Coffee Hour with Barry Haack | MSAAG and PGS meet | Easterling gets USDA award

IMAGE OF THE WEEK

Mark Bonta PGS awardCongratulations to alumnus and assistant professor of earth sciences at Penn State Altoona, Mark Bonta (B.A. ’90),  on receiving the Pennsylvania Geographic Society  Distinguished Geographer Award. Read more below about the PGS and Middle States AAG joint meeting held recently. Photo by Eva Bonta, current geography undergaduate student and Mark’s daughter.

GOOD NEWS

  • Anthony Robinson ran a wonderful North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS) meeting this past month in Colorado Springs.
  • Carolyn Fish and co-organizers ran a successful Practical Cartography Day, the first day of the NACIS conference.
  • Erica Smithwick was quoted in a news story about the climate change panel and screening of “Before the Flood” last week.
  • Lise Nelson was interviewed on 98.7 the freq radio station about her article on undocumented immigration.
  • Morteza Karimzadeh won a $1000 NSF award to attend the 24th SIG SPATIAL conference in San Francisco, California.
  • Jeremy Crampton (M.S. ’87g, Ph.D. ’94g) and Reuben Rose-Redwood (M.S. ’02g, Ph.D. ’06g) were selected as new editors for the journal, Dialogues in Human Geography, starting in January 2017.

NEWS

Coffee Hour on November 11
Barry Haack: Remote Sensing and Geography: International Examples
Remote sensing is a greatly expanding source of spatial information from the over 100 operational spaceborne sensors augmented by traditional airborne systems and increasingly by unmanned aerial systems. Perhaps the greatest need for information extracted from these data is in developing countries for which there is a long history of technology transfer. This presentation includes applied and basic remote sensing and geographic science international case studies.

  • 3:30 to 5:00 p.m.
  • Refreshments are offered in 319 Walker Building at 3:30 p.m.
  • The lecture begins in 112 Walker Building at 4:00 p.m.
  • Coffee Hour To Go Webcast
  • Next time: December 2 with Kathleen Carley. No Coffee Hour on November 11 or 18, due to Thanksgiving holiday.

Get a UROC research assistant for spring semester
Undergraduates can apply starting November 30
Now is the time for graduate students to submit projects for UROC (Undergraduate Research Opportunity Connection). If you would like to submit a research project, please complete the online project submission form. (www.geog.psu.edu/uroc-project) for spring 2017 by Friday, November 18. UROC gives you the opportunity to find interested and qualified undergraduate students to work with you as research assistants. This can be for thesis and dissertation projects, or other work that you wish to jump start. Learn more: http://www.geog.psu.edu/uroc

Geography groups hold joint meeting
The joint meeting of the Pennsylvania Geographical Society and the Middle States division of the American Association of Geographers took place on November 4–5, 2017 at the Blair County Convention Center in Altoona, Pa. There were 135 registered participants.

Mark Bonta (B.A. ’90), assistant professor of earth sciences at Penn State Altoona, received the PGS Distinguished Geographer Award and gave an engaging talk on “Maize and other cycads: Konlif, teocintle, and the sacred geography of the Huastecan milpa.” Other Penn State geography alumni participating included: Jase Bernhardt (M.S. ’13, Ph.D. ’16), Rui Li (Ph.D. ’12), Jennifer Mapes (M.S. ’05g), Kolson Schlosser (M.S. ’03, Ph.D. ’07), and Daryl Wenner (B.S. ’97). Other Penn State Altoona geography faculty included: PGS president and associate professor of geography and GIScience Tim Dolney and associate professor of physical geography and environmental studies, Lisa Emili.

Event highlights:

  • Sarah W. Bednarz, past president of the AAG, gave the Saturday luncheon address, “Thriving in a Time of Disruption.” During her remarks, Bednarz cited advice from another AAG past president, Penn State professor emeritus Peirce Lewis.
  • Jodi Vender (geography staff) participated on a panel with Daryl Wenner, “Making Our Courses a ‘Spatial’ Experience: Best Practices in Teaching Geography.”

Learn more about the PGS: http://www.thepgs.org/
Learn more about the Middle States Division of the AAG: http://msaag.org/

Easterling honored with top USDA award for global food security report
William Easterling, dean of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, was part of a team recognized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) with the Abraham Lincoln Honor Award in the category of Increasing Global Food Security Outreach. The team was recognized for their comprehensive report “Climate Change, Global Food Security, and the U.S. Food System.”

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