AAG Workshops 2013

Online field trip and workshop registration for the AAG 2013 Annual Meeting is now closed. On-site registration will be located in the Second Level Foyer of the Westin Bonavanture during the following hours:

Monday, April 8

1. Plant Macrofossil Identification Workshop/Tour of UCLA Campus, Botanical Gardens and Herbarium
Monday, April 8, 8:30am – 5:30pm
Organizer/Instructors: Catherine H. Yansa, Michigan State University, Glen MacDonald, UCLA
Capacity: 20
Cost/person: $48 (includes bus transportation, donation to Specialty Group)
Room: UCLA Campus
Organized by the Paleoenvironmental Change Specialty Group
Participants of this workshop will learn the basics of plant macrofossil identification and be able to view and identify fossil specimens (including their own, if so wished) under microscopes in a class room on the UCLA campus. During the extended lunch break (noon to 1:30 pm) participants will purchase lunch nearby (at their own expense) and then be guided on a tour of the campus, herbarium and botanical gardens (weather permitting, if not then a visit to a nearby museum). The workshop will run from 10 am to noon and resume at 1:30 and last until 4:00 pm. Transportation to and from the main conference hotel will be provided, with pick up at 8:30 am and drop off at about 5:30 pm.

Tuesday, April 9

2. Earth Observation Time Series Analysis using the Earth Trends Modeler
Tuesday, April 9, 8:00am - 12:00pm
Organizer/Instructor: Ron Eastman, Clark Labs
Capacity: 40
Cost/person: $5 TBC
Room: Santa Anita A

Over the past 30 years a large number of Earth Observation platforms, instruments and products have been developed, resulting in a rapidly expanding archive of image time series. This workshop explores the analysis of these data using the Earth Trends Modeler (ETM) software system. ETM is a GIS extension that provides a wide range of space/time analysis and modeling tools. Topics to be covered include Trend Analysis, Seasonal Trend Analysis, Empirical Orthogonal Functions (EOF), Extended EOF, Multichannel Singular Spectrum Analysis (MSSA), Canonical Correlation, Fourier PCA, Wavelets, Empirical Orthogonal Teleconnections, Linear Modeling and Deseasoning/Denoising procedures. The workshop will be conducted as a live demonstration using a selection of environmental series such as TOPEX/Poseidon ocean heights, Sea Surface Temperature, Tropospheric and Stratospheric temperatures and NDVI Vegetation Index data. All participants will be given a 30-day trial version of the full software suite (GIS and the ETM extension) and the opportunity to purchase the software at a 50% discount.

3. Map Design with ArcGIS Online I: Authoring Thematic Maps
Tuesday, April 9, 9:00am - 12:00pm
Organizer: Angela Lee, Esri
Instructor: Ken Field, Esri
Capacity: 15
Cost/Person: $10
Room: Santa Anita B

The workshop will focus on how you can harness the ArcGIS System to design high quality thematic maps that tell great stories. You’ll explore a range approaches for authoring rich thematic maps in ArcGIS 10.1 and ArcGIS Online; prepare data appropriately; select effective thematic map types; and be aware of design considerations to make informative, compelling information products. You’ll explore map design but also think of how we modify the map to take advantage of interactivity, popups and multi-scale environments. The workshop will consider the requirements for making great thematic web maps and apps that bring your data to life.

4. How to Establish and Sustain an Undergraduate Research Program
Tuesday, April 9, 1:00pm - 5:00pm
Organizer/Instructor: Lydia K. Fox, University of the Pacific, Deanna van Dijk, Calvin College
Capacity: 20
Cost/person: $30
Room: Santa Anita A

This workshop is focused on developing a successful research program involving undergraduate participants and on inquiry-based courses and teaching practices that are effective in preparing students to pursue research. The course is designed to serve the needs of early-career faculty and others considering academic careers. The workshop facilitators are all current officers in the Council on Undergraduate Research who have extensive experience in working successfully with undergraduate students in their research enterprises.

6. Map Design with ArcGIS Online II: Publishing Thematic Maps
Tuesday, April 9, 1:30pm - 4:30pm
Organizer: Angela Lee, Esri
Instructor: Ken Field, Esri
Capacity: 15
Cost/Person: $10
Room: Santa Anita B

The workshop will focus on taking your authored thematic maps and publishing them in different ways to suit a range of needs. You’ll learn how to use new tools and approaches in ArcGIS 10.1 to publish map services and feature services online and create custom maps for sharing and embedding in web sites. The workshop will consider best practices for making high quality, scaleable web map apps with a focus on employing good cartography. We’ll look at how ArcGIS Online organizational subscriptions can be used to harness the full power of web mapping to create customized web map apps.

Wednesday, April 10

8. Using ICT for Transport to Facilitate the Development of Green Economy
Wednesday, April 10, 10:00am - 3:00pm
Organizer/Instructor: Dr. Nikolas Thomopoulos, Institute for Transport Studies, Faculty of Environment, University of Leeds
Instructors: A.Gopal – Berkeley Lab, Q.Xu, H.Gong – Hunter CUNY, L. Nijland – Utrecht University, B.Gyergyay – Rupprecht Consult
Capacity: 20
Cost/person: $23
Room: Santa Anita A
Part of a Regional Studies Association Research Network, Sponsored by the Transportation Geography Specialty Group
This workshop will review the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for transport across continents and will also identify current challenges to further use ICTs to promote Green Economy following the Rio +20 outputs. Through a panel of presentations about selected case studies mixed with interactive discussions of experiences, participants will have the opportunity to better understand the current state in this rapidly evolving field as well as the potential to share expertise between developed and developing countries. This workshop targets both academics and practitioners, so opportunities will be provided to ask questions to speakers both in formal and informal settings, aiming at shaping future collaborative research agendas and inform policy making.

9. Shifting Population between Different Areal Geographies
Wednesday, April 10, 10:00am - 11:40am
Organizer: Angela Lee, Esri
Instructor: Linda Beale, Esri
Capacity: 40
Cost/Person: $10
Room: Santa Anita B

ArcGIS allows data from many, often disparate sources to be combined. These combined data can then be visualized and analysed to provide new understanding and insights. In many cases, however, we may have our data at one set of spatial boundaries (e.g. a census area) and we want to analyse this data together with another dataset that has different spatial boundaries (e.g. school districts). Moving area data between different boundaries requires some form of areal interpolation. There are a number of different approaches and this workshop will look a number of different methods for shifting population data, demonstrating three different methods in ArcGIS.

10. Spatial Pattern Analysis: Mapping Trends and Clusters
Wednesday, April 10, 12:40pm - 2:20pm
Organizer: Angela Lee, Esri
Instructor: Lauren Rosenshein Bennett, Esri
Capacity: 40
Cost/Person: $10
Room: Santa Anita B

This session will introduce you to basic concepts of spatial pattern analysis using tools in the Spatial Statistics toolbox. It will demonstrate how these tools can help you summarize and evaluate geographic distributions, identify statistically significant spatial outliers and spatial clusters (hot spots), and assess broad geographic patterns and trends over time. With examples from a range of application areas such as epidemiology and demographics, the tools presented in this session will help you to find patterns and relationships in your data, facilitating discussion, contributing to research, and informing decision making.

11. Improving Undergraduate Education in Physical Geography and Geology: Learn More About Writing a Proposal for the NSF TUES Program
Wednesday, April 10, 1:00pm - 4:00pm
Organizers/Instructors: Jill Singer, SUNY - Buffalo State, Jeff Ryan, University of South Florida
Capacity: 24
Cost/person: $15
Room: Beaudry A

Learn about the NSF TUES (Transforming Undergraduate Education in STEM) program and advice about preparing proposals for submission to this program. TUES supports a wide-range of activities aimed at improving the undergraduate geoscience/physical geography curriculum for majors and non-majors. The program supports the design of new courses and curricular materials, acquisition of research-quality instrumentation, and faculty development activities. There is funding to help faculty from 2-year colleges or minority-serving institutions attend the session; contact the presenters directly for more information.

12. Modeling Spatial Relationships using Regression Analysis
Wednesday, April 10, 2:40pm - 4:20pm
Organizer: Angela Lee, Esri
Instructor: Lauren Rosenshein Bennett, Esri
Capacity: 40
Cost/Person: $10
Room: Santa Anita B

Regression analysis is a set of statistical methods used in many areas (e.g., business, health, natural resources, etc.). Ordinary least squares regression (OLS) and geographically weighted regression (GWR) allow you to examine, model, and explore data relationships to help answer “why?” questions such as “why do we see so much disease in particular areas?”. Regression analysis also allows you to predict spatial outcomes for other places or time periods. This workshop will cover basic regression analysis concepts for the analysis of geographic data. You will learn how to build a properly specified OLS model and interpret the results and diagnostics.

Thursday, April 11

19. Teaching ArcGIS Server using Amazon EC2
Thursday, April 11, 8:00am - 9:40am
Organizer: Angela Lee, Esri
Instructor: Sterling Quinn, Esri
Capacity: 40
Cost/Person: $10
Room: Santa Anita B

Teaching server GIS can be challenging in an environment where IT policies or lack of resources makes it impossible for each student to be apportioned his or her own physical machine. The Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) can help solve this problem by allowing each student to run a public-facing virtual server on Amazon’s hardware. This session demonstrates how to run Esri ArcGIS for Server on Amazon EC2, with a focus on supporting the classroom. A case study describes how ArcGIS for Server on Amazon EC2 is being used by Penn State University to teach online learners about GIS server administration.

28. Learn About the NSF Program to Support Improvements in Undergraduate Education in Geography and Geosciences

Thursday, April 11, 8:00am - 9:40am

Organizers/Instructors: Jill Singer, SUNY - Buffalo State, Jeff Ryan, University of South Florida

Capacity: 50

Cost/Person: FREE

Room: Santa Anita C

This informational session provides current information about the NSF-Division of Undergraduate Education TUES program. The TUES program supports a wide-range of activities aimed at improving the undergraduate geography and geoscience curriculum for majors and non-majors. The TUES program supports the design of new courses and curricular materials, acquisition of research-quality instrumentation, and faculty development activities.

13. Preparing Faculty for Engaged Scholarship in International Settings: The ESAVANA Model
Thursday, April 11, 9:00am - 11:00am
Organizer/Instructor: Suzanne Walther, Utah Valley University
Instructor: Shuaib Lwasa, Makerere University (Uganda)
Capacity: 25
Cost/person: FREE
Room: Santa Anita A

This workshop shares a model of engaged scholarship in international education and research in developing countries using a panel of presentations mixed with interactive discussion of experiences and applications of the ESAVANA network. Presentations include preparation for international activities, different scholarship types, and outcomes with respect to employment/career choices undertaken. Workshop participants will discuss applications of the model to their own programs. The workshop (sponsored by the AAG EDGE project) will be open to all AAG participants and will encourage a wide range of audiences interested in international education and research.

14. Creating Surfaces and Interpolation in ArcGIS
Thursday, April 11, 10:00am - 11:40am
Organizer: Angela Lee, Esri
Instructor: Linda Beale, Esri
Capacity: 40
Cost/Person: $10
Room: Santa Anita C

This workshop will look at a number of different of approaches for creating continuous surfaces in ArcGIS. We will look at the assumptions that should be met with different interpolation methods and understand how to choose an appropriate technique. Exploring and understanding our data prior to analysis is crucial to effective analysis. Through demonstration, we will explore many of the different available parameters and cover some tips and tricks for effective analysis. Finally, we will look at the importance of evaluating the quality of the modeled surface.

15. Creating Web Maps with ArcGIS Online Hosted Services
Thursday, April 11, 10:00am - 11:40am
Organizer/Instructor: Angela Lee, Esri
Capacity: 15
Cost/Person: $10
Room: Santa Anita B

You can now easily find, create, and share web maps using ArcGIS Online to host your map services. These hosted services scale to meet demand and can be used to extend your GIS capabilities. Through an ArcGIS Online subscription, you can make your services available to specific groups or open them to the general public. You will learn how to publish your maps to ArcGIS Online as a hosted service as well as how to optimize your map for the web.

16. Python and ArcGIS
Thursday, April 11, 12:40pm - 2:20pm
Organizer/Instructor: Angela Lee, Esri
Capacity: 15
Cost/Person: $10
Room: Santa Anita B

Python scripting can help you become more efficient in your daily operations with ArcGIS. This hands-on workshop provides an overview of the Python scripting environment and describes how it is integrated into ArcGIS. You will learn basic Python syntax and be introduced to the Arcpy site package. You will see how Arcpy allows you to leverage ArcGIS functionality in your scripts to streamline your work with map documents and layers and automate your geoprocessing workflows. You will explore the ArcGIS help documents and other resources that can be used to learn more about Python and ArcGIS.

21. Proposal-Writing Strategies for NSF Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement (DDRI) Awards
Thursday, April 11, 12:40pm - 2:20pm
Organizer/Instructor: Thomas Baerwald, National Science Foundation
Instructors: Antoinette WinklerPrins, National Science Foundation
Kelley Crews, National Science Foundation
Capacity: 40
Cost/Person: FREE
Room: Santa Anita A

This is a workshop intended for graduate students and their advisors who want to learn how to prepare more competitive proposals for a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement (DDRI) grant, which will provide up to $16,000 to help fund doctoral dissertation research costs. Program officers from the Geography and Spatial Sciences Program at the National Science Foundation will highlight ways to improve the quality and competitiveness of DDRI proposals. They also will discuss the review process, including intellectual merit and broader impacts. The presentations will be followed by a question-and-answer opportunity.

22. Speed-Dating with an NSF Program Officer
Thursday, April 11, 2:40pm - 4:20pm
Organizer/Instructor: Thomas Baerwald, National Science Foundation
Instructors: Antoinette WinklerPrins, National Science Foundation
Kelley Crews, National Science Foundation
Capacity: 40
Cost/Person: FREE
Room: Santa Anita C

This is a session designed to provide individuals or groups with informal opportunities to engage in discussions of up to 10 minutes in duration with a current or recent NSF program officer. The discussions should provide participants with the opportunity inquire about project ideas, proposal-writing strategies, funding opportunities, review processes, and other questions related to standing NSF programs like the Geography and Spatial Sciences (GSS) Program and the Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems (CNH) Program as well as special competitions like those in the Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (SEES) initiative.

17. Demographic Analysis and Mapping with Community Analyst
Thursday, April 11, 2:40pm - 4:20pm
Organizer/Instructor: Angela Lee, Esri
Capacity: 15
Cost/Person: $10
Room: Santa Anita B

Are you interested in quickly getting information about an area's demographic, economic and business conditions through interactive color-coded maps, reports, and queries? This workshop will introduce you to Esri Community Analyst, a cloud-based solution that provides easy to use mapping and geographic analysis capabilities through a web application. You can access thousands of demographic, census, health, crime and business variables to support your research or coursework. Community Analyst can be used for resource allocation, policy decisions, and market analysis, as well as to communicate the results of your analysis through maps, charts and reports.

23. Proposal-Writing Strategies for the NSF Geography and Spatial Sciences Program
Thursday, April 11, 4:40pm - 6:20pm
Organizer/Instructor: Thomas Baerwald, National Science Foundation
Instructors: Antoinette WinklerPrins, National Science Foundation
Kelley Crews, National Science Foundation
Capacity: 40
Cost/Person: FREE
Room: 3615

This is a workshop intended for faculty members and professional geographers (not graduate students) who engage in geographic research and who wish to learn how to prepare proposals for a regular research grants. Program officers from the Geography and Spatial Sciences Program at the National Science Foundation will highlight ways to improve the quality and competitiveness of a proposal. They also will discuss the review process, including intellectual merit and broader impacts. The presentations will be followed by a question-and-answer opportunity.

5. Networking: Promoting Yourself by Making Connections that Count
Thursday, April 11, 4:40pm - 6:20pm
Organizer/Instructor: Niem Huynh, AAG
Instructor: Angela Rogers, Penn State
Capacity: 20
Cost/person: $5
Room: San Pedro

This workshop features the art of networking with a focus on how to develop an effective and memorable “elevator speech," and what this promotional sound bite about yourself sounds like to prospective employers in different scenarios. The facilitators will guide participants through an interactive workshop to develop and practice your network skills on how to: creatively introduce yourself, develop and deliver a dynamic "elevator speech," and how to efficiently "work" a room to make connections with key people. The activities will be followed by a debriefing and time for Q&A.

Friday, April 12

24. Funding Opportunities for Geographers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF)
Friday, April 12, 8:00am - 9:40am
Organizer/Instructor: Thomas Baerwald, National Science Foundation
Instructor: Wilson Compton, NIH, National Institute on Drug Abuse
Capacity: 40
Cost/Person: FREE
Room: Santa Anita A

Representatives from NIH and NSF will make brief presentations regarding funding opportunities for geographers and scientists from related fields. They will discuss possibilities for support from a range of programs and competitions different NIH institutes and at NSF Emphasis will be placed on descriptions of the kinds of research and related activity that each of these opportunities seeks to support. Opportunities will be provided to ask questions of speakers both in formal and informal settings.

18. Preparing Geography Students for the 21st Century Workforce
Friday, April 12, 9:00am - 11:00am
Instructor/Organizer: Joy Adams, AAG
Instructors: Niem Huynh, AAG, Joseph Kerski, Esri
Capacity: 30
Cost/person: $5
Room: San Pedro

Many students are unfamiliar with the numerous career paths for which a degree in geography can prepare them. This workshop will introduce classroom activities designed to raise students' awareness of employment prospects and to help them articulate the value of their geography training to potential employers. Participants will collaborate in small groups to brainstorm ideas for adapting the exercises to the specific needs of their students. This workshop is suitable for educators at all grade levels and career stages. Registered participants will receive a copy of Practicing Geography (Pearson 2013) and other educational resources for completing a brief workshop evaluation.

25. Proposal-Writing Strategies for NSF Faculty Early-Career Development (CAREER) Awards
Friday, April 12, 10:00am - 11:40am
Organizer/Instructor: Thomas Baerwald, National Science Foundation
Instructors: Antoinette WinklerPrins, National Science Foundation
Kelley Crews, National Science Foundation
Capacity: 40
Cost/Person: FREE
Room: Santa Anita A

This is a workshop intended for faculty members in geographer and related fields who are assistant professors in tenure-track positions and who are interested in submitting a proposal for a Faculty Early-Career Development (CAREER) grant from the National Science Foundati0on. Program officers from the Geography and Spatial Sciences Program at the National Science Foundation will highlight ways to improve the quality and competitiveness of a proposal. They also will discuss the review process, including intellectual merit and broader impacts. The presentations will be followed by a question-and-answer opportunity.

20. Becoming a Certified GISP and Why It Matters for Your Geospatial Career
Friday, April 12, 12:40pm - 2:20pm
Organizer: Jean E. McKendry, AAG
Instructors: Bill Hodge GISP, GIS Division Manager, City of Midland, TX
Rachel Kornak GISP, GIS Instructor, Penn State, and Director, Emerging GIS Leaders
Capacity: 50
Cost/person: $5
Room: San Pedro

The GISCI Certification Program for GIS Professionals, launched in 2004, is a recognition program for established GIS professionals, that is a non-examination, portfolio-based system. This workshop will provide 1) an overview of the Program and advantages of certification and 2) hands-on guidance and Q&A related to strategies for preparing an application to become certified as a GISP. Attendees will have the ability to ask questions about documentation requirements, portfolio essentials, and dialog with current GISPs. GISPs who may have questions about renewing their certification are also encouraged to attend. For more information about GISCI, visit http://www.gisci.org.

26. Speed-Dating with an NSF Program Officer (Repeat)
Friday, April 12, 2:40pm - 4:20pm
Organizer/Instructor: Thomas Baerwald, National Science Foundation
Instructors: Antoinette WinklerPrins, National Science Foundation
Kelley Crews, National Science Foundation
Capacity: 40
Cost/Person: FREE
Room: Santa Anita B

This is a session designed to provide individuals or groups with informal opportunities to engage in discussions of up to 10 minutes in duration with a current or recent NSF program officer. The discussions should provide participants with the opportunity inquire about project ideas, proposal-writing strategies, funding opportunities, review processes, and other questions related to standing NSF programs like the Geography and Spatial Sciences (GSS) Program and the Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems (CNH) Program as well as special competitions like those in the Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (SEES) initiative.

27. Wine Regions of Sicily
Friday, April 12, 2:40pm - 5:40pm
Organizer/Instructor: Percy H. Dougherty, Kutztown University
Capacity: 23
Cost/Person: $35
Room: Santa Anita A
Sponsored by the AAG Wine Specialty Group

Although old in historical terms, Sicily is the hot new wine region. For more than 2500 years, Sicily has been a significant center of viticulture. Join us as we explore the unusual grape varieties that grow on the varied terroir and taste wines from a dozen different little known grape varieties. Learn how wines produced in the limestone reaches of the Alcamo region of western Sicily vary from those produced on the slopes of Mt. Etna and other regions in terms of grape type and characteristics. Taste how geography influences the type of wine in each region.