Awardees

2026 AAG Communities Awards

Photo of bright sparkly lights on dark background

Each year, our Communities—Regional Divisions, Specialty Groups, Affinity Groups, and Communities of Practice, lead the nomination and selection of awards that recognize outstanding members. This communities‑driven approach reflects the values, priorities, and expertise of those closest to the work. These awards support the mission of each community and honor scholars for their meaningful contributions within their specialty, affinity, or region. In doing so, they celebrate excellence, elevate peer‑recognized leadership, and advance the collective work of our community members. Below are this year’s award recipients for each community.

Regional Divisions

Association of Pacific Coast Geographers (APCG)

AAG Council Outstanding Student Paper Award, Graduate, Caitlyn Linehan, UC Santa Barbara, Who Gains, Who Loses? Equity Impacts of Park Closures and Open Streets

East Lakes Regional Division (ELDAAG)

AAG Council Outstanding Student Paper Award, Undergraduate, Margarete Brady, Grand Rapids Community College

AAG Council Outstanding Student Paper Award, Graduate, Theodora Mary Fletcher, University of Toledo

Student Poster/Presentation Award

  • Anthony Randall Poynter
  • Benjamin Britton
  • Cyenna Ulrich-Cech
  • Elizabeth Blakley-White
  • Harrison Frenken
  • Jennie Golaszewski
  • Margarete Brady
  • Tuhin Chowdhury
  • Michelle Medved
  • Oluwadamilola Salau
  • Peter Berdo
  • Ruija Hu
  • Sage Lail
  • Sara Conner
  • Theodora Mary Fletcher

Great Plains Rocky Mountains Regional Division (GPRM)

AAG Council Outstanding Student Paper Award, Graduate, Stephen Adebisi, South Dakota State University, Do Self-Restored Peatlands Stabilize Soil Organic Carbon? An Enzyme Assay Approach to Evaluating Carbon Stability at the Marcell Experimental Forest, Minnesota, USA

Middle Atlantic Regional Division (MAD)

MAD-AAG Advancing Geography Meritorious Award (MAGMA), Maya Clark, Towson University, Urban Canopy Equity: Assessing Socioeconomic Disparities in Tree Cover and Quantifying Urban Forest Changes in Baltimore

AAG Council Outstanding Student Paper Award, Graduate

  • Max Gundling, Salisbury University, The Fractured Metropolis: Gentrification, Exclusion, and Spatial Inequality in the Washington-Baltimore Corridor
  • Haijun Li, University of Maryland – College Park, Agricultural expansion and intensification in Brazil: A literature synthesis of dynamics, drivers, and implications

Middle States Regional Division (MSAAG)

AAG Council Outstanding Student Paper Award, Undergraduate, Valerie Davidheiser, Kutztown University, The Influence of climate change on dew point temperatures in Pennsylvania

AAG Council Outstanding Student Paper Award, Graduate, Naznin Nahar Sultana, University of Delaware, Post-Displacement Adaptation Practices of Internally Displaced People: Reproduction of Vulnerability in Urban Informal Space

Undergraduate Student Paper Competition

  • Winner – Valerie Davidheiser
  • 2nd place – Padmini (Raven) Vijayakumar

Graduate Student Paper Competition

  • Winner – Naznin Nahar Sultana
  • 2nd place – Caitlyn Linehan

Graduate Student Poster Competition

  • Winner – Kripa Shrestha
  • 2nd place (tie) – Arafat Hassan & Hilda Afelu-Amenyo

New England / St. Lawrence Valley Regional Division (NESTVAL)

AAG Council Outstanding Student Paper Award, Undergraduate, Delaney Gardner, Mount Holyoke College, Coastal Resilience Planning and Policy in Florida

AAG Council Outstanding Student Paper Award, Graduate, Gianna Dejoy, University of Maine, Reconceiving rural distance: Mothers’ narratives of health resource loss and access to maternity care in Maine

Southeast Regional Division (SEDAAG)

AAG Council Outstanding Student Paper Award, Graduate, Nicko Tovar, University of North Carolina – Greensboro, Variation in Bus Transit Infrastructure Provision, Ridership, and Equity: Evidence from North Carolina

Southwest Regional Division (SWAAG)

AAG Council Outstanding Student Paper Award, Undergraduate, Carolina Cambron & Katie Dusek, Texas State University, For Peat’s Sake? An Environmental Geography Analysis of Peatland Carbon Markets in Scotland

AAG Council Outstanding Student Paper Award, Graduate, Adriana Montoya, Texas State University, Rectifying a River: A Critical Case Study of Engineering Control on the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas

Undergraduate Student Paper Competition, Katie Dusek and Caroline Cambron (co-authors)

Graduate Student Paper Competition

  • Winner – Katelyn Cooke
  • 2nd place – Brock Burford
  • 3rd place – Elizabeth Kubacki

Undergraduate Student Poster Competition

  • Winner – Jaydon Allison
  • 2nd place – Helen Wagner

Graduate Student Poster Competition

  • Ashok Gahatraj
  • Sahar Rezaei

World Geography Bowl Scoring Leaders

  • Winner – Jaydon Allison
  • 2nd place – Hardt Bergmann
  • 3rd place (tie) – Brock Burford, Raynee Bacorn

West Lakes Regional Division (WLDAAG)

AAG Council Outstanding Student Paper Award, Undergraduate, Jake Plasky, Depaul University

AAG Council Outstanding Student Paper Award, Graduate, Kei Kato, University of Illinois

Undergraduate Student Paper Competition

  • Winner – Joshua Elliot
  • 2nd place – Grant Kerpsack
  • 3rd place – Evan Frawley & Marko Nikolovski

Master’s Student Paper Competition

  • Winner – Thea Brenner
  • 2nd place – Isaac Eshun & Brianna Sas-Perez
  • 3rd place – Derek Asiamah

PhD Student Paper Competition

  • Winner – Christine Dennis & Hilary Hunt
  • 2nd place – Gyudae Kim

Undergraduate Student Poster Competition

  • Winner – Jared Saef
  • 2nd place – Ellie Strand
  • 3rd place – Rachel Loftus

Graduate Student Poster Competition

  • Winner – Md Saqib Shahriar
  • 2nd place – Harriet Quarshie
  • 3rd place – Yiming Zhang

Groups

Africa Specialty Group

Distinguished Emerging Scholar Award in African Geography, Elmond Bandauko, University of Alberta.

Graduate Research Award, Stephanie Efua Yamoah, University of Denver

Kwadwo Konadu-Agyemang Distinguished Scholar Award in African Geography, Timothy D. Baird, Virginia Tech.

Animal Geographies Specialty Group

Graduate Student Research Competition

  • Winner – Xiaoyun Neo, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
  • 2nd place – Sara Toroi
  • Honorable Mention – Aberdeen Leary, University of Michigan
  • Honorable Mention – David Kalman, University of California, Berkeley

Applied Geography Specialty Group

James R. Anderson Medal of Honor in Applied Geography, Frank Southworth

Student Annual Meeting Award

  • Audrey Smith, University of Florida, Landsat to Livelihoods: Social–Ecological Costs of Large-Scale Land Acquisitions in Ethiopia
  • Jason Yoo, Geospatial Mismatch between Social Vulnerability and BMP Co-benefits from Chesapeake Bay Watershed Management
  • Kristina Fillman, Compounding Injustices: A Political Ecology of Wildfire Smoke, Extreme Heat, and Child Health
  • Wenjing Gong, Texas A&M University, Essential Infrastructure or Unavoidable Risk? Modeling Urban Park Visitation under Dual Climate and Crime Stressors with Large-Scale Mobility Data
  • Zongrong Li, Texas A&M University, Seeing Green from Indoor in 3D: How Urban Form and Vegetation Shape Window-Level Views of Nature

Asian Geography Specialty Group

Graduate Student Research Fellowship, Sufeng (Sophia) Xiao, Harvard University

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Miles Kenney-Lazar, University of Melbourne, Sustainability Capitalism in the Age of Extractivism: Southeast Asian Trajectories

Graduate Student Paper Competition

  • Dri Tattersfield, University of Minnesota
  • Sufeng (Sophia) Xiao, Harvard University

Bible Geography Specialty Group

Amy Mather BGSG Student Scholar Award, Priyadharshini Sakthivel, The importance of topography and urban-rural definition in identifying Surface Urban Heat Islands in semi-arid environments: Case study of Amman, Jordan

Jonathan Lu BGSG Student Travel Enhancement Award, Brody Manquen, The University of Texas at Austin, Reclaiming the Locus Amoenus: historical narrative of post-Roman inundation in early modern Italian wetland drainages

Biogeography Specialty Group

Research Grant, Ph.D. level, Elizabeth Barnes, University of Tennessee, Environmental History and the Megafauna Extinction in Costa Rica

Student Paper Award, Doctoral Category, Wenxin Yang, UCSB, Measuring and monitoring the three-dimensional structure of terrestrial habitats to support biodiversity conservation

Travel grant for AAG meeting attendance, Cole Bristow, Virginia Tech

Black Geographies Specialty Group

Student Travel Award, Sabina Bhandari, University of Connecticut

Clyde Woods Graduate Student Paper Award, Alexis Wiley, Rutgers University – New Brunswick, Plotting Black Agrarian Geographies during the American Agrarian Transition, 1865-1970

Plenary Speaker, Danielle Purifoy, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Elena Serrano

Caribbean Geography Specialty Group

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Kevon Rhiney

Cartography and Mapping Specialty Group

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Meghan Kelly, Syracuse University, Boundaries, Placing Feminist Mapping

Master’s Thesis Research Grant

  • Abby Whelan, Syracuse University, Data Visualization as a Site of Oppression: What are Maternal Health Dashboards
  • Ashwin Adhip Acharya, University of Mumbai, GeoAI-Driven Physics-Guided Ensemble Modelling of Urban Flood Susceptibility under CMIP6 Climate Scenarios in the Mula–Mutha Basin, Maharashtra, India
  • Sarah Haedrich, University of Oregon, Cartographies of the Renewable Energy Development: A Critical Analysis of Stakeholder Maps in British Columbia

Student-Organized Session Funding

  • Fangsheng Zhou
  • Gareth Baldrica-Franklin
  • Lily Houtman, The Pennsylvania State University
  • Yanbing Chen, Mapping Your Career Path: Mentoring Across Cartographic Trajectories
  • Zhaoxu Sui
  • Zongrong Li, Texas A&M University

China Geography Specialty Group

Best Student Paper Award, Shize Zhang, The everyday political economy of local governance in China: Bridging relational and territorial thinking

Student Travel Award, Vinci Ying Jia Cheung, The University of Hong Kong, Digital divide or digital dividend? The growth of a digital economy and changes in urban-rural inequality in China

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Xueguang Zhou, Stanford University, Scale and the Logic of Governance in China

Climate Specialty Group

Paper of the Year Award, Shaina Sadai, Antarctic meltwater alters future projections of climate and sea level

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Zeke Hausfather, Berkeley Earth, The role of aerosol declines in recent warming acceleration

Student Paper Competition

  • Winner – Nishat Tasnim Sumaya, Assessing Climate Trends in Bangladesh Using the Spatial Synoptic Classification
  • 2nd place – Afra Sayara Rahman, Whispers in the Wind: Oklahoma Women’s Narratives of Climate Migration Choices and Survival During the Dust Bowl
  • 3rd place – Yayun Lin, Atlantic Tropical Cyclone Intensity and Aerosols: A Multiscale Analysis

Coastal and Marine Specialty Group

R.J. Russell Award, Ian Walker, University of California Santa Barbara, Coastal dune restoration as a nature-based solution to improve resilience of California’s beaches to sea level rise

The Norbert Psuty Student Paper Competition

  • Winner – Holland Haverkamp, University of Maine, Tidal Infrastructures and Hydrosocial Frictions: Offshore Wind Port Development and Water Justice in Coastal Maine
  • 2nd place – Yu-Chia Lin, State University of New York at Buffalo, The blame geography: ocean governance, governmentality, and fishery management on the High Seas

Community College Affinity Group

Darrel Hess Community College Geography Scholarship, Erin Dickey

Critical Islands, Archipelagos, and Oceans Specialty Group

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Sofia Zaragocin, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, There Are People Too in the Galápagos! A Latin American Decolonial Feminist Perspective on Conservation in the Galápagos Islands

Critical Geographies of Education Specialty Group

Critical Geographies of Education MA Dissertation Award, Jessica Flach, Between Florida and the World: Young People and the Politics of Citizenship

Critical Geographies of Education PhD Dissertation Award, Caroline Loomis, CUNY Graduate Center, Proximity and Partition: Geographies of Childhood, Choice, and Co-Location in New York City

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Susan Thomas, Syracuse University

Cryosphere Specialty Group

R.S. Tarr Student Travel Award

  • Sepideh Jalayer, University of Colorado Boulder
  • Zhengrui Huang

Cultural and Political Ecology Specialty Group

Field Study Award, Thao Nguyen, The University of British Columbia, Sustainability Initiatives to De-Risk the Natural Rubber Supply Chain in the Mekong region

Outstanding Book Award, Youjin Chung, University of California, Berkeley,

Outstanding Journal Article, Nathan Green, National University of Singapore, Maximizing Finance for Sustainable Development

Student Paper Award, Ana Lucía Araujo Raurau, The Political Economy of Belonging: Transgender Insights in Ethnographic Fieldwork in Rural Societies

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Susanna Hecht, University of California – Los Angeles, Not all anthropocenes are the same: Political ecologies and what they can tell us about the myth of 1.5, and the adaptation  complexities of a heating planet

Elsevier Geoforum Community Support Travel Award, Thuy Ho, Indiana University

Scholar-Activist Award

  • Jesús Alejandro García, UC Berkeley, Escuela de Agua: Building Popular Water Knowledge, Territorialities, and Governance in the Colombian Massif
  • Juan Carlos Jimenez, University of Toronto, Communal Care, Young Adult Rural Livelihoods, and Historic Trauma of War and Agrarian Exits: Towards a Political Ecology of Healing in Chalatenango, El Salvador

Cultural Geography Specialty Group

Denis E. Cosgrove (Ph.D.) Research Grant, Zachary Cudney, University of Washington

Master’s Level Research Award, Samuel Scarborough

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Rebecca Solnit

Elsevier’s Geoforum Community Support Travel Award, Brian Boyce, University of Tennessee

Cyberinfrastructure Specialty Group

Robert Raskin Student Paper Competition

  • Winner – M. Naser Lessani
  • 2nd place – Pengyu Chen, University of South Carolina
  • 3rd place – Haofeng Tan

Development Geographies Specialty Group

Gary Gaile Travel Award, Audrey Culver Smith, University of Florida, From Landsat to Livelihoods: Socio-Ecological Costs of Large-Scale Land Acquisitions in Ethiopia

Outstanding Paper Award, W. Nathan Green, National University of Singapore, Maximizing Finance for Sustainable Development? Microfinance, Debt-Driven Deforestation, and the Self-Regulation of Environmental Harm

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Annie Shattuck, Indiana University Bloomington

Elsevier’s Geoforum Community Support Travel Award, Keegan A. Kessler, University of Hawai’i

Student Paper Award

  • Irma Losada Olmos, Unimagined Communities Along the Maya Train: Exposing Violence Through Photography
  • Jimena Natalia Perez, University of California – Berkeley, Remaking the Los Angeles River

Digital Geographies Specialty Group

(Digital) Racial Justice Award, Elspeth Iralu, The Land, the Earth, the Sky: Mapping Global Indigenous Relations

Software Tool, Platform, or Interactive Map/Visualization Award, Arunima Dasgupta, University of Connecticut, Families, Friends, and Neighborhoods (FFAN) Story Map

Outstanding Dissertation Award

  • Winner – Teddy Davenport, Center for Applied Transgender Studies, Theorizing the Political Potential of Care through Digital Spaces of Trans Belonging
  • Megan Wiessner, University of Virginia, Digital Timber: Remediating Resource Economies and Automating Sustainable Futures

Student Paper Award

  • Dylan O’Donoghue, Rutgers University – Camden, Navigating Employment Issues and Police Encounters: Frictions across the Tech Sector’s Migrant Subcontractor Workforce
  • Jillian Crandall, Plotting cryptoeconomic imaginaries and counterplotting the network state
  • Zach Cudney, University of Washington, Google Gazes and Digital Seams: Visual Epistemologies between Satellite View and Street View

Disability Specialty Group

Todd Reynolds Student Paper Competition, Suzanne Nimoh, University of Texas at Austin, Unearthing the Zombie: Black, Crip, Animal

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Kafui Attoh, City University of New York

Economic Geography Specialty Group

Research / Fieldwork Award, Induja Kumar

Travel Award, Clara Lemme Ribeiro, University of Washington

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Kendra Kintzi, New York University

Elsevier’s Geoforum Community Support Travel Award, Dylan O’Donoghue, Rutgers University-Camden

Energy and Environment Specialty Group

Advancing Diversity and Inclusion Award, Lyric Patterson, University of Michigan

Dissertation Data & Fieldwork Award, Sebastián Solarte-Caicedo, UCLA, The Long Life of Off-Grid Energy Commons: Insights from Thirty-Five Years of Electropalmor

Powershift Award, Sarah Kelly

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Jennifer Baka, The Pennsylvania State University, Political-Industrial Ecology for Just Energy Futures

Energy Luminary Award

  • Winner – Tom Ptak, Texas State University, Repositioning energy geographies in a time of crisis: Arguments from a subdiscipline on the margins of geography (Dialogues in Human Geography)
  • Honorable Mention – Chinedu C. Nsude, University of Oklahoma, Renewables but unjust? Critical restoration geography as a framework for addressing global renewable energy injustice (Energy Research & Social Science)

Best Student Paper Award

  • Winner – Deniz Mine Öztürk, Clark University, Beneath the surface, injustice boils: Environmental justice struggles against geothermal energy in Turkey
  • Honorable Mention – Bruce Baigrie , Syracuse University, Stacking versus Displacement in the Mexican Energy Transition

Environmental Perception and Behavioral Geography Specialty Group

Elsevier’s Geoforum Community Support Travel Award, Jiayin Zhang, University of California – Santa Barbara

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Daniel Montello, University of California – Santa Barbara

Ethnic Geography Specialty Group

Early Career Award for Scholarship, Teaching, and Service, Weronika Kusek, Northern Michigan University, Distinguished early career contributions to ethnic geography across scholarship, teaching, and service

Distinguished Scholar Award

  • Ira Sheskin, University of Miami
  • Emily Skop, University of Colorado Colorado Springs

Eurasian Specialty Group

Photo Contest, Sara Maaria Toroi, Impeerii da kirikkö karjalazile keskel Piälinnua [Empire and a church for Karelians in the centre of Helsinki

European Specialty Group

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Bernhard Kräußlich, German Geographical Society, Geography in Germany and the German Geographical Society

Feminist Geographies Specialty Group

Glenda Laws Student Paper Award, Kayla Roulhac

Rickie Sanders Junior Faculty Award, Elspeth Iralu, University of New Mexico

Susan Hanson Dissertation Proposal Award, Shubhangi

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Beverly Mullings, University of Toronto, The Curious Resurgence of the Maternal in a World in Need of Care

Jan Monk Service Award

  • Marianne Blidon, Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne University
  • Sarah Elwood

Geographic Information Science and Systems Specialty Group

The Waldo Tobler and Transactions in GIS Distinguished Lecture in GIScience Keynote Speaker, Peter Kedron, UC Santa Barbara, New Directions in Geographic Research on Replication

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Shawn Newsam, University of California – Merced, Over 25 years of GeoAI: From the Alexandria Digital Library Project to Now

Student Honors Paper Competition

  • Winner – Qianheng Zhang, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Spatial Epistemic Collapse: Quantifying Spatial Bias in Generative GeoAI Using Street View Imagery
  • 2nd place – Yifan Yang, DamageArbiter: A CLIP-Enhanced Multimodal Arbitration Framework for Hurricane Damage Assessment from Street-View Imagery
  • 3rd place – Yuhao Jia, Rethinking Spatial Dependency Modeling with Urban Representations
  • Finalist – Andy Qin, Leveraging Reinforcement Learning for Maternity Care Resource Reallocation
  • Finalist – Junbo Wang, University of Tennessee – Knoxville, SounDiT: Geo-Contextual Soundscape-to-Landscape Generation
  • Finalist – Mahbub Ul Hasan, Texas A&M University, Global Assessment of Grasslands: Three Decades of Shifting Connectivity and Increasing Fragmentation Across Regions and Scales
  • Finalist – Meicheng Xiong, A graph-based deep population downscaling model on irregular spatial units
  • Finalist – Qian Cao, University of Georgia, Generative AI for Planning Scenario Visualization: A Framework and Benchmark for Controllable Street-Level Image Synthesis
  • Finalist – Tao Peng, Contextual Autoencoder: A Self-Supervised Learning Framework for Spatiotemporal Interpolation under Diverse Missing Data Patterns
  • Finalist – Xin Jin, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The Task Utility Gap in Human Mobility Modeling: Evidence from Environmental Exposure Assessment

Geographies of Food and Agriculture Specialty Group

Plenary Panelist Honorarium, Tisina Parker

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Irene Vasquez,

Book Award

  • Winner – Emily Reisman, The Almond Paradox: Cracking Open the Politics of What Plants Need
  • 3rd place – Joshua Steckley, Carleton University, The Nightcrawlers: A story of worms, cows, and cash in the underground bait industry

Graduate Student Research Award

  • Ibrahim Bahati, University of Texas at Austin, Youth Adaptive Resilience Strategies to Climate Change Shocks in Uganda’s Rural Farming Systems
  • Jennie Jiang, Rutgers University, Scaling Ultra-Processed Foods: Chemicalized Capitalism and the Metabolic Pathways of U.S. Empire

Geography Education Specialty Group

Gail Hobbs Student Paper Competition

  • Winner – Hunter Hansen, Exploring the Impact and Interdisciplinarity of Geographic Backgrounds among Graduate Students: A Comparative Study
  • Participant – Charlotte Milner
  • Participant – Chenyu Wang, Western Michigan University
  • Participant – Yifan Wang, University at Buffalo – SUNY

Geomorphology Specialty Group

Allan James Msc Award, Itai Bojdak-Yates, Colorado State University

Allan James PhD Award, August Aalto, The University of Texas at Austin

Grove Karl Gilbert Award for Excellence in Geomorphological Research, Gentile Francesco Ficetola, The development of terrestrial ecosystems emerging after glacier retreat

  1. Gordon “Reds” Wolman Graduate Student Research Award (MSc), Itai Bojdak-Yates, Colorado State University
  2. Gordon “Reds” Wolman Graduate Student Research Award (PhD), Ashley Ford, Colorado State University

Melvin G. Marcus Distinguished Career Award, Sarah Praskievicz

William L. Graf Early Career Award, Zach Hilgendorf, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Adriana Martinez, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Laws, landscapes, and life on the border: Shaping the Rio Grande at Eagle Pass

Graduate Student Affinity Group

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Sandra Johnson, Western Michigan University, AAG Student-Leadership Listening Session

Travel Award

  • Ali Sorrels, George Washington University
  • Jiahua Chen
  • Kamrun Nahar Keya
  • Mst Sanjida Alam, Clark University
  • Wenyu Zhang, Texas A&M University

Hazards, Risks, and Disasters Specialty Group

Gilbert F. White Dissertation Award, Garima Jain, Stanford University, Tangled up in Blue – Patterns, drivers and feedback of aquaculture land and livelihood transitions in coastal India

Gilbert White Thesis Award, Carter Beale, Collaborative relationships and nature-based solutions: Two flood management cases in Hawaiʻi

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Adelle Thomas

Jeanne X. Kasperson Student Paper Award

  • Liyue Zhang, University at Buffalo, Voluntary support and community networks during the 2022 Buffalo blizzard: An online survey of disaster Facebook group members
  • Madusha Maha Gamage, The University of Alabama, Wildfire evacuation simulation toolkit (WEST): A web-based platform for modeling wildfire evacuation in the wildland-urban interface communities with transient populations
  • Naznin Nahar Sultana, From risk to resilience: Community-engaged disaster management in Chittagong, Bangladesh
  • Simran Koul, UC Santa Barbara, Unequal Risks: Coal Mining Hazards and Social Vulnerability in India
  • Wenyu Zhang, Texas A&M University, Shops, Shelters, and Survival: A GeoAI-based Assessment of Heat Adaptation Behavior in San Antonio, Texas

Health and Medical Geography Specialty Group

Melinda S. Meade Distinguished Scholarship Award, Valorie Crooks, Simon Fraser University

Mid-Career Scholar Award, Paul Delamater

Emerging Scholar Award, Michael Desjardins, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health,

Health Data Visualization Award – Dynamic/Interactive, Debs Ghosh, Sabina Bhandari, Cheryl Knott, Zev Ross

Health Data Visualization Award – Static, Stephen Liwur, Florida State University

Jacques May Thesis Prize

  • Chrishma Perera, Virginia Polytechnic and State University
  • Hanlin Zhou, University of Connecticut

Health & Place Travel Award

  • Amit Banerjee, The University of Burdwan
  • Arunima Dasgupta, University of Connecticut
  • Naoki Matsumoto

Peter Gould Student Paper Award

  • Bryttani Wooten, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • Congcong Miao, University of Connecticut
  • Meixian Li, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign
  • William Jones, Virginia Tech

International Medical Geography Symposium (IMGS) Student Travel Award

  • Drumond Dzakuma, University at Buffalo, Access Without Arrival: Rethinking Health Equity Through the Geography of Deferred Car
  • Konok Akter, PhD Student, Medical College of Wisconsin, Structural Disinvestment, Neighborhood Heat Exposure and the Mediating Effect of Tree Canopy: A National Study across U.S. Census Tracts
  • Lauren Babinetz, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Impact of Tropical Cyclones on Violent Injury Emergency Department Visits by Women in North Carolina
  • Samiha Nuzhat, University of South Carolina, Spatiotemporal Determinants and Unintended Consequences of Inequitable Safe Drinking-Water Access in Rural Bangladesh

Human Dimensions of Global Change Specialty Group

JEDI Award, Adriana Zuniga-Teran, University of Arizona

Research Excellence Award, Diana Liverman, University of Arizona

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Billie Lee Turner II, Arizona State University, Still Contested? Geography’s Place in the Sciences and the Academy

Student Paper Award

  • Irma Losada Olmos, Unimagined Communities Along the Maya Train: Exposing Violence Through Photography
  • Wenyu Wang, Uncovering Drivers of Federal Disaster Recovery Aid: A Statistical Learning Analysis of FEMA Public Assistance in Hurricane-Affected U.S. Coastal Regions

Indigenous Peoples Specialty Group

Plenary Speaker

  • Jeremy Sorgen, Northeastern University
  • Leaf Hillman, Karuk Tribe

Landscape Specialty Group

Student Membership Award, Sufeng (Sophia) Xiao, Curating Rurbanity: Platform-Mediated Landscape Transformation in Rural China

Photography Competition Judges, UCSB Photo Club

Landscape Photography Competition – People’s Choice Award, Somnath Nayak, University of Delhi, The Persistent Shore

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Kat Superfisky, Enhancing Urban Ecosystems, Balancing Biodiversity, and Human Development in Los Angeles, CA

Landscape Photography Competition

  • Winner – Aberdeen Leary, University of Michigan, A Forest Underwater
  • Winner – Yifan Liang, Doha Daily
  • Honorable Mention – Harriet Morkor Quarshie, University of Northern Iowa, Where Mangroves Become Merchandise, Volta Region, Ghana
  • Honorable Mention – Lavanya Gupta, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Confluence Border of India and Nepal
  • Honorable Mention – Mitchell Snyder, McGee Creek

Latin America Specialty Group

Student Field Study Awards (MA/MS level), Mariah Smith, What enables marine cultural heritage in MPA governance

Student Field Study Awards (PhD level), Javiera Madrid-Salazar, Rutgers University – New Brunskwick, From “Empty” to Unruly Lands: Geology, Subsoil Politics, and the(Re)Making of Large-scale Mining in Chile

Best Student Paper Award, Irma Losada Olmos, Unimagined Communities Along the Maya Train: Exposing Violence Through Photography

Solidarity Award, Thayré Gómez

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Marisol de la Cadena, University of California – Davis, Pluriversal Contact Zones

Latinx Geographies Specialty Group

Laura Pulido Research Award, Cinthya Martinez, Article: Migrant Abolition Geographies: Toxic Caging and Cuerpo-Territorio in Adelanto, California

2026 Grad Student Paper Award, Maritza Geronimo, University of California – Los Angeles, Bringing Our Land With Us: Decentralized Gardens, Indigenous Mobility, and Placemaking

2025 Paper Award, Jimena Perez, University of California – Berkeley

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Kimberly Soriano, Washington University in St. Louis, Our Agenda On Our Own Terms

Legal Geography Specialty Group

Graduate Student Presentation Award, Samantha Saona Sarabia, Columbia University

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Craig Segall, Environmental and climate law and policy in 2026: Proactive responses to the current moment

Media and Communication Geography Specialty Group

COMGEOG Student Paper Competition, Mei Jiang, Stand-Up, Speak Out: Open-Mic as Feminist Activism in the Sinophone Diaspora

Middle East Specialty Group

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Hatem Bazian, University of California – Berkeley

Mountain Geography Specialty Group

Chimborazo Student Research Grant Award (PhD), Luke R. Blentlinger, University of Tennessee, Paleohydrology and landscape change across the Little Ice Age and Spanish Conquest in the Tilarán Mountains of Costa Rica

Chimborazo Student Research Grant Award, Elizabeth Barnes, University of Tennessee – Knoxville, Environmental History and the Pleistocene Megafauna Extinction at La Chonta Bog, Cordillera de Talamanca, Costa Rica

Paleoenvironmental Change Specialty Group

Paleoenvironmental Change Student Research Award, Ian Thomas von Weisenstein, University of Tennessee Knoxville, Fire History and Past Vegetation from Soil Charcoal in Tennessee’s Ridge and Valley Province

Best Presentation (PhD Category), Luke Blentlinger, University of Tennessee, A high-resolution lake sediment record of fire history over the last millennium in the Tilarán Mountains of Costa Rica

Ellen Mosley Thompson Award for Best Publication in Paleoenvironmental Change, Qiang Yao, Geographically metachronous pattern of tropical cyclone activity regimes  across the North Atlantic Basin

Karl and Elisabeth Butzer Award for Lifetime Achievement in Paleoenvironmental Change, John W. (Jack) Williams, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Paleoenvironmental Change and Biogeography Specialty Groups

PEC/BSG Best Poster Presentation Award, Bronwen Hardee, Central Washington University, 7000-year anthropogenic fire history reconstruction near Progresso Lagoon in northern Belize

PEC/BSG Best Presentation Award (MS/Undergrad.), Ian von Weisenstein, University of Tennessee Knoxville, Fire History and Past Vegetation from Soil Charcoal in Tennessee’s Ridge and Valley Province

Polar Geography Specialty Group

Research Award, H Rainak Khan Real, The Ohio State University, In-situ before in-silico: Ground-truth data collection for GeoAI-driven mapping of microbial iron cycling

Polar Geography and Cryosphere Specialty Groups

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Jarkko Saarinen, University of Oulu – Finland, Arctic Tourism Geographies

Political Geography Specialty Group

Alexander Murphy Dissertation Enhancement Award, Kai-Yang Huang, National Taiwan University

PhD Student Paper Award, Troy Brundidge, University of Oregon

Geoforum Community Support Travel Award, Irma Losada Olmos

Student Travel Award

  • Aila Bandagi Kandlakunta, University of Nevada, Reno
  • Benjamin Asher Kaplan Weinger
  • Bryan Samir Castro-Velez, University of Maryland – Baltimore County
  • Faisal Bin Islam
  • Fernando Lopez Oggier, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa
  • Handique, Jublee, Ohio State University
  • Keegan Kessler

Protected Areas Specialty Group

Graduate Paper Award, Nancy Donald, UC – San Diego, Rewilding and the Remaking of Aysén, Chilean Patagonia: The National Huemul Corridor and the Contradictory Pursuit of Tranquilidad

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Jeffrey Jenkins, University of California – Merced, Changing Geographies of Visitor Use of Protected Areas in California

Qualitative Research Specialty Group Award

  • Ambra Bergamasco, University College Dublin – Ireland
  • Hayes Hart-Thompson, University of Colorado, Boulder
  • Pancho Lewis, University of Durham

Recreation, Tourism, and Sport Specialty Group

Discussant grant, Kathleen Adams, Univ of London

Early Career Researcher Award, Joshua Merced, Northern Arizona University – Merced, Joshua Z. and Scarborough, S. (2025). De‐Pale the Ale: Preserving Black Brewing Culture Through Beer Festivals, Geography Compass, https:/doi.org/10.1111/gec3.70036

John Rooney Award, Jillian Rickly, University of Nottingham

Roy Wolfe Award, Kathleen Adams, Univ. of London and Loyola University Chicago

Student Paper Award

  • Xiaoyun Neo, Elephant Economics: Conditions for benefiting from Elephant Tourism Market in an upland Karen (Paganyaw) village
  • Ali Mert Ipek, The University of Manchester, A ‘Green Road’ to Rural Development: State, Infrastructure, and Tourism in Turkey’s Eastern Black Sea Region

Recreation, Tourism, and Sport, and Political Geography Specialty Groups

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Vernadette Vicuña Gonzalez, University of California, Detours as Decolonial Method and Counterarchive

Regional Development and Planning Specialty Group

Ashok K. Dutt Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Award, Yuchen Wang, Texas A&M University, Toward Equitable Access to Campus Digital Twins

Emerging Scholar Award, XIAO HUANG, Emory University

Remote Sensing Specialty Group

Early Career Scholar in Remote Sensing Award, Yuchi Ma, Stanford University

John Jensen Distinguished Lecture & AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Philip Dennison, University of Utah, Exploring drought, wildfire, greenhouse gas emissions, and economically valuable minerals through shortwave infrared remote sensing

Outstanding Contributions in Remote Sensing Award, Le Wang, The State University of New York at Buffalo

Student Honors Paper Competition Award

  • Winner – Fangyi Wang, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, TillSight: Large-Scale Ground Reference Generation for Tillage Intensity of the U.S. Midwest Using Multi-Source Imagery and Vision-Language Foundation Models
  • 2nd place – Hao Tian, Texas A&M University, Leveraging Deep Learning and Distributed Acoustic Sensing for Real-Time Traffic Monitoring
  • 3rd place – Zhang Chen, University of Connecticut, Coupling Streetscape Atmosphere with Social Vulnerability and Community Resilience

Student Illustrated Paper Competition Award

  • Winner – Babak Heidari, Texas State University
  • 2nd place – Md Jakirul Islam Jony Prothan, Comparing Rule-Based and AI-Driven Methods for Active Fire Detection: A Case Study of the 2022 Calf Canyon–Hermits Peak Wildfires
  • 3rd place – Srijana Shrestha, Analyzing Crop Phenology Responses to Climate Variability Using Multi-Source Satellite Data in the U.S. Corn Belt

Rural Geography Specialty Group

Just Rural Futures Blog Award, Global South Category, Shreya Ojha, Kansas State University, Role of Social Networks in Adapting to Climate Change: Insights from the Rural Desert Community of India.

Just Rural Futures Blog Awards, Georgia Lavigne, Early Career Category and Global North Category

Student Paper Presentation, Anika M. Rice, University of Wisconsin Madison, Landscapes of Debt: Land titling and migration loans in the Guatemalan highlands

Socialist and Critical Geography Specialty Group

AAG Annual Meeting Travel Award

  • Clara Lemme Ribeiro, University of Washington
  • Nirvana Heidarian
  • Stefanos Milkidis
  • Vishavjeet Dhanda, University of Delhi
  • Will Baker, University of Arkansas
  • Yimeng Yang, Northeastern University

Spatial Analysis and Modeling Specialty Group

Travel Award, Shiv Yucel, University of Oxford

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Mei-Po Kwan, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Neighborhood Effect Averaging Revisited: Why It Matters in Geographic, Social Science and Environmental Health Research

John Odland Award

  • Winner – Victor Irekponor, University of Maryland
  • 2nd place – Xinyang Zhang
  • 3rd place – Chintan B. Maniyar, University of Georgia

Student Travel Award

  • Chaehyeon Lee
  • Min Jeong, The University of Texas at Dallas
  • Qian Cao, University of Georgia

Stand Alone Geographers Affinity Group

SAGE Innovation Award, Lakeshia Wright

Transportation Geography Specialty Group

Edward L. Ullman Award, Ronald Buliung, University of Toronto Mississauga

The Fleming Lecture, Joe Weber, University of Alabama, The Streetcar Revolt and Politics of Resentment in America: Implications for Transportation Equity

Outstanding PhD Dissertation Award, Anastasia Soukhov, Reuniting Accessibility Measures with Spatial Interaction Principles

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Joe Weber, The University of Alabama, The Streetcar Revolt and Politics of Resentment in America: Implications for Transportation Equity

Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award

  • Winner – Lily Heidger
  • Honorable Mention – Fabiha Rahman

Student Travel Award

  • Mandela Gadri, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign
  • Seung Jae Lieu

Undergraduate Student Affinity Group

Travel Grant for USAG Board

  • Alex Bucher
  • Sara Conner

Urban Geography Specialty Group

Alternative Modes of Scholarship Award, Jiaying Li, Tufts University, The Coastal Multiple Hazard Risk (CMHR) platform

Graduate Student Fellowship

  • Winner – Kang Li, University of Utah, Seas into Cities: Global China and the socio-ecological dynamics of urbanization in Malaysia
  • Honorable Mention – Yimeng Yang, Northeastern University

Graduate Student Paper Award

  • Winner – Yihan Yan, The University of Manchester, Borrowing Space, Buying Certainty: Dog Caregivers’ Tactics and the Redistribution of Publicness in Urban China
  • Honorable Mention – Queenie Collins, Central Connecticut State University, Immersion and Inequality: An Ethnography of Language, Privilege, and Belonging at Middlebury

PhD Dissertation Award

  • Winner – Sharif Wahab, Indiana University Bloomington, Refugee Habitats: Producing And Maintaining Displaceable Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh
  • Honorable Mention – Aila Bandagi Kandlakunta, University of Nevada, Reno
  • Honorable Mention – Billy Southern, University of Oregon

Student Access Award

  • Jaxon Slaney
  • Kelly Haggerty, Temple University
  • Soo Yeon Lim, Rutgers University
  • Tshui Mum Ha, The Ohio State University
  • Vishavjeet Dhanda, Department of Geography, University of Delhi

Water Resources Specialty Group

Distinguished Career Award​, Heejun Chang​

Matthew-Dwyer Fund, Miriam Yupanqui, Nuestra Casa de East Palo Alto, Nuestra Casa Assistance with Coastal Resilience

Posthumous: Distinguished Career Award​, Sarah Praskievicz

Paper Award, Kate Cullen​, UC Berkeley, Navigating Power, Sustaining Access: Chile’s Community-Managed Drinking Water Systems Under Extreme Drought​

AAG Group Keynote Speaker, Sasha Harris-Lovett, San Francisco Estuary Partnership, Navigating a One Water Approach to Water in the San Francisco Bay Area

Olen Paul Matthews and Kathleen A. Dwyer Fund for Water Resources Award

  • Lucy Everett, King’s College London, Water Shutoffs, Extreme Heat, and the Human Right to Water in New York City​
  • Monique Assuncao​, Queens University, Governing Water Access Through Credit: Racialized Household Impacts in São Paulo, Brazil​

Presentation Award

  • Harman Singh, Penn State University, Extending Protection Motivation Theory: Ownership Appraisal, Spatial Exposure, and Household Flood Preparedness in Bengaluru
  • Skyy Corral, Engaging the Waters: Stormwater Infrastructure, Environmental Justice, and Community Engagement in the Southeastern United States​

Research Proposal Award

  • Andrea Cass, Investigating whether voluntary buyouts constitute transformative adaptation: a comparative case study of managed retreat in rural West Virginia​
  • Laine Sullivan​, University of Colorado Boulder, Embodied Toxicity: Community Experiences of Lead Exposure in Chicago​

Wine, Beer, and Spirits Specialty Group

Graduate Student Paper Award

  • Winner – Brock Burford, Texas State University, Turning water to wine: An analysis of Texas wine industry water efficiency
  • Honorable Mention – Kennedy Gould, San Diego State University, Influences of climate change on wine varietal choice in Southern California

 

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AAG Staff
AAG Staff
Advocacy

The Battle for SBE and Science Funding: What You Can Do

In early April, the White House published its proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2027. In its current form, the proposal threatens the core of U.S. scientific leadership; and if passed by Congress, would impose devastating cuts to programs supporting geography, climate, and spatial sciences.

These proposed reductions included a 55% cut to funding for the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the elimination of the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE) directorate. The impact of this proposed elimination is already being felt, with Nature reporting that NSF leadership is moving to comply in advance by dissolving the directorate entirely, strictly on the basis of the White House request.

Historically, the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Directorate has been a cornerstone of funding for geographers, and social and psychological scientists, supporting nearly 63% of all academic research across those disciplines, but it suffers from an administrative hurdle that other directorates do not have: it was not statutorily established. SBE was established in the early 1990s because of years-long advocacy by social scientists who believed it should exist outside of the biology directorate. In 2017, NSF reaffirmed the value of SBE research to the nation’s priorities in a report that asserted  “The diverse SBE sciences that are supported at NSF—anthropology, archaeology, demography, economics, geography, linguistics, neuroscience, political science, psychology, sociology, and statistics—produce fundamental knowledge, methods, and tools for a greater understanding of people and how they live,” knowledge that forms a foundation for acting on national priorities in keeping with the NSF mission.

Nonetheless, SBE’s lack of statutory status reduces its legal and budgetary protections.

The Administration took similar measures in 2025, when it proposed the elimination of the directorate in the 2026 Budget. Due to push-back from many in the science community, including geographers, Congress took measures to limit these cuts, ensuring that the SBE would be able to operate at least through FY 2026.

This iteration of the administration’s budget proposal is likely to face a steep uphill climb in both halls of Congress, as it did in 2025, with members from both sides of the aisle articulating their support for sciences. We must continue to show our legislators that funding for spatial science matters.

What’s next?

In the past two weeks, the House and Senate Budget Committees held their first hearings with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Russell Vought. These were the first opportunities for the administration to defend the proposed cuts. During these marathon sessions, members from both sides of the aisle grilled the OMB Director on cuts to NSF, and other domestic agencies, voicing their displeasure with the impact that this would have on research across the board. Each chamber will work to draft and complete their concurrent budget resolutions by months-end.

In the month or so ahead, the budget will move through both Chambers’ appropriations committees, where it will be marked up for hopeful completion by the end of June. The subcommittees most important in determining how NSF, and SBE funds are appropriated include the House and Senate Subcommittees on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS). The House Subcommittee will hold its markup on April 30, 2026, followed by a full House Appropriations Committee markup on May 13, 2026. Both will be public unless voted on as otherwise by committee members. Between these two Committee markups, the National Science Board (NSB) was scheduled to hold its next meeting on May 5th. This meeting has since been cancelled. As the governing body of NSF, the NSB’s perspectives on the budget are vital to helping Congress and the president understand which budgetary decision best align with the NSF’s mission. The NSB’s dismissal will have more consequential impacts as the budget process continues to unfold.

Congress must approve a budget, to be sent to the President’s desk by the 30th of September, or face a government shutdown.

What can you do?

  • Document how SBE funding has made an impact on your work, your institution, and especially your community and the nation. Send examples to advocacy@aag.org and use them in your communications with your Congressional representatives.
  • Reach out to your member of Congress, using tools like those provided by the Consortium of Social Science Associations, and AAG’s Action Kit to urge your member of Congress to recognize the importance of disciplines like geography to the nation’s long arc of innovation, and to express any concerns you may have related to the elimination of this crucial directorate of the NSF.
  • UPDATE: As of April 25th, 2026, the Administration has fired the entirety of the National Science Board, the governing body of the NSF. May’s meeting of the NSB has been cancelled. Please use tools like those provided by the Consortium of Social Science Associations, and AAG’s Action Kit to urge your member of Congress to recognizethe important role of this storied institution.
  • Encourage members of your network, such as department leaders, provosts, executives in the private sector, to be in touch and amplify your message.
  • Add your voice to the public dialogue on science funding. Many people in your community may not even know the stakes of this battle. Write an op ed, schedule a talk at your library, or share on social media. AAG’s Action Kit has ideas and how-to’s.

Stay alert to the appropriations process as it progresses, and stay in touch with AAG through advocacy@aag.org with your questions and ideas.

 

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Eddie McInerney
Eddie McInerney
News

The AAG Annual Meeting Revenue Flow

By Antoinette WinklerPrins, AAG Council Treasurer

Photo of Antoinette WinklerPrinsThis is the last message by outgoing 2024-2026 Council Treasurer Antoinette WinklerPrins. In her earlier series, she helped illuminate several financial dimensions of a professional organization such as the AAG. In this column, she shares a visualization of the income and expenses flow of the AAG’s Annual Meeting. Read previous columns.

We recently gathered for our annual meeting in San Francisco—a celebration of the broad and diverse community that geographers are. The annual meeting is a key activity for the organization and its members.  We had over 5,000 registrants and 1,200 sessions, with the majority being held in person, with a hybrid option for session organizers who opted in. Running a meeting is an expensive affair, and arrangements are usually made many years ahead of time, with some costs locked in while others are set at the time of the meeting.  This means that there can be inflationary pressures on costs, as there was this year.

The figure below illustrates the flow of the 2026 AAG Annual Meeting Revenue and Expenses—demonstrating the fixed and variable costs that must be accounted for.

Sankey diagram titled “AAG Annual Meeting Revenue and Expense Analysis.” Revenue flows from registration (79%), exhibit booths (4%), sponsorships (7%), and other sources into total meeting revenue. Expenses flow into categories such as hotel, facility, and catering (22%); audiovisual services (23%); contracted meeting services (17%); staff capacity (25%); and smaller technology and administrative costs. Expenses ultimately divide into 62% variable costs and 38% fixed costs. Credit: Betsy Orgodol
Credit: Betsy Orgodol

 

The AAG operates on a break-even model for its annual meeting and sets its registration fee accordingly, but has to do so ahead of time without knowing precisely how many people will register, nor how some costs will change.

Annual Meeting variable expenses consist primarily of usage-based costs such as catering, certain hotel and facility fees, and audiovisual services—these are not fixed when the contract is signed, and depend on factors such as the number of registrants and number of sessions. The AAG contracts several meeting services, such as meeting and exhibit managers, decorators, childcare services, conference assistants, security, and service providers for conference participants who need accommodation. Staff capacity, insurance, and software technology fees are largely fixed costs that do not change based on the size of the meeting or the number of attendees.

The cost structure the AAG uses provides more flexibility and scalability—when attendance is strong, total expenses rise proportionally but are matched by increased registration and sponsorship revenue, enabling the organization to serve more participants without compromising the quality of the meeting experience. When attendance is smaller, costs decrease in areas like catering and certain service charges, though only to a limited extent since some baseline expenses remain fixed; even so, the meeting can be delivered efficiently while maintaining a consistent standard of value for attendees.

The AAG consistently works to control more costs to ensure that resources are used efficiently and that the meeting remains both financially sustainable and rewarding for attendees. While the AAG strives to conserve meeting expenses in the most efficient manner possible, inflationary pressures, such as those driven by tariffs impacting meeting-related costs and California sales and use taxes, presented a challenge this year.  The combination of planning and contracting ahead helped AAG absorb some of these costs.

We realize that it may feel that registration fees are high; the break-even model for pricing is meant to provide you with the services the membership has asked for and expects (refreshments and meals, hybrid options, childcare, and accommodations for disabilities, among others) and to assure that the meeting is a quality event and a positive experience for all.

Please feel free to reach out to me or Gary Langham, AAG’s Executive Director with questions, comments, or concerns. Send your comments and questions with the subject line “Treasurer’s Corner” to helloworld@aag.org.

 

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Antoinette WinklerPrins
Antoinette WinklerPrins
President's Column

Geographic Ignorance, the Iran War, and the End of US Hegemony

William Moseley

Great powers die when they needlessly fritter away their advantages. While I was never a fan of US hegemony, it did confer benefits to the country’s economy and its citizens. The War in Iran is the crowning blow to a year-long string of reckless moves that effectively destroy American hegemony by undermining the country’s moral positions, weakening its economy, and entangling the nation in an unwinnable war. A deeper understanding of geography could have mitigated such miscalculations, something future political leaders and the US public need to better understand if further missteps are to be avoided.

First, the current US administration has taken a sledgehammer to the existing world order built on multilateralism and a commitment to basic human rights. This system was erected in the mid-20th century by the US and its allies in the wake of two devastating world wars. While the US and other powers violated the rules of engagement in a number of instances, there was enough of a commitment to multilateral institutions and fundamental principles that the system ensured a modicum of stability and shared economic benefits. The current administration’s zero-sum view of the world cannot comprehend the advantages that come with cooperation and soft power—and it has done everything possible to undermine multilateralism and destroy US bilateral foreign assistance.

In unilaterally blundering into the war in Iran, the US administration made no attempt to bring along other allies and then was shocked when European countries were unwilling to assist in the endeavor. The crowning blow came on April 7 when President Trump threatened to destroy Iranian civilization if the regime did not comply with his demands: “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” Let us be clear that such wanton mass destruction is defined by international law as a war crime. This was a major breach of international moral strictures, shattering whatever remained of principled American leadership, and these statements were swiftly denounced by the Pope and other religious leaders.

Second, the debt-sponsored spending of the current administration has reached historic heights. The US national debt has now hit $39 trillion, and over the past year we have seen the fastest accumulation of a trillion dollars in debt outside of the pandemic. As of early April, the US had spent $28 billion on the war in Iran, a figure that keeps climbing. Such massive debt accumulation, coupled with cuts in research spending, will undoubtedly weaken the US economy for years to come, effectively diminishing economic might as a major component of US power on the world stage.

Geographical Perspective Is Badly Needed

Third, since February 28, the US has actively been engaged in military attacks on Iran (although we are in the midst of a shaky ceasefire as I write). This war of choice is an enormous strategic blunder as the US administration has plunged the country in an unwinnable conflict by failing to comprehend: 1) the cultural geography of Iran, 2) the daunting physical geography of the Strait of Hormuz (a major pinch point through which 20% of global oil and liquified natural gas pass), and 3) the ongoing vulnerability of the US economy to global oil shocks.

The US administration has grossly misread the cultural, social and political geography of Iran. Iran, formerly Persia, is one of the oldest nation states in the world, with organized settlements dating back to 3200-4000 BC and the first Persian Empire emerging in 550 BC (Achaemenid Empire). The result is not just an ancient cultural complex, but a relatively large country (with 90-some million people) with a strong national identity. This is also a region where the US has behaved badly in the past, supporting a covert coup to oust a democratically elected prime minister in 1953, and then installing Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi who ruled until the Iranian Revolution in 1979. While there had been social unrest and internal discontent with the Islamic Regime in recent months and years, the lack of a more robust, organized resistance movement, and a formidably repressive regime, meant that a popular uprising in the wake of US and Israeli air attacks was unlikely. Even with an Iranian public that feels deep antipathy towards its rulers, such an uprising became even more unlikely when the US president made genocidal calls for the destruction of Iran’s civilization, effectively alienating a population with a deep sense of pride in its country.

The Strait of Hormuz is a physical pinch point in the global trade of oil and liquified natural gas. Exports originating in the Persian Gulf must pass through this strait controlled by Iran and Oman (although more so by Iran) (see map below). Iran’s extensive coastline is better suited for controlling the Persian Gulf and the Strait compared to its smaller, southern neighbors. More specifically, Iran’s long, continuous and mountainous coastline, coupled with multiple islands, and a relatively narrow deep-water channel through which large ships can pass, allows them to effectively monitor and mount guerrilla attacks on passing ships. As has been noted elsewhere, Iran does not need to halt all shipping, but only sporadically hit a few targets in order to bring a halt to all commercial shipping. It is increasingly clear that the US Administration and its war planners underestimated the import and difficulty of controlling this area.

Map of Straight of Hormuz and surrounding countries
The Strait of Hormuz, within the context of Iran and region. Cartography by Sophia Spisak, Macalester College, adapted from Encyclopedia Brittanica. Data sources: ESRI, Food and Ag. Org. GAUL, GADM, UN OCHA, USGS, Who’s on First.

 

The United State is still heavily dependent on fossil fuel consumption, with the current administration having abandoned all attempts to build up alternative energy sources. While other countries have worked hard to develop fossil fuel independence, the US administration has refused to understand that a fossil fuel-based economy is not only problematic in environmental terms, but it also leaves the country vulnerable to shocks in the global energy system. Although the US is the largest fossil fuel energy producer in the world, and largely creates what it needs, energy prices are deeply intertwined, meaning that disruptions in one part of the system reverberate throughout the world. As such, the US President’s claim that a closed Strait of Hormuz is not his problem represents a fundamental misunderstanding of how global energy market’s function. It also means that the US is still deeply vulnerable to the energy price shocks created by the closing of the Strait of Hormuz, including less obvious consequences such as higher fertilizer prices for farmers (which will impact food prices) and more profits for oil exporting adversaries such as Russia.

The War in Iran will be a Pyrrhic victory for the US at best. While the US president may eventually claim some sort of win, in the process he will have destroyed the country’s moral credibility and soft power, permanently set back the American economy, and created an unstable quagmire in Iran. The end result will be a hastened end to US hegemony brought about by hubris, cultural arrogance, and ignorance of geography.

Please note: The ideas expressed in the AAG President’s column are not necessarily the views of the AAG as a whole. This column is traditionally a space in which the president may talk about their views or focus during their tenure as president of AAG, or spotlight their areas of professional work. Please feel free to email the president directly at moseley@macalester.edu to enable a constructive discussion.

 

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William (Bill) Moseley
William (Bill) Moseley
On the Map

Tracking the Geography of Diseases: How Epidemiologists Map Infection

Geography In The News logoGeography 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:

This map by Rachael Carpenter indicates that the spread of polio began with a concentration in Afghanistan, then jumped to Somalia, Kenya, and Nigeria. The disease spread to Nigeria’s African neighbors Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Central African Republic, Uganda, and Liberia.
In 2013, Geography in the News reported on a severe polio outbreak, showing the path of infection. Map by Rachael Carpenter

 

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
  1. What are some of the tools epidemiologists use to track how diseases spread?
  2. Why do we say that epidemiology is a science of time as well as space?
  3. What is the difference between an epidemic and a pandemic?
  4. 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

 

 

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AAG Staff
AAG Staff
News

AAG Partners with Content With Purpose on new digital series: ‘Unearthing Geography’ video series will reveal the power of geographic thinking

Content with Purpose logo using colored letters CWPWashington, D.C., March 4 — The American Association of Geographers (AAG) is partnering with Content With Purpose (CWP) to produce Unearthing Geography, a new digital series that brings the discipline of geography to life, revealing its relevance, impact and essential role in understanding and addressing today’s most complex challenges.

Too frequently, geography is reduced to maps, place names or the physical features of the Earth alone. In reality, it is an inherently interdisciplinary field, one that connects physical and human systems, science and society, and local realities with global dynamics. Through education grounded in the sciences, social sciences and humanities, geographers are trained to think across boundaries, integrate multiple perspectives, and understand how people, places and environments interact.

At a time of accelerating climate change, social inequity, geopolitical tension, and technological transformation, this connective way of thinking has never been more important.

With cinematic storytelling, expert insight and real-world case studies, Unearthing Geography will showcase the work of geographers across academia, government, industry and communities—applying geographic perspectives to issues such as climate resilience, urban development, environmental justice, public health, migration and technological change.

At its heart, Unearthing Geography positions geographers as connectors—of data and lived experience, of disciplines and sectors, and of science and society—highlighting how geographic thinking helps navigate complexity and support systems-based approaches to the world’s most pressing problems.

The series will also look to the future of the discipline: inspiring students and early-career professionals to explore educational opportunities in geography, re-engaging those who have taken diverse career paths, and helping educators, employers, partners and funders better understand the long-term value of geographic education and training.

“Geography is essential to understanding how the world works—and how we can make it better,” said Gary Langham, Executive Director of the AAG. “Our work with CWP is a timely international collaboration to show how geographers work to shape more just, healthy, and sustainable futures.”

Max Smith, Founder and Managing Director of CWP, commented: “Geography offers one of the most powerful lenses for understanding the interconnected challenges facing society today. Through Unearthing Geography, we’re using our storytelling expertise to elevate the discipline and the people behind it, connecting research with lived experience.”

Unearthing Geography will launch at the AAG Annual Meeting in New York in February 2027, followed by a coordinated digital launch and campaign. The campaign will extend across the AAG’s global network and beyond, reaching geographers, students, educators, policymakers, employers, partners and the wider public.

CWP is a B Corp certified strategic content creator that works in partnership with leading member bodies and associations, engaging professionals in their industries’ role in building a better tomorrow.

Organizations interested in contributing to the series are encouraged to contact Sophie Newboult, Series Development Manager at CWP to learn more: sophie@contentwithpurpose.co.uk.

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President's Column

Bridging Difficult Conversations

Illustration showing a group of diverse hands connecting to form a bridge.

William Moseley

I grew up in the Midwest, a cultural region where we stereotypically avoid difficult conversations. While my people might famously say ‘that’s interesting’ when we disagree, or ‘I’m not mad’ when we are furious, such conflict avoidance is not a healthy approach for a large and diverse organization such as the AAG.

Nearly a year ago (April 2025), the AAG Council received a successful membership petition asking that we hold a special meeting to discuss a proposal for “the AAG to endorse the campaign for an academic boycott of Israeli academic institutions, and for financial disclosure and divestment of any AAG funds invested in corporations or state institutions profiting from the ongoing oppression of the Palestinian people.” Just a few weeks ago (February 12), AAG members received an email with the AAG Council’s response to the petition, a response which reflects nearly a year of deep conversations with a membership that was often sharply divided on this issue, and on the most appropriate response. I am proud to say that the AAG did not avoid this issue, but tackled it head on in a thoughtful and comprehensive manner. Below I discuss our process for arriving at this response, the response itself, and some common reactions and concerns I have heard from the membership.

 

Our Process

In receiving and reflecting on the petition, the challenge for the AAG Council was to create a space where all member voices could be heard on this important topic. A one- or two-hour online meeting where the petitioners shared their views would have privileged some perspectives over others and not been accessible to a diverse membership on different schedules and across multiple time zones. After careful thought, Council resolved to hear member input on the petition via two pathways last fall:

  1. to create a background document on the topic (including the AAG’s history of dealing with divisive issues, pros and cons of different actions, etc.) which members could comment on over a 60-day period (a two-month asynchronous meeting if you will); and
  2. to offer two online sessions (one closed and the other open to a member audience) where members could directly share their relevant insights with Council.

While this approach was far from perfect, it was appreciated by many. As one AAG member wrote: “We are a community. A community with different viewpoints, research areas, life experiences, and belief systems, which is what makes our community so vibrant. It is also what makes our community, expertise, and ability to constructively debate with one another critical in a time when misinformation, ignorance, and hate are rampant in public discourse.”

 

The Response

As explained in the February 12 email to the membership, there are four components of the AAG response to the petition: 1) an ESG Investment Framework and Implementation Policy; 2) an International Partnership Framework and Due Diligence Policy; 3) a Displaced Scholars Support Program and Fund; and 4) a Statement on Palestine and Higher Education. Below I briefly discuss each of these components in turn.

ESG Investment Framework and Implementation Policy. This policy obligates the AAG to more actively manage and monitor the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investment filters that guide its endowment investments. Some of these screens existed beforehand as a result of our climate change work and we added additional screens related to the military weapons industry. As a result, the AAG currently holds no investments in companies listed on the American Friends Service Committee or UN human rights lists. This approach is meant to keep our investments aligned with our values over time, while taking care to sustain our relatively modest endowment in support of our mission. Moving forward, we will review our investments annually, with flags being raised if more than 5% of our investments fall outside of these screens. This policy addresses the divestment concerns of the petitioners without being country specific (we want to avoid investments in problematic companies regardless of where they are operating).

International Partnership Framework and Due Diligence Policy. This policy will help guide new international partnerships (such as formal MOUs, joint programs, or co-sponsored events) with organizations based in countries where there are significant human rights or academic freedom concerns. Using a third-party list of countries where there are concerns as a trigger, the AAG Council will review and vote on potential new partnerships (leaving an official record of the decision). This extra level of scrutiny will also allow Council to make nuanced decisions. For example, Council could decide to collaborate with an organization fighting against oppression in country X, but not to do so with institutions in the same country that are complicit in human rights abuses. While the specific third-party list(s) Council will use to trigger a review is to be determined by a working group in the near future (e.g., Human Rights Watch World Report, Amnesty International Annual Report), it is important to have such a list because Council should not be deciding when or when not to undertake a review on an ad hoc basis. It would also be impractical and cumbersome for Council to review all such partnerships. For example, AAG staff should have the liberty to allow the Canadian Association of Geographers (not on any human rights watch list) to contract for a booth at the annual meeting without Council micromanaging the process. To be clear, the AAG has not had a partnership with any Israeli organization or institution since 2005. This policy, while also not country specific, is essentially a boycott of organizations in other countries that have been complicit in human rights abuses.

Displaced Scholars Support Program and Fund. This is a new AAG program and related fund to support displaced scholars around the world, including those from Gaza and other conflict zones. The program will provide selected displaced scholars with: (1) free AAG membership, (2) waived registration for AAG annual meetings, (3) eligibility to apply for relocation or travel funds, and (4) connections to aid organizations (e.g., IIE Scholar Rescue Fund, Scholars at Risk). A working group will develop the program details over the next year. We currently have three displaced scholars participating in a pilot program, and four internationally recognized experts advising its development. The program provides real and tangible support to geographers whose human rights and academic freedom have been compromised.

Statement on Palestine and Higher Education. The AAG released a statement on February 12 affirming commitments to Palestinian educational rights, human rights, academic freedom, and self-determination. The statement affirms that Palestinian and Israeli scholars, and all members of our community, have the right to pursue higher education and research free from violence, harassment, or discrimination. The statement addresses the destruction of higher-education infrastructure in Gaza, barriers to Palestinian scholars’ mobility and access to education, and threats to campus safety and academic freedom affecting both Palestinian and Israeli scholars. The statement also affirms that criticism of state policy must be clearly distinguished from antisemitism, Islamophobia, or other forms of racism.

 

Member Reactions and Concerns

While it has only been a few weeks since the AAG released its response, so far member reactions have largely been affirming and recognize the challenge of having such a difficult conversation. One member wrote: “It is notable for the way it [the AAG response] advocates positive and cooperative measures that support our shared values in universal human rights and academic freedom, instead of antagonistic and confrontational actions.” Another member wrote: “While the call for a referendum, and ensuing discussion, were sparked by the events in Gaza, the AAG took a meaningful step in negotiating a series of actions that signal institutional change and a responsiveness to member concerns. I appreciate the clear condemnation of violence and repeated focus on human rights, academic freedom, and education, and rejection of racism, that underpins each of the planned and implemented responses.” Of course, not all AAG members have been happy with the process Council undertook to broker this conversation. Let me speak to a few of those concerns here, concerns that were shared with me before the AAG shared its official response.

Since the time we initially received the member petition, I heard from some members that they would like to have had a yes or no vote on the petitioners’ demands. I would first note that such a vote was not called for in the original petition; it was requested later (without the support of the official petition). Second, such votes are not a part of the AAG bylaws (the membership votes on bylaw changes or in instances where the Council requests a vote). Thirdly, such an approach would have circumvented the AAG Council, a body which is elected by the membership and charged with considering issues in a way that reflects the long-term interests of the association (aka fiduciary responsibility, which is broader than financial considerations). Lastly, a yes or no vote on the original proposal was inherently limiting in terms of choices and would not have resulted in the more nuanced response that eventually emerged after considerable deliberation.

Other members have suggested that our process was undemocratic. I would argue that just because there was not a direct vote on the issue does not mean that the process was undemocratic. The AAG is an indirect democracy in that we elect Council members and special committee members (such as the nominations committee) to act on our behalf. Most of us do not have the time to consider all sides of an issue, so we elect representatives to do this work for us. Furthermore, the AAG Council went to great pains to hear member concerns on this issue and in a way that did not privilege the loudest voices in the room.

In sum, I am proud of the way the AAG has handled this difficult conversation. We have not sidestepped a potentially contentious issue, but addressed the main concerns of the petitioners re: divestment and collaboration, stuck to our core values and heard the views of a diverse membership, while not succumbing to divisive language or putting the organization in legal jeopardy. While I am certain that some of you will remain unhappy with this outcome, being part of a big family often entails compromise, working through challenging issues, and building bridges to arrive at a shared understanding and best possible outcome under the circumstances. Our community is stronger for meeting this moment.

Please note: The ideas expressed in the AAG President’s column are not necessarily the views of the AAG as a whole. This column is traditionally a space in which the president may talk about their views or focus during their tenure as president of AAG, or spotlight their areas of professional work. Please feel free to email the president directly at moseley@macalester.edu to enable a constructive discussion.

 

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William (Bill) Moseley
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Careers

Department Profile: School of the Environment at San Francisco State University

Located off the shores of Lake Merced in San Francisco’s southwestern corner, the School of the Environment at San Francisco State University (SFSU) brings together students and faculty committed to scientific exploration, environmental stewardship, and social justice. This unique setting, where urban life meets coastal and mountainous ecosystems, provides an ideal backdrop for studying the connections between people, landscapes, and the planet.

An Interdisciplinary Approach to Environmental Education

San Francisco State University students gather samples for a field methods class in the San Francisco Bay.
San Francisco State University students gather samples for a field methods class in the San Francisco Bay.

The School of the Environment offers a broad and integrated curriculum that reflects the shared mission of its faculty and programs. Students pursuing undergraduate majors gain a strong foundation in physical and human geography, in addition to field methods and geographic information science (GIS) and systems. These core skills equip students to understand environmental processes, helping them map change and analyze human–environment interactions. Graduate students have the option of specializing in geography, geographic information science, geosciences, or resource management and environmental planning.

These offerings are supported by the vast expertise of faculty across disciplines. Wide-ranging scholarly strengths range from physical geography and the use of technical programs to human-environment interactions. This includes food justice and urban agriculture, researching sustainable communities, green consumerism, and the politics of mobility.

A New School Built on Collaboration

In the years following the COVID-19 pandemic, the Dean brought together three units — the former Department of Geography and Environment, the Department of Earth and Climate Sciences, and the Environmental Studies program — to explore merging into a larger, more cohesive academic home. Andrew Oliphant, professor and School of the Environment co-director, shares the former schools’ shared curriculum, cross-listed classes, and overlapping student communities naturally evolved into what is now the School of the Environment, strengthening opportunities for interdisciplinary research, teaching, and collaboration.

With the formation of the new School, faculty intentionally centered equity, representation, and inclusivity in their mission. Their efforts include a range of initiatives: culturally responsive student support, reducing or eliminating course-related costs wherever possible, and expanding pathways into environmental careers for students from historically marginalized communities. As Oliphant notes: “One of our missions is to change the face of the professional world in California that’s managing and stewarding the environment.”

A Presence Across Campus and Beyond

While the School recently reorganized and renamed itself, department chair Andrew Oliphant notes that its reach extends far beyond environmental programs. Students from art, cinema, ethnic studies, biology, physics, and other departments enroll in its courses.

Through this broad academic footprint, students gain training in climate and environmental fundamentals and the necessary language and context for environmental advocacy. The skills taught in courses are applicable across scientific, creative, and civic fields.

A thriving student–alumni network speaks to the school’s deep commitment to mentorship and career support. Graduates contribute to the California workforce and beyond, including local and state governments, federal agencies such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and private companies and nonprofits such as East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD). The school’s organically built internship network helps open doors for students who may not otherwise have access to such opportunities.

San Francisco State University students gather between two CalTrains for a transportation class field trip.
San Francisco State University students gather between two CalTrains for a transportation class field trip.

 

Preparing Students for a Changing World and Workforce

The school balances professional preparation with a deep commitment to the fundamental sciences. Students can begin to prepare for future steps to careers in environmental management, GIS, or planning; working with nonprofits in scientific research; or doctoral-level academic study.

Oliphant also emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary training in an era of rapid technological change: “There will be geographers who lose work to AI … but the broad training we give — understanding biophysical processes, social structures, and the philosophies shaping our world — positions our students well in an AI-driven future.”

A prime resource for students includes participating in alternative learning spaces. For example, SFSU’s remote Sierra Nevada Field Campus offers summer field courses where teams of students and faculty spend a week immersed in research. The field campus also provides a location for locally centered research projects. Graduate students frequently use these field experiences to support their thesis work, and faculty encourage student employment on grant-funded research whenever possible.

One project, funded by the state of California, focuses on the restoration of Sierra Nevada Mountain meadows, which have long been degraded by agriculture, mining, and forestry. With numerous faculty who specialize in remote sensing and biogeography, collaboration with community partners such as the Mountain Maidu Consortium, whose Indigenous stewardship of these landscapes spans centuries, is essential. These partnerships represent the school’s holistic approach to environmental research: recognizing that complex spaces — like mountain meadows — cannot be understood through a single disciplinary lens.

When it comes to recounting student success, “it’s about the daughter of immigrant farm workers from the Salinas Valley, now working for the California Department of Food and Agriculture, advising farmers on healthy soil practices.” Oliphant goes on, “Or a recent graduate from the Pitt River Nation who’s working for the USGS, monitoring Northern California lands, part of his tribal community.” This kind of transformative student success is part of the reason SFSU was ranked 8th nationally for social mobility in 2024 by the U.S. News & World Report.

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Careers

Department Profile: Geography and Geoinformation Sciences at George Mason University

The Geography and Geoinformation Sciences (GGS) Department at George Mason University is fortunate in its Fairfax, Virginia location, close to many professional opportunities in and around the nation’s capital. Anchored in the center of Northern Virginia’s geospatial intelligence hub, surrounded by federal headquarters like the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), US Geological Survey (USGS), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), as well as leaders in the private sector like Esri, Dewberry, and BAE Systems, GGS can also connect its students and alumni to local government agencies such as Fairfax County’s GIS and Mapping Services.

The department’s breadth is revealed in its name. “We are not the Department of Geography, but we are the Department of Geography and Geoformation Science,” says Dr. Deiter Pfoser, department chair and director of the Center for Geoscience. “So, there’s a huge distinction there … it sort of alludes to the quantitative sides [of the discipline].” Dr. Nathan Burtch, associate professor, undergraduate coordinator and associate chair, agrees.

George Mason University GGS students gather data with a transit device to create contour maps of a local park in GGS as part of their Field Mapping class.
George Mason University GGS students gather data with a transit device to create contour maps of a local park in GGS as part of their field mapping class.

This emphasis on the quantitative is a major incentive of the program, as the majority of the department’s students are pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree and thinking about careers. Students pursuing a BS in geography can choose from concentrations in Geoinformatics, Geospatial Intelligence, and Urban Science, which are marketable and easily conceptualized by employers.

The department’s research initiatives, which have an annual expenditure of approximately six million dollars, largely trend around topics like artificial intelligence, computational analysis, and informatics. Students researching remote sensing have access to a collection of advanced drone remote-sensing equipment, including DJI drones and interchangeable sensors for environmental and infrastructural studies. Dr. Pfoser points out that the program emphasizes “not only geographical proximity to [many geospatial] agencies, but also work proximity.”

The university and the department’s faculty and leaders involve students in research as early into their academic journeys as possible. The College of Science’s Aspiring Scientists Summer Internship Program (ASSIP) has been active in providing high schoolers and undergraduate students the chance to engage in faculty-mentored research opportunities since 2019. The GGS department has eight prospective mentors for the 2026 session, tackling research interests like spatiotemporal computing, space weather, and food systems transformation. Dr. Pfoser expresses that “the idea is really to bring students closer to research as soon as we can,” to develop students into exemplary undergraduate, graduate, and PhD researchers.

Graduate degree offerings reinforce the department’s quantitative focus, with a master’s degree in Geoinformatics and Geospatial Intelligence. Undergraduate students interested in this degree, or the master’s in Geographic and Cartographic Sciences, can enroll in the Bachelor’s to Accelerated Master’s (BAM) Program and collect graduate credits in their final undergraduate semesters. In addition to offering accelerated, master’s, and doctorate pathways, the department also promotes a culture of lifelong learning by offering graduate certificates in GIS, Geospatial Intelligence, Environmental GIS and Biodiversity, and Remote Sensing and Image Processing. Executive education partnerships with local companies allow working professionals to advance their skills through the guidance of university course content.

An Interdisciplinary Approach to Quantitative Geography

“We’re a little bit more quantitative than the average,” says Dr. Burtch, “But we don’t ignore the cultural and the physical as well.” The GGS department’s Bachelor of Art’s geography program offers concentrations in environmental geography, health geography, geoanthropology, and urban planning. The professors teaching courses in this degree are consistently enthusiastic about their subjects, welcoming students to think critically and exercise real-world problem solving.

The department also values cross-disciplinary exploration. Undergraduate students can choose from a variety of elective courses that traverse neighboring disciplines. Associate professor and BAM advisor Dr. Christine Rosenfeld teaches Spatial Justice, for example, a geographic interrogation of unevenly distributed resources that results in social inequality. Dr. Maction Komwa teaches Geography of Resource Conservation, an analysis of the distribution and preservation of global resources. Dr. Burtch teaches Geography of Sport, purposefully integrating the discipline to reveal surprising explanations about the geography of the sports industry.

The strong sense of student community, accessible advising, and welcoming faculty make the GGS department at GMU an optimal learning environment for students of diverse education and career backgrounds. Standards for teaching excellence are maintained by routine faculty peer review, end-of-semester evaluations, and course modality surveys. The department uses this feedback to support their mindset of “perpetual change” and implement improvements to keep up with the ever-evolving scene of higher education.

Diversity is a big part of George Mason’s identity as an institution, as it is one of the most ethnically and economically diverse schools in Virginia. Dr. Pfoser highlighted the disciplinary diversity of the department by noting that only about half of its faculty are geographers by training. In addition to the interdisciplinary course offerings, the department offers diverse teaching perspectives from career computer scientists, hydrological engineers, environmental geographers, and data scientists. This combination of curriculum, teaching, and student diversity creates classroom environments suited for positive learning experiences.

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Annual Meeting

AAG Mobile App User Manual

With the AAG mobile app, users can view everything in the program in addition to easily creating a digital calendar of events; browsing sessions by specialty group sponsorship, date, time, and presentation type; receive up to the minute notifications on schedule changes or coffee breaks; and see a list of people who are attending the annual meeting. Whether you are brand new to the AAG mobile app or you are looking for more information on how to use the app, this guide will offer detailed instructions.

Getting Started — Download and update your app

Mobile app QR code to download the appThe AAG mobile app is currently available for all major smartphone brands such as Apple iPhone, Samsung, Google Pixel, and LG. To download the app for your smartphone, visit your app store and search for “AAG Meetings” or follow this link from your phone. For tablet devices, either visit the app store and search for “AAG Meetings” or visit the same link as you would for downloading the app to a smartphone. If you do not have a smartphone, have a Windows phone or table, or prefer to use a laptop, the AAG mobile app can also be used on a Windows phone/tablet or any laptop with this link: https://app.core-apps.com/aagam2026. Bookmark the link to easily return to the app on your laptop!

Once you have downloaded the app, open it to see the list of AAG Meetings and click on the meeting to open the program of your choice. The latest is listed first.

You will need to log in to access the program. All annual meeting registrants receive an email with instructions. PLEASE NOTE: you will NOT use your own AAG password to access the mobile app, but one that AAG has chosen and shared in the instructional email. If you are registered for the annual meeting and didn’t get an email or are having trouble logging in, please contact meeting@aag.org.

If you have previously installed the app and you want, you may need to click on the button that reads “Exit to Meeting List” from the home screen of an old program to reach the list of all programs installed within the app. Once you are on the screen that shows the list of AAG Meetings, click the circular arrow button in the top right hand corner to update your app (this arrow button should be RED in color if it is not yet updated). After the app has been updated, click on the program you wish to browse.

Install the program by clicking the install button, then click the blue Open button to open the program.

Note: The first time you open the program, it may need to download updates. This could take a few minutes. Please install the app before attending the meeting and when you are connected to Wi-Fi to ensure the fastest initial download time. Upon opening the app for the first time, you will also be given helpful tips about where to find information in the app. Click Next after reading these tips. There will also be a button available to click if you no longer wish to receive these types of tips.

The Program is Installed! Now what? (The Basics of the App)

Basic features of the AAG app include the ability to set up an electronic calendar of the sessions you plan to attend, browse the program and schedule of events, search for a specific participant or event, and view the maps of the conference venues. If at any time the circular arrow button in the top right corner of the app (under the magnifying glass) turns red, this means that there is an update to the app! Click on the circular arrow to install the updates.

The Home screen of the AAG app is the first screen that will open when the app is launched. Along the top of the app, you will find the quick keys. These are shortcut buttons to take you to the frequently used features of the app. The button shaped like the House will return you to the main app screen. Use this button if you want to return to the main screen at any time. The next button to the right, shaped like a ticket window, is the list of exhibitors who will have a booth in the exhibition hall during the annual meeting. Continuing to the right, the button shaped like an easel, is the list of sessions during the meeting. The fourth button from the left on the top, with the number 19 on it, is your personal calendar. The button that looks like a page is the list of presentation abstracts. Finally the magnifying glass is the search button.

Below the advertisements on the Home screen Yellow bars will appear when you have a new message or when there is an upcoming event on your calendar. Clicking on the Yellow bar with the Caution symbol brings you to your recent messages. These are alerts that might contain useful information such as room changes or coffee breaks. The number next to the Caution symbol tells you how many unread messages you have. The Yellow bar with the calendar icon shows any upcoming events that you have added to your calendar (more below). Click on this bar to see the event.

Below the Yellow announcement bars are a variety of icon buttons that bring you to different features of the app. The basic features of the app will be explained below and include the Calendar, the Sessions, the Search, and the Maps.

The Calendar (My Schedule) button can be found both at the top of the screen and further down the screen. It looks like a flip calendar and has the number 19 on it. This feature allows users to create their own personal schedule of events from the sessions that they are browsing in the app. When you first open the app, the calendar will have nothing on it. As you browse sessions, click on the star icon next to any session you think looks interesting and would like to attend. These sessions are then automatically added to your calendar. It is also possible to add your own events to the calendar. To do this, click the + icon in the top right. From here, add a title, location, date, time, and duration of the event you would like to add to your calendar then select ‘Done’ in the top right. Events that you add to your calendar will be colored in blue while events that are added from the AAG Program are colored in purple. To browse your calendar, click on the date you would like to see at the top of the screen, then scroll down through the times to see all of your scheduled events. For a list view of your events, click on the icon that has the three dots and three lines. The alarm clock icon takes users to a list of all of the events that are currently happening at the annual meeting at the time of clicking on the icon.

To browse sessions in the AAG Annual Meeting program and to add them to your calendar, click on the Sessions button. This button looks like an easel and can be found both at the center top of the screen as well as further down the screen on the left hand side. Once you click on the sessions button, a screen will appear asking how you would like to browse the session. Browsing by Day allows you to look at all the sessions occurring on a particular day that you choose from the dates listed at the top of the screen. These sessions are organized by time and are alphabetical. Browsing by Session Type allows you to look through sessions based on the type of session it is: Illustrated Paper, Interactive Short Paper, Meeting, Panel, Paper, Plenary, Poster, or Special Event. These are then organized by date (select the date you would like to browse at the top of the screen), time, and alphabetical. To browse a session by specialty group sponsors, select Browse by Sponsor Group. This will produce a list of all of the specialty groups and sponsors. Select which sponsor you would like to browse, then select if you would like to browse those sponsored sessions by day or by session type. Lastly, you can browse by Theme to see sessions related to the three AAG Annual Meeting Themes. Browsing by Theme also allows you to browse by day, session type, and sponsor group after selecting your theme of choice. Click on any session while browsing to learn more about the session, including the session description, organizers, and presenters, and presentation titles. To automatically add a session to your calendar, click on the Star on the left. To learn more about the presenter and read their presentation abstracts, click on any presentation in the session agenda. You can also save individual presentations to your calendar instead of entire sessions by looking at the presentation abstract and selecting the Star icon on the left.

The Magnifying Glass shaped icon lets you Search for anything throughout the entire AAG Program. Simply search for the last name of a presenter, a keyword, or an event title in the search box after clicking on the Magnifying Glass. The search results will be displayed below the search bar. Click on any of the results for more information.

Lastly, the Maps icon (this looks like a small 9×9 grid of squares and can be found in the middle of your screen) contains floor plans of the conference hotels as well as a walking map of the main street routes between the AAG meeting hotels. For the hotel floorplans, any of the rooms that are highlighted in orange are rooms being used for the AAG Annual Meeting. If you click on any orange colored room in the floor plan, it will take you to a list of all of the sessions that will be taking place in that room during the conference, organized by date and time.

The above information explains the basic functions of the AAG Mobile App. Using these basic functions will give you everything that the printed program provided, in a faster and more convenient way. It also gives you the ability to easily make a digital calendar of events to attend and find your way through the hotels using the floorplan maps. For more advanced features of the app, continue reading.

Basics, schmasics. I want to know more! (Advanced App Features)

For those app users who want to explore every inch of what the AAG Mobile App has to offer, this section includes additional features of the app beyond the basics. In this section, learn how to create a personal profile and add friends, use multiple devices, read the front matter of the AAG Program and other essentials, read conference abstracts, see lists of presenters and attendees, take notes, read daily Geograms, find your current location, browse a list of exhibitors, and view social media feeds.

It is possible on the AAG Mobile App to create a personal profile such as what you might find on LinkedIN or Facebook. This profile can then be made publicly available to everyone using the AAG Mobile App or used to connect to friends and colleagues. There are multiple ways to set up your personal profile. Either click on the three diagonal lines on the upper left side of the app to open the Message Center and then click at the top to set up a profile or click on the gear icon on the upper right hand side of the app to open the settings and select “MyProfile.” Once in your profile, add your name and any other information you wish. If it is easier, the icon with the arrow in a circle in the top right allows you to import a profile from another site such as LinkedIN. If you would like your profile to be publicly available to others using the AAG Mobile App, make sure that the box is checked next to the phrase: “Tap here to publish your profile to the Attendees list to engage with others users of the app.”

To see who else has created a profile in the AAG Mobile App, select the icon on the Home screen labeled Attendees that has a picture of the two human profiles. This gives you an option to browse all the attendees who have made a profile or to browse attendees by type of attendee (First Timer, Session Chair, Session Organizer, or Student). Connect with people by selecting their name and hitting the “Request Friend” button. After the person you requested to be your friend approves your request, you can send them a message, share your calendar, share notes, or request a meeting all through the app! Simply hit the three diagonal lines in the upper left corner of the app Home screen to open the Message Center and view your list of friends. Click on a friend to open their profile and view the options at the left: envelope (send message), paper and pencil (share notes), calendar (see their schedule after it has been shared with you), ID card (add to address book), trash can (delete friend), hand shake (invite to a meeting), or question mark (help screen).

If you do not want to publicly make your profile available or you know someone who does not have a public profile, you can still add them as a friend on the AAG Mobile App using a friend code. When you click the three diagonal lines from your Home screen to open the Message Center, there will be an icon labeled “+ Add a Friend.” After you click this, you have the option of entering a code that your friend gave you or finding out what your friend code is to give to a friend. The friend code option is only necessary for those app users who do not have a public profile.

To use the AAG Mobile App on multiple devices and be sure that all of your information syncs to each device, Multi Device Sync must be set up. To set this up, first go to Settings on your primary device by clicking the gear icon in the upper right. Scroll down to Multi Device Sync and select First Device. Enter in your email address and a password. On your additional devices, open the settings by selecting the gear icon in the upper right. Scroll down to Multi Device Sync and select Additional Device. Enter the same email address and password that was used for the First Device. After this step is complete be sure to update your app on all your devices by clicking on the circular arrows in the upper right of the Home screen. Your devices should now all be synced to each other and any information added to one device will appear on all of your devices. If for some reason you do not see information being synced, double check that you are logged in on the Multi Device Sync screen in the Settings. Once you have checked that you are logged in, update the app on all devices.

The remaining buttons on the AAG Mobile App access additional information useful for the AAG Annual Meeting. The Abstracts button is similar to the Sessions button, but allows users to search through all of the abstracts submitted for the Annual Meeting. The Presenters button provides a list of everyone who will be doing a presentation at the Annual Meeting. The Presenters button is different than the Attendees button because the Attendees button only contains those who have created a personal profile on the AAG Mobile App and made their profile public whereas the Presenters button is anyone who is presenting at the conference. The Essentials button contains files of useful information typically found in the front matter of the printed program such as information about the Jobs and Careers Center, the Newcomers Guide, Session Chairs instructions, Student Networking Happy Hour, and other information. The Exhibitors button provides a list of those who will have a booth in the Exhibition Hall. Exhibitors can be starred similar to individuals or sessions and saved under the My Favorites button with anything else you have starred in the app. The Social Media button shows you the current X and Instragram feeds, the AAG Facebook page and the AAG YouTube channel. The Membership button navigates to the AAG website that contains more information about renewing and benefits of an AAG membership. The Locate Me button helps you find your way if you are lost. Type in a room that you are standing next to and the app will show you where you are on the hotel floor plans. Lastly, the Notes button lets you see any notes you may have taken about a session. It also allows you to add a note to save for later.

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AAG Staff
AAG Staff