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News Brief from our Chair Darla Munroe

February 17, 2020

News Brief from our Chair Darla Munroe

Alvaro Montenegro and Sreya Juras prepare sweet potato seeds to simulate long-distance sea travel

Caption: Pictured (left to right) Alvaro Montenegro and Sreya Juras prepare sweet potato seeds to simulate long-distance sea travel. Photo credit: John Temmen.

New OSU Geography Blog:

Beginning this semester the Department of Geography will feature an inside look at our research, our students, and geographers at work on everything from climate to policy. Each semester, we’ll tackle a topic of importance that has direct impacts on the world around us with a blog written by our faculty, students, and visitors to give varying perspectives from the discipline.
Spring 2020 – 50 Years of Earth Day
Summer 2020 – Field Work: Its Importance and Impact
Autumn 2020 – Census 2020: Our Nation’s Shifting Landscape
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Faculty News:  

Madhumita Dutta has a new paper, Workplace, emotional bonds and agency, in Environment and Planning A.

Becky Mansfield was elected to the nominating committee of the American Association of Geographers

Hal Moellering (professor emeritus) was elected to serve as Auditor for the International Cartographic Association for a third four-year term.

At approximately 10:53 a.m. on Monday, Feb.10, sweet potato seed capsules set sail on a simulated voyage in the basement of Derby Hall.  For the next four months, Alvaro Montenegro, Jim DeGrand (Senior researcher), John Temmen (MA student, Geog), and Sreya Juras (Undergraduate research assistant) will be monitoring how the capsules endure long-term exposure to sea water. This is part of an ongoing research project to determine how sweet potatoes arrived in prehistoric Polynesia. This experiment promises to provide new insights into whether these seeds were capable of drifting to the islands of the South Pacific or if human introduction was necessary.

 

Darla Munroe
Professor and Chair