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Mapping chimps: Drones and the future of conservation

Chimpanzees are one of our closest cousins – and are at risk of extinction. Drone mapping is giving them another chance.

 

Image courtesy of Allison Rogers.

Professor Serge Wich, Dr. Alex Piel, Dr. Fiona Stewart and a team of PhD researchers from Liverpool John Moores University are working to save Tanzania’s chimpanzees. Their tools: homemade drones and Pix4Dmapper.

Since the project launched in 2012, Serge and the team have been working on a number of initiatives to support and protect the chimpanzees.

“Chimpanzees are so closely related to us,” explained Serge. “So if we are to unravel our own human ancestry we need to be able to study the species – if they go extinct then we definitely don’t have that opportunity anymore.”

As most conservation interventions come from government, the team is focusing on gathering high quality data on the number of animals, and feeding the information back to the government.

Up until the project launched, data was collected on foot, a time-consuming process – despite the fact that the forests and savannas of Tanzania are well known for having low densities of chimpanzees. Chimpanzees are always on the move to find food and “Over a year, they might cover fifty, sixty or even seventy square kilometers. That’s quite large particularly in this very undulating terrain. It’s a real challenge to study them in those areas,” says Serge.

“The main aim of the project is to create more efficient methods of obtaining the distribution and density of chimpanzees in these kind of habitats. These areas are very hilly and are very difficult to negotiate,” says Serge. “Plus some areas are not reachable by car, especially given that we do survey work over large areas. So if we can make a more efficient by using drones that would be really helpful.”

Continue reading about the project.

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President's Column

AAG Election Underway and Looking Forward to the Annual Meeting in Washington DC in April!

The AAG election season is underway! This week, AAG members around the globe received email links to log on and vote for 2019-2020 AAG officers and committee members. Balloting is open from 30 January to 21 February, so please remember to take a few minutes to dig out that email, vote, and be heard! I thank the AAG nominating committee for providing us with a highly distinguished slate of candidates, and I especially thank the candidates for their willingness to stand for office and their commitment to serve the AAG should they be elected. So now it is up to you, fellow AAG members, to get out and vote to select the future leaders of our association!

Borderline Insanity: The Threat from the North

The record-breaking 35-day U.S. Government partial shutdown was finally suspended on 25 January, until 15 February 2018 for negations on border security. I hope that the White House can come to an agreement with our Congress on how best to ensure our security, avoid another partial government shutdown, and treat those seeking refuge humanely and with dignity. I truly hope that government workers, including thousands of professional geographers, are never used as political hostages again. On a related front, four women who are members of a humanitarian group whose intent is to save lives of asylum seekers lost in the desert with no water, where hundreds have already died, have been convicted on 18 January 2018 of entering a protected federal refuge in Arizona and leaving behind food and water jugs. AAG and APCG have been closely following the situation for a humanitarian geographer also caught up in this sweep, and for our colleague’s sake we have been careful to not interfere with the case until action is requested. Individuals have been staying in contact, and have contributed to a defense fund. More volunteers go on trial this spring.

Chicago (polar vortex), Australia (fires)

Our nation’s attention was diverted from immigration issues and the potential for a border wall on the U.S.-Mexico border this past week, to a more serious and dangerous threat streaming across the northern border of the U.S. This threat took the lives of at least 21 people, and made no distinction between college students, package delivery workers, jail inmates, and homeless people. The threat was the Polar Vortex, and it unleashed record-breaking cold on about 70 percent of the U.S. population this past week. The White House response was to tweet about the record cold and ask essentially, “what the (heck) is going on with global waming (sic)? Please come back fast, we need you.” We need not look too far to find it … for at the very same time, the White House forgets that it is summer in the Southern Hemisphere, where in parallel, extreme heat fanned wildfires in Australia. Of course, with a flat earth, one never worries about the other side. What the White House does not care to understand is that Polar Vortex disruption can be connected to atmospheric carbon imbalances, and global warming splitting the polar jets (read more at PBS.org). NOAA also explained it elegantly. The White House’s purposeful mischaracterization of how the atmosphere works feeds the flames of climate denial, and puts our citizens, economy, and environment in physical danger. We geographers need to continue to communicate climate change science to the general public and to policy makers because it is every global citizen’s right to benefit from scientific knowledge. We must also continue our research to understand and communicate the teleconnections of global warming, atmospheric circulation, and extreme weather events, and to protect that right to conduct our scientific inquiry.

Closing Thoughts: Looking Forward to Annual Meeting in Washington DC in April!

As I noted in my first presidential column, imagine what 12,000-plus geographers can do together to make a better world. We will be meeting in just two months in Washington, D.C. to share our ideas and to make a difference with Geography! Although the call for AAG annual meeting paper sessions and individual paper and poster abstracts is now closed, participants may still edit their entries until 23 February 2019. Poster session organizing is open until 14 February 2019. The annual meeting schedule is now posted so you can make your travel plans accordingly. In addition to the opportunity to share your exciting geography research at paper and poster sessions, AAG is planning many special events for the 2019 Annual Meeting.

I am very happy to announce the full slate of our presidential plenary panel who will join me to kick off the AAG meetings on 3 April 2019: Dr. Douglas Richardson (AAG Executive Director); Dr. Mei-Po Kwan (U. Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Geography Professor), Dr. John McNeill (University Professor of History, Georgetown U.; American Historical Association President), Dr. Heather Viles (Oxford University Geography Head and Professor), and Dr. Rita Colwell (University of Maryland College Park Distinguished University Professor, Cell Biology and Public Health).

Please do plan to join us at 6:20 pm on 3 April 2019 to hear opening remarks from AAG Executive Director Dr. Douglas Richardson. This will be an historic moment you will not want to miss, as it will be Doug’s last opening session welcome before he retires from the directorship in early 2020. We thank and congratulate him for his dedication and leadership!

Next, you will hear from our distinguished panelists. These eminent scholars in Human Geography and Physical Geography, Environmental History, and Biological Sciences will address the intersection of their research and the themes of our meeting: “Geography, Environmental Science, Human Health, and Human Rights.”

We will conclude our opening session by recognizing our 2019 Honorary Geographer Dr. Rita Colwell, who will also address the audience as a distinguished panelist.

Other special events during the annual meeting will include a keynote address by former U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. (April 4), and on 5 April we will honor The Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden with the AAG Atlas Award, followed by her keynote address.

It will be my deepest honor to welcome all of you in Washington, D.C. in April, just in time for the cherry blossoms.

Until then I wish you a warm and cozy Groundhog Day weekend!

— Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach
President, American Association of Geographers
Professor of Geography and Fellow of the C.B. Smith Sr. Centennial Chair in U.S. Mexico Relations, University of Texas at Austin

Please share your ideas with me at: slbeach(at)austin(dot)utexas(dot)edu

To register for the annual meeting, click here.

DOI: 10.14433/2017.0051

 

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AAG Announces 2019 Class of AAG Fellows

The AAG Fellows is a program, started in 2018, to recognize geographers who have made significant contributions to advancing geography.

In addition to honoring geographers, AAG Fellows will serve the AAG as an august body to address key AAG initiatives including creating and contributing to AAG initiatives; advising on AAG strategic directions and grand challenges; and mentoring early and mid-career faculty. Similarly to other scientific organizations, the honorary title of AAG Fellow is conferred for life. Once designated, AAG Fellows remain part of this ever-growing advisory body. The AAG Honors Committee has recommended these Fellows to serve as the 2019 class.

John Agnew, University of California, Los Angeles

John Agnew is a Professor of Geography at the University of California Los Angeles. His sustained contributions over several decades have rightfully made him one of the most respected names in human geography worldwide. He has always been strongly committed to the discipline of Geography and to the importance of communicating the significance of geographic research and education to a broad audience.

Agnew’s contributions include monographs on geopolitics that have challenged the interdisciplinary scholarly community to rethink conceptions of hegemony and sovereignty. His multiple books, scholarly articles, and book chapters prove his intellectual stature and global reputation.

In addition to serving as the President of the AAG, Professor Agnew has been recognized with an impressive array of honors including the AAG’s Distinguished Scholarship Award and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship.  He is a Fellow of the British Academy, the Royal Geographic Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

We are therefore pleased to bestow upon John Agnew the title of AAG Fellow.

Anthony J. Brazel, Arizona State University

Anthony (Tony) J. Brazel is Professor Emeritus in the School of Geographic Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State University.  His contributions to geography include his impressive scholarly record in urban climatology and his service to both research scientists and the public as the State Climatologist of Arizona and Director of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Southwest Center for Environmental Research and Policy.  Furthermore, Dr. Brazel has shared his passion for research and infectious curiosity with students in a wide range of undergraduate and graduate climatology courses as well as with the 20 doctoral students he has mentored.

For these accomplishments, he has received the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science’s Outstanding Service Award, the Helmut E. Landsberg Award from the American Meteorological Society, the Association of American Geographers Climate Specialty Group’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and has been named a Fellow of the American Association of the Advancement of Science.

Among Brazel’s more than 150 research articles and reports, he has published twice in Nature and three times in Science.  These and other influential works represent major advances in understanding urban climate in desert environments.  Additionally, he has served colleagues in geography and climate science through his work with the American Geographical Society, the Royal Meteorological Society, the International Association for Urban Climate, and the American Association of Geographers, where he also served on the AAG’s Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Committee.

We are, therefore, pleased to bestow upon Anthony J. Brazel the title of AAG Fellow.

Stanley Brunn, University of Kentucky

Stanley Brunn is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Geography at the University of Kentucky. He is perhaps best known as a political geographer but has also made very significant contributions to urban and social geography. In 25 books, 80 chapters, and 100 research articles, Brunn has exemplified a non-doctrinaire and creative approach to the production of diverse geographical knowledges. In addition to contributing to existing fields, Stan has pioneered whole new areas of research, including the geographies of electronic communications, of mega-engineering projects, and a reinvigorated geography of religions.

As Editor of The Professional Geographer from 1982-1987, and as Editor of the Annals of the AAG from 1988 to 1993, Stan gave unselfishly of his time and energy to guide and develop our Association’s journals. Most recently, Brunn endowed the creation of the AAG Stanley Brunn Award for Creativity in Geography, which has recognized ground-breaking geographers such as Yi-Fu Tuan, the late Robert Kates, Susan Hanson and David Harvey, to name a few.

Brunn has taught and mentored hundreds of students at all levels and has taken a particular interest in passing along his enthusiasm for geography to beginning social studies teachers. Stan is an exceptionally generous and conscientious departmental colleague who was always willing to take on leadership roles and administrative chores without complaint. His academic leadership, his scholarship, and his generous collegiality are all exemplary and have advanced our discipline inestimably.

We are therefore pleased to bestow upon Stanley Brunn the title of AAG Fellow.

David R. Butler, Texas State University

David R. Butler has made significant contributions to the discipline of geography through his outstanding record of undergraduate teaching at Texas State University, and his trailblazing efforts to establish and promote the sub-discipline of zoogeomorphology. The latter involves the study of interactions between ecological and geomorphological processes in mountain regions. The field was codified in Butler’s seminal book, Zoo-geomorphology: Animals as Geomorphic Agents, first published in 1995 by Cambridge University Press.

Also significant is Butler’s role in mentoring the next generation of geographers, which he has achieved by supervising 17 Ph.D. and 40 Masters students. Butler’s disciplinary leadership includes serving in important editorial positions, including as Editor of the Annals of the Association of American Geographers and as Section Editor of Progress in Physical Geography. These positions sustain the discipline and define the future direction of the field.  Butler is best known as someone who sees both the landscape and the literature of our discipline and communicates this connection to new scholars and other users of geographic knowledge.

David Butler is awarded the title of AAG Fellow for his contributions to physical geography, his commitment to training new geographers, his influential editorial work, and for establishing the sub-discipline of zoogeomorphology.

William Clark, University of California, Los Angeles

William A. V. Clark is Distinguished Research Professor in UCLA’s Department of Geography. Bill is the most prominent and influential geographer in housing, segregation and neighborhood change research over the last three decades, and is also one the leading scholars in these subjects across all the social sciences. His classic 1991 paper in Demography lit a fire under residential segregation studies by showing how applying empirically collected residential preference data to the Schelling model could explain persistence in residential spatial separation between racial and ethnic groups. His more than 500 publications have been cited nearly 15,000 times.

Clark is one of a select few geographers who has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences. He is also an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, and a Guggenheim Fellow. He was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Association of Geographers in 2018.

Bill taught legions of undergraduate and graduate students in his courses on population geography, Los Angeles, and California, and is treasured as a mentor to, and collaborator with, junior colleagues. In two terms as Department Chair, he played a crucial role in establishing successful undergraduate majors and graduate programs.

In light of his major contributions to the field as a whole, to geography at a major research university, and to his own research area, we are pleased to bestow upon William Clark the title of AAG Fellow.

Susan Cutter, University of South Carolina

Susan Cutter is a Professor of Geography at the University of South Carolina. Her contributions as a Geographer include an extensive body of research on hazard risk, mitigation and recovery. Professor Cutter is well-known not only to academics but to practitioners in the field. She has provided expert testimony to the U.S. Congress on hazards and vulnerability; and has partnered with the US Army Corps of Engineers to evaluate the social impacts of the New Orleans and Southeast Louisiana Hurricane Protection System. Professor Cutter has served on numerous national advisory boards and committees including those of the National Research Council, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and she chaired the US National Academies committee that authored the 2012 seminal report, Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative. She is a member of the Research Advisory Group for the Department for International Development in the United Kingdom, and she has served as vice-chair of a disaster-risk advisory board sponsored by the International Council for Science and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Cutter has made other substantive contributions to geographic research such as the creation of a database (SHELDUS) that spatially catalogs historical hazard damage to property and crops. SHELDUS is now a primary data source for municipal disaster planning and hazards modeling research.

Cutter is a prolific writer, publishing more than 150 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, as well as fourteen books. Her extensive list of co-authors and co-editors speaks to her connections. She has served as co-executive editor of Environment, associate editor of Weather, Climate, and Society and as a board member for several other journals, and she is currently Editor-in-Chief for the Oxford Research Encyclopedia.

Additionally, Dr. Cutter has served the AAG in numerous positions including President; Chair, AAG Military and Geography Committee; Publications Committee; AAG Representative to COSSA; Long Range Planning Committee; Executive Director Search Committee; Honors Committee Chair; Nominating Committee; Chair of the AAG Hazards Specialty Group; and AAG Regional Councilor for the Middle States Division.  The value of her work has been recognized by the AAG with the AAG Presidential Achievement Award as well as by the University of South Carolina, where Dr. Cutter is a Carolina Distinguished Professor—the highest honor bestowed upon academic faculty by the University of South Carolina.

We are therefore pleased to bestow upon Susan Cutter the title of AAG Fellow.

Daniel Griffith, University of Texas at Dallas

Dr. Daniel A. Griffith is Ashbel Smith Professor in the Department of Geospatial Information Science at the University of Texas at Dallas. Griffith is one of the pioneers of contemporary geography whose influence extends across spatial analysis and geostatistics, quantitative urban and economic geography, GIScience, and computational geography. He is noted for fundamental advances in spatial autoregressive modeling, and for influencing the theory and practice of spatial statistical analysis. His development of spatial filtering of regression models using eigenvectors was a major contribution that has pushed this field forward on many fronts.

Few geographers have maintained such strong, productive relationships between geography, mathematics and statistics – and fewer still have published and been cited in all three disciplines. Griffith’s many books, chapters, research papers, and other publications have attracted a host of distinctions, including elected Fellowships in the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Regional Science Association, the American Statistical Association, and the Guggenheim Foundation. He was the winner of the inaugural AAG Nystrom Dissertation Award in 1980, and the AAG’s Distinguished Research Honors in 2010.

Griffith has served as President of the North American Regional Science Council, as Steering Committee Chair of the International Spatial Accuracy Research Association, as Chair of the Department of Geography at Syracuse University, and as editor of the journal Geographical Analysis. He has stellar record of advising students at SUNY Buffalo, Syracuse University, the University of Miami and now at the University of Texas Dallas.

For his many contributions to the advancement of Geography, we are pleased to bestow upon Daniel Griffith the title of AAG Fellow.

Jonathan Harbor, University of Montana

Jonathan Harbor is Executive Vice President and Provost of the University of  Montana. Prior to this position, he taught in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at Purdue University, where he also served as Executive Director of Digital Education, and Associate Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning.

Throughout his distinguished career, Dr. Harbor has founded several research institutes, including the Purdue Global Sustainability Institute and Discovery Learning Research Center. He has been granted numerous awards, including American Council of Education Fellow, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and Fulbright Senior Scholar, among others. These honors have been global, spanning several institutions in the United States, Sweden, China, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Dr. Harbor’s awards are testament to his outstanding contributions to Geomorphology, Environmental Geography, and Education Research.

Dr. Harbor has published widely in his specialties with over 200 publications dealing with a broad range of geographic interests, including environmental science, glacial research, teaching and learning, and university administration.  He has authored or edited three books, including the most recent Glaciers and Glacial Landscapes in China (2014), for which he won the Scientific Excellence Prize in Gansu Province, China. He has served as editor and been on the editorial board of Anthropocene, Earth Sciences Reviews, and Physical Geography, and other top-tier journals.   He is a member of AAG’s Healthy Departments Committee, has been Chair of the AAG’s Geomorphology Specialty Group, and is on the Executive Committee of the American Geophysical Union Heads and Chairs Board.

We are therefore pleased to bestow upon Jon Harbor the title of AAG Fellow.

Thomas Mote, University of Georgia

Thomas Mote is an internationally known scholar, award-winning instructor and mentor, respected university administrator, and engaged leader of the AAG.

Mote currently serves as Associate Dean at the University of Georgia’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, as well as being a Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Geography.  His research involves climate change, one of the earth’s most pressing and timely problems, which Mote approaches by participating in interdisciplinary research teams that study the effects of Greenland ice sheet melting on oceans—a major contributor to sea level rise. His research is recognized and funded, among others, by NASA, NOAA, and the USDA’s Forest Service.

Mote has been honored by the University of Georgia for outstanding teaching and advising, has been elected as a Fellow to the American Meteorological Society, and obtained a Creative Research Medal at the University of Georgia. He has advised 12 doctoral and 18 Masters students. His current position as Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences also draws attention to the discipline of geography and underscores its pivotal role in the Arts and Sciences.

Thomas Mote has been selected to become an AAG Fellow for the scientific and societal significance of his research program, his mentoring of graduate students, and for raising geography’s profile through his outstanding service in influential administrative and professional positions.

Martin "Mike" PasqualettiMartin J. Pasqualetti, Arizona State University

Martin J. (Mike) Pasqualetti is professor in the School of Geographic Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State University.  His contributions to geography include his path-breaking research in energy geography, especially the geographies of nuclear power and renewable energy landscapes including those of geothermal, wind, and solar power. Additionally, Pasqualetti has served the scientific community and the public as Chair of Arizona’s Solar Energy Advisory Council, co-authored the Energy Emergency Response Plan and Master Energy Plan for the Arizona Governor’s Office of Energy Policy, and serves on both the Advisory Board of the European Conference of the Landscape Research Group and the Coalition for Action of the International Renewable Energy Agency. His efforts in the field of energy geography have earned him numerous awards including the Alexander and Ilse Melamid Gold Award from the American Geographical Society as well as the Award of Excellence from the Vermont Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects and the Great Places Award from the Environmental Design Research Association for his book The Renewable Energy Landscapes: Preserving Scenic Value in our Sustainable Future.

In addition, Pasqualetti is co-editor and contributor to several books including The Ashgate Companion to Energy Geography, Wind Power in View, and The Evolving Landscape: Homer Aschmann’s Geography.  These and his more than 100 research articles and reports have led to invitations to address international conference and to advise public agencies including the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the US Department of Energy, and the United Kingdom’s Central Electricity Generating Board.

His service to the AAG includes founding and chairing the Energy and Environment Specialty Group, serving as a member of the AAG Meridian book awards committee, and obtaining funding for the Energy and Environment Specialty Group’s annual best paper awards.

We are, therefore, please to bestow upon Martin J. Pasqualetti the title of AAG Fellow.

Mark D. Schwartz, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Mark D. Schwartz is Distinguished Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is a climatologist who specializes in the sub-discipline of phenology, involving the spring green up and fall senescence of natural vegetation. His work contributes to the broader field of climate change research, and his contributions have led to improved modeling of vegetation in climate models and deeper understanding of the vegetative response to climate change.  He has, among many other achievements, helped create a tool to predict the onset of spring, contributed to the Global Warming Report released by the Union of Concerned Scientists, and generally contributed a sound and valuable geographic perspective to climate change research.

Schwartz is also known as “the man of the hour” for the Department of Geography at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He had barely received tenure, when the University threatened to close the Geography Department. Taking the reins as Department Chair, Schwartz led the unit in a reorganization that resulted in saving Geography at University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, developed strategic alliances with other schools and departments at the University, and allowed the department to grow.

Mark Schwartz is named an AAG Fellow for his strategically important research and for his successful effort to defend and promote geographic research and education at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Eric Sheppard, University of California Los Angeles

Eric Sheppard is a Professor of Geography the University of California Los Angeles. Throughout his career, he has been committed to promoting interactions across several subfields in the discipline of geography. Besides his stellar reputation in the field of economic geography, Dr. Sheppard has made important contributions to the literature on the social dimensions of GIS. During his tenure as President of the AAG, he was an advocate and spokesperson for all geographers, across the entire discipline.

Professor Sheppard’s significant impacts include his multiple publications on the social dimensions of GIS, nature of spatiality and relationality and the ontological and epistemological issues surrounding both GIS, and the qualitative/quantitative debates in the discipline.  He has served a key role on the Relational Poverty Network, an NSF-funded research coordination network that connects a global group of poverty scholars.

His work with the Advisory Board of the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, the National Research Council that resulted in the publication of Rediscovering Geography are major contributions to the discipline.  He has served the AAG as its President, Vice President and on numerous AAG committees.

Among the many honors he has received, Dr. Sheppard has been recognized by the AAG with its Distinguished Scholarship Honor, and by the University Of Toronto Association Of Geography Alumni with its Distinguished Alumni Award.

We are therefore pleased to bestow upon Eric Sheppard the title of AAG Fellow.

Renee Sieber, McGill University

Renee Sieber is an Associate Professor at McGill University in the Department of Geography and School of the Environment, where she researches the use and value of information and communications for social change. Over the past two decades, she has made a major contribution to the field of Geography through her sustained interest in participatory and collaborative applications of Geographical Information Systems and Science. Sieber examines applications in geographic information systems for and by poor communities, social movements (particularly the environmental movement), and indigenous groups. Renee has been active in introducing Participatory GIS to an international audience. She was a founding committee member of the AAG Digital Geographies Specialty Group and recently served as co-chair of the international GIScience 2016 conference.

Renee’s publications span a range of GIS applications including tourism, the humanities, rural economic development, semantics, and crowdsourcing data. She has received grants from NASA/Goddard Institute for Space Studies, numerous grants Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and Canadian Foundation for Innovation, among others.

For her excellence in the discipline, she received the Canadian Association of Geographers (Geographic Information Systems and Science Special Interest Group): Lifetime Achievement and GIScience Excellence Award.

We are therefore pleased to bestow upon Renee Sieber the title of AAG Fellow.

The AAG Fellows are chosen by the AAG Honors Committee. The 2018-2019 Honors Committee Members are Wei Li, chair (Arizona State University), Laura Pulido (University of Oregon), Nathan Sayre (University of California Berkeley), Lisa DeChano-Cook (Western Michigan University), Wendy Jepson (Texas A&M University), and Rebecca Lave (Indiana University). Observer members this year, who will rotate in as members next year, are Julie Winkler (Michigan State University), Richard Kujawa (St. Michael’s College), and Julie A. Silva (University of Maryland – College Park).

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Newsletters

Newsletter – January 2019

PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

Share Your Science, and Make a Difference with Geography at the AAG Annual Meeting in April 2019

By Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach

Happy New Year, Geographers and Friends of Geography! There is still much for us, as fellow AAG Members, to do and to accomplish, and what better month than January to re-commit ourselves to serving people and the planet, when we celebrate Civil Rights Leader Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday. It is hard to believe we are already halfway through the fiscal year, whether you are still enjoying the academic winter break, or are just returning from the holidays with family and friends. I do ask that we stop to recognize our fellow Geographers in the federal workforce who, at the time of this writing, are experiencing one of the two longest Government shutdowns in U.S. history, and we hope it is resolved soon for their sake and for the greater good of our country.

Continue Reading.

 

ANNUAL MEETING

Online Program Now Available!

The #aagDC online program is ready to view online. Search the schedule by author name, session type, key words, author affiliation, specialty group sponsorship, and more. For those presenting posters, the poster presentations will take place April 4, 5, and 6, 2019.

Browse the program.

Past President’s Address Announced

At the 2019 Annual Meeting, AAG Past President Derek Alderman will deliver his Past President’s Address entitled “Keeping it REAL in a Post-Truth World: Geography as Reparative Storytelling.” In his presentation, he will speak on enhancing the place of storytelling within geography as part of his initiative, Geography is REAL (Responsive, Engaged, Advocating, and Life-Improving). Asking attendees to view storytelling as more than entertainment, Alderman encourages storytelling to be considered for its value as a tool of education, disciplinary promotion, public outreach, community-building, and scholar-activism. The Past President’s Address will be held on Saturday, April 6 from 11:50 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Learn more about the Address.

“Focus on Washington, DC and the Mid Atlantic” is an ongoing series curated by the Local Arrangements Committee to provide insight on and understanding of the geographies of Washington, DC and the greater Mid Atlantic region in preparation for the 2019 AAG Annual Meeting.

 

Throwback to the 2010 AAG Annual Meeting!

Though the new year is here, start it out with a trip to 2010, the last year that the AAG Annual Meeting was held in Washington, DC. Focus on DC articles from 2009 and 2010 are available to read online with topics spanning the historical development of the district to the waterways of the Anacostia River and Chesapeake Bay. Take a walk down memory lane and see how much has changed in the previous nine years.

Read the past articles.

Poster abstracts for #aagDC due January 31! All abstracts editable until February 23

Present a poster at the 2019 AAG Annual Meeting. As soon as your poster is ready, upload the electronic file to our Poster Portal so it can be viewed online well before and beyond your presentation session. In addition, the AAG has set up printing partnerships for discounts on both paper and fabric poster printing to help you save.


PUBLICATIONS

NEW Issue of GeoHumanities:
Articles featuring Southeast Asia to the UK; qualitative methods to poetry

GeoHumanities-cover

The latest issue of GeoHumanities is now available (Volume 4, Issue 2, December 2018) with 15 new research articles and creative pieces on subjects within geography. Topics include plantation museums, the Mexican diaspora, Bollywood films, language commodification, critical visual methods, rewilding, medical health humanities, and children’s geographies. Regional areas include Cambodia, New England, and Indochina. With authors from a variety of institutions including Curtin University, Penn State University, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Wisconsin – Madison, and the University of British Columbia and the University of Manitoba.

All AAG members have full online access to all issues of GeoHumanities through the Members Only page. In every issue, the editors choose one article to make freely available for two months. In this issue you can read Geographies of Medical and Health Humanities: A Cross-Disciplinary Conversation, by Sarah de Leeuw, Courtney Donovan, Nicole Schafenacker, Robin Kearns, Pat Neuwelt, Susan Merill Squier, Cheryl McGeachan, Hester Parr, Arthur W. Frank, Lindsay-Ann Coyle, Sarah Atkinson, Nehal El-Hadi, Karen Shklanka, Caroline Shooner, Diana Beljaars & Jon Anderson for free.

Questions about GeoHumanities? Contact geohumanities [at] aag [dot] org.

In addition to the most recently published journal, read the latest issue of the other AAG journals online:

• Annals of the American Association of Geographers
• The Professional Geographer
• GeoHumanities
• The AAG Review of Books

New Books in Geography – December Available! 

ATTACHMENT DETAILS New-books1-1-1New Year, New Books! Celebrate the new year by browsing the latest books in geography and related disciplines. Learn about geographers such as Doreen Massey and Alfred Wegener. Travel to locations ranging from Denver to the Caribbean. Gain insight on topics from coffee to corruption.

Browse the whole list of new books.


ASSOCIATION NEWS

Get ready for the 2019 AAG Election

Election-buttonThe AAG election will be conducted online again, and will take place starting the end of January. Each member who has an email address on record with the AAG will receive a special email with a code that will allow them to sign in to our AAG SimplyVoting website and vote. It’s important to update your email address in your AAG account to ensure you receive the email ballot. The 2019 election slate will be published soon.

Be prepared for the election.

AAG is Proud to Announce the First Round of 2019 AAG Awards

honors and awards

The American Association of Geographers congratulates the individuals and entities named to receive an AAG Award. The awardees represent outstanding contributions to and accomplishments in the geographic field. Formal recognition of the awardees will occur at the 2019 AAG Annual Meeting in Washington, DC during the AAG Awards Luncheon on Sunday, April 7, 2019.

See the Awardees.

Congratulations to Outstanding Graduate Student Papers from Regional Meetings

The AAG is proud to announce the Fall 2018 student winners of the AAG Council Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Paper at a Regional Meeting. The annual award, designed to both encourage regional meeting participation and support AAG Annual Meeting travel, is granted to one student from each division as decided by regional division board members. The winners from each region will present their work in two dedicated sessions at the 2019 AAG Annual Meeting. Congratulations to all of the students who participated!

POLICY UPDATE

Dr. Kelvin Droegemeier Confirmed as New Director of OSTP

In one of their final acts before the new Congress convened last week, the Senate on Wednesday confirmed Dr. Kelvin Droegemeier as the new Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Before his nomination, Dr. Droegemeier’s career included research in meteorology and severe storms at the University of Oklahoma. He also served on the National Science Board under the administrations of President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama. He later went on to become vice chair of the board, which governs the National Science Foundation.

Dr. Droegemeier’s confirmation enjoyed bipartisan support and was included in a round of other non-controversial nominations that passed before the start of the new Congress. Until last week, the post had been vacant since the start of the Trump administration.

 

MEMBER NEWS

January Member Updates

The latest news about AAG Members.

Nathan Gill, a postdoctoral researcher at University of Wisconsin – Madison, recently had his work on forest regrowth following wildfire in Yellowstone National Park featured in Discover magazine. Gill was a recipient of an AAG Research Grant for his project, “Mechanisms of forest resilience in the Northern Rockies: Novel fire regimes and the role of postfire seed dispersal.”

A study conducted by Emil Malizia, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Yasuyuki Motoyama, of the University of Kansas, and published in The Professional Geographer is the subject of a recent article by Richard Florida in City Lab. The study assesses the conditions found where firms tend to cluster in both urban and suburban areas, concluding that diversity, density, public transit, and walkability are key factors influencing business location.

 

RESOURCES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Call For Papers – Special Annals Issue on the Anthropocene

In 2017 the Working Group on the Anthropocene recommended formalization of the Anthropocene with an Epoch rank based on a mid-twentieth century boundary associated with radionuclide fallout as a stratigraphic Golden Spike, but this recommendation has yet to be acted upon and is far from universally accepted. This Special Issue of the Annals of the American Association of Geographers calls for papers examining all geographic aspects of the concept of the Anthropocene. Abstracts of no more than 250 words should be submitted by email to Jennifer Cassidento (jcassidento [at] aag [dot] org) by March 31, 2019. The Editor will consider all abstracts and then invite a selection to submit full papers for peer review by May 15, 2019.

Learn how to contribute to the special issue.

Visiting Geographical Scientist Program Accepting Applications from Departments

Gamma Theta Upsilon logoThe Visiting Geographical Scientist Program (VGSP) sponsors visits by prominent geographers to small departments or institutions that do not have the resources to bring in well-known speakers. The purpose of this program is to stimulate interest in geography, targeted for students, faculty members, and administrative officers. Participating institutions select and make arrangements with the visiting geographer. A list of pre-approved speakers is available on the website. VGSP is funded by Gamma Theta Upsilon (GTU), the international honors society for geographers.

Learn more about the program and how to apply.

Grant for Research Using World’s Largest Geography and Map Collection

The John W. Kluge Center and the Philip Lee Phillips Map Society at the Library of Congress invite qualified scholars to apply for a grant to conduct research for two months at the Kluge Center using the Geography and Map Division’s collections and resources. The Philip Lee Phillips Society Fellowship will award $11,500 to selected scholars with the possibility of an additional $2,000 as an honorarium for a later lecture and publication.

Applications due February 15, 2019.

Fellowship Opportunities with the National Academies’ Gulf Research Program

The Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine is now accepting applications for two fellowship opportunities:
·         The Early-Career Research Fellowship supports emerging scientific leaders as they take risks on untested research and pursue unique, interdisciplinary collaborations. Fellows receive two years of relatively unrestricted funding that helps them navigate this period with independence, flexibility, and a built-in support network. Applications are due by February 20, 2019.
·         The Science Policy Fellows gain first-hand experience at the interface of science and policy as they spend one year alongside decision-makers at agencies across Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Florida. Under the guidance of a mentor, fellows learn what it takes to make scientific information not just useful, but usable. Applications are due by March 6, 2019.

 

IN MEMORIAM

Lawrence Estaville

On December 20, 2018, Lawrence Estaville, who helped to found the Ethnic Geography and Business Geography specialty groups as well as the Gilbert M. Grosvenor Center for Geographic Education at Texas State University, passed away. Dr. Estaville was a university professor, scholar, and administrator for over 40 years. A passionate educator, he was the recipient of several awards including the AAG Enhancing Diversity Award in 2016.

Read more.

 

Dorothy Drummond

It is with sadness that we note the passing of geography professor, author, and advocate Dorothy Drummond on November 30, 2018. An avid traveler, Drummond authored multiple world cultures textbooks and founded the Geography Educators’ Network of Indiana. She taught courses at both Indiana State University and Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College. She passed away while conducting research in China at the age of 89.

Read more.

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President's Column

Share Your Science, and Make a Difference with Geography at the AAG Annual Meeting in April 2019

Happy New Year, Geographers and Friends of Geography! There is still much for us, as fellow AAG Members, to do and to accomplish, and what better month than January to re-commit ourselves to serving people and the planet, when we celebrate Civil Rights Leader Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday. It is hard to believe we are already halfway through the fiscal year, whether you are still enjoying the academic winter break, or are just returning from the holidays with family and friends. I do ask that we stop to recognize our fellow Geographers in the federal workforce who, at the time of this writing, are experiencing one of the two longest Government shutdowns in U.S. history, and we hope it is resolved soon for their sake and for the greater good of our country. Their absence is felt at the conference I am currently attending, the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) International Meetings in San Diego as I write this column.

Thomas Vilsack, former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and former Iowa Governor

The opening SSSA session keynote speaker was former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and former Iowa Governor Thomas Vilsack, who spoke on “Climate Smart Agriculture, Good for the Farm and Good for the Land.” He exhorted us to share our science not only with fellow scientists, but with the broader public and policy makers. He also emphasized that we actively address climate change, in the context of this meeting of course in agriculture, and especially in food security as the planet’s population grows, and to address the loss of arable land as urban areas expand to accommodate growing populations worldwide. The momentum to make a difference across disciplines is clear, from academic and professional association to association, not only in climate change, but also in addressing harassment and discrimination head on as SSSA also did in their meeting opener, and we are witnessing a sea change of scientific activism. We Geographers will take up the baton at our AAG Meetings in April in Washington D.C., so be ready for your turn around the track! As Secretary Vilsack pointed out, there is much competition now with misinformation widely available on social media, and scientists in particular must continue to provide evidence-based, peer-reviewed science that can stand the test of time and rise above the sea of misinformation. Scientists cannot abandon the scientific method in our activism, we must use our activism to embrace it and educate the public and policy makers on its rigor and benefits. This is where the human right to benefit from science helps us to make a strong case.

The AAG Meeting Online Program is now posted so it is time to make your travel plans! I am excited that our AAG Annual Meeting is coming together so well for April in Washington D.C., and remind all of you that there is still time to submit poster abstracts by 31 January 2019, and to organize poster sessions by 15 February 2019. Posters and sessions may also be designated by submitting authors as one of the three Special Themes of the 2019 Annual Meeting: Physical Geography in Environmental Science, Geographic Information Science and Human Health, and Geography and Human Rights. Paper abstracts and sessions are also open for edits until 24 February 2019. My thanks go out to the AAG staff and our theme-organizing committees for their work on the program, and most of all, you, the AAG members, for submitting your exciting research to share, you are the stars of our meeting!

Doug Richardson, Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach, Rita Colwell, Mei-Po Kwan, Heather Viles

To open the Annual Meeting, please join me for the 2019 AAG Presidential Plenary Opening Session, on 3 April 2019 at 6:20 pm. It is one of many special events AAG has planned for us. The Plenary will address “The Intersection of Geography, Environmental Science, Human Health, and Human Rights,” featuring distinguished panelists addressing how their research fields intersect with Geography and these three meeting themes. Our invited panelists include distinguished scholars in human and physical geography, environmental history, and biological sciences. It will be my honor to welcome you all to the meetings, and to preside over our panel of distinguished guests including Dr. Mei-Po Kwan (U. of Illinois Geography Professor), Dr. Heather Viles (Oxford University Geography Head and Professor), and 2019 AAG Honorary Geographer Dr. Rita Colwell (University of Maryland College Park Distinguished University Professor, Cell Biology and Public Health), who will receive her award and address our gathering at this event. Stay tuned for more details!

Remember, again, to check for your paper presentation time and other events to attend in the Online Program and make your travel plans! I look forward to seeing you in Washington D.C., April 3-7, 2019.

— Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach
President, American Association of Geographers
Professor of Geography and Fellow of the C.B. Smith Sr. Centennial Chair in U.S. Mexico Relations, University of Texas at Austin

Please share your ideas with me at: slbeach(at)austin(dot)utexas(dot)edu

DOI: 10.14433/2017.0050

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Regional Divisions Announce Outstanding Graduate Student Papers During their Fall Meetings

The AAG is proud to announce the Fall 2018 student winners of the AAG Council Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Paper at a Regional Meeting. The AAG Council Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Paper at a Regional Meeting is designed to encourage graduate student participation at AAG Regional Division conferences and support their attendance at AAG Annual Meetings. One graduate student in each AAG Regional Division receives this yearly award based on a paper submitted to their respective regional conference. The awardees receive $1,000 in funding for use towards their registration and travel costs to attend the AAG Annual Meeting. The board members from each region determine student award winners.

The winners from each region will be presenting their papers in two dedicated paper sessions at the upcoming 2019 AAG Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. The paper sessions are tentatively scheduled for the afternoon of Friday, April 5, 2019.

Betsy Breyer

WLDAAG: Betsy Breyer, Ph.D. candidate, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Paper title – Sociohydrological Impacts of Water Conservation Under Anthropogenic Drought in Austin, TX

Hayley Pedrick

SWAAG: Hayley Pedrick, Masters candidate, University of New Mexico; Paper title – Textures of Transition: Understanding Memorial Spaces in Medellin, Colombia

NESTVAL: Christina Woehrle, Masters candidate, Oklahoma State University;

MAD: Molly Pickel, Masters candidate, Graduate Program in Geography and Environmental Planning at Towson University; Paper title – Navigating Māori Fishing Rights Under the Quota Management System

Katharine Georges and Katie Wade


APCG: Katherine Georges, Masters candidate, California State University – Long Beach, Paper title – Just a Little Rain: the Effects of Lifting Water Restrictions on Local Water Purveyors Conservation Policies
Katie Wade, Masters candidate, California State University – Long Beach, Paper title – Indigenous Women’s Ways of Knowing and Ecological Sustainability in Yosemite Valley

Doug Allen

SEDAAG: Doug Allen, Ph.D. candidate, Florida State University; Paper title – Asserting a Black Sense of Place: Florida A&M University’s Homecoming as a Temporary Claim of Place

MSDAAG: Emily Holloway, Masters candidate, Liberal Studies program at the CUNY Graduate Center; Paper title – “Business as usual” or “just business”? A critical comparison of industrial rezoning

GPRM: Sylvia Arriaga Brady, Ph.D. candidate, University of Denver; Paper title – Public-private partnerships with public transit, local government agencies, and ridesourcing in Denver, CO

Kathryn Hannum

ELDAAG: Kathryn Hannum, Ph.D. student, Kent State University; Paper title – Socio-linguistic consequences of regional convergence in Galicia, Spain

 

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Annual Meeting

Little Known Tampa: Culturally Diverse and Exciting!

When you come to Tampa, you’ll find examples of good planning, fabulous natural areas, and appealing urban spaces. Here are some things to keep in mind:

Florida and the Tampa Bay area are—or at least were—national leaders in growth management

Beginning in the late 1970s and culminating in the Growth Management Act of 1985, the state of Florida had one of the nation’s most fully articulated statewide planning regimes. Perhaps because Floridians had experienced firsthand the problems of rapid growth without much planning, the state legislature created measures to ensure that each county and municipality engaged in long term planning, that large regional projects were reviewed by regional planning agencies, and that state officials would be charged with upholding plans. Transportation, water resources, and coastal concerns were all taken into account when new developments were proposed. Growth management hardly stopped development – Florida’s population grew from 9.7 million in 1980 to just over 19 million in 2012, with new single family housing accommodating much of that growth. But under the state’s growth management laws, some of the sins of the 1960s and 1970s – houses constructed without attendant municipal services in place, unrestrained draining of wetlands, and inattention to water resource limits – were contained. Unfortunately, important parts of these Growth Management laws were overturned in 2011. The full impact of this retreat has not yet been felt; thanks to the recession, demand for new construction has been limited. But once demand picks up, the flight from comprehensive planning is likely to be felt, especially in the less urban parts of the state.

Tampa Demographics
White or Caucasian (including White Hispanic) 62.9%
(Non-Hispanic White or Caucasian) 46.3%
Black or African-American 26.2%
Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 23.1%
Asian 3.4%
Native American or Native Alaskan 0.4%
Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian 0.1%
Two or more races (Multiracial) 3.2%
Source: US Census Bureau

Tampa has an industrial history

Incorporated in 1849, Tampa, unlike many Sunbelt cities, emerged as an industrial center. Between 1865 and World War II, Tampa was a key center of the cigar industry. The cities (and now neighborhoods within Tampa) of Ybor City and West Tampa both developed around cigar manufacturing, drawing streams of immigrants to work in the factories. Tampa has a tradition of union activism having experienced several general strikes in the early decades of the last century. Its racially and ethnically diverse population has a tradition of immigrant social clubs and mutual benefit societies that provided cultural and material resources to working class residents. The built legacy of these traditions can be found throughout these communities. The Cuban Club, the German-American Club and the Italian Club are a few of the early 20th century establishments whose buildings have been preserved. And the former cigar factories remain distinctive features of the central Tampa built environment. While some of these sit vacant, others have been repurposed for other industrial uses or converted to condos and offices. Those interested in exploring Tampa history can do so in Ybor City, either by taking advantage of the programs of the Ybor City Museum (www.ybormuseum.org ), or by strolling through the neighborhood.

Photo courtesy of Barbara Lamphere

 Tampa has rediscovered its downtown waterfront

Among the most striking characteristics of our area are its water features. Parts of Tampa and all of Pinellas County (location of St. Petersburg) are defined by their rivers, bays and oceans. But until recently, Tampa was largely cut off from its waterfront. In an earlier era, river and bayfront areas were dominated by industrial, port and transportation infrastructure, but as those uses have receded (the Port of Tampa remains quite active, but other waterfront industries are gone), Tampa was slow to recognize the value of its waterfront for recreation and the development of other amenities. One of the major commercial developments in the downtown area, the Channelside shopping/entertainment center, is located directly on the water, next to the Tampa port facilities, and it has been ingeniously designed so that those visiting the development have no contact with the water at all – no access, no vistas. Perhaps that helps explain why the development has gone bankrupt.

But more recent downtown planning has embraced the waterfront location. A “Riverwalk” has been under development now across two mayoral administrations; a recent federal grant will accelerate its completion (www.thetampariverwalk.com ). Those of you visiting downtown Tampa will have the opportunity to enjoy the water at some new locations. The Tampa Bay History Center opens onto a waterfront plaza (https://www.tampabayhistorycenter.org/ ). The newly renovated Curtis Hixon Park, at the other end of the downtown peninsula, is a well-designed, inviting urban space flanked by the newly built Tampa Museum of Art (https://tampamuseum.org/ ). With food kiosks, fountains and children’s play areas, it’s the sort of urban gathering point that this city has lacked for too long. These new spaces signal the success of fledgling coalitions of elected officials, civic activists and business leaders who share an appreciation for appealing design and pedestrian-friendly urban environments.

Photo courtesy of Barbara Lamphere
Photo courtesy of Barbara Lamphere

Ride the TECO trolley

Like too many Sunbelt cities, Tampa once had a dense network of light rail lines, most of which were bought up by bus companies and dismantled by the late 1940s. But a trolley line was resurrected recently; it runs a loop connecting the downtown/Channelside area with Ybor City (https://www.tecolinestreetcar.org/). The embattled trolley line has struggled to maintain ridership; critics claim its empty cars are proof that this region will never embrace mass transit while defenders note that its limited route makes it useful mostly to visitors or the rare resident whose home and work happen to be near one if its stops. But those of you staying at one of the conference hotels are well positioned to use the trolley for your explorations.

Photo courtesy of Barbara Lamphere

There’s much in this area that transcends the generic – the newly opened bike and pedestrian bridge that traverses Tampa Bay along the Courtney Campbell Causeway; one of baseball’s best teams (the Tampa Bay Rays) playing in one of baseball’s worst stadiums (Tropicana Field); the annual invasion of the city by sea led by business and civic leaders dressed as pirates (the Gasparilla Festival) and the annual crowning of a “Strawberry Queen” in nearby Plant City. If you want to learn more about what the region offers, you can read all about it the highly regarded Tampa Bay Times (www.tampabay.com), one of the last independently owned metro area newspapers. We urge you to explore the area and learn that it has a diverse array of historic places, quirky areas, and scenic spots. ♦

Elizabeth Strom
University of South Florida

DOI: 10.14433/2013.0024

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Dorothy Drummond

It is with sadness that we note the passing of geography professor and advocate Dorothy Drummond on November 30, 2018. At the age of 89, she was traveling on her seventh trip to China to conduct research when she fell at the museum for the Three Gorges Project. After surgery in Hong Kong, she sustained severe head trauma and passed away peacefully with her friend and daughter by her side.

Drummond began her career as an editorial assistant for the Geographical Review, the flagship journal of the American Geographical Society. She then went on to live in Terre Haute, Indiana where she was an affiliate faculty member of Indiana State University and an adjunct at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College. In 1983 she founded the geography non-profit, Geography Educators’ Network of Indiana, following her husband’s death in 1982, and remained a long standing board member of the organization.

Born in San Diego in 1928, she held an undergraduate degree from Valparaiso University (1949) and a masters degree in geography from Northwestern University (1951). A world traveler, she lived in Burma during 1957 while both her and her husband were Fulbright Scholars. She also traveled widely in Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East, and had visited large parts of Central and South America, Australia, New Zealand, and China. She used this experience and her geographical expertise to author and co-author four World Cultures textbooks. She was included as a GeoInspiration in Directions Magazine in 2016.

In addition to her work with the Geography Educators’ Network of Indiana, Dorothy was active in service to several non-profit organizations including United Campus Ministries and Citizens for Better Government and a respected member of the Terre Haute community. She was scheduled to present a paper at the 2019 AAG Annual Meeting on the historical settlement of ancient Israel as well as appear on a panel sponsored by the Bible Geography Specialty Group on curbing violence in the Middle East.

The information above is courtesy of the Terre Haute Tribune Star

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President's Column

Paradise Lost, Global Warming Report, and Geographers Speak Up

The 2019 Annual Meeting of the AAG is shaping up, and I thank those who responded to participate in the three featured themes, Health and GIScience, Human Rights, and Physical Geography in Environmental Science, in addition to the many independent abstracts and sessions submitted. Program committees and AAG staff, to whom I offer my deepest appreciation, are now sorting abstracts and assembling sessions from the more than 5,000 paper abstracts submitted. Thus far, we have 306 paper abstracts and 71 sessions submitted in Health and GIScience; in the Human Rights Theme we have 201 paper abstracts and 82 sessions; and in Physical Geography in Environmental Science there are 233 paper abstracts and 42 proposed sessions. Although the call for paper sessions and abstracts is now closed, participants may still edit their entries until 23 February 2019. Additionally, the Call for Posters is open until 31 January 2019, and poster session organizing is open until 14 February 2019. I look forward to seeing you in Washington, D.C., April 3-7, 2019!

Smoke plume from the fast-moving Woolsey Fire encroaching on Malibu on Nov. 9, 2018, as residents evacuate along the Pacific Coast Highway (CC by-SA 4.0 by Cyclonebiskit)

This week marked two landmark accomplishments. The first accomplishment is that fire-fighting crews have brought the Camp Fire in my beloved northern California to 100 percent containment. The city of Paradise, (population around 26,000), is devastated along with the smaller communities of Magalia and Concow in the largest and deadliest wildfire in California history, and the largest fire in the U.S. in 100 years. 88 people are now known to have lost their lives, with nearly 200 still missing. Paradise is on the doorstep of Chico where I went to school, and families are hurting, with hundreds homeless, 18,000 buildings destroyed, and more than 62,000 hectares scorched (an area bigger than the city of Chicago). Schools across northern California, all the way to San Francisco, were closed due to the smoke from the fires, and only recently are re-opening. A part of southern California also burned in tandem to the Camp Fire, with the Woolsey Fire in Ventura and Los Angeles Counties consuming over 39,000 hectares, an area roughly the size of Denver. The fire destroyed 1,500 buildings, and killed three people. It was brought under containment shortly before the Camp Fire. Three firefighters were injured in each fire, respectively. We thank Cal Fire and all of the responders from other jurisdictions who assisted. Cal Fire provides web based GIS fire mapping and incident tracking, an important geographic information science benefit offered to the public. And the first response from the White House was unbridled ignorance about California forests and blame wrongly cast upon California State forest management, before and after a Presidential site visit. Our dear leader in the White House suggested forest floor raking as the answer. This is lunacy. In reality, 45.8 percent of all land in CA is federally owned, and KTVU TV reported that 57 percent of California forests are federally managed, with 2 percent managed by the state, and the remaining 39 percent are under private management, where most of the fire losses have occurred. Most of the land that burned does not look like Trump’s imagined Jellystone (apologies to Hanna-Barbera Productions) to be tended by Finnish raking teams, it is Mediterranean scrubland and chaparral, mixed with suburban neighborhoods. As the Camp Fire hit close to home for my family and community, the Woolsey Fire hit even closer to home for Past AAG President Glen MacDonald, who with his family had to evacuate from their home. Dr. MacDonald made a bold public statement calling out the U.S. President’s misinformation about California forest management, and noted the powerful connection between increasingly frequent and large wildfires, changing seasonality, and climate change. Now, flooding is beginning to take over the Camp Fire site. Although Giving Tuesday is past, and I do not often break the “fourth wall” to make personal appeals, please do consider contributing to the charities of your choice to assist wildfire victims.

Leslie-Ann Dupigny-Giroux (Photo courtesy U. of Vermont)

The second landmark accomplishment this week was in climate change communication: Federal scientists at 13 Federal agencies partnering with independent, university, and research scientists were able to complete and publish a clear and sobering report on Climate Change, the Fourth National Assessment, reporting mandated by Congress since 1990. The report covers 12 areas of impact and actions. When reporters asked Trump about the report, Trump said he “saw” it, read “parts” of it, and it is “fine.” A follow-up question about the findings of negative economic impacts elicited his response that he does not believe it. This is completely off the rails to deny, without any counter evidence, his own administration’s scientists’ dire findings on global warming that will affect our economy, our environment, our food, our water, and our health. He claims that our water and air are at their “cleanest” by ignoring the very legislation that he has attempted to disassemble, that allowed air and water quality to improve over the last decades. If our commander in chief will not wake up, we cannot wait for that day, we must wake up and act ourselves. Geography Professor Lesley-Ann Dupigny-Giroux, Northeast Chapter lead author on the Fourth Climate Assessment, spoke out in an interview on the report. She notes that changes in seasonality and in coastal environments are vulnerabilities in the Northeast, the regional report she led. She also notes a key takeaway that mitigation and adaptation measures being put in place offer hope and are critical. Dr. Dupigny-Giroux also notes that even if greenhouse gas inputs stop today, global warming will not level off anytime soon due to greenhouse gases already accumulated in the atmosphere. Climate change matters. The free press matters. Peer-reviewed science matters. The freedom to practice, communicate, and benefit from science matters.

An ancient Roman aqueduct leading to ancient Carthage (Tunis) is presented by CAJG meeting local organizing chair Dr. Mabrouk Boughdiri, professor at the University of Carthage, earth science department to field group. (Photo courtesy Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach)

I end this column with hope. We must work hard to get there, however. In the same month that a CNN White House correspondent had his press credentials stripped by the White House, but later restored by a federal judge, as noted in last month’s column, a Washington Post reporter was brutally murdered in the Saudi Embassy in Istanbul. The White House has repeatedly called members of the press the enemy of the people and has chosen to believe Saudi government denials of involvement in the murder, over our own national intelligence community findings otherwise. I travelled to Tunisia this month to give a keynote in the 10th Anniversary of a Springer/Nature Journal, the Arabian Journal of Geosciences, the flagship journal of the Saudi Society for Geosciences. (Full disclosure, I am an AJGS associate editor for Geography, Geoarchaeology, and Geotourism.) What I witnessed at this international meeting of nearly 500 participants was enthusiastic freedom of expression, camaraderie, academic diplomacy, thoughtful discussion and debate, student encouragement and empowerment, and science communication. In my keynote comments, I thanked the founding editor for giving voice to scientists across the region for the past 10 years with the journal, and reminded all of the right for scientists to practice, to share their science, and to gather and collaborate internationally. And at this meeting, all were treated as welcome, and women were featured speakers in addition to men. I am grateful for the new friends I have met, the outstanding papers I heard, the excellent field trips to enhance our teaching, and the new research opportunities and ideas we all shared. (Tunisia hosted the International Geographical Union meeting in 2008). This week, Tunisian citizens freely rose up to speak against the visit of the Saudi Crown Prince, in protest of the murder of Journalist Jamal Khashoggi. So, our Geoscience conference was not a singular or staged event in free speech. I am encouraged by Tunisians lighting a candle in the darkness, and thank our Tunisian hosts for their warm welcome, sincere hospitality, and many kindnesses during the meetings, and look forward to returning, Inshallah.

Finally, there are two upcoming events related to Science and Human Rights to observe in December: The 30th Anniversary of World AIDS Day will be observed on 1 December 2018; and Human Rights Day will mark the 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on 10 December 2018. Cherish and protect our First Amendment and our human rights. Take part, speak up, and make a difference with Geography!

Wishing you a peaceful and rejuvenating holiday season,

— Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach
President, American Association of Geographers
Professor of Geography and Fellow of the C.B. Smith Sr. Centennial Chair in U.S. Mexico Relations, University of Texas at Austin

Please share your ideas with me at: slbeach(at)austin(dot)utexas(dot)edu

DOI: 10.14433/2017.0048

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AAG Names Rita Colwell as the 2019 Honorary Geographer

Rita Colwell (Photo by Sam Kittner)

The American Association of Geographers has named Rita Colwell, the first woman to be director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), as its 2019 AAG Honorary Geographer. Rita Colwell currently is a distinguished university professor at the University of Maryland at College Park and at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, a senior advisor and chairman emeritus at Canon U.S. Life Sciences, Inc., and the president and CEO of CosmosID, Inc.

Colwell’s internationally recognized research primarily focuses on water and health with particular focus on cholera and infectious disease. A pioneer for women in science, she has published more than 750 articles and has authored or co-authored 17 books. During her time at the NSF she not only increased the size of individual grants awarded by expanding the budget of the NSF by 68 percent, but also advocated for greater support for women scientists and science and technology education. Dr. Colwell has taken on many significant advisory positions in the U.S. Government, nonprofit science policy organizations, and private foundations throughout her career, including her role as a former president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Prior to joining NSF, Colwell served as president of the University of Maryland’s Biotechnology Institute and as Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University. She has been awarded 55 honorary degrees, as well as the recipient of the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, bestowed by the Emperor of Japan, the 2006 National Medal of Science awarded by the President of the United States, and the 2010 Stockholm Water Prize awarded by the King of Sweden. The Colwell Massif geological site in Antarctica was named in recognition of her work in the polar regions.

Colwell may be familiar to some members of the AAG, as she provided the opening keynote lecture at the Centennial Meeting of the AAG in 2004 in Philadelphia, PA. Her talk, entitled “The New Landscape of Science: A Geographic Portal,” still resonates within the discipline today. AAG will confer the 2019 AAG Honorary Geographer Award upon Rita Colwell at the 2019 AAG Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. Details of this session will be forthcoming.

Every year the Association bestows its Honorary Geographer Award on an exceptional leader, to recognize excellence in the arts, research, teaching, and writing on geographic topics by non-geographers. Previous AAG Honorary Geographer awardees have included biologist Stephen J. Gould, architect Maya Lin, Nobel Laureate in economics Paul Krugman, sociologist Saskia Sassen, economist Jeffrey Sachs, and authors Calvin Trillin, Barbara Kingsolver, John McPhee and Barry Lopez, among others.

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Geography Essentials Planning and Development Spatial Narratives
Emily Fekete
Emily Fekete