Tracking the Geography of Diseases: How Epidemiologists Map Infection
Geography in the News is an educational series offered by the American Association of Geographers for teachers and students in all subjects. We include vocabulary, discussion, and assignment ideas at the end of each article.
By Neal Lineback
Have you ever wondered where you caught a cold? If so, you’ve asked the first question epidemologists ask about infectious diseases. Epidemiology is the study of how diseases spread. It relies on geography to find its answers.
You could say that epidemiologists study the “where” of diseases. Specifically, they study the paths of communicable diseases.
What are communicable diseases? They’re the ones you can catch. These illnesses spread through viruses, fungi, or bacteria, typically from person to person, and sometimes from animals to people. Some diseases come from contaminated food, water, or insects. All of these transmissions relate to geography.
Viruses and bacteria are all around us, particularly in dense human populations. Some are harmless. But dangerous viruses range across a whole host of diseases, from pneumonia and whooping cough to measles, chicken pox, and polio, among others.
Among the least dangerous to healthy individuals is the common cold, or Rhinovirus. Its symptoms are normally mild. The cold is so common that it’s almost impossible to know where you caught it—unless you are an epidemologist. Through contact tracing, distribution maps, and other tools, epidemiologists can find the initial source of an infection. It takes only one or two people for a disease to spread as contacts multiply.
Epidemiology is a science of time as well as space. Once a few people show symptoms, they could infect 50 percent or more of the people they come in contact with, within three to ten days. This makes swift analysis crucial.
A fast-moving virus can cause an epidemic or pandemic. The difference between the two is in distribution. The disease is distributed unevenly in an epidemic, with some communities having few or no cases. In a pandemic, many more people are sick across more areas. Deaths and hospitalizations are elevated too.
This is why the flu virus—which is actually a number of virus types that can mutate over time–and the COVID viruses are carefully tracked by their strain. Flu is also identified by type. If you have ever heard a strain of influenza referred to as A,B,C, or D, you have heard its type, based on its severity. “A” causes pandemics and is the most dangerous. “B” can cause epidemics. “C” causes mild cold-like symptoms. “D” is an animal variety.
The recent COVID outbreak in 2020-2023 was a pandemic in the United States. Ensheng Dong, a Ph.D. student at Johns Hopkins University, was one of the first people in the world to create a map-based dashboard to show the disease’s spread. Using a Geographic Information System (GIS), Dong worked with physicists, geographers, and others at the university to build a map to track outbreaks. Its red-on-black appearance became iconic.
Outbreaks of many viral infections can be mapped. The CDC (Centers of Disease Control) and other international medical institutions maintain huge geographical databases to follow outbreaks around the world. This research is critical in slowing, treating, and containing viral diffusions and concentrations, allowing the medical professionals to predict where intervention (ie. tests, warnings, and vaccinations) can be helpful in reducing deaths and hospitalizations.
Epidemiology is still a young science. Less than 175 years ago, a doctor named John Snow identified the source of the 1854 cholera outbreak in London: a neighborhood water pump. He did this by mapping all of the cholera cases in the area and interviewing the families. Once he identified the common location they’d used to draw water, he removed the handle from the pump. New cases fell.
This map shows the 2013 spread of polio worldwide:
Polio cases began with a concentration in Afghanistan, then jumped to Somalia, Kenya, and Nigeria. The disease spread to Nigeria’s neighbors in Africa, before it was finally halted through the efforts of multiple relief organizations’ vaccine programs, including The World Health Organization (WHO),The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Rotary International, and the Centers for Disease Control.
So how can a microscopic virus jump thousands of miles from Afghanistan to Nigeria? Clearly, modern technology played a role in moving such great distances over the earth’s surface. What made the countries adjacent to Nigeria so susceptible to the spread of polio? These are geographic questions on the minds of health officials as they battle communicable diseases worldwide everyday.The mobilities of viruses around the world require constant attention.
Note: You can reduce your odds of infection by frequent hand washing, using tissues and avoiding touching your face when you sneeze. Cleaning your work spaces and using a mask, or covering your mouth when you cough, are also good practices.
And that is Geography in the News.
Material in this article comes from “Polio Returns with a Vengeance” (2013), an original article for Geography in the News by Neal Lineback and Mandy Lineback Gritzner.
AAG’s Geography in the News is inspired by the series of the same name founded by Neal Lineback, professor and the chair of Appalachian State University’s Department of Geography and Planning. For nearly 30 years from 1986 to 2013, GITN delivered timely explainer articles to educators and students, relevant to topics in the news. Many of these were published on Maps.com’s educational platforms and in National Geographic’s blogs. AAG is pleased to carry on the series.
Vocabulary
- Communicable disease
- Epidemic
- Fungus/Fungi
- Iconic
- Mutate
- Pandemic
- Strain
- Virus
Discussion
- What are some of the tools epidemiologists use to track how diseases spread?
- Why do we say that epidemiology is a science of time as well as space?
- What is the difference between an epidemic and a pandemic?
- What are some of the reasons that a virus can “jump” long distances?
Further Reading
“John Snow, Historical Giant in Epidemiology.” UCLA https://epi-snow.ph.ucla.edu/
“Medical Geography and Why We Need It.” University of British Columbia. https://geog.ubc.ca/news/medical-geography-and-why-we-need-it/
Milner, Greg. “Creating the Dashboard for the Pandemic.” Esri ArcUser, Summer 2020. https://www.esri.com/about/newsroom/arcuser/johns-hopkins-covid-19-dashboard
“Notes from the Field: Outbreak of Poliomyelitis — Somalia and Kenya, May 2013,” Centers for Disease Control, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. At https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6223a7.htm
“What Is Epidemiology?” Epidemiology for the Uninitiated. BMJ Group. https://www.bmj.com/about-bmj/resources-readers/publications/epidemiology-uninitiated
Washington, D.C., March 4 — The American Association of Geographers (AAG) is partnering with 
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Distinguished Professor Mark D. Schwartz, of the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, is internationally recognized for founding the subdiscipline of phenoclimatology—the integrative study of relationships between seasonal biological activity and climate. Over four decades, his pioneering work has transformed understanding of vegetation phenology and its central role in assessing and predicting global environmental change. A prolific and influential scholar, Dr. Schwartz has authored more than one hundred peer-reviewed publications, edited three landmark editions of Phenology: An Integrative Environmental Science, and sustained continuous support from the National Science Foundation. His development of the “Spring Indices” revolutionized how scientists and agencies track the onset of the growing season, establishing indicators now used by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the USA National Phenology Network, which he co-founded. Through visionary research, mentorship, and leadership, Dr. Schwartz has elevated phenology from a niche topic to a core dimension of climate science. His work exemplifies geography’s power to bridge disciplines and connect data-driven inquiry with environmental understanding.
Dr. Seth Appiah-Opoku is honored with the AAG Distinguished Teaching Award for his exceptional contributions to geographic education over nearly three decades. A professor at the University of Alabama since 2002, he has demonstrated a deep commitment to student learning, curriculum innovation, and mentorship. His teaching blends interdisciplinary perspectives with experiential learning, including international field programs in Ghana.
Dr. Derek H. Alderman, Chancellor’s Professor of Geography at the University of Tennessee, has received this year’s Gilbert F. White Distinguished Public Service Award. Dr. Alderman has three decades of experience advancing the field of social and cultural geography through public engagement and transformative leadership. He is a Fellow and former President (2017-18) of the AAG, having used his presidency to advocate for outreach, media engagement, and community partnerships as core professional responsibilities. He is equally dedicated to geographic education, earning the George J. Miller Award for Distinguished Service to Geographic Education (2023) and the Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award (2024) for his extraordinary work mentoring graduate students and supporting K–12 teachers.
Dr. Karen Barton, Professor of Geography, GIS, and Sustainability at the University of Northern Colorado, is the inaugural awardee of the Public and Engaged Scholarship Honors. Given her outstanding community engagements, Professor Barton exemplifies the qualities celebrated by this honor—collaborative knowledge production; the integration of research, teaching, and service; and long-standing relationships with community partners around the world. Her community-engaged research is rooted in and extends the values shared by geographers and humanitarian scholars, cultivating environmental sustainability with community partners in places as varied as Senegal, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Norway. Whether teaching or engaged in community-based research and practice, Karen Barton embodies the ideals of Public and Engaged Scholarship. Her collaborative, inclusive, and responsive approach to research and teaching is exemplary of how geographers can create knowledge with, not merely about, communities. For more than two decades, Dr. Barton’s research on humanitarian disasters, environmental issues, and social challenges has earned international recognition and the deep respect of those with whom she works. Through numerous grants, including twelve Fulbright awards, she ensures that research translates into tangible, lasting benefits for the communities, students, and colleagues involved. This combination of initiative and stewardship has propelled innovation in her own teaching and spurred the purposeful evolution of the Geography, GIS, and Sustainability program at the University of Northern Colorado.
Dr. Nina Siu-Ngan Lam is the E. L. Abraham Distinguished Professor at Louisiana State University, and Wei Lun Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She has made transformative and enduring contributions to the field of geography for over four decades. As pioneering scholar in Geographic Information Science, spatial analysis, and environmental studies, Dr. Lam’s seminal research on spatial interpolation, scale, and fractal analysis established foundational principles that continue to shape contemporary GIScience and spatial modeling. Her innovative applications of these methods to topics of environmental health, disaster resilience, and sustainability have significantly advanced the understanding of human–environment systems. Notably, her Resilience Inference Measurement (RIM) framework provides a rigorous, data-driven approach for assessing community resilience to natural hazards.
Dr. Paul Robbins has profoundly shaped geography through his transformative scholarship, exceptional academic leadership, and sustained public engagement. His pioneering work in political ecology has redefined how geographers understand human–environment relationships. His book Political Ecology: A Critical Introduction remains a foundational text in geography and beyond—spanning wildlife ecology, urban planning, and sustainability science—with more than 6,700 citations. His Lawn People—a highly original and witty exploration of the everyday political ecology of suburban landscapes—was honored with the AAG James Blaut Award and cited nearly 1,000 times.
Dr. He Yin, Associate Professor of Geography at Kent State University, is honored with the AAG Media Achievement Award for his impactful and globally reaching research on the environmental consequences of armed conflicts and land abandonment. Dr. He Yin successfully translated sophisticated geospatial analysis into actionable insights that guide both humanitarian response and financial decision making.
Dr. Qunying Huang is known for exceptional scholarship, exemplary dedication to training the next generation of geographers, significant contributions to the field of geography, and a strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. She leads an internationally recognized research program on geospatial big data and GeoAI at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has established herself as a leading scholar in geocomputation and big-data sensing techniques for real-time emergency response and Earth observation. Dr. Huang is committed to high-quality teaching and mentorship, as evidenced by her recognition as a Madison Teaching and Learning Excellence Faculty Fellow at the University of Wisconsin, where she has made her courses accessible to over 700 students annually from diverse academic and cultural backgrounds. She is a sought-after advisor and has shepherded dozens of master’s and doctoral graduate students who have gone on to academia, government, and industry. She has served in various capacities for the AAG, including multiple roles within the AAG Cyberinfrastructure Specialty Group (CISG), and has organized and chaired numerous sessions at the AAG annual meeting. Her scholarly work has been dedicated to revealing and addressing social issues of underrepresented and marginalized groups, exploring access inequality, and developing evidence-based strategies for increasing equity and inclusion.
Dr. Peter Kedron is a leading geographer whose work advances fundamental understanding of spatial processes, innovation diffusion, and the dynamics of human-environment systems. As a faculty member at the University of California Santa Barbara, he is recognized for his methodological rigor and theoretical contributions to spatial data science and economic geography. Dr. Kedron’s research integrates spatial econometrics, geographic information science, and various forms of geospatial analytics to examine how ideas, technologies, and policies evolve across space and time. His pioneering studies on replication and reproducibility in geographic research have elevated the discipline’s commitment to scientific transparency and open scholarship. An active leader in the American Association of Geographers (AAG), Dr. Kedron has strengthened the link between geographic theory and data-driven policy solutions. His scholarship exemplifies the fusion of spatial thinking, computational innovation, and interdisciplinary collaboration that defines geography’s expanding role in addressing complex societal challenges.
Dr. Abigail H. Neely is associate professor of geography at Dartmouth College, where she is recognized for her scholarship in political ecology, health, and social justice in sub-Saharan Africa. Her award-winning book Reimagining Social Medicine from the South (Duke University Press, 2021) reframes social medicine through ethnographic and archival work in rural South Africa, examining how human and more-than-human forces shape health and inequality. She has published widely in leading journals such as Social Science & Medicine and Progress in Human Geography, with research supported by major NSF and Yale fellowships. Dr. Neely has also played a key role in disciplinary service, including editorial work for Environment and Planning E and leadership of the AAG Working Group on Research Partnerships for Targeted Mentoring Networks. At Dartmouth, she advances socially engaged scholarship as the School House Professor, leading one of Dartmouth’s six house communities, as a former Senior Fellow in the Society of Fellows and as a committed mentor to students and early career scholars.
Dr. Godwin Arku has made significant contributions to the discipline of geography and to the AAG community through impactful scholarship, dedicated mentoring, and wide-ranging service. As professor and Western Faculty Scholar at Western University in Canada, he works in the field of urban geography, including examining the planning and management of cities, and assessing the lived experiences of urban residents, consistently foregrounding equity, institutional accountability, and the need for context-sensitive planning. Dr. Arku is deeply committed to mentorship and capacity building, having supervised many doctoral students who now hold academic and professional positions around the globe. Dr. Arku has made sustained contributions in foregrounding marginalized voices, including work on informal urban communities in Africa and racialized essential workers in Canada, and has been recognized with the Robbins-Ollivier Excellence in Equity Award. Dr. Arku served as the Chief Editor of the African Geographical Review, an official journal of the AAG published on behalf of its Africa Specialty Group. He has served the AAG in multiple other capacities, including as vice chair of the Africa Specialty Group, member of the Government Data and Employment Committee, and current member of the AAG Honors Committee.
Dr. Marilyn A. Brown is a leading geographer and energy policy expert whose work has shaped national and global approaches to sustainable energy and climate solutions. A Regents’ Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Public Policy, she integrates geographic analysis with technology and policy research to advance understanding of energy transitions, innovation, and environmental equity. Previously at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Dr. Brown led pioneering studies on renewable energy, efficiency, and the spatial dynamics of technological change. Her service on National Academies’ committees and contributions to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) highlight her leadership in linking geography, science, and policy. Elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM), and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Brown’s research continues to inform pathways toward a low-carbon, resilient, and equitable energy future.
Dr. K. Maria D. Lane is a professor of Geography and Environmental Studies and Dean of Graduate Studies at the University of New Mexico, where she has advanced the discipline through innovative scholarship, institutional leadership, and community engagement. An internationally recognized historical geographer, she is the author of Geographies of Mars: Seeing and Knowing the Red Planet (2011) and Fluid Geographies: Water, Science, and Settler Colonialism in New Mexico (2024), both with the University of Chicago Press. These books illuminate how scientific and cartographic practices shape environmental knowledge and power. As department chair from 2014 to 2019, Dr. Lane launched the state’s first joint PhD in Geography, founded the R.H. Mallory Center for Community Geography, expanded faculty ranks, and redesigned the undergraduate curriculum. Her leadership in securing major NSF funding has strengthened graduate education, supported community-engaged research, and advanced climate change and geovisualization initiatives. She has also served as editor of both Historical Geography and the Journal of Historical Geography and continues to lead public scholarship projects such as the Indigenous Cartographies Symposium and the Native Trails geovisualization collaboration with the National Park Service.
Dr. David López-Carr has conducted ground-breaking research on the intersecting issues of poverty, hunger, deforestation, and health in the Americas. A professor at University of California Santa Barbara, López-Carr’s pioneering work in land change science has deepened our understanding of the relationships between population dynamics and tropical deforestation, and the complicating influences of gender, local economics and remittances, and climate-driven impacts. International agencies and community organizations have benefited from his work documenting place-based ecological and socioeconomic drivers of environmental injustices faced by diverse communities across the globe. An inspiring teacher and visionary leader, Dr. López-Carr has mentored underrepresented scholars, advocated for equitable hiring, and shaped institutional practice by improving representation, recruitment, and retention.
Dr. Jerry Mitchell, department chair and professor at the University of South Carolina, is a renowned expert in, and advocate for, geographic education. His extensive leadership, community outreach, and scholarly contributions combine a rigorous understanding of what geographic learning and teaching should aim for with creativity and entrepreneurial spirit to promote that intellectual vision. Through his two decade-long coordination of the South Carolina Geographic Alliance (SCGA), more than 40,000 teachers have received training, networking opportunities, and pedagogical support, making SCGA one of the most successful and innovative alliances in the U.S. As editor of the Journal of Geography, and president of the National Council for Geographic Education, he spearheaded efforts to strengthen and diversify geographic education scholarship; to increase involvement of early-career scholars; and to advance inclusion within the discipline. His many honors and awards, including the AAG’s Gilbert H. Grosvenor Honors in Geographic Education, are a testament to his transformative efforts to advance geographic education at all levels and to shape its future nationally and internationally.
Dr. Joann Mossa is a highly productive fluvial geomorphologist who researches physical geography through a lens of human environment dynamics. Dr. Mossa has produced influential studies that examine coastal plain river systems as sources of water and assess the geomorphic consequences of mining, hydropower, floodplain alterations, and dredging. This work provides not only a scientific understanding of these processes but also a framework for evaluating their social and environmental tradeoffs. As an award-winning teacher and mentor at the University of Florida, her unwavering commitment to advancing discipline and mentoring the next generation of geographers is truly exemplary. She has been active in the AAG, SEDAAG, her state, university, and department, including service as president of SEDAAG and the Florida Society of Geographers. Dr. Mossa has received the AAG Geomorphology Specialty Group’s Mel Marcus Distinguished Career Award, the Richard J. Russell Award from the AAG’s Coastal and Marine Geography Specialty Group, SEDAAG’s Lifetime Achievement Award, SEDAAG Research Honors in 2022, and the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award from the UF Geography department. The AAG is honored to recognize Dr. Joann Mossa as a Fellow.
Dr. Michael Pretes, University of North Alabama, has balanced heavy teaching and mentoring responsibilities with impactful scholarship, extensive service to AAG and the profession, and meaningful public outreach, while still actively publishing research across a broad range of topics. He has taught more than fifty different courses covering human geography, physical geography, regional geography, and geographical methods. He has demonstrated a sustained commitment to advance justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion in the discipline, including recruiting colleagues and supporting students from varied backgrounds. Dr. Pretes has received numerous major teaching, advising, service, and scholarship honors including those from AAG, SEDAAG, APCG, NCGE, and his home university, and he served as the Distinguished Visiting Professor of Geosciences at the United States Air Force Academy in 2024-25. He has demonstrated exemplary service to the AAG, actively participating in the leadership of both SEDAAG in the region where he currently teaches, and APCG, his original home region, where he is serving as their Regional Councilor to AAG and has contributed as President, Awards Committee Chair, Archivist, and Chair of the Latina/o/e American Travel Scholarship Committee. With his incredible creativity and unwavering commitment to teaching, research, and service, the AAG proudly recognizes Dr. Michael Pretes as a Fellow.
Dr. Patricia Solís is an influential geographer whose career bridges research, education, and global collaboration to advance the applied and socially engaged dimensions of geography. As research professor in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning and executive director of the Knowledge Exchange for Resilience (KER) at Arizona State University and co-founder of Youth Mappers, she has created innovative platforms connecting geographic scholarship with community resilience, open data, and youth empowerment worldwide. Dr. Solís’s work exemplifies how geospatial technologies and participatory mapping can address pressing challenges such as disaster preparedness, migration, sustainability, and social equity. Through leadership in the AAG and international initiatives, she has expanded opportunities for geographic learning and global engagement. A recognized advocate for inclusive and transformative geography, Dr. Solís has inspired a new generation of geographers to apply spatial thinking for social good—making geography a vital force for resilience, justice, and collective problem-solving in communities around the world.
Dr. Barney Warf is a prolific scholar whose work probes and reveals the dynamic forces of change in political and economic geographies. His many books and articles have expanded the field to instill geographic insights into social and economic dimensions of modern life, including the transformative impacts of digital technologies and media, and the emergence of cosmopolitanism and post-truth geographies. A professor at the University of Kansas, Dr. Warf’s diverse contributions, including a prize-winning encyclopedia, have made geographical concepts and research findings accessible to academic and policy audiences, while increasing participation of early-career scholars who have benefited from his mentorship and editorial skills. In editorial positions at the Professional Geographer, GeoJournal, and other leading publications, and through longstanding AAG committee service, Dr. Warf has shaped the future of our discipline by expanding participation of diverse scholars, advancing a steadfast commitment to academic freedom and freedom of speech, and highlighting the responsibility that geographers bear in the public sphere.
This award is presented in recognition of Sarah Elwood’s outstanding and sustained scholarly contributions, specifically her work on participatory, collaborative, and community-based GIS, relational poverty, and the broader dedication of her research and scholarship to social justice in the contemporary world. She is professor and chair of Geography at the University of Washington, doing research that focuses on digital technologies, urban geographies, and creative politics forged by structurally disadvantaged peoples fighting for equity, self-determination, and everyday thriving. Dr. Elwood has studied the use of geographic information systems (GIS) by neighborhood groups fighting gentrification and racial dispossession, interactive online mapping by children whose spatial knowledge and agency often go unseen, digital apps used in low-barrier employment by unsheltered people living and working in public space, and visual poverty politics advanced by unsheltered people and their allies. Works published from these lines of research have opened theoretical and methodological horizons in urban and digital geographies, relational poverty studies, critical and qualitative GIS, visual politics and mixed methods.
Nik Heynen has earned the Presidential Achievement Award in recognition of his work on urban social justice, ecological restoration, and his collaborative work with the Geechee community on Sapelo Island in Georgia, all of which reflect the broader dedication of his research and scholarship to social justice in the contemporary world. He is a Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Georgia, a visiting scholar in Food Studies at Spelman College, and the director of education for the Athens-based nonprofit organization Shell to Shore. His research interests sit at the intersection of economic, environmental, climate, and racial justice. For just over a decade, he has been working with members of the Saltwater Geechee in the Hogg Hummock community on Sapelo Island on the restoration of traditional agricultural practices and flood mitigation made necessary as a result of descendants losing their land to development pressure and increasing sea-level rise leading to more frequent flooding. Through this work he co-directs UGA’s Cornelia Walker Bailey Program on Land, Sea and Agriculture with Maurice Bailey.
Dr. Jonathan (Jon) Foley is the Executive Director of Project Drawdown, and independent and internationally trusted organization that provides science-based guidance to climate solutions and strategies. A world-renowned environmental scientist, sustainability expert, and public speaker, Foley focuses on understanding our changing planet and finding new solutions to sustain the climate, ecosystems, and natural resources we all depend on.
The American Association of Geographers recognizes Professor Sarah Holloway with the Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award for her longstanding commitment to supporting students and colleagues, and her role in fostering a positive, inclusive academic environment. Over more than 30 years at Loughborough University, she has contributed to meaningful improvements in departmental and institutional culture through her teaching, mentorship, and dedication to equitable practices.
Dr. Rachel Goffe is a human geographer whose work sits at the intersection of social reproduction, carceral geographies, Caribbean Studies and Black Geographies. In a time when these issues are absolutely vital, Dr. Goffe is concerned with the state regulation of minoritized lives. While her work is situated in her native Jamaica, the work applies to us all, particularly via the global ramifications of considering racial capitalism, gentrification, placemaking, boundary writing, and how policy and the state dictate claims to the idea of home apply to us all. Dr. Goffe also has a strong record of community engagement and service both in and out of the academy., including organizing writing circles for graduate students from conflict zones and supporting grassroots organizations that fight for Justice in Jamaica. As someone emphasizing the effects of today’s inequities and fighting to lessen them, Dr. Rachel Goffe should be recognized for continuing the legacy of Dr. Glenda Laws and her exemplary commitment to social justice and social policy.
Dr. Xiao Huang is a data and environmental scientist who combines these two interests into work on disaster mitigation, human-environment interactions, disaster remote sensing, urban studies, and other areas. Rather than study data for data’s sake, he wants to put data to work studying and solving human problems. He shows that research, public service, and community engagement are not mutually exclusive endeavors. His research dossier advocates that “computational urban science needs to go beyond computational”: he considers how human mobility affects people’s lives how we can map floods in real time with social media, heat risk assessment in urban areas, and much more. His work has been featured in the popular media, showing the public how important geography is for solving social problems. Dr. Huang also has an extensive record of leadership in and service to the discipline. A true public scholar, Dr. Xiao Huang should be recognized for continuing the legacy of Dr. Glenda Laws’s exemplary commitment to social justice and social policy.
Dr. Jayajit Chakraborty is a Professor and Mellichamp Chair in Racial Environmental Justice at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management in the University of California, Santa Barbara, whose research has analyzed spatial and social inequalities associated with environmental hazards and disasters, as well as informed public policies that address environmental injustices. His extensive body of scholarly work, which includes many co-authored publications with graduate students, is well-cited both within and outside the academy. He has contributed to science research, writing, and advocacy, often as the only geographer, as a member of multiple US Environmental Protection Agency advisory committees. Dr. Chakraborty was recently included in the Stanford-Elsevier ranking of the world’s most cited researchers who are in the top 2% in their academic subfield (geography). He has mentored dozens of graduate and undergraduate students (including first-generation and minority students), taught undergraduate and graduate courses across various geographic subfields, served on the editorial boards of several Geography and Environmental Science journals, and chaired AAG committees.
Dr. CindyAnn Rose-Redwood, Teaching Professor of Geography at the University of Victoria, is recognized for her exceptional dedication to teaching excellence, inclusive pedagogy, and student mentorship. Widely recognized as an inspiring instructor and innovative educational researcher, she has received prestigious awards from the Canadian Association of Geographers, the University of Victoria, and the American Association of Geographers, as well as several teaching and learning grants. Dr. Rose-Redwood’s pedagogical creativity is evident through her course design and leadership in integrating anti-racism and social justice into geography curricula, advancing the discipline’s capacity to engage urgent contemporary issues. Beyond the classroom, she has been a transformative mentor to undergraduate and graduate students, serving as a dedicated faculty advisor for student organizations and creating empowering environments for international and first-generation students. Her mentorship has nurtured the next generation of geographers, activists, and community leaders. Also significant are her scholarly contributions to understanding international student experiences. In addition to several refereed articles, her two widely recognized co-edited books reposition international students as critical social actors in shaping higher education, migration, and cultural politics.
Dissertation: “From adaptation to entrapment: Evidence of aquaculture-induced salinity feedback in coastal India”
Alison Mountz and Kira Williams offer a dramatic and important reworking of the disciplinary history of geography itself with Let Geography Die: Chasing Derwent’s Ghost at Harvard (MIT Press, 2025). Not only does this important book re-examine a crucial story in the discipline’s institutional trajectory within the U.S. academy, it also offers a creative and compelling model for blending together scholarly history with the reflexive practices of contemporary disciplinary critique. Combining a new reading of archival sources with new questions about queer identity and academic politics, Let Geography Die isn’t just an exhumation of a particular painful moment in geography’s past, but also an inquiry into the discipline’s present and future. It makes compelling reading for any geographers who wish to reflect on how scholarly effort and personal longing fit into the broader systems of disciplines and institutions.
What would our streets, cities, and neighborhoods look like if urban plans took geographers and their studies seriously? With Reclaiming the Road (University of Minnesota Press), David Prytherch shows us the promise of communities planned, designed, and built for humans, rather than solely cars. Through rich case studies, extensive historical-geographical contexts, and delightful prose, the book offers an indispensable guide for re-engineering urban space through best practices, human-centered designs and policies, and abiding attention to intersectional concepts of equity and justice. In-depth interviews with transportation advocates, city planners, and community leaders across nine U.S. cities meld with interdisciplinary yet accessible theoretical discussions to ground the analysis in both lived experience and insightful scholarship. Immersed in dialogues linking practice, advocacy, and scholarship, Reclaiming the Road wields the powers of geography to ask more of urban design and to reimagine our communities as spaces of mobility and justice.
Jennifer Mapes is the recipient of this year’s John Brinckerhoff Jackson Prize from the AAG. Mapes is an astute reader of the cultural landscape, deploying her skills in reading and interpreting the American small town and its evolution. Attentive to the social and political forces that shape places and landscapes, The New American Small Town (West Virginia University Press) challenges stereotypical perceptions and offers a new interpretation by highlighting the diversity among American towns, based in part on the lived experience of their residents. Mapes introduces a typology to show differences among small towns and discusses images ranging from the nostalgic ideal of the “real” America to stale and declining places to towns struggling to respond to rapid growth. With approachable and engaging writing, the book should be interesting to a wide range of readers, equally appealing for a graduate seminar and a general audience. The New American Small Town addresses a big theme in American geography and will encourage readers to think about these places in new ways.