IMAGE OF THE WEEK
Carolynne Hultquist chaired a session and gave presentations at SciDataCon 2018 as part of International Data Week in Gaborone, Botswana. International Data Week was attended by over 800 people from 66 countries and convened by CODATA, the ICSU World Data System, and the Research Data Alliance. She received travel funding from the Penn State Center for Social Data Analytics. Hultquist organized a session with Penn State Professors Guido Cervone and Jenni Evans on “Harnessing the power of the digital revolution: Data- and computation-driven research for Environmental Hazards.” The session covered challenges in accessing and evaluating relevant environmental data for use in computing applications that increase the societal value of the data and can provide assessment of the direct impact of decisions. She presented on “Assessment of Contributed Environmental Data for Decision-making during Disasters.” She also gave a presentation on “Validation of Spatio-Temporal Citizen Science Data” in a session on “Citizen Science Data – from Collection to Curation to Management.”
GOOD NEWS
Alumna Stephanie Campbell-Flohr (’02) has a new position as Research Project Manager with the Center for Health Care and Policy Research (CHCPR) here at Penn State.
Alumnus Wayne Brew (’81) has published two articles in PAST, the journal of the International Society for Landscape, Place & Culture, from his sabbatical road trip last year.
Lorraine Dowler was awarded the College’s Ryan Faculty fellowship which will allow her to start preliminary research into the role of 2nd generation conflict youth in Belfast, during Brexit, and she was also awarded the AAG’s 2019 Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award.
Jamie Peeler received a National Geographic Support for Women and Dependent Care award to attend the International Association for Landscape Ecology World Congress in Milan, Italy.
COFFEE HOUR
NEWS
Today is GIS Day 2018: ‘Visualize the World’
Penn State University Libraries celebrates GIS Day on Tuesday, Nov. 13, at an event aimed at the broader Penn State community — students, staff, faculty and community members — who are interested in learning about how geospatial information is being used on campus and beyond.
This year’s program, “Visualizing the World: Connecting the disciplines through geospatial technologies and virtual reality,” explores GIS, geospatial technologies, remote sensing, maps, and location-based applications to foster greater geospatial awareness on campus, within the community, and beyond.
Help SWIG sponsor a family this holiday season
For the last few years, SWIG has committed to sponsoring a family through the Centre County Women’s Resource Center (now called Centre Safe) Holiday Sponsorship Program. The Program connects sponsors with a local family (or families) of women and children who have experienced domestic violence. Our responsibility is to purchase gift cards for each family member and prepare a small basket of gift items for the holidays.
This year, SWIG is sponsoring a family of three (a mother and two children, ages 7 years and 9 months). We are targeting to raise $250 to fulfill our commitment to the Program. We hope you will consider donating to our efforts! You may drop off donations to Ruchi Patel’s office (328 Walker Building), the collection envelope in her mailbox (304 Walker Building), or via Venmo @ruchpate (comment ‘Holiday gift basket’ please). We will be collecting donations through Friday, Dec. 7.
from GEOGRAPH
Faculty Profile: Cracking the code for sustainable energy
Jennifer Baka joined the Department of Geography in the summer of 2016. She is an assistant professor of geography who studies energy using the emerging subfield of political-industrial ecology.
“Political-industrial ecology is the integration of two kinds of systems thinking,” Baka said. “From an industrial ecology perspective, we think through the whole supply chain for a particular resource. For example, from the extraction of crude oil, to transportation, to refining it into gasoline (and other products), to distribution, to the exhaust coming out of your car.”
“From a political ecology perspective, we think about the political and economic processes shaping that supply chain,” she added. “How are regulations created? Who decides? What are the implications?”