News Archive
News Archive
Spring Quarter 2012
1066 Grand Re-Opening Celebration:
On Monday, May 14 we will be triumphantly re-opening 1066 Derby Hall! What was once the Synoptic Lab is now the "Multi-Purpose Room" where we hope to foster the spirit of collaboration and unity among our faculty, staff, and graduate/undergraduate students. In order to celebrate this landmark event we will be serving cookies and ice cream from 3:00-4:30 this Monday. Please note that only 16 people are supposed to be in the room at one time so if you miss the unlocking of the doors at 3:00PM do not be filled with despair we hope to rotate people in and out of the room efficiently and effectively.
2012 Denman Undergraduate Research Forum Results:
CONGRATULATIONS to Sara Santiago and Paul Soltesz for their 3'rd place finishes at the 2012 Denman Undergraduate Research Forum. The Dept. is very proud of the 7 undergraduate submissions to the Denman this year and we encourage current and future undergrads to consider doing a Denman project. Let it also be mentioned here that Geography professor Kendra McSweeney received the Distinguished Undergraduate Research Mentor (DURM) Award at this years Denman awards ceremony. Congratulations to all.
COMPAS 2011-12: IMIGRATION Conference:
Mat Coleman, assistant professor, geography, is set to present during the 4'th session of the COMPAS 2011-12: IMIGRATION Conference on the issues of Enforcement. This conference is to be held predominantly in the Thompson Library, 11'th floor, May 10-11.
Darla Munroe Associate Editor of Geographical Analysis:
Darla Munroe, associate professor, geography, has recently been appointed as an Associate Editor for the journal of Geographical Analysis - an internationally renowned outlet for theoretical geography, spatial analysis and modeling. Congratulations Darla.
2012 Denman Undergraduate Research Forum:
Do not miss this years Denman undergraduate research forum, Wednesday (5/9) between 12:00 and 5:30 pm in the lower gym at RPAC. See lots of stimulating undergraduate research and all of the Dept. of Geography Contributions to the Denman Forum: Sara Santiago (booth 044) advised by Kendra McSweeney, Yong Bin Fu (booth 019) advised by Darla Munroe, Charlie Consolo (booth 010) advised by Ed Malecki, Emily Nosse-Leirer (booth034) advised by Kevin Cox, Kathryn Exline (booth (016) advised by Ola Ahlqvist, Joshua Vidmar (booth 050) advised by Bryan Mark, Meridith Krueger (booth 024) advised by Darla Munroe. Come out and see all this energetic research and meet the creators and mentors, Wed. May 9, 12:00-5:30PM, Denman Program
Mentor Award for Kendra McSweeney:
Please join us in congratulating Kendra McSweeney, who just received the Distinguished Undergraduate Research Mentor (DURM) Award, which will be officially given to her during this year's Denman awards ceremony, Wednesday (5/9) between 4:30 and 5:30 pm in the lower gym at RPAC; the mentor awards are scheduled at the end of the ceremony, tentatively around 5:20 pm. If your schedule permits, please by all means try to attend. Kendra was nominated by Sara Santiago who will be adjudged in this years Denman competition for her Project: Investigating a Proposed Large Scale Hydroelectric Dam: The Indigenous Response in Rural Honduras. See Sara's poster in booth 044. Other Geography Contributions to the Denman come from Yong Bin Fu (booth 019) advised by Darla Munroe, Charlie Consolo (booth 010) advised by Ed Malecki, Emily Nosse-Leirer (booth034) advised by Kevin Cox, Kathryn Exline (booth (016) advised by Ola Ahlqvist, Joshua Vidmar (booth 050) advised by Bryan Mark, Meridith Krueger (booth 024) advised by Darla Munroe. Come out and see all this stimulating research and meet the creators and mentors, Wed. May 9, 12:00-5:30PM, Denman Program
Franklin Medal and Distinguished Alumni Award Winners:
Lonnie Thompson and Ellen Mosley-Thompson made history by digging into Earth's distant past to illuminate future climate change. Now they've received one of the oldest and most prestigious science awards in the world: the Benjamin Franklin Medal. It has also come to our attention that Ellen and Lonnie have received the 2012 Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award. Congratulations Ellen and Lonnie.
Local Land Use Linked to Global Urbanization
Darla Munroe, associate professor, geography, is co-author of a new study suggesting that local land-use and urban sustainability are explicitly linked to global urbanization. The paper, Urban Land Teleconnections and Sustainability, is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) See Arts and Sciences Article for more information.
Ph.D. Student Zoe Pearson Wins Field Study Award:
Dept. of Geography Ph.D. Student Zoe Pearson was recently awarded a Bernard Nietschmann PhD Field Study Award from the Conference for Latin Americanist Geographers which is an AAG specialty group. Out of a large applicant pool, Zoe was only one of three Ph.D. students to receive this award. Congratulations Zoe.
Thursday May 10 Geography Colloquium:
Please join us Thursday May 10 at 3:30-5:00PM in Derby Hall 1080 as The Dept. of Geography Colloquium Series continues with Dr. Deborah Cowen from the University of Toronto. She will present a talk titled: Rough Trade: Logistics Space from Military Art to Business Science.
Dr. Deborah Cowen
University of Toronto
Rough Trade: Logistics Space from Military Art to Business Science
Abstract: In the field of logistics, the work of militaries and markets have long been heavily entwined. But how did the 'revolution in logistics' - arguably the most understudied revolution of the 20th century - transform the nature of this intimate entanglement? How did this revolution, and the emergence of a 'business science of logistics' that it prompted, reshape this military art? How did it recast global economic and battle space? This paper suggests that the revolution in logistics hardly marked its 'civilianization', but rather a different entanglement between the just-in-time geographies of production and destruction. If the art of logistics came to drive geopolitical military strategy and tactics in the early twentieth century, today, market models of economic space have increasingly come to drive the science of logistics across the blurring bounds of military and civilian domains. These transformations propel logistics from a discrete and specialized military art to a ubiquitous science of the government of circulation.
Derby Hall 1080 Thr. May 10 3:30-5:00PM
GGO Panel Discussion-Immigrant Communities and Activism in Central Ohio:
When, May 3, 5:00pm until 7:00pm. Where, Barrister Club, 25 West 11th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43201.
As immigrant populations in the US have expanded into the country's interior, so has immigration enforcement, increasingly integrating state and local law enforcement agencies into federal policing responsibilities. This Geography Graduate Organization presentation will be a panel discussion of how these trends have intersected locally, examining how Central Ohio's growing immigrant populations have been affected by immigration enforcement and their reactions.
Robert Klein Selected for US Department of Health and Human Services Centers Internship:
Dept. of Geography Ph.D. student Robert Klein has been selected as a Summer 2012 Intern at the US Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in Woodlawn, MD. He will be analyzing health care provider costs and Medicare charges. This internship strengthens Bobby's growing expertise on America's elderly population and its interface with the medical care system.
Sayoni Bose Receives Two Grants:
Geography Ph.D. student Sayoni Bose (Advised by Kevin Cox) has just received an $8340 grant from the Mershon Center for International Security Studies. They fund research projects related to issues of national and international security. They have three principal areas of focus within the broader scope of national and international security issues. These relate to a) the use of force and diplomacy, b) the ideas, identities, and decisional process that affect security, and c) the institutions that manage violent conflict. My research project matches very closely with their second focus on how ideas, identities, and decisional process affect security.
Sayoni also received an honorary grant from OIA (Office of International Affairs). The OIA funds research that
"promote the understanding of foreign countries, cultures, and peoples through academic study." Hence this grant is for projects that examine "languages, cultures, arts, politics, economy, or socio-demographic aspects of a foreign region."
Sayoni was kind enough to share her abstract from the two grants below:
The impressive resurgence of Naxalism in contemporary India, a once-obscured peasant communist movement, threatens the legitimacy of the Indian state. In recent years the Naxals have expanded their geographies of operation, broadened its constituency and modified its strategies. Not surprisingly therefore, the Naxals have emerged at the front of central and eastern India's popular resistance against land appropriation by a refractory state and capital in the name of economic development. My research addresses important issues in relation to this revival and its link with popular discontent against land dispossession, which has become a necessary feature of India's impressive growth trajectory. These issues are posed by situating this resurgence in the current context of India's phenomenal economic growth. I argue that the conditions which are necessary for India's economic growth are at once the conditions for peasant militarization that threatens the foundations of the Indian state. The proposed research focuses on this contradiction through the optic of recent struggles around land acquisition in rural India.
Very Nicely Done Sayoni.
Ph.D. Student Scott Stuckman wins University TA Award:
Another great news all of us should be proud of - Scott Stuckman (Ph.D. student, advisor Jialin Lin) is the recipient of this year’s University TA award. OSU Graduate School Dean Professor Patrick Osmer presented the award to Scott during a surprise visit to Scott's Geog 120 lab in Derby 070 on Thursday April 12 at 11:30am. Thank you, Scott, for the great work you’ve done, performing your TA duties above & beyond the call of duty. Congratuations!
Rae Choi Geography Ph.D. student also wins OIA grant:
Dept. of Geography Ph.D. student Rae Choi is also the recipient of a grant of $4500 from the Office of International Affairs in support of her doctoral research on land reclamation, marine conservation, and the "marine economy" in China. She will also receive $500 in matching funds from the Department. Good job Rae.
Ph.D. Student Lili Wang Wins Research Grant:
Dept. of Geography Grad Student Lili Wang has been awarded a $4500 Office of International Affairs Graduate Student Research Grant in support of her doctoral research into the transformation of urban planning in China. As a result she will also receive $500 in matching funds from the Department. Well done Lili!
Ph.D. Student Zoe Pearson Wins Research Grant:
Dept. of Geography Grad Student Zoe Pearson has been awarded a $4500 Office of International Affairs Graduate Student Research Grant for her proposal entitled "A War Against Who, and How? Coca Geopolitics in Bolivia". The department will be awarding Zoe $500 in matching funds. CONGRATULATIONS Zoe.
Arthur Robinson Cartography Colloquium:
The second Marquee Dept. of Geography Colloquium this Spring, The Arthur Robinson Cartography Colloquium, will feature Alan M. MacEachren from Pensylvania State University. The colloquium will be held in the Cartoon Room-Ohio Union on April 12'th from 3:30-5:00PM. See the full colloquium schedule here: Geography Colloquium series.
Will present a lecture entitled:
Geovisual Analytics: Leveraging place-relevant data to support health and safety
Visual analytics is a relatively new interdisciplinary field of research that has been defined as, "The science of analytical reasoning facilitated by interactive visual interfaces." Geovisual analytics is to visual analytics as geographical information science is to information scientist - emphasis is on facilitating reasoning with geographical information about problem in which place and space matter. This presentation will introduce the evolving research domain of geovisual analytics by framing developments within advances in scientific data representation and analysis methods that are rooted in more than a half century of cartographic research as well as in advances in within a range of other fields that address issues of data/information visualization, analysis, and use. Attention will also be directed to one of the core goals of current research in geovisual analytics, developing methods to utilize unconventional data sources; particular emphasis will be on the challenge of leveraging geographical information that can be extracted from unstructured next text sources such as NGO reports, news stories, and micro blogs. The potential of a geovisual analytics approach to address challenges in health and safety will be illustrated through a small set of case study examples from the work in the GeoVISTA Center at Penn State.
Geography Colloquium series is funded in part through the John Nelson Endowment, alumni, faculty, and friends of the Ohio State Geography Endowment.
Geography Faculty and Grad Students featured in onCampus Newspaper:
Dept. of Geography Faculty member Kendra McSweeney and Geography Ph.D. Student Zoe Pearson are featured in an onCampus article this month. Find the Faculty in Focus articel on page 7 in the April 5 issue and read about their continuing studies in Honduras.
