Ola Ahlqvist - Alvaro Montenegro - Kendra McSweeney
Dr. Alvaro Montenegro
Assistant Professor, Department of Geography
Director, Atmospheric Sciences Program
On GEOG 1900: “This class explains lots of stuff that impact our daily lives but that we take for granted. ‘Extreme Weather and Climate’ answers questions like: Why is the sky blue? What causes winds? Why do some clouds generate rain while others don’t? If our energy comes from the Sun above us, why does it get colder as we move to higher elevations? Why are there so many tornadoes over Tornado Alley? The course offers much more than knowledge on the day-to-day workings of the atmosphere. Students also come away from GEOG 1900 with a solid understanding of what is arguably the greatest environmental challenge of our time, global climate change caused by human activities that add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. As an added bonus it also provides you with the unique experience of launching a helium weather balloon from the center of the Oval! How many classes do you get to do that in?”
Why is the sky blue? What causes winds? Why do some clouds generate rain while others don’t?
Professor, Department of Geography
2005 Ohio State Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching
Member of the Ohio State Academy of Teaching
On GEOG 3751: “I love teaching the ‘Geography of Appalachia Ohio’ field course. I guide students through this fascinating region over 10 days, focusing on socio-ecological change. Students thrive as they actually do geography. They decipher landscape transformation from within an active, open-pit coal mine; they test streams for acid mine drainage; they measure species change in an aging forest. Most importantly, they learn first-hand from miners, farmers, auctioneers, hunters, and...a taxidermist. Highlights this year? Students practiced ethnographic methods at the New Straitsville Moonshine Festival! At the end of each day we process what we’ve learned around the campfire. There’s no better way to get to know students, and to really convey the excitement of unmasking the spatial and scalar interconnections and interdependencies that shape our world.”
"At the end of each day we process what we’ve learned around the campfire. There’s no better way to get to know students, and to really convey the excitement of unmasking the spatial and scalar interconnections and interdependencies that shape our world."
Associate Professor, Department of Geography
Director, Ohio State Service-Learning Initiative
On GEOG 5200: “Our service-learning cartography course, ‘Cartography and Map Design’, is a big challenge to teach. It is one of those few courses on campus that is not entirely controlled by the instructor, or for that matter by the students! This is because the class involves working closely with outside partners on important issues in our community, such as the politics and practice of neighborhood regeneration. But these challenges also have a big, big payoff. I love to show students that what they learn in class has a real-world application, and I love when students can make this connection between the classroom and the world. I also love the messiness of the class in terms of working with community members and organizations. We cannot always predict that the data we need will be available in time, or that our ideas are necessarily deemed important by our partners, but that’s part of reality of being a GIS professional!”
"I love to show students that what they learn in class has a real-world application, and I love when students can make this connection between the classroom and the world."