Bryon Middlekauff

Professor Emeritus of Geography, Dr. Bryon Middlekauff, passed away on September 3, 2025. He was a faculty member at Plymouth State University (previously Plymouth State College), NH from 1988 to 2016. Bryon’s life was marked by a deep passion for teaching geography and mentoring both students and faculty.

Bryon’s bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees—all in in geography—were from the University of Maryland, Appalachian State University, and Michigan State University, respectively, and his dissertation focused on Appalachian paleoclimatology. He returned to this topic in a subsequent published article, and his scholarship also examined fieldwork practice.

Bryon joined the social science department at Plymouth State University after positions at Western Carolina University and Youngstown State University. In 2001 he taught at the University of Wolverhampton in the U.K. while on sabbatical and in 2004 expanded his teaching to encompass the environmental sciences, receiving a new appointment in 2008 as professor of geography and environmental planning.

“One of Bryon’s many strengths was engaging students both in the classroom and beyond,” says former colleague Dr. Patrick May, a longtime colleague. “His lectures were very dynamic, and he got a lot of students really excited about geomorphology, ‘the geography of geology’—understanding the processes that shaped the environment around them.”

Bryon felt strongly about the importance of field studies and led college trips around New England, eastern Canada, and to the American Southwest, as well as travel courses to Paris, the United Kingdom, and Tanzania. He also ran workshops for the New Hampshire Geographic Alliance, leading rigorous day trips throughout the state to help educate educators about the natural environment.

Bryon was instrumental in advancing Plymouth State’s geography program both nationally and regionally. He was heavily involved in the American Association of Geographers (AAG) and attended annual meetings where he presented papers and poster sessions. He was also a member of the New England St. Lawrence Valley Geographical Society (NESTVAL) and served as their Regional Councilor to the AAG for two terms. Bryon received NESTVAL’s Distinguished Service Award in 2013 which included a citation for a Lifetime Contribution to NESTVAL and Geography, one of only three people to receive this distinction. In 1993, Bryon was instrumental in establishing a NESTVAL competition to create a team to send to the first AAG World Geography Bowl, held at the AAG’s annual meeting in Atlanta. Bryon mentored the PSU team members, preparing them for the competition. Under his guidance, Plymouth State’s Geo Bowl team won the New England-St. Lawrence Valley Geographical Society competition several times and students participated in the national competition at the annual AAG conference. “The bowl was a way to excite students,” says May, “and Bryon assured that they took advantage of the full conference experience, including sessions and field trips.”

“He was instrumental in building the PSU Geography Club and remained in touch with many former students,” continues May. “Students will remember him to be very demanding and that they were lucky to have him because he shared so much enthusiasm for his field.” For his students, Bryon opened a door into the world of becoming a professional geographer. He encouraged many of his students to attend graduate school and accompanied some on visits to the schools.

Dr. Jennifer Collins, now at University South Florida, started her career at Plymouth State College, in the year 2000, where she notes that Bryon had such an impact on both her personally and her career, recognizing that she was a Geographer and suggested she become a member and come to the AAG annual meeting. Prior to that Jennifer was only an American Meteorological Society member. Jennifer notes that being a member of the AAG has been instrumental to her career and she owes that to Bryon who also helped her network at the AAG conference. “He was a friend, colleague, and mentor, all wrapped up in one.”, she said.

Bryon enjoyed many activities from fly-fishing to skiing. Most of all he enjoyed spending time with his wife, children, and grandchildren. Bryon is survived by his wife and former Plymouth State Director of Advancement Julie DeGalan ’91MBA. Together they co-wrote the book, Great Jobs for Environmental Studies Majors, and were members of Holmes Heritage Society, which honors those who have included Plymouth State in their financial and estate plans. He is also survived by his daughters, Lari (Pat) Hayhoe and Amy (Dan) Jones; grandchildren, Nick (Chelsea), Beau and Olivia Hayhoe, Billy (Olivia) and Tyler Townes, Hayden Jones, and Chelsea Roberts; and great-grandchildren, Charlie, George, Margaret and Penny Hayhoe, Phoebe Townes, and Fiona and Josie Roberts. He is survived by his sister, Kirklyn Kline; nephews, Kevin (Cindy) and Kirk Eikelberger; and grand-nephew, Riley Eikelberger.

Additional information is available in an online obituary.

Written by Pat May, Jennifer Collins, and Julie DeGalan

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Wayfinding

Maps as ‘Materials that Carry Memory’

October 27, 2025

Joanathan Bessaci with his art. Courtesy: Joanathan Bessaci

When artist Joanathan Besacci was growing up in Lyon, France, he was surrounded by the vast variety of the world, past and present. His maternal grandmother emigrated to France from Vietnam, and his paternal grandfather was from Kabylia (Northern Algeria). As a child, Bessaci spent hours watching his artist father work and exploring the flea market in Lyon, France, where his grandparents had a stall.

The flea market was a magical place, he says, “a doorway to other worlds.” His memories of it go back to 1986, when it was still called La Fecine, in Villeurbanne, set up on a street closed on Sunday mornings. In the 1990s, it moved to Vaise, and by the end of the decade, it found its current home: Les Puces du Canal.

Aerial view of a flea market in Lyon. Courtesy: Joanathan Bessaci — Flea market in Lyon. Courtesy: Joanathan Bessaci

“I went there as a child, still half-asleep but filled with excitement,” Bessaci recalls. “My grandfather arrived as early as 4 a.m.; I followed my father around after 5 a.m. You had to get up early to hope for a good spot. Sometimes sales began right in the trucks, under the flickering light of flashlights, before the sun had even risen.”

It was here that he first discovered the maps, books, and old photographs that now form the essential materials of his art. “They carried stories, past lives, fragments of humanity which, though I didn’t realize it yet, would become the very substance of my work.”

The flea market also influenced Bessaci’s fascination with the riddles presented by old objects and artifacts, “guessing what an object had been used for, what life it had lived, who had touched it before me. In some maps, I find traces of passage—a handwriting, a stain, a tear. These marks of time move me deeply. They make each piece unique, irreplaceable, like an imprint left by history. It is in this intimate relationship with objects, memory, and enigma that my artistic practice took root.”

Bessaci started as a graffiti artist, in his teens. His work evolved over time into the elaborate paper cut-out sculptures, using maps and photographs, that he makes today. At art school, he says, “I discovered the relationship to time. Coming from graffiti, where everything must be done in urgency, I was stunned to learn that a single project could take 80 to 100 hours of work. At first, it was a trial, almost a violence against my rhythm. But little by little, this temporality became an obviousness, a new kind of breathing.”

Now based in the United States, Bessaci continues to develop his practice and present his work in exhibitions and art fairs. He draws inspiration from antique Michelin road maps, primarily from the 1920s to the 1970s. He combines them with photographs and vintage textiles to create works that blend the markers of human individuality with topographies and routes. “My process is instinctive, almost archaeological,” he told Bold Journey magazine in 2025. “I collect, cut, layer, stitch. Each gesture is an attempt to surface memory, to retell what we think we already know.”

Artist's rendition of a portrait of Arthur Ashe. Courtesy: Joanathan Bessaci — Portrait of Arthur Ashe. Courtesy: Joanathan Bessaci

The maps Bessaci includes in his art create what he calls “layered stories.” The roads and rivers become metaphors for “chosen or imposed paths, uprooted or rediscovered roots.” The cuts, overlaps, and fragmentation he imposes are ways to question his subjects, and to challenge the idea of the subject as fixed. He seeks to portray “something in motion, composed of ruptures and recompositions.”

Bessaci had been primarily a painter for more than 15 years when he shifted his practice these sculptural works on paper. The change coincided with the birth of his daughter, and an extended period of time in a secluded studio in a very small town in France. On a visit to his grandfather at around this time, Bessaci received a box of old items, including old road maps. “It was as if the flea market had returned to my hands, charged with memory and secrets to be revealed.”

At first, Bessaci was reluctant to make any changes to the maps: “The day I dared to cut directly into a map, I felt an inner shift,” he says. “The maps immediately spoke to me: they were at once adventure, travel, and a profound resonance with my family, my memories of the flea market, and this need to explore the traces left by time.”

As Bessaci experimented and refined his technique, he began layering the maps, up to five layers at a time, to explore depth. The more he worked with old maps, the more he saw correspondences with people, and with memory and life itself: “The roads and rivers reminded me of veins, a living cartography of the body and of memory.”

Bessaci describes much of his raised work as bas-relief. He frames his cutouts between layers of glass and road maps, comparing them to mille-feuilles, a many-layered dessert. The layers create depth, “almost a vibration.”

Today, Bessaci owns nearly 5,000 maps, mainly Michelin, dating from 1890 to 1990.

“Their texture, their faded colors, their smell of ink and aged paper fascinate me,” Bessaci says. “A map is a displacement, an adventure, but also an anchor. It helps us know where we are, and I like to believe it also helps us know who we are.”

Bessaci is now working on a new series he calls Roots and Paths, using the kinds of photographs that turn up at flea markets, secondhand stores, and estate sales, devoid of their original context and family connections. Bessaci cuts the people from these images, leaving only their silhouettes, emphasizing their gestures. His goal is to neutralize “any visible markers of race, gender, and age, allowing the viewer to project their own memories, their own emotional history.” In place of the removed material, he fills in map fragments—roads, rivers, mountain ridges—as “layers of inner geography.”

He can foresee many years—perhaps a lifetime—of working with maps as an artist. “Maps, more than any other medium, have something magical: I don’t feel like I chose them—they found me,” he says. “They reflect my identity, but also the memory of my family, of places, of stories that shaped me. What I love is that they never fully reveal themselves. They hold secrets, hidden stories. I like to slip clues into my works, and sometimes, years later, a collector tells me: ‘I’ve just discovered this detail.’ At that moment, I feel that the map keeps speaking, long after me, as if it carried its own narrative.”

News

How Does AAG Screen its Investments?

October 7, 2025

Jumble of white numbers on a black background

Credit: Jon Tyson, unsplash

By Antoinette WinklerPrins, AAG Council Treasurer

This is the fifth of a short series of perspectives by 2024-2026 Council Treasurer Antoinette WinklerPrins — a series designed to help illuminate some of the financial challenges a professional organization such as the AAG faces. In this column, she offers perspectives on the financial aspects of running the AAG Annual Meeting. Read previous columns.

Many nonprofit organizations care about where and how they invest the funds they have available for investment. Most organizations work with financial advisors and use mutual funds as a way of obtaining strong and consistent returns on their investment decisions. While it is a core obligation of the AAG to invest in such a way that it can support its programming and awards, nonprofit organizations also usually have strong missions, and usually seek to align their investment portfolio with their mission. One method of doing so is to use investment “screens,” a device that permits the investor to identify stocks that align with their core mission, and more importantly, to exclude investments that do not.

To manage its modest endowment, the AAG uses exclusively socially responsible screens known as ESG filters. ESG stands for “Environment, Social and Governance” and means that these screens select for investments in corporations that demonstrate concern about environmental issues, social justice, and ethical and transparent governance, and excludes investments in the fossil fuel industry, arms manufacturing, or occupied territories. This way the AAG investment portfolio aligns with AAG’s mission. The AAG has been 100% ESG invested since June 2022, working with its bank, Truist, through its Envestment PMC investment platform. This platform uses ESG screens from Morningstar Sustainalytics, which has conducted monitoring and research into ESG investing for more than 30 years. Clients such as the AAG select screens they wish to have applied to screen investments.

Truist offers a variety of different ESG screens, from which a maximum of three can be selected at any given time. In coordination with the AAG Finance Committee, the AAG Executive Director selected screens that screen out investments in fossil fuels and seek out the best-in-class choices for the environment. AAG also has chosen as its third screen, one that focuses on social justice, including attention to human rights and occupied territories around the world. We feel that these screens reflect the values of the organization, and all of AAG’s investments are now automatically pushed through these screens to generate a portfolio to ensure consistency with these values.

The AAG is constantly seeking to balance its needs for investment success while underscoring the desire to invest in ways that match its members’ values. By selecting screens that square with our mission, we can assure our members that we lead with our values in our investment portfolio. As part of the work of the Finance Committee, which I chair as AAG Treasurer, there is periodic review of the selected screens to ensure that they are functioning as intended.

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 [email protected].

Helping Students Bridge the Gap from Student to GIS Professional: How Esri YPN Supports Educators

October 1, 2025

Photo of Golden Bridge in Vietnam with sculpture of two hands supporting the bridge. Credit: Khải Đồng

Golden Bridge, Hòa Ninh, Hòa Vang, Da Nang, Vietnam. Credit: Khải Đồng

By Rosemary Boone, Senior Industry Marketing Manager – Education, Esri

Graduating from a higher education program is an exciting milestone, but it can also feel overwhelming. Students often ask, “What comes next?”

Esri Young Professionals Network (YPN) helps answer that question by bridging the critical gap between being a student and becoming a working GIS professional. The network also plays a vital role in supporting educators, who are deeply invested in their students’ success, both academically and professionally.

What is Esri YPN?

The Esri Young Professionals Network (YPN) is a global community and network of over 20,000 members worldwide that anyone can join at no cost. Esri YPN is designed to support its members to thrive at any stage of their GIS journey. Members consist of college students, recent graduates, emerging and seasoned GIS professionals, truly making it “a network for all” no matter your age or experience.

Built on three core pillars: Learn, Connect, and Lead, our mission is to provide members of Esri YPN with opportunities and resources to strengthen their skills, expand their networks, and step confidently into leadership roles within the geospatial industry.

Through networking events, professional development opportunities, and its Ambassador Program, Esri YPN empowers students to grow beyond the classroom and begin building the foundation of their careers while still in school.

Why It Matters to Students

By joining YPN, students gain:

A support system beyond graduation – Access to peers and mentors through the YPN Chapters, conference activities, LinkedIn group, and YPN Networking Space.
A platform to build their professional brand – Opportunities to showcase their work, present ideas, and raise their visibility through the YPN Ambassador Program.
Professional development resources – Engage in professional development through attending our webinars, conference sessions, chapter meetups; and by subscribing to the YPN blog on Esri Community.

For students, Esri YPN is more than a network, it’s a launchpad for their future in GIS.

Why Educators Should Take an Interest

By getting students involved in Esri YPN, educators can:

Strengthen their program’s value by demonstrating clear pathways to professional growth.
Help students gain confidence in their ability to enter a competitive job market.
Ensure graduates remain connected to a community that will continue supporting their careers long after they leave campus.

While curriculum and experiential learning opportunities build technical knowledge, students also need guidance on how to bridge the gap from student to professional. By encouraging participation, educators can equip their students with tools and connections that extend well beyond the classroom.

How to Get Started and Involved

Getting students connected with Esri YPN is simple—and the benefits begin immediately.

Encourage students to join online – Direct them to esri.com/ypn, where they can join at no cost and gain instant access to resources, events, and community spaces.
Reinforce their ability to participate tand network. Upon joining, members receive a confirmation email linking to their member badge and digital swag they can share with their networks.
Suggest they join a local YPN chapter. Esri YPN has ten chapters across the United States each hosting local in-person networking meetups. Join a local chapter and search for upcoming chapter events.
Encourage them to become a YPN Ambassador. Students can take steps to become a YPN Ambassador to make them stand out to their peers and recruiters. Upon completion, YPN Ambassadors receive a badge and certificate.
Remind them to browse and subscribe to the YPN blog. The YPN Blog on Esri Community is rich in GIS career content brushing on topics like building a GIS portfolio, overcoming imposter syndrome, and GIS career pathway highlights.
Keep encouraging them to start networking online. Join the YPN LinkedIn group and YPN Networking space on Esri Community to begin meeting peers and mentors in the geospatial field from across the globe.

Students who start engaging with YPN early will be equipped with a better sense of a professional identity, supportive network, and the confidence to step boldly into the next stage of their GIS journey.

Rosemary Boone is a Senior Industry Marketing Manager for Esri, concentrating on executing marketing strategies for K-12 schools and higher education institutions. She holds a master’s degree in education technology with an emphasis on multimedia. Prior to her career in marketing, she taught elementary school and taught overseas. In her free time, she likes to listen to music, exercise, and spend time with her two Dachshunds.

Featured Articles is a special section of the AAG Newsletter where AAG sponsors highlight recent programs and activities of significance to geographers and members of the AAG. To sponsor the AAG and submit an article, please contact [email protected].

President's Column

The War in Gaza and an Inclusive AAG Process for a Thoughtful Response

September 15, 2025

Magnifying glass highlighting Gaza on a larger map.

The AAG will hold a special meeting on October 3 in response to a membership petition asking the association “to endorse the BDS 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.” Our bylaws state that if more than 10% of members sign a petition with a valid call, then the AAG will host such a special meeting. As this is a divisive issue, I write to clarify three points: 1) my personal perspective on the war in Gaza (which you deserve to know, but is irrelevant to the position of the AAG), 2) the AAG process for responding to troubling world events, and 3) some of the factors the AAG Council will need to consider before arriving at a decision on an appropriate AAG response to the situation in Gaza.

First, my own views. The situation in Gaza is deeply concerning and distressing to me personally. As some of you may know, much of my scholarship and United Nations (UN) policy work has dealt with food security and agricultural development in the Global South, often from a political ecology perspective. As per the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system, famine was officially declared in Gaza on August 22, 2025, confirming what many had long argued was an unfolding humanitarian crisis. It is significant and sobering that this respected and cautious UN-backed food security monitoring group concluded that all three thresholds that define a famine had been crossed. It calls the famine in Gaza “entirely man-made.” It further notes that there are “half a million people facing catastrophic conditions characterized by starvation, destitution and death.” The IPC report on Gaza comes nearly two years into an armed conflict with Israel that was triggered by the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas. Israeli restrictions have limited the flow of food and aid into Gaza. I believe in the right to food as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and I stand against using food as a weapon of war. I also recognize the right of Israel to exist, condemn the October 7 attack and support a two-state solution. However, let it be clear that my own personal views matter no more than anyone else’s in our community and that the central question is whether and how the AAG might respond to this terrible situation. The AAG Council must make the best possible decision in relation to its mission and values, with the fullest possible input of our membership and according to our bylaws.

Second, what is the AAG’s process for considering a response to such a crisis? The AAG Council, the democratically elected representatives of the membership, has a legal and ethical obligation to consider actions called for in a membership petition or — in some cases — to decide how to respond to a crisis or government decision. In considering potential responses, the AAG Council must do so in a way that is in the best interest of the organization (also known as fiduciary responsibility). Typically, Council deliberations on potential actions include an analysis of relevant background information and occur without the active participation of the broader membership. However, because this deliberation was triggered by a membership petition, the AAG will engage in an open and transparent information collection process before the AAG Council arrives at a decision. The synchronous meeting of the membership on October 3 is intended to answer questions and kick-off an inclusive information collection process that provides the greatest potential for all members to participate. The process will involve a 60-day period in which any AAG member may asynchronously comment on a draft background document that will inform Council decision-making in regard to a potential AAG response to the situation in Gaza. This written comment option will be complemented by two AAG Council listening sessions (one closed session and one open to all members), both during the 60-day period. Members can sign up to share their perspectives on this matter with Council, starting on October 3. Once the background information collection period is complete, the AAG Council will deliberate on the best course of action, taking into account the concerns and perspectives of the membership as well as the mission and wellbeing of the organization.

Contrary to some views circulating, the October 3 zoom meeting will not entail an open debate among the AAG membership on the best course of action, nor a presentation by the petitioners or other groups (although this could happen in a subsequent listening session), nor a live vote of the membership. To undertake an open debate would be challenging (imagine an open zoom meeting with hundreds of members asking to speak). Furthermore, privileging some perspectives in featured presentations would be less than inclusive. Lastly, while I have received dozens of emails asking for a membership vote on the BDS proposal, this approach is not called for in our bylaws. Previous AAG membership votes have never been directly undertaken in response to a petition, but rather for an election, a bylaw change (such as the AAG name change) or on an issue at the request of the AAG Council.

Third, once the membership comment phase is complete, what types of issues might the AAG Council need to consider before arriving at a decision on an appropriate AAG response to the situation in Gaza? There are a range of potential responses, including divestment of AAG funds from organizations profiting from the oppression of the Palestinian people, an academic boycott of Israeli universities, endorsing BDS as a political movement, making a public statement about the situation in Gaza, calling for a vote of the membership on an action proposal, or no action. As noted previously, Council will need to consider all facets and nuances of these potential actions and make a decision that is consistent with the values and the well-being of the organization. In terms of our values, the AAG is committed to principles of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion as outlined in the JEDI strategic plan and adopted by the organization in 2020. The AAG is also opposed to both Islamophobia and antisemitism, and we are dedicated to creating venues for free and open discussion of academic ideas.

While I could not possibly summarize all aspects the Council will need to consider (many of which will be in the aforementioned background document), let me just mention a couple issues that may be of interest to the membership. First, because of the work of the AAG’s climate action committee, we adopted socially responsible investment screening a few years ago. As a result, the AAG’s relatively small endowment (about 1.1% the size of my college’s endowment for example) does not have investments in the fossil fuel industry, arms manufacturing or occupied territories. Second, while the AAG could issue a statement about the situation in Gaza without violating nonprofit laws, endorsing BDS as a political movement may have complications. To wit, nonprofits, or 501(c)3 organizations, in the United States have strict restrictions on political endorsements. Furthermore, given that anti-BDS laws exist in 38 states, a BDS endorsement might inhibit our members in those states from using public funds to attend a regional or national AAG meeting. Lastly, the AAG is committed to academic freedom and we need to think carefully about any actions that might impede the free and open exchange of ideas.

In sum, the war in Gaza is deeply troubling, as were the attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023. While this issue has the potential to divide our membership, I have faith in the transparent and inclusive process that the AAG has embraced in its deliberations on the best potential response. While I understand that some of our members may be frustrated that we are debating this issue at all, or that the decision-making process is not moving quickly enough, it is important that we do this well. Healthy organizations are able to openly and fairly discuss contentious issues if they have a clear process for doing so. I am confident that our community will emerge from these deliberations stronger than ever.

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 [email protected] to enable a constructive discussion.

President's Column

The Dismantling of Public Research Funding and the Need to Invest in a Better Future

September 1, 2025

Geographic research has improved the human condition, enhanced long-term environmental sustainability, strengthened the economy, fostered human understanding of the planet, and facilitated learning of those students engaged in the knowledge production process. While some research is funded by the private sector to specific ends, the bulk of scientific inquiry is a public good that benefits the larger society and is supported by governments whose citizenry ideally understand the long-term benefits of scientific research. While what I have presented above is the ideal, it actually works in many cases. Unfortunately, the public funding of scientific research in the United States has been willingly dismantled over the past nine months to the detriment of the academy, geography, and American society.

In 2010, the National Research Council published Understanding the changing planet: Strategic directions for the geographical sciences (written by a committee chaired by former AAG president Alec Murphy). This report set out an ambitious research agenda for the discipline, articulating big questions for geographers to tackle with significant societal impacts. Geographers in the US and around the world have aggressively worked on those questions over the past 15 years (relating to the environment, population, health, food, and migration to name a few) and arguably made the world a better place. I truly believe that a society that supports scholarly research is investing in the future and acting on the belief that we can do better. To arbitrarily defund research is to not look forward, to not have hope for a better world, and to doubt our capacity to enhance human understanding.

A society that supports scholarly research is investing in the future and acting on the belief that we can do better.”

As a fundamentally field-based discipline, geographers often need external funding to do the work we do. For example, in July I was fortunate to be in rural Tanzania with three research students and local university partners trying to better understand the food and nutrition security implications of primary schools that employ agroecological practices on their farms to produce food for their lunch programs. While our findings will hopefully have implications for the way we understand environmental sustainability, agroecology and nutrition security, just as important was the development of future scholars and international scientific exchange that was a byproduct of this process. This was a pilot project supported by seed money from my university and for which I had intended to seek external support, a prospect that now feels increasingly unlikely as the current administration has bludgeoned the National Science Foundation (NSF) and other federal agencies that support scientific research. My story is just one of many that have rippled across our discipline, cutting short the knowledge production process, the training of future scholars, and transnational scientific collaboration.

Cuts to scientific research funding in recent months have been devastating. The White House’s proposed budget for FY26 for the National Science Foundation (NSF) would reduce the agency’s budget by 55 percent, bringing its annual budget down to $3.6 billion from the $9 billion appropriated in FY2024, and a similar range of funds available in 2025. This latest proposed cut was preceded by the termination of hundreds of millions of dollars in research funding that had previously been awarded.

In February, the AAG published an open letter decrying the devastating cuts to the NSF’s Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences (HEGS) Program (while geographers have been successful obtaining grants from a number of NSF programs, this is the flagship program for the discipline). Then in early March, the AAG was one of 48 learned societies signing an open letter asking congress to protect science.
Proposed cuts to the U.S. State Department’s Fulbright Program will entirely eliminate it and in June the oversight board of this prestigious program resigned after political appointees cancelled the awards of almost 200 American professors who were scheduled to go oversees to undertake research and teaching, and put in jeopardy those of another 1200 foreign scholars who were to receive support for academic exchanges in the US.
The U.S. Department of Education has cancelled this year’s Fulbright-Hays Program that has supported the international research of U.S. professors and students for over 60 years. The loss of this program was part of a larger executive action to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, with the AAG signing on to a joint statement against such actions in March 2025.

These are just some of the cuts to federal programs that support geographic scholarship. Of course, research costs money, and some research projects are more impactful than others, but to indiscriminately cut research funding across the broad undermines the prospect of a better future. Important advances in science are often generational in nature. Rarely do the biggest breakthroughs come in a single year, decade, or even career. Research funding is the fundamental connector that sustains research across generations. It’s not just a feel-good activity to use research funding for training future scholars: it is the lifeline of discovery, innovation, and progress.

Judiciously allocated public funding is critical to the advancement of scientific understanding, to the careers of geographers and to the training of their students. Over the course of my career, for example, I have benefitted from four federal research grants, two from the NSF and two from the Fulbright-Hays Program (likely placing me somewhere in the middle of what is typical for an academic geographer). When I was younger, these grants helped launch my career and as I grew older, they helped me train future scholars. The competitive application process helped me refine my research questions and methodology, and subsequent service on several NSF panels allowed me to better understanad the care and thought that went into prioritizing which type of research to support with scarce public dollars. From my time on such panels, I still remember Tom Baerwald (former NSF Program Director and AAG past president) and colleagues showing us the research innovation S curve (or the Isserman curve), slowly starting with basic research and the trial and error search for good questions (A and B), to the steep climb and rapid innovation phase (C), to the tapering off and research saturation plateau (D and E) (see figure 1). Our task, as a scientific panel, was to identify sound projects situated at the start of the rapid innovation phase. It was an extremely rigorous process, led by panels of faculty working on a mostly pro-bono basis, and with many more good projects on offer than NSF would be able to fund.

The Isserman (science innovation) Curve illustrates cumulative knowledge vs projects over time. — Figure 1: The Isserman (science innovation) Curve; Source: Baerwald, T. J. (2013). The legacy of Andrew Isserman at the U.S. National Science Foundation. International Regional Science Review, 36(1), 29-35.

Geography needs to more strongly make a case for government support of knowledge production as central to a better future. Communicating the value of scientific research to broader publics is important as scholarship and universities have become targets in the US culture wars. Part of this will be about articulating a geographic research agenda for the future. What are the key questions moving forward that geographers are particularly well equipped to answer and how will geographical perspectives on those challenges help everyday people and the environment? It has been 15 years since the NRC published Understanding the changing planet. Despite the strong anti-intellectual political currents of our time, now is the moment to more forcefully articulate the value of geographic inquiry and a research agenda for a better a better future.

News

Financial Aspects of Running the AAG Annual Meeting

August 28, 2025

Overhead view of AAG annual meeting attendees browsing the Meridian Space information area

By Antoinette WinklerPrins, AAG Council Treasurer

This is the fourth of a short series of perspectives by 2024-2026 Council Treasurer Antoinette WinklerPrins–a series designed to help illuminate some of the financial challenges a professional organization such as the AAG faces. In this column, she offers perspectives on the financial aspects of running the AAG Annual Meeting. Read previous columns.

Most AAG members are aware that the AAG Annual Meeting is a key activity for the organization. In fact, for many members the annual meeting is the AAG. As a member organization, AAG provides many more services to its members all year, yet the annual meeting remains a pillar of support both for members and for the organization itself, enabling it to provide the other services throughout the year. In this Treasurer’s Corner I will share with you some perspectives on the financial aspects of the meeting.

Let’s look at three financial aspects of this most visible and vital event:

Registration fees: Imagine you were hosting a big party but didn’t know how many people would show up? What if 10,000 might show and you might need to have 60 rooms for a week to run constant presentations? Securing those spaces without knowing who will show up is one of the many challenges (and expenses) of putting on an AAG meeting.Registration fees are critical support for the meeting – our ability to predict and secure a certain number of registrations helps us to negotiate the contract with a hotel or convention center for meeting rooms and gathering spaces, and to anticipate and cover staff costs to organize and support all the development of the programming and organization of the sessions. These activities are year-round as well as seasonal, with some building to a peak of work in the months ahead of the meeting dates, and other activities (such as venue negotiations) taking place years in advance. The current registration page states that “AAG annual meetings operate on a break-even pricing model (i.e., fees cover the cost of participation and inflation).” Note that when the AAG set new registration fees in 2023, it did not do so across the board in a “one size fits all” way. Fees for students, developing regions, under/un-employed, retired, K-12, and minority serving institution (MSI) faculty rise only very modestly, while other categories such as member and family rise moderately. The AAG chose proportional cost sharing, rather than trying to pass on all costs to members across the board, to provide the best possible value for members at a financially sustainable cost. When considering registration fees in real dollar terms, the fees had hardly changed in nearly 10 years.
Hybrid costs: AAG is one of relatively few professional organizations that remains fully committed to a synchronous hybrid annual meeting. AAG Council has made this commitment to ensure this important professional event is accessible to those who cannot travel or who make a personal choice not to travel, but who want and need to participate in the meeting. This means providing quality and stable hybrid access not just in individual presentation sessions but also live streaming plenary and other important community building events. On a larger scale, the AAG has committed to lowering the carbon footprint of its annual meetings and is on track to reduce meeting-related emissions by 45% by 2030. But running a fully hybrid meeting incurs substantial labor and IT tech support. In a previous column, I provided details on the costs of running hybrid meetings. While these costs are a financial burden, the AAG believes that hybrid meetings are a must for its members, and this is why it is necessary to charge a fee for virtual attendees that covers at least half of the costs incurred in providing the online access. While AAG has lost money on the virtual portion of the last three meetings, it believes that hybrid meetings are a must for its members, and why it remains committed to offering the service at a low fee.
Lodging choices: In a previous column, I discussed why it is important to choose your lodging at the conference hotel. Not only is it convenient and maximizes your ability to network with colleagues, but it helps AAG meet contractual obligations (usually arranged years in advance) to guarantee a minimum spent on lodging as well as food and beverage at the hotel by attendees. The next three AAG Annual Meetings (San Francisco, New York, Chicago) are all hotel-based meetings (meaning that the meeting rooms are at the hotel), not convention center meetings as both Detroit and Honolulu were, so this is very important for the financial viability of the meeting.

In its choice of location, lodging, and other offerings, AAG works to provide the best possible options to its members. We know that you have many influences on your decisions on whether and when to register, and what lodging to select for the annual meeting. We hope you can join us at the annual meeting, and that you are able to select the lodging that works the best. 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 [email protected].

Bryon Middlekauff

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