayner has little idle time with hobbies of photography, woodworking, gardening, computing (GNU/Linux), and traveling. He has contributed a chapter about his early life to a book about the village in which he grew up and is involved in digitizing thousands of family photographs and documents dating from the early 20th century. Larry Brown (chair, 1995-2003) Brown has primarily been working on issues related to race, ethnicity, housing, and immigrants in the United States. This includes establishing that immigration impacts have shifted away from Gateway cities and states to smaller metropolitan and inland areas; that racial/ethnic intermixing in residential neighborhoods has risen significantly over the past two decades; that gains in the American Dream of home ownership by racial/ethnic minorities varies significantly from place to place, despite government messages that suggest otherwise all of which are now widely accepted but initially were contrarian or contested. In addition to this body of research, new opportunities have arisen that constitute ongoing research. These include a project on community wellbeing and mining in Appalachia and a forward-looking endeavor concerning the City in 2050. The latter has taken Brown to several truly interesting places such as Bratislava, Slovakia; Cologne, Germany; Timisoara and Bucharest, Romania; and RabatCasablanca-Marrakesh, Morocco.
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Ola Ahlqvist, associate professor of geography, received funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support his Cyberlearning research project. The project began October 2011 and represents an interdisciplinary effort led by Ahlqvist to develop cutting-edge learning technologies. This is his second successful NSF grant during the past two years – he was a co-principal investigator for a 2009 NSFfunded project on civil conflict in the Middle East. This Cyberlearning project builds on seed grants he received from ESRI and Ohio State’s Institute for Energy and the Environment.
MAT COLEMAN RECEIVES NSF AWARD Mat Coleman received financial support from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) for his project, The Devolution of Immigration Enforcement in the U.S. South and Its Impact on Newly Established Latino Communities. Coleman is collaborating with Angela Steusse in Department of Anthropology at the University of South Florida for this project.
MORTON O’KELLY RECEIVES NSF FUNDING FOR AIR TRANSPORTATION STUDY Morton O’Kelly received an NSF grant for his research on The Environmental Impact of Gateways and Hubs in International Air Transportation. This is his fifth major NSF award and builds on his earlier groundbreaking work related to air transportation and his hub-and-spoke model, but extends them to the environmental dimension.
Understanding the reciprocal relationships between social and environmental processes is the foundation of the study of Environment & Society. Ohio State Geography is one of a handful of Geography departments across the continent that offers a dedicated undergraduate training in Environment & Society issues.
CENTERS CENTER FOR URBAN AND REGIONAL ANALYSIS (CURA)
Graphic on left shows how passengers travel from Cincinnati(CVG) to Seattle(SEA) via one-stop flights. Many detours are observed.
CURA is an interdisciplinary group of scholars in social and behavioral sciences, physical/environmental sciences, engineering, health/medical sciences, and the humanities who are concerned with critical issues and public policies in urban and regional development and the impact of those issues and policies on the economy, society, environment, and public health. Director Morton O’Kelly’s vision for CURA is as a hub for academic research activities: a place where cutting edge research and tools are deployed for an extensive range of applied interests.
CURA UPDATE! Mapping Urban and Rural Foreclosure Indicators In his research, graduate student Michael Webb added a geographic perspective to the foreclosure rates in different parts of the country focusing on differences between urban and rural rates. “While the post-2007 increase in foreclosures has significantly impacted the U.S. housing market and
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households across the country, ruralurban differences in foreclosure rates have failed to attract significant attention,” said Webb. “To add geographic richness to the foreclosure literature, I am looking at place-based differences in mortgage default rates across Ohio. My paper adopts an innovative methodology that understands poverty as a continuum, and its conclusions relate differences in rural-urban poverty to households’ ability to cope with housing stress.” T100 Airport Traffic Analysis Graduate student Kejing Peng has written an application that provides an overview of current U.S. domestic air passenger traffic (the application is written in Microsoft Silverlight and connects to ESRI ArcGIS for Server map service). It shows the results in detailed maps of the air service accessibility of individual airports (places). The wide range and geographical scope (400+ airports) of the data assure coverage of both large national hubs, as well as many smaller airports in every region.
The idea is to use non-stop service as an ACCESSIBILITY INDEX to develop contrasts between levels of service (e.g. non-stop vs. one- and two-stop service). Such an index provides a simple summary measure of the geographical contrasts between places in the current domestic air passenger transport system. The project will illustrate changes in these results over time and so will produce measures of the changes in air accessibility. It is expected that many interesting features of the system will emerge. By providing a comprehensive panorama for all parts of the U.S., an unusually rich data portrait is given. Each region has individual maps for the airports in that state or territory. The T-100 data set from the Bureau of Transport Statistics provides information of great utility for the domestic and international connections from and to the U.S. It also provides a highly detailed view of both passenger and freight flows.
BYRD POLAR RESEARCH CENTER The Ohio State University Byrd Polar Research Center (BPRC) is recognized internationally as a leader in polar and alpine research. Work of scientists from the Department of Geography and the School of Earth Sciences, as well as in-house researchers in 10 research groups and support teams is conducted worldwide, focusing on the role of cold regions in the Earth’s overall climate system. The center houses one of the most impressive “libraries” of the Earth’s climate history and the second largest archive of prehistoric ice core samples in the world. Ellen Mosley-Thompson, Distinguished University Professor of Geography, and director of the center, is considered one of the world’s leading experts on paleoclimatology, the study of ancient climates. She has led nine expeditions to Antarctica and six to Greenland to retrieve ice cores. Research Groups and Support Teams of BPRC: Remote Sensing, Glacier Environmental Change, Polar Meterology, Ice Core Paleoclimatology, Paleoceanography, Glacier Dynamics, Sea Level Change, Satellite Hydrology, Geological Sciences
BRYD POLAR UPDATE! Bryd Polar’s David Bromwich (professor, geography) and Julien Nicolas (graduate research associate, atmospheric sciences) are part of an international team of 47 scientists
who invested over a year’s time analyzing the state of the polar ice sheets. Their conclusions, published in the journal Science, show accelerating mass loss from Greenland and Antarctica since 1992. In parallel to this effort, David Bromwich, Julien Nicolas, and Aaron Wilson (graduate research associate, atmospheric sciences) also focused their attention on atmospheric temperature changes above West Antarctica, the region primarily responsible for Antarctic mass loss. They set out to reconstruct the only temperature record available from West Antarctica, namely from Byrd Station, a dataset that starts in the 1950s but is unfortunately riddled with gaps. Thanks to atmospheric model data and a good deal of detective work, they completed this reconstruction and presented their analysis in Nature Geoscience. They found that Byrd Station has been warming in recent decades much more rapidly than previously thought; it is among the fastest warming places on Earth! In addition, this temperature increase was believed to be limited to the cold seasons, but Bromwich’s study shows that it is also present in summer. This finding has significant implications for the future of the ice sheet: continued summer warming in the near-future would lead to more frequent and extensive melting at the surface, which would in turn accelerate the mass loss from West Antarctica even further.
Changes in global sea level due to ice sheet melting since 1992 (foreground). Background image shows thickening (blue) and thinning (red) of the Antarctic ice sheet over the same period. Credit: ESA/NASA/Planetary Visions.
Our experts in the field of GIS and Spatial Analysis produce cutting edge research based in quantitative and qualitative analysis of our world using digital mapping, satellite imagery, spatial data analysis and statistics, graphics software, and geographic information systems (GIS).
STUDENT NEWS GRADUATE LAUREN HINES RECEIVES NUESTRA FAMILIA AWARD Lauren Hines was recognized by the Ohio Commission on Hispanic/Latino Affairs (OCHLA) with the 2011 Nuestra Familia “Our Family” Award. This honor is based on her work with the Latino community in Columbus throughout the years. JOHNATHAN RUSH AWARDED NEH FELLOWSHIP Johnathan Rush was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) fellowship to support his participation in the two-week program, Advanced Institute on Spatial Narratives and Deep Maps. OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS GRANT RECIPIENTS
Zoe Pearson; Lili Wang; Rae Choi
Three graduate students each received research awards from the Office of International Affairs: Zoe Pearson for her research on Coca Geopolitics in Bolivia; Lili Wang for her research into the transformation of urban planning in China; and Rae Choi for her doctoral research on land reclamation, marine conservation, and the marine economy in China. SCOTT STUCKMAN RECEIVES GRADUATE TEACHING ASSOCIATE AWARD Scott Stuckman received the 20112012 University Graduate Associate Teaching Award (GATA), Ohio State’s highest recognition of the exceptional teaching provided by graduate students. From a student’s recommendation letter: “[Scott] explained and re-explained concepts through discussion, examples, and drawings on the whiteboard. He kept explaining until he was sure we had all reached full understanding, even if that meant coming early, staying late, or meeting on another day.”
geography.osu.edu
SAYONI BOSE RECEIVES FUNDING FROM MERSHON CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL SECURITY STUDIES Sayoni Bose was awarded a grant from Ohio State’s Mershon Center for International Security Studies to carry out her work on the resurgence of Naxalism, a once-obscured peasant communist movement, in contemporary India that threatens the legitimacy of the Indian state. Sayoni also received an honorary grant for this research from Office of International Affairs. ROBERT KLEIN SELECTED FOR U.S. HHS INTERNSHIP Robert Klein was selected as a summer 2012 intern at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in Woodlawn, Maryland, where he analyzed health care provider costs and Medicare charges. This internship strengthened Klein’s growing expertise on America’s elderly population and its interface with the medical care system. ZOE PEARSON RECEIVES NIETSCHMANN FIELD STUDY AWARD Zoe Pearson was awarded a Bernard Nietschmann Field Study Award from the Conference for Latin Americanist Geographers (CLAG), a specialty group of the Association of American Geographers. Out of a large applicant pool, Zoe was only one of three PhD students nationwide to receive this award. This award allowed her to conduct preliminary dissertation research in Bolivia. FENBURR GRADUATE TRAVEL SCHOLARSHIP AWARDEES Graduate students Jessica Barnes, Nick Crane, Stacy Porter, Michael Webb, Oliver Wigmore, and Fang Zhang each received a Fenburr travel scholarship to support travel associated with professional development and research. The Fenburr Graduate Travel Scholarship is supported by the Late Herbert and Dorothy Joseph Fenburr’s Scholarship Endowment Fund for Geography.
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STUDENT NEWS {continued} RAYNER FELLOWSHIPS FOR GRADUATE FIELDWORK Christine Biermann, Justine Law, Scott Reinemann, and Brian Williams each received a Rayner Fellowship to support their fieldwork. The Rayner fellowship is supported through the John N. Rayner Alumni, Faculty, and Friends of Geography Fund and named for the former Chair here. PETER CHEN DESIGNATED ROBERT MAX THOMAS GRADUATE FELLOW
Graduate students remove invasive species from Clifton Gorge State Nature Preserve as part of a GGO Service Day
Peter Chen and Kendra McSweeney
The GGO hosted its fourth annual panel discussion focused on immigration with leaders of central Ohio immigrant groups coming together to share their experiences. In addition, the organization led a service day to remove invasive species at Clifton Gorge State Nature Preserve. A second service day took place at the Furniture Bank of Central Ohio, where students built furniture for individuals transitioning out of homelessness. For more information, go to geography.osu.edu
UNDERGRADUATE Peter Chen was awarded a Robert Max Thomas Graduate Fellowship for the 2012-2013 academic year. The Robert Max Thomas Graduate Fellowship is supported from the estate of Ohio State alumni and recognizes graduate student excellence. XIAOLIN ZHU RECEIVES E. WILLARD AND RUBY S. MILLER FELLOWSHIP Xiaolin Zhu received the E. Willard and Ruby S. Miller Fellowship for 2012-2013 in recognition of his potential to make a major contribution to geography, particularly through scholarly writing. The E. Willard and Ruby S. Miller Fellowship is supported through a fund from the estate of the Millers. NEWS FROM THE GEOGRAPHY GRADUATE ORGANIZATION The Geography Graduate Organization (GGO) is the university-sponsored organization for graduate students in geography and atmospheric sciences. The GGO recently worked with the faculty to develop a mentoring program where faculty members observe courses taught by graduate students and provide useful feedback to guide graduate students toward more effective teaching.
20 Geography
SHARPE SCHOLARSHIP FOR OUTSTANDING UNDERGRADUATES Joseph Duffy, Cory Martin, Susan Walden, and Zoe Tseng were selected to receive the Sharpe Scholarship for Outstanding Undergraduates based on their excellence in the classroom. This scholarship provides funds for undergraduate students majoring in geography with preference given to students from the state of Ohio and was established in 2010 with funds from the Gary L. Sharpe Scholarship Fund in Geography. FENBURR SCHOLARSHIP FOR WOMEN AND UNDERREPRESENTED GROUPS Christie Lightfritz, Maegan Miller, and Casey Slive each received a Fenburr Undergraduate Scholarship for Women and Underrepresented groups. With a focus on professional development, these students were chosen not only for their excellence in the classroom, but also the range of other activities in which they participate, such as internships, research, volunteering, activism, and activity in extracurricular organizations. The scholarship was established with funds from the Herbert and Dorothy Joseph Fenburr Scholarship Endowment Fund for Geography, which was established in 2002.
PAUL SOLTESZ RECEIVES TAAFFE AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING UNDERGRADUATES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE AND CLIMATE AND PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
1957 by a gift from Helen Hughes Huntington in the memory of her husband. CARLY FRAZIER RECEIVES ROBINSON AWARD
Paul Soltesz received the Taaffe Award for Outstanding Undergraduates in Atmospheric Science, and Climate and Physical Geography. Paul completed an honors thesis on MidHolocene Aridity in Central Ohio and presented his research at the national meeting of the Association of American Geographers. This award was established with funds from the Edward J. “Ned” Taaffe Memorial Fund in Geography, established in 2003.
Carly Frazier received the 2012 Robinson Award for GIScience and Spatial Analysis. She has worked extensively with the Appalachian Ohio Forest Research Group and is conducting independent research on immigration policy. The Robinson Award was established with funds from the Arthur H. Robinson Fund, established in 1985, based on an initial gift from Arthur Robinson in 1947. METEOROLOGY CLUB The Meteorology Club at The Ohio State University was founded in 1996. The purpose of the club is to bring together meteorology students and help them build professional networks, serve the community, and form friendships with other students who are interested in studying weather and climate.
Becky Mansfield with Christie Lightfritz, Maegan Miller, Casey Slive
STUDENTS RECEIVE HUNTINGTON AWARD IN ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY AND URBAN, REGIONAL AND GLOBAL STUDIES
This past year, the Meteorology Club participated in COSI Wild Weather Day at the Center of Science and Industry in downtown Columbus. The club also hosted the 16th Annual Severe Weather Symposium on March 2, 2012, at the Fawcett Center on campus. This event brought in almost 200 people and featured prestigious speakers with highly varied backgrounds in the field of meteorology.
Meredeth Krueger, Sara Santiago, and Emily Nosse-Leirer each received the prestigious 2012 Huntington Award in Environment and Society and Urban, Regional and Global Studies. The Huntington Award is the highest honor given to an undergraduate geography major. Meredith Krueger double-majored in geography and economics and completed an honors thesis on Sociospatial and Economic Factors Underlying Labor Compensation in Ohio Milk Production. Sara Santiago completed an honors thesis requiring international fieldwork on Investigating a Proposed Large Scale Hydroelectric Dam: The indigenous Response in Rural Honduras. Emily Nosse-Leirer is an Ohio State Presidential Scholar and is enrolled in a combined BA/MA program in geography. For the master’s component of her program, she is conducting research on urban development in New Orleans. The Huntington Award was established with funds from the Charles Clifford Huntington Memorial Fund, established in
geography.osu.edu
Jay Hobgood (center) with Meteorology Club students in front of Derby Hall
The speakers included Dan McCarthy of the National Weather Service, Jim Noel of the Ohio River Forecast Center, Ariel Cohen of the Storm Prediction Center, Alan Gerard of the National Weather Service, Mississippi, Andre Bernier of WJW-TV Fox 8 in Cleveland, Ohio, Captain Bob Maxson of the Aviation Weather Center, Dr. John G.W. Kelley of the NOAA/National Ocean Service, Eric Wilhelm of AccuWeather, and Gary Garnet of the National Weather Service in Cleveland, Ohio.
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STUDENT NEWS {continued} The students of the Meteorology Club are very proud of their accomplishments and hope to continue to offer exceptional opportunities for the club’s members and everyone involved with the organization. For more information on the Meteorology Club at The Ohio State University, please visit the club’s website at geography.osu.edu/metclub
The Undergraduate Geography Club’s website is currently under construction, but you can learn more about this organization by visiting the club’s Facebook page.
UNDERGRADUATE GEOGRAPHY CLUB
BA/MA student Emily Nosse-Leirer and alumnus Hudson McFann (BA, geography, 2010) were part of a youth delegation attending the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, during the Rio+20 Conference on June 22, 2012. They are pictured here with Secretary of State Hilary Clinton.
With a strong team of dedicated student leaders at the helm, the newly redesigned Undergraduate Geography Club hopes to incorporate both academic and applied aspects of geography into all the events and meetings they host this year. The club’s focus is on community building, not only within the Department of Geography, but with students and student organizations throughout the Ohio State community that share a common interest in issues within human, social, and environmental geography. Additionally, the club hopes to develop community outreach and volunteer opportunities and host multiple academic and professional development events throughout the upcoming academic year.
UNDERGRADUATE EMILY NOSSE-LEIRER AND ALUMNUS HUDSON MCFANN
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with all U.S. youth who attended the
A LOOK BACK…
Rio+20 conference in Brazil.
Ohio State; and Sarah Elwood, professor of geography at the University of Washington. For details on upcoming colloquia, please visit geography.osu.edu The Colloquium Series is made possible in part by generous contributions through the Department of Geography’s Edward J. ‘Ned’ Taaffe Memorial Fund, the Arthur H. Robinson Fund, and the John E. Nelson Colloquium Endowed Fund. ANNUAL AWARDS CEREMONY Dan Sui, Jeremy Crampton, Mat Coleman
COLLOQUIUM SERIES The Department of Geography presents an annual colloquium series featuring researchers and scholars from around the world sharing their passion and expertise in the field of geography with the Ohio State community. Previous colloquia have focused on issues ranging from the Arctic’s shrinking ice cover and geovisual analytics to philanthrocapitalism and automated post-positivism. The colloquium series continued in 2012-2013 with Morgan Robertson, assistant professor of geography at University of Kentucky; Mythelli Sreenivas, associate professor of history at
22 Geography
The academic year culminated in June with the annual departmental awards ceremony held at the Cartoon Room in the new Ohio Union. All department members as well as alumni, family, and friends were invited to attend for an evening recognizing geographers’ achievements over the past year. The ceremony began with faculty, staff, and students singing Carmen Ohio, followed by Chair Dan Sui’s address to the attendees highlighting the major points of pride from the past year. Graduate Studies Committee Chair Kendra McSweeney announced awards given to exceptional graduate students, Undergraduate Studies Chair Becky Mansfield delivered awards to outstanding undergraduate students, and Personnel Committee Chair Ed Malecki presented the L.A. Brown Faculty Fellowship Award.
IN MEMORIAM S. EARL BROWN (1923 – 2012)
JOHN NELSON (1920 – 2012)
Brown joined our department in 1957, and carried out research in both industrial location and the geography of Europe, with publications on such topics as freight rate analysis, the impact of Industrial location on community development, and the regionalization of Poland. Through his courses in topical and regional specialties and his work in introductory geography courses, he was nominated for teaching honors on numerous occasions, and in 1967, earned the university’s prestigious Distinguished Teaching Award.
John Nelson (BA 1948, MA 1950) was a loyal supporter of Ohio State and the Department of Geography. After graduating from Ohio State, Nelson taught for a year at University of New Hampshire and then pursued a doctorate at University of Pennsylvania. He later accepted a position with Matlack Trucking of Philadelphia. Nelson climbed the ranks and assumed presidency of the organization in 1976. In 1997 he established the John E. Nelson Colloquium Endowment Fund, which has supported the now well-established visiting speakers program in the Department.
His interest in geographic education included efforts at building the discipline at the pre-collegiate level, best seen in his directorship, in the mid-1960s, of the NDEA Institute for Geography Teachers, and his very active role in the National Council for Geographic Education, serving on its Executive Board and on many of its most important committees. Within the university Brown was best known for his outstanding service record. He was active in university governance at all levels, most notably in his association with the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, serving as assistant dean for a decade. In 1978 he was appointed dean and served a five-year term.
John visited the department several times to attend the colloquia series and meet faculty and students. He is remembered as a generous, entertaining, and kind individual and will be missed.
GIFTS IN ACTION
Based on all of his outstanding service, Brown was recognized by his alma mater West Chester College in 1983 for a Distinguished Alumni Award. He continued to be an active citizen of our department even after his retirement. He was a generous donor to various department endowment funds. Words cannot convey adequately the sincere thanks and appreciation that the department extends to Brown for all his work and dedication to Ohio State Department of Geography.
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BOB REUSCHÉ (1927 – 2011)
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Bob Reusché (BS/BA, 1949) was an avid supporter of all areas of Ohio State, including the Department of Geography. Reusché served as a board member of the University Foundation, a member of the College of Arts and Sciences Advisory Board, and founding member of the Humanities Dean’s Advisory Committee. Reusché and his wife Mary (BS/ BA 1950) created the Robert and Mary Reusché Humanities Scholar Endowed Scholarship Fund, the Robert and Mary Reusché Scholarships for Study Abroad, and the Robert and Mary Reusché Chair Fund in Geography. Reusché visited the department many times and was a featured speaker at our Centennial Celebration in May 2009. He and Mary enjoyed meeting with our students to learn about their research and field of study within geography. He was a warm and generous person and will be missed.
geography.osu.edu
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Michael Webb traveled to San Juan to present Let’s Jazz it Up: Practices of Historic Black Neighborhood Promotion at the Annual Race, Ethnicity and Place Conference. Stacy Porter presented The influence of Pacific variability on North Atlantic climate as recorded in Greenland and Alaskan ice cores, at the Graduate Climate Conference at the University of Washington. Fang Zhang traveled to the NASA Wise center in Virginia to conduct research on remote sensing technology as well
as on hydrology and social vulnerability models to simulate and assess the flooding risk in Mexico City. •
Oliver Wigmore headed to Austria to attend the International School on Mountain Ecology and Global Change.
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Christine Biermann traveled to West Virginia and North Carolina to visit the chestnut restoration farms for her dissertation research.
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Brian Williams visited Georgia and Alabama to interview local residents and conduct archival research for his Master’s thesis.
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Urban, Regional & Global Studies focuses on the spatial differentiation and organization of political, social, cultural and economic activity. We tackle real-world problems and theoretical issues familiar to political scientists, sociologists, economists, urban planners, and anthropologists – but from a geographic perspective.
ALUMNI NEWS John Agnew (PhD, 1976) is serving as a Phi Beta Kappa (PBK) Visiting Scholar this academic year, traveling to nine different colleges and universities to give public lectures and participate in classes, and signed on as editor-in-chief of the new journal Territory, Politics, Governance, which will publish its first issues in 2013. Meanwhile, he continues to teach undergraduate courses in political and economic geography and a cross-listed (with Italian) graduate course at UCLA. Agnew hopes that Ohio State geography faculty and graduate students will become active contributors to Territory, Politics, Governance and keep up the tradition established by Kevin Cox and continued by other current Ohio State faculty such as Mat Coleman of publishing theoretically informed empirical work in political geography of the highest quality.
Marilyn A. Brown (PhD, 1977) is endowed professor in the School of Public Policy at Georgia Institute of Technology where she created the Climate and Energy Policy Laboratory. In 2010, following her nomination by President
Barack Obama, she was sworn into the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation’s largest public power provider. Brown has written a textbook on Climate Change and Global Energy Security: Technology and Policy Options; co-edited a book on Energy and American Society: Thirteen Myths; and authored more than 250 other publications. She is a national leader in the analysis and interpretation of energy futures in the United States, and is a member of the National Academies’ Board of Energy and Environmental Systems and an Editorial Board Member for the Journal of Energy Efficiency.
Dave Cowen (PhD, 1971) retired from the University of South Carolina in 2008 following a 38-year career that included positions as department chair, director of the college computing center, and interim vice president of computing. In his retirement he has continued to be extremely active. He has served on the National Geospatial Advisory committee for the past five years and served as chairman of the committee for the last two.
Cowen continues to be a strong advocate for a national perspective on parcel data. Over the past three years, he has helped to prepare six reports on state of the art technical issues (mobile computing, change detection etc.) for the Geography Division of the Census Bureau. He also received the 2012 Robert T. Aangeenbrug Distinguished Career Award sponsored by the AAG Geographic Information Science and Systems Specialty Group and was named a fellow of the University Consortium on Geographic Information Science. Robert G. Cromley (PhD, 1978; MA, 1975: BA, 1972) is a professor of geography at the University of Connecticut. He published the book Digital Cartography and has authored over one hundred refereed journal articles. His research interests include economic geography, analytical cartography, and spatial analysis. Cromley’s recent publications focus on the use of different forms of local regression and local statistical analysis in analyzing spatial problems as well as scale and representation issues in location-allocation modeling.
Pictured (from left): John Agnew, Marilyn A. Brown, and Dave Cowen
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Pictured (from left): Robert G. Cromley, Kevin Grove, Victoria Lawson, and Hazel Morrow-Jones
ALUMNI NEWS {continued} Kevin Grove (PhD, 2011) is a lecturer in human geography at Aberystwyth University in Aberystwyth, Wales, where he teaches undergraduate courses on political geography, sustainable development, and geohazards as well as a postgraduate course on geographic thought. Grove is also assisting with the development of a new master’s degree program and advising third-year dissertations and postgraduate theses. His recent publications include a manuscript in the April 2012 issue of Security Dialogue and a paper in press at the Annals of the Association of American Geographers.
John Paul Jones III (PhD, 1984) is professor of geography and development at the University of Arizona. After serving as Director for the School of Geography & Development for seven years, Jones was appointed as Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Arizona. Under his leadership, the College of SBS – The People College – has raised more than $13 million. He advocates interdisciplinary education
26 Geography
and believes that public, land-grand institutions have a responsibility to share their research findings and expertise with the broader community through education and outreach. Jones serves as co-editor of Dialogues in Human Geography and as editor of Contemporary Introductions to Geography Series. His most recent research includes examinations of the globalization of the civil society sector in Oaxaca, Mexico; the socio-political foundations of mosquito management in southern Arizona; and the coproductions of scientists and artists in areas of climate change, geovisualization, and bioart. Victoria Lawson (PhD, 1986) is co-founder of the Relational Poverty Network, a collaborative network intended to complement and extend mainstream poverty analysis through its combined focus on material relations, systems of rules that include and exclude, as well as on how meanings and social boundaries unite or separate the poor and non-poor. Within the network, Lawson’s empirical
focus is the Middle Class Poverty Politics project, which theorizes how middle class identities and poverty politics are reconfigured through spatial encounters with poverty. The team’s larger goal is to posit a spatial conceptualization of how class difference and poverty are reworked and to articulate a geographical research agenda for poverty analysis. She is past-president of the Association of American Geographers (AAG), former chair of the Department of Geography at the University of Washington and Editor of Progress in Human Geography. Hudson McFann (BA, 2010) and Emily NosseLeirer, a BA/MA student in geography, were part of a youth delegation attending the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, during the Rio+20 Conference on June 22, 2012. Hazel Morrow-Jones (PhD, 1980) has been Ohio State’s associate provost for women’s policy initiatives and director of The Women’s Place, Ohio State’s women’s
policy office since January 2010. The Women’s Place’s current strategic focuses are on leadership, women of color, mid-career faculty and improving the environment for women faculty and staff.
Bae-Gyoon Park (PhD, 2001) is associate professor of geography education in the College of Education at Seoul National University in Korea. He is a coeditor of Territory, Politics, Governance; a member of the editorial boards of Political Geography, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, and Geography Compass; and the chair of the Academic Research Committee of Korean Association of Space and Environment Research. Park is exploring the variegated and multi-scalar processes of the East Asian capitalist development. In
particular, he is trying to reconceptualize the East Asian developmental state with a focus on the sub-national and transnational forces and processes and their interactions with the national forces and processes.
Jessie P.H. Poon (PhD, 1992) joined the University of Buffalo-SUNY in 1998 where she is professor of geography. She became the first female editor of the regional science journal Papers in Regional Science in 2002. Poon has continued to serve the discipline and was recently appointed as editor of Environment and Planning A.
Marilyn Raphael (PhD, 1990) is professor and chair of the Department of Geography at UCLA. Her research focuses on Southern Hemisphere climate dynamics. More specifically she looks at the relationships between the large scale atmospheric circulation and Antarctic Sea ice variability. This is critical to our understanding of Antarctic Sea ice response to global change. She is also co-chair of the expert group ASPeCt ( Antarctic Sea ice Processes and Climate) which now works to facilitate cooperation among modeling and observational groups with the aim of developing databases and
metrics to inform climate models. Raphael recently visited the South Pole as a member of a committee commissioned to produce the National Academy of Science report Future Science Opportunities in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. Rickie Sanders (PhD, 1980) is professor of geography/ urban studies and former director of women’s studies at Temple University. During her tenure at Temple University she has served as both graduate chair and chair of her department; she was also a fellow at the Center for the Humanities at Temple. Rickie has received numerous awards and honors from national organizations and from Temple University, including the Gilbert Grosvenor Award for Outstanding Teaching, the Eleanor Hofkin Award for Outstanding Teaching from the College of Liberal Arts/Temple University; and the Distinguished Teaching Award from the National Council for Geographic Education. Under her directorship, the Finding A Way Project received the Eleanor Roosevelt Fund Award Special Commendation from the American Association of University Women. In addition, Sanders recently received the AAG Enhancing Diversity Award.
Shih-Lung Shaw (PhD, 1986) is professor of geography at the University of Tennessee and served as department head a few years ago. His recent research has focused on extending time geography for the modern world with information and communications technologies (ICT) that lead to increasing human activities and interactions in a hybrid physical-virtual space. Shaw also has been working on developing a space-time GIS that can better integrate spatial, temporal, and other data in support of space-time analysis and visualization. He was recently awarded a five-year major research grant by the National Natural Science Foundation of China to pursue a study of spatiotemporal urban activity patterns using tracking data.
Information Science, IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, Transportation Research Record and Transactions in GIS. She also co-founded the Regional Economics and Spatial Modeling (REASM) laboratory.
Daoqin Tong (PhD, 2007) is an assistant professor in the School of Geography and Development at University of Arizona. Her research has been primarily focusing on GIS and spatial analytical methods with applications in service facility siting and transportation. Tong has published over 20 articles in a number of peer-reviewed journals, including Annals of Association of American Geographers, Geographical Analysis, International Journal of Geographical
Pictured (from left): Jessie P.H. Poon, Marilyn Raphael, Rickie Sanders, Chrissy and Shih-Lung Shaw, and Daoqin Tong
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DONOR FUNDS DEPARMENTAL FUNDS Geography Discretionary Fund
303607
Provides support for undergraduate and faculty recruiting and to supplement endowments in the department
The Edward J. Taaffe Memorial Fund in Geography
607104
To support the Edward J. Taaffe Colloquium Series
The John E. Nelson Colloquium Endowed Fund
645130
To support the visiting speakers program in Department of Geography
STUDENT FUNDS Geography Graduate Student Support
312979
John N. Rayner Alumni, Faculty and Friends of Geography Fund
602493
Charles Clifford Huntington Memorial Fund
603342
To provide support for graduate students
To provide scholarships and prizes in the Department of Geography
To award an outstanding student in geography
FACULTY FUNDS The Lawrence A. Brown Faculty Fellow Fund
642475
To provide an assistant or associate professor with a one-year designation as a Lawrence A. Brown Faculty Fellow
The Bob and Mary ReuschĂŠ Chair in Geography
666036
To support a chair position in the Department of Geography
For a complete list of student, faculty, and departmental funds, please visit: geography.osu.edu/support-us
Dear Alumni and Friends, Please consider a gift or donation to the Department of Geography. Each and every gift makes a tangible difference in the lives of our students and faculty. All gifts are tax deductible as permitted by law.) YES, I WANT TO SUPPORT The Department of Geography(fund # (see reverse side) through an annual pledge of: $2,500* $1,000 $500 Other $ for years *presidents club
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Mail to: Juliana Hardymon Department of Geography The Ohio State University 1036 Derby Hall 154 North Oval Mall Columbus, OH 43210-1208
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: Tammy Parker, Director of Development parker.465@osu.edu (614) 688-5660
DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY 1036 Derby Hall 154 North Oval Mall Columbus, OH 43210-1361
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