Chairing in the time of COVID-19
Dr. Darla Munroe, Department Chair
As someone who studies global environmental change, and the importance of natural resources for economies, I have long expected some global natural disaster to happen in my lifetime. Just last fall, 2019, in Geog5402 (Land Use Geography) we began the semester discussing the good and bad of human impact on ecosystems: that Chernobyl has become an unlikely wildlife refuge, while the movie Contagion(2011) paints the cascading interactions of urban development, wildlife, livestock, and global business travel, to launch a pandemic based on a fictionalized version of a Nipahtype virus. It is one thing to study coupled human-natural systems in theory, and see the outcomes unfolding in practice, however. Serving in a leadership role, crisis or no, is always a privilege. Back in March, in Derby 1036, we were already contemplating the changes we had to make. I attended a meeting of the College of Arts and Sciences department chairs in a large lecture hall on Tuesday, March 10to plan for moving all courses online: I wonder when the next such large gathering will happen on campus? As chair during a pandemic, I have been inspired by my colleagues in so many ways. Professor Elisabeth Root has been embedded in the Ohio Department of Health since last spring. She has proven herself to be a critical member of the governor’s team in spatial analysis and modeling of COVID-19 spread, including its relationship to important covariates like urban density. Professors Becky Mansfield, Huyen Le and Alvaro Montenegro came together to write seed grant proposals connecting the dots among environment policy, human mobility and air pollution as a complicating factor in COVID-19 spread and outcomes. New interdisciplinary collaborations that make the best use of our collective geographic expertise are exciting to see. We had to figure out how to move our Geographic Information Systems labs online in a very short period of time, for our second largest group of majors and classes that are quite full (and expanding!). The GIS faculty, particularly Senior Lecturer Emily Castellucci, aided by our ASC Tech Systems Administrator, Jens Blegvad, figured out a system for students to log on to lab machines remotely and run software. Faculty member Ningchuan Xiao had already been working on the necessary curricular groundwork to launch an online Master’s of Science in Geographic Information Systems. On the one hand, we are behind other state programs, like Bowling Green University, but nothing like a crisis to push innovation to new levels! We have long recognized the talent we have in our graduate students as the next generation of knowledge, and their vision and expertise in teaching have also really shone! For our class Geog 1900 (Severe Weather and Climate) the teaching assistants, particularly Zhiying Li, Gabriel (Gabo) Zeballos-Castellon and Emilio Mateo figured out how to move physical geography labs online, with recorded demonstrations by the instructors, data provided for students to write up, and discuss in a hybrid form this fall in smaller lab sections. Ariel Rawson spent a semester in early 2019 developing a hybrid and online version of Geog 2400 (Economic and Social Geography) and her expertise has been immensely helpful to faculty grappling with how to adapt their classes.
Many challenges lay ahead. We know that an ongoing public health crisis means the Ohio state economy will continue to struggle, which will have implications for our budgets in the next several years. Our graduate students will face an even tighter and more uncertain job market. All of our parents (staff, students and faculty) are coming to terms with an online K12 school plan, at least for the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, I am also thankful that we have this reminder of how important what we do is: in teaching, research and service. We must continue to be Buckeyes, and geographers and atmospheric scientists. Finally, I want to shed some light on the critical roles played by our dedicated staff during the shutdown and the transition back to campus. Our advising team, Ali Grandey and Jocelyn Nevel, had to make a switch to online appointments, help faculty and students implement Pass / No Pass options to end Spring semester 2020 in the best way possible, adjust orientation and the ASC Survey course for freshmen to online formats, and track down our international students (incoming and continuing) to verify their status and plans. Suzanne Mikos, Department Manager, was put in charge of coordinating the reopening of Derby Hall (three academic units, including us and Political Science, and the School of Communication). She had to make signage directing traffic flow, new density requirements, etc., all while campus guidelines were being revised. Rebekah Sims, our Graduate Program Coordinator, had to pivot on a dime and move our planned Graduate Student Visit Day from in-person to online about 10 days out from the event. We successfully recruited an incoming cohort of 9, despite these uncertainties! Department Administrative Associate Kim Miller carefully worked with all faculty and instructors about mode of instruction and moving many classes to online or hybrid for Autumn Semester. Jens Blegvad, our ASC Tech Systems Manager, figured out in a very short time how to make the software in our computer labs accessible over the internet, adjust our labs to facilitate in-person use this fall, and respond to many technical challenges. Finally, Jim DeGrand has had to keep research and teaching projects requiring field data in Ohio and Nevada going despite restrictions on travel. We don’t always see the efforts of the staff in facilitating our teaching, research and service missions, but now more than ever, they have been critical to keeping our department running. I wish everyone a safe and healthy academic year. We will face new challenges along the way, surely, but also new opportunities for teamwork and community.
Research Impacts
Dr. Steven Quiring
COVID-19 has brought both challenges and opportunities with respect to my research program. The upside of the pandemic is that I have had more uninterrupted blocks of time to think, research and write. I am blessed to work with an excellent team of graduate students, post-doc and research scientists who have really stepped up and helped to make sure that we meet all the research deadlines and complete the required project deliverables despite working from home. I have continued my regular bi-weekly research meetings with AEP, FirstEnergy, Southern Company and Mettler Toledo. I have also been able to submit a couple of proposals that I had been sitting on for almost a year and that felt great. It appears that federal funding will not be immediately affected and I am close to being able to make an official announcement about some new projects funded by NIDIS that will start later this year. The biggest challenges in terms of research are with communication and research administration. It is more difficult to coordinate budgets, proposal submissions, etc. with the OSU research staff. Everything takes longer and is more difficult to navigate because of people are working in different locations and schedules. The changes in OSU policies regarding research expenditures, hiring, etc. are also a source of concern. Work is proceeding as normal as possible on my current projects. However, this is contingent on me being able to continue to hire personnel and spend the research funds. If the university places more scrutiny on research grants and expenditures this will have a negative impact on the OSU research enterprise. The good news is that this situation has also initiated new conversations and research collaborations with colleagues in the Department of Geography and at other universities. We are pursuing COVID-related research projects under the federal opportunities that have opened up. Research is a creative enterprise and this situation provides the opportunity for all of us to stretch, grow and think creatively about the opportunities that are created during this difficult time.
Impacts of Covid-19 on G1900 teaching
Zhiying Li, Geography PhD Candidate
The global pandemic has been affecting people’s daily life. As a graduate teaching assistant for the GEOG1900 lab session, I am no exception. I taught two G1900 lab sessions face-to-face once a week on Mondays before spring break. However, all university events were canceled since then. Students enrolled in G1900 was expected to do the blimp lab in the week right after spring break, which is one of the most interesting labs of the G1900. I feel sorry that they are not able to see the launching of the Geography Blimp on the Oval this semester. Transitioningteaching activities online is a challenge for the G1900 lab session because students need to conduct most labs physically. The G1900 instructors made modifications to the lab as a quick response to the changing and unusual situation. We provided the data and demonstration of the lab to students, if possible. We also did audio recording using CarmenZoom covering the lab lectures. Although we tried to modify the lab, there were challenges when implementing the modifications. New situations always popped up. For example, some students left their completed lab reports in the dorms and could not get them. We did not think of the situation before and thus needed to make new policies to adapt to it. In addition, students seem to have more struggles in terms of understanding the material. For example, we had a lab asking students to identify fronts on a surface map. This is a lab that most students find it difficult, even with face-to-face explanations. I tried to explain more details in my recording and used as many demonstrations as possible. I also used CarmenZoom to hold office hours for some students who had difficulty completing this lab. Another challenge I had is that I felt more disconnected from my students. I could not guide students while they write up the lab, which was often the case before in class. I was also not able to communicate with two of my students. This adds difficulty in keeping good track of their progress. The Covid-19 did have some positive impacts on both students and teachers. Since all the course resources are available on Carmen, students can learn knowledge and work on the labs anywhere and anytime they want. Such flexibility is good for students who may not have access to stable internet on scheduled class time. We have a good tool on Carmen named Turnitin to check the plagiarism. For teachers, like myself, I have never taught any online classes. The recent experience gave me more confidence in teaching online in a future semester. Finally, I would like to thank my G1900 team (Alvaro Montenegro, Jami Orrell, Gabriel Zeballos Castellon, and Zackery Leasor). Without help from Alvaro and my TA colleagues, we are not able to transition to online teaching so smoothly. I would also like to thank the department and university. They proactively provided me with resources for online teaching, so that I know where to seek technical and/or instructional support. I hope the situation ends soon and we can enjoy the sunshine together on the Oval!
Fieldwork in Peru
Emilio Mateo, Geography PhD Candidate
As I left to conduct fieldwork in Peru, confirmed American COVID-19 cases were in the low hundreds and localized on the west coast, while Peru had one confirmed case. This lack of cases didn’t stop Peruvian officials from taking the temperatures of incoming travelers and asking about recent travels upon entry to their country. Two days after arriving in Peru and taking a bus through the mountains to the city of Huaraz, cases in the United States had quadrupled to over 2,000 and Peruvian cases had jumped into the mid-teens. I also received an email from OSU canceling all internally funded travel until further notice(my travel was externally funded). Over the next five days, I spent much of my time conducting fieldwork in the mountains, spending more time among the cattle and vizcacha than with other people. Over the weekend, many things began to happen in quick succession. First, on Saturday, travelers entering the United States began undergoing mandatory medical screenings creating long lines at major American airports and causing an uproar on Twitter. Second, Peru was tallying cases at an alarming rate with all of the known cases being found in Cusco and Lima(now around 400 cases). Initially, I was planning to take a 3-day backpacking trip to collect instruments and water samples beginning on Sunday, but I was a little tired and decided to push back until Monday. Finally, on Sunday while reading about the long lines at the airports, I came across the Twitter feed of American Airlines which was displaying a travel alert from the previous day. After reading their alert from the night before, it appeared there were no changes for international flights; but then I saw they had an updated alert from Sunday morning. All American Airlines flights were canceled from South America beginning Monday at midnight. Until at least June 7th.A few minutes later, President Vizcarra held a press conference ordering the closure of the Peruvian borders beginning the following day with the aim of slowing the transmission of the virus. With this updated information at 1 PM,I got the ball rolling and despite all American flights being full, I luckily managed to change to a LATAM (a partner airline of American) flight that night at 12:30 AM. Instead of the leisurely and field preparatory afternoon I had intended, I scrambled to pack my two large duffel bags and figure out transportation down the 400 km, winding road to Lima. Thankfully, our wonderful host in Huaraz, who assists with in-country logistics, was able to secure a taxi for me to the Lima airport. By 4 PM, we were on the road. The Lima airport was total chaos. Thousands of foreigners were attempting to leave the country, some with tickets for that evening, some without. Some with masks, including myself, and some without. Luckily, I was able to check my bags (with one being 10 kg. overweight –and getting a glare, but no extra charge from the agent), make it through long export customs and security lines, and arrive at my gate when boarding began. Expecting hours long customs lines at JFK, I was pleasantly surprised to arrive to no line at all and was able to make it safely back to Columbus on Monday evening. In the days after arriving home, American and Peruvian COVID-19 cases shot upward, Peru closed its borders which stranded thousands of American citizens, and nearly all flights, domestic and international, ceased. While I wasn’t able to complete my fieldwork on that trip, I am glad to be home and have other data analyses to complete for my research. COVID-19 has already impacted all of our lives, but for research that is based on fieldwork, the implications are currently unknown. For now, I will still holdout hope that I am able to travel back to Peru during my doctoral studies.