Awardees

Regional Divisions Announce Outstanding Graduate Student Papers from their Fall Meetings

November 30, 2017

The AAG is proud to announce the Fall 2017 student winners of the AAG Council Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Paper at a Regional Meeting. The AAG Council Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Paper at a Regional Meeting is designed to encourage graduate student participation at AAG Regional Division conferences and support their attendance at AAG Annual Meetings. One graduate student in each AAG Regional Division receives this yearly award based on a paper submitted to their respective regional conference. The awardees receive $1,000 in funding for use towards their registration and travel costs to attend the AAG Annual Meeting. The board members from each region determine student award winners.

The winners from each region will be presenting their papers in two dedicated paper sessions at the upcoming 2018 AAG Annual Meeting in New Orleans. The paper sessions are tentatively scheduled for the afternoon of Tuesday, April 10, 2018.

WLDAAG: Autumn C. James, Ph.D. candidate, Northern Illinois University
Paper Title: Construction of Safety in Daily Living: The Role of Personal Experience and Perception

SWAAG: Benjamin Hemingway, Ph.D. candidate, Oklahoma State University
Paper Title: Vertical Sampling Scales for Atmospheric Boundary Layer Measurements from Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS)

NESTVAL: Bogumila Backiel, M.S. (December 2017 graduate), University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Paper Title: Mapping Sandbars in the Connecticut River Watershed for Endangered Species Conservation

MAD: Joshua Wayland, PhD Candidate, Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland College Park
Paper Title: Linking Natural Resources and Civil Conflict: A Spatial Panel Regression Approach

APCG: Sean Pries, PhD Candidate, Geography Graduate Group at University of California at Davis
Paper Title: The Past is the Key to the Present” Landscape of the Upper North Fork American River

SEDAAG: Maegen Rochner, PhD Candidate, University of Tennessee Knoxville
Paper Title: Climate Change in a High-Elevation Whitebark Pine Ecosystem, Beartooth Mountains, Wyoming, U.S.A.

MSDAAG: Meghann Smith, PhD Student, Montclair State University
Paper Title: Environmental and Economic Assessment of Hard Apple Cider in the Northeastern U.S.

GPRM: Kimberly Johnson, PhD Student, Oklahoma State University
Paper Title: Perceptions and Performances of Wilder-scapes: Shaping contemporary social memories of the American West at Little House tourist sites

ELDAAG: Sam Roobar, Department of Geography, MA Student, Western Michigan University
Paper Title: “Spatial and Temporal Change in Halal Food Sales and Consumption: A case study of the city of Dearborn, Michigan”

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AAG Snapshot: AAG Disciplinary Data Dashboard

November 20, 2017

The Disciplinary Data Dashboard site on the AAG website.

Are you interested in trends in geography? Have you been looking for openly available datasets to investigate aspects of our discipline for a report or research project? We have the answers for you in our freely accessible data resource, the AAG Disciplinary Data Dashboard.

It is important for researchers, students, and other information-seekers to have a single place to go to and easily find consistently updated disciplinary facts and figures. To meet this need, the AAG has created the Disciplinary Data Dashboard as a central repository for visitors to easily and freely access and utilize data on geography as a field of study.

The AAG has always gathered and made available annual data in two key areas:

AAG Membership Data. Collected via membership forms which all AAG members have the option to complete when renewing membership or on the online member profile page.
Geography Department Data. Collected via the Guide to Geography Programs and the departmental data form, which is circulated annually to geography departments with the call for Guide updates.

The Disciplinary Data Dashboard can be found under the Projects & Programs tab on the AAG website.

Data is conveniently located through the AAG website on the Disciplinary Data Dashboard page. Alternatively, the Dashboard can also be found from the AAG homepage under the Projects & Programs tab. From the Disciplinary Data Dashboard, you can find downloadable Excel spreadsheets with raw data on membership by type, employment category, gender, race and ethnicity from the last 40+ years (from 1972 to present)! All future data collected will also be available here.

AAG staff have also created, and will continue to create, brief, annual summary reports (white papers) presenting and visualizing the data in charts, tables, and other graphics. These reports, available through the Dashboard, also include some analysis and interpretation of the raw data.

Additional Dashboard Sections. Read the descriptions below for additional sections and data available in the Disciplinary Dashboard.

AAG Membership Data Summary Report downloaded from the Disciplinary Data Dashboard.

AAG Departments Data. Data found in this section comes from The Guide as well as the National Center for Educational Statistics. It includes information about geography programs in departments throughout the Americas as well as figures for the numbers of geography degrees conferred. Results of diversity surveys sent to geography departments are also located here.
AAG Workforce Data. This section is a work in progress, but includes a link to our Salary Data & Trends website featuring data on over 90 occupations related to geography. We also plan to have a report soon on our Jobs in Geography (JIG) website providing analysis of job ads posted to the AAG online job board over time and several other reports related to geographers in the workforce
Special Surveys. This section includes links to non-annual surveys on various topics, usually linked to grant-funded AAG projects.
AAG Annual Meetings. This includes raw data and analytical reports on AAG Annual Meetings held since 1904, including venues, attendance, international participants, session/paper topics, Presidential addresses, and more!
AAG Journals Data. This section is also still a work in progress, but will eventually include raw data and an analytical report on the four AAG peer-reviewed scholarly journals: The Annals of the American Association of Geographers, the Professional Geographer, the AAG Review of Books, and GeoHumanities.
AAG Archival Data. This includes information on how to access archival council reports/minutes, records of past AAG Annual Meetings, AAG journals/newsletters, and the “Geographers on Film” series (a collection of interviews with hundreds of influential geographers since 1970).

The Disciplinary Data Dashboard is categorized by source (left column) or by theme (right column).

Important Note about the Disciplinary Data Dashboard Structure. Data is categorized by source in the left column and searchable by theme in the right column. The goal is to make it more intuitive for particular audiences (students, researchers, etc.) to know where to look for specific data resources. The section searchable by theme also includes some externally-collected data and resources from outside of the AAG such as data from The College Board on high school Advanced Placement (AP) programs or The Social Science PhDs-5+ Years Out survey from the Center for Innovation and Research in Graduate Education (CIRGE).

The Disciplinary Data Dashboard is a valuable resource both to those browsing for more information about geography, but also for those pursuing in-depth research on the discipline. The amount of free, raw datasets available could easily support and be the foundation for research projects and publications!

Questions? Contact Mark Revell at mrevell [at] aag [dot] org.

The AAG Snapshots series, first launched at the 2017 Annual Meeting, provides insight on and information about different aspects of the projects, programs, and resources of the association. Do you have suggestions for future Snapshots content from AAG staff? Email cluebbering [at] aag [dot] org.

data, Disciplinary Data Dashboard, online database, resources

Annual Meeting

2018 AAG Annual Meeting Presidential Plenary Announced

October 13, 2017

The AAG announces the 2018 annual presidential plenary session from its current president, Derek Alderman, as well as a panel of esteemed scholars. The presidential plenary is currently slated to take place during the 2018 AAG annual meeting on Tuesday, April 10, 2018 in the Grand Ballroom at the Sheraton Hotel from 6:30 -8:30 p.m.

Alderman will present When the Big Easy Isn’t So Easy: Learning from New Orleans’ Geographies of Struggle. Beyond merely providing hotels, restaurants, and bars, the hosting cities of AAG meetings offer important moments to delve into the scientific value of these locations and to learn about the historical and contemporary forces and tensions that shape their communities and spaces. Doing so not only advances our intellectual understanding of place but also has the potential to create a more responsible and empathetic visitor and academic conference citizen—someone who can appreciate, analyze, and be affected by the people and places that exist beyond tourism brochures found in hotel lobbies.

When the Big Easy Isn’t So Easy creates a space to explore the role of struggle in the making, unmaking, and remaking of New Orleans. The city’s development has long been a power-laden process in which multiple identities, histories, and social interests converge, mix, but also clash. A wide range of racial, ethnic, class, and environmental struggles have shaped New Orleans in complex ways, making it a site of vulnerability, inequality, and displacement and at the same time a place of resourcefulness, creative surviving and living, and social justice activism.

Panelists, all of whom are civically engaged scholars and gifted geographic storytellers, will highlight not only the (Post) Katrina experience but also the deeper historical and geographic roots of struggle in New Orleans. They will take the audience to evocative spaces and moments, using the opening session to open broader discussions of issues such as black lives and geographies, disaster response and recovery, food justice, water-society relations, the politics of public memory, and urban political economy. Panelists will reflect on the larger academic-political lessons from New Orleans, offer ideas for (re)imagining the future of this city and others, and demonstrate how geographers can learn from and with the host cities for our AAG meetings.

Register now.

In addition to President Alderman, panelists will include:

Laura Pulido, University of Oregon. Noted black geographies scholar and editor of recently released edited book on New Orleans.

Craig Colten, LSU. One of the perennial experts on NOLA and Louisiana history of human-environment/water-society relations.

Richard Campanella, Tulane University. Author of AAG’s ongoing features on NOLA and widely published local expert.

Michael Crutcher, Jr, Independent Scholar. Long-time expert on NOLA and author of book on Treme neighborhood.

Catarina Passidomo, University of Mississippi. Emerging scholar in southern studies, food geography/justice, and wrote dissertation on post-Katrina NOLA.

Rebecca Sheehan, Oklahoma State University. Has worked extensively as of late on the controversial removal of Confederate monuments from NOLA.

2018 AAG Annual Meeting, AAG 2018 New Orleans, Derek H. Alderman, presidential plenary

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AAG Hurricane Relief Fund

October 6, 2017

HCredit: Kris Grogan, U.S. Customs and Border Protection

The AAG has established its Hurricane Relief Fund to help coordinate support for those in affected Geography Departments in Florida, Puerto Rico, and Texas from the devastation of Hurricanes Maria, Harvey, and Irma.

Charles Christonikos Interns at AAG for Fall Semester

September 29, 2017

Charles Christonikos is currently a senior at The George Washington University, pursuing a B.A. in Geography with minors in GIS and Criminal Justice. Charles is passionate about urban geography and planning, and hopes to pursue a master’s in urban planning post-graduation.

Outside of his academics and work with the AAG, Charles enjoys biking, language learning, and exploring Washington, DC.

AAG in, Charles, intern

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Tolu Ajayi Interns at AAG for Fall Semester

September 26, 2017

Tolu Ajayi is currently in his last semester at University of Maryland College Park, pursing a B.S. in Geographical Sciences. Some of Tolu’s strengths include GIS, Computer Cartography, and Programming. After graduating Tolu plans on obtaining his masters in Computer Science, with hopes to become a Web Developer.

Outside of school and his work at the AAG, Tolu’s interests include basketball, weight lifting, and fashion.

AAG intern, intern, Tolu

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Shane Colgan Interns at AAG for Fall Semester

September 26, 2017

Shane Colgan recently completed his bachelor of science in Geographical Sciences from the University of Maryland, College Park. He will be attending the University of Maryland, College Park to pursue his masters in GIS starting this upcoming Spring semester. His geographic research deals with vegetation indexes and tree top canopy analysis to document the habitat of bats in Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware.

When not at work or doing research Shane enjoys watching the Capitals ice hockey team.

AAG intern, intern, Shane

Annual Meeting

AAG Announces 2018 Annual Meeting Themes

September 22, 2017

The AAG is pleased to announce three themes for the 2018 Annual Meeting to be held in New Orleans from April 10-14. Each year, the AAG Council and Executive Director identify theme areas of geography for the annual meeting in order to provide a fresh take on some of the more pressing and timely issues facing the discipline. While any topic is accepted for presentation at the Annual Meeting, the themes are used to establish a way to focus the breadth and variety of geographic scholarship the Annual Meeting has to offer.

Contributions to the Black Geographies theme will address the meaningful role of Black communities and individuals as they advance the production of geographic knowledge and space-making practices. Likewise, contributions will encourage the critical reflection on the issues, processes, intrinsic qualities, and interconnections that shape Black lives and geographies on local, national, continental, and international scales.

Geographers are uniquely situated to address the myriad challenges presented by hazards due to the interdisciplinary nature of our discipline. The Hazards, Geography, and GIScience theme will approach these issues from multiple perspectives, with the goal of using the research and tools of Geography and GIScience to learn from past events and plan for future hazards.

The Public Engagement theme will create and open spaces for demonstrating, debating, and improving how geographers engage public groups through their research, teaching, and other professional practices. This theme seeks paper, panel, and workshop sessions that explore the practical strategies, ethical considerations, and challenges of geographers interacting with a broad array of communities.

More information about each of these themes will be forthcoming. To submit your abstract or session for consideration as part of one of these three themes, please select the relevant theme name in the “Theme” dropdown in the abstract/session submission console. If you have already submitted your abstract or session, you can log into the console and edit your submission. All submissions to the themes are due by November 8, 2017.

2018 AAG Annual Meeting, Featured Themes

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Undergraduate Student Affinity Group Elects Inaugural Board

September 5, 2017

The AAG’s new Undergraduate Student Affinity Group has elected their first board. Congratulations to the following:

USAG Chair: Michelle Church; Michigan State University
USAG Secretary-Treasurer: Lauren Gerlowski; Point Park University
USAG General Board Member: Siobhan Flynn; Rutgers University
USAG General Board Member: Erika Ornouski; California State University, Sacramento
USAG General Board Member: Noah Irby; University of North Dakota

The AAG is very excited for these student leaders to guide this group to serve our growing community of undergraduate student members.

For more information about USAG, visit the USAG Knowledge Community or follow @AAG_Undergrads on Twitter.

Annual Meeting

NCRGE Welcomes Abstracts for a Special Track During AAG 2018 New Orleans

September 5, 2017

Transformative Research in Geography Education

For the 2018 AAG Annual Meeting in New Orleans, the National Center for Research in Geography Education (NCRGE) is welcoming abstracts and organized session proposals for a special track of sessions on Transformative Research in Geography Education during the AAG Annual Meeting on April 10-14, 2018, in New Orleans. This track aims to raise the visibility of research in geography education, grow the NCRGE research coordination network, and provide productive spaces for discussion about geography education research and the notion of what makes research in the field potentially transformative.

CONTEXT: In 2007, NSF adopted the following working definition of “transformative research”:

Transformative research involves ideas, discoveries, or tools that radically change our understanding of an important existing scientific or engineering concept or educational practice or leads to the creation of a new paradigm or field of science, engineering, or education. Such research challenges current understanding or provides pathways to new frontiers.

The concept of transformative research pervades the Road Map for 21st Century Geography Education project’s landmark report on geography education. By organizing new networks of geographers, educational researchers, and practitioners, the NCRGE research coordination network aims to build capacity for research in areas of geography education that were deemed by the Road Map Project to be highly significant for achieving broad-scale improvement in educational practices.

SESSIONS: Abstracts and sessions on any geography education research topic are welcome. Examples of topics include:

Integration of Geography and STEM Learning
Project-based learning
Learning progressions
Assessment
Capabilities and powerful knowledge
International comparative research
Professional development (Online & Face-to-Face)
Teaching Strategies (All levels)

For each of the activities below, we seek a diverse group of individuals representing a range of experiences with these and other topics. If interested, please follow the specified procedures.

Information on how to submit an abstract or organized session is available at Road Map for 21st Century Geography Education

RESEARCH PAPERS

NCRGE will be organizing several paper sessions on research topics related to geography education. To present in one of these sessions:

Register for the conference at aag.org/annualmeeting/register
During abstract submission select “paper” as the abstract type
When you receive confirmation of a successful abstract submission, please then forward this confirmation to ncrge [at] aag [dot] org with “Transformative Research paper abstract” in the subject line.

The abstract deadline is October 25, 2017.

ORGANIZED SESSIONS

To submit an organized session to this theme please forward your session confirmation email to ncrge [at] aag [dot] org by November 8, 2017.

NCRGE, Transformative Research in Geography Education