News
We are expanding our geospatial curriculum with a new course focused on one of the fastest-growing tools for collecting high-resolution geographic data.
Dr. Sen Wang and PhD…
Faculty members Dr. Joseph Chan and Dr. Steven Quiring have received a $1.03 million award from the National…
Professor Stavros Constantinou leads our GEOG 3755 (Geography of the European Union and the Challenges of Sustainability)— a study abroad summer course in Cyprus. See this Office of International…
Dr. Jana Houser, storm chaser!
Nearly 30 years after the movie Twister inspired a generation, women are redefining storm chasing—and our very own…
A hearty congratulations to Brandon Rothrock and Harvey Miller who were both honored at today’s 2026 University Outreach and Engagement Recognition Luncheon…
The Council of Graduate Students (C.G.S.) has named Professor Steven Quiring a recipient of the C.G.S. Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes students,…
Ellen Mosley-Thompson has been named to the 2026 class of Inspiring Women from Columbus Monthly and Columbus CEO! Ellen has long inspired us in the halls of Derby, so no surprise here!
Congratulations to Geography alumni, Gary Sharpe (Geography, 1970), who received the College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Service Award at the 2026 Alumni Awards celebration…
On April 10, 2026, the class “A World Divided? Space, Place, and Regions in World Affairs” (GEOG/INTSTDS 3650) went on a field trip through the former coal mining region of Eastern Ohio. The class…
Srijana Shrestha – 3rd Place
2026 RSSG Student Illustrated Paper Competition
Remote Sensing Specialty Group, AAG 2026 Annual Meeting
Title:
Congratulations to Brandon Rothrock, who has been selected as a recipient of this year’s Community Engaged Graduate Student Award from Ohio State’s Office of Outreach and Engagement. This…
Last week, Geography PhD student Adam Tjoelker travelled to Washington, DC to lobby for congressional support of science funding. Adam was selected to participate in these meetings as part of the…
Congratulations to H. Rainak Khan Real who placed 2nd in this year’s Edward F. Hayes Advanced Research Forum! Real’s poster, in the the mathematical and physical sciences category, was titled …
Students from The Ohio State University’s Atmospheric Science Program, housed in the Department of Geography, have been participating in real-world data collection this winter. Led by faculty…
Department friend and NBC4 meteorologist, Ben Gelber, has a new book, titled Pennsylvania Weather: a 400-Year Chronicle of Historic Events. The book documents four centuries of…
Geography and Ohio State’s new BuckAI Observatory
As many of you will know, geographers are well-represented in ASC’s new BuckAI Observatory, housed in Earth Sciences and run by…
In the latest episode of the WUWM podcast Midwest Moxie, Steven Quiring discusses how extreme wind events impact electric utilities. The segment highlights Steven’s work co-founding…
On the latest ASC Voices of Excellence podcast with host David Staley, Harvey Miller, professor of geography and Director of the Center for Urban and Regional Analysis, discusses his project …
Last week, Ohio State Geography had a strong presence at the East Lakes AAG Meeting hosted by the University of Cincinnati, with most registrants attending from OSU. Two geography students won…
Hey future faculty! The Department of Geography at The Ohio State University is searching for an Assistant Professor in Atmospheric Sciences. We…
Dami Salau’s research on flood risks and climate change is featured on the Office of International Affairs website! Check it out at https://oia.osu.edu/news/2025/09/29/documenting-floods-and…
Dr. Lonnie Thompson, Distinguished University Professor in the School of Earth Sciences and affiliated faculty in Geography, is featured on the BBC podcast ’The Climate Solution’. Pour yourself a…
Congratulations to Steven Quiring who has been elected as a 2026 AMS Fellow. Fellows are elected by the AMS Council because of their “outstanding contributions to the atmospheric…
Joseph and Jana were on All Sides with Amy Juravich on July 22 to talk about all things extreme weather-related and forecasting-related! You can listen in here: https://www.wosu.org/show…
With the guidance of our GIS administrator, Michelle Hooper, students in Dr. Ariel Rawson’s Summer 2024 offering of Social and Economic Geography (GEOG 2400.02) created a compelling…
Harvey Miller, Jordan Swaim-Fox, and Gavin Lavine were on hand at the Juneteenth Jubilee at the Ohio History Connection on June 19. They shared CURA’s new Ghost Neighborhoods project which uses 3D…
After eight remarkable years of service, Rachel Franklin—Executive Director of the Center for Geographic Analysis at Harvard—will be stepping down as editor of Geographical Analysis at…
Students in Dr. Houser’s new class, Field Observations of Severe Convective Storms (ATMOSSC 5701), are currently touring the National Weather Center and Radar Innovation Lab in Norman, Oklahoma. …
Last week, students from the Department of Geography participated in a hands-on drone photogrammetry demonstration run by Adam Tjoelker through the Sharpe Field Library (SFL). The demo took place…
A few weeks ago we shared a news story of Geography at the 2025 Arts and Sciences Alumni Award Ceremony. We wanted to share a few more snapshots of the events with you all, please reference the…
Last Friday, Geography was a featured “interactive showcase” at this year’s ASC Alumni Awards ceremony. Adam Tjoelker, Jana Houser, Steven Quiring
At the 2025 World Geography Bowl at the AAG meeting in Detroit, the ELDAAG team placed fourth out of eight teams. Aniket Sangwan, Adam Tjoelker, and Summer Ha were among the six students in the…
Dr. Sandy Wong has won the 2025 Emerging Scholar Award in Health and Medical Geography. The Health and Medical Geography Specialty Group (HMGSG) of the AAG recognized Sandy as an early career…
Congratulations to our intrepid undergraduate students who presented their work at this year’s national AAG meeting in Detroit. Emma Maher presented her thesis “Extreme heat,…
Congratulations to Professor Harvey Miller, faculty member in Geography and director of the Center for Urban and Regional Analysis, who won the2025 James R. Anderson Medal of Honor in Applied…
Emma Maher won a Sustainability Institute award at this year’s Denman competition for her project titled Extreme heat, urban experimentation, and visions of past futures in Seville, Spain…
Jonathan Anderegg, a graduate student in the MGIST program, has been announced a finalist in the worldwide 2024 ArcGIS StoryMaps Competition: Storytelling For a Better World. His StoryMap:…
The Ohio State Buckeyes secured the 2024 College Football Playoff National Championship with a 34-23 victory over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on January 20, 2025. Although the Buckeyes concluded…
Department chair Mat Coleman was on the Newark campus today, visiting the new dean of Newark, Matt Smith, along with a group of chairs from the College of Arts and Sciences.
If you haven’t…
Dr. Madhumita Dutta teaches our new 4-credit hour, research-intensive version of Geography 2400. The class is a Citizenship-themed GE and is one of our most popular offerings. As part of the class…
It is our pleasure to announce that Dr. Sandy Wong and Dr. Sen Wang are recipients of the 2024-2025 L.A. Brown Faculty Fellowship. Sandy and Sen will each be receiving $10,000…
At a public event at the Union Grove Baptist Church on the Near East Side neighborhood of Columbus, the Center for Urban and Regional Analysis (CURA) teamed up with the Sharpe Field Library to…
Dr. Kendra McSweeney is spending the year traveling to schools across the country to share her research and to spread the good word about geography through the Phi Beta Kappa program. Phi Beta…
Ben Gelber, an Emmy Award winning meteorologist at NBC4i (WCMH) in Columbus, has a new story and short video on tornados, featuring Dr. Jana Houser. Ben interviewed Jana after her recent packed…
Dr. Zhengyu Liu has been named the 2025 recipient of the Milutin Milanković Medal! Awarded by the European Geosciences Union (EGU), this prestigious honor recognizes outstanding…
Our resident storm chaser and Hollywood consultant on tornados, Professor Jana Houser, talked this past Sunday about the current state of all things tornado-related to a packed house at Ohio State…
Ohio State Geography was well-represented at the joint East Lakes-West Lakes AAG Meeting at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI. We had the 3rd highest number of registrations at the…
Dr. Tammy Parece (https://geography.osu.edu/people/parece.1) secured a governor’s proclamation from Ohio Governor Mike DeWine recognizing National Geography Week as November 18-24, 2024! The…
Assistant professor, Dr. Joseph Chan has been awarded a prestigious Young Investigator Grant from the Office of Naval Research for research on high-resolution numerical aerosol…
Monday Oct. 28, students from the Department of Geography participated in the first Sharpe Field Library (SFL) Drone School flight day. During this session at Tuttle Park, SFL…
On Thursday, October 17th Kat Finneran worked with Bill Lyons and Carolyn Harding from local water rights group, Columbus Bill of Rights, to install remote water monitoring sensors along Alum…
Geographical Analysis, a premier peer-reviewed journal specializing in spatial analysis, geographic theory, and quantitative methods, is seeking a dynamic new editor-in-chief to lead its…
Experience the Geography Blimp Launch in 360°!
This week the Geography Blimp could be seen in action above the oval collecting vertical profiles of the atmosphere for GEOG 1900, but have you…
Tal Shutkin has been awarded a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad fellowship by the Department of Education. Tal will be headed to Peru for seven months in support of his…
Brandon Rothrock, who is working with Becky Mansfield, is interviewed about the intersection of the environment and LGBTQ+ identities, as well as emerging climate and health issues in Appalachia,…
Last week, August 1 - 9, 2024, two OSU Geography undergraduate students, Geoffrey Brown and Harrison Frenken, joined PhD student Adam Tjoelker and Professor Bryan Mark on the Department’s (nearly)…
Dr. Jana Houser is interviewed at length in a new piece on tornado science and the movie Twisters in the current issue of Scientific American. Jana was involved with Twisters…
Emma Maher, a third year honors student in the Geography department, presented her research titled "Extreme heat, urban experimentation, and visions of past futures in Seville, Spain" at…
Dr. Jana Houser is featured in the current ‘Now at Ohio State’ podcast, talking with host Jeff Grabmeier about the science and impact of tornadoes. She also talks about her role in the new motion…
On June 6, Geography welcomed 100 elementary, middle, and high school teachers from Columbus City Schools. This event was part of a collaborative initiative involving Columbus City Schools,…
Jana Houser is our newest Martha L. Corry Faculty Fellow! Congratulations Jana on this prestigious appointment! The award provides $10,000 of funding annually for five years which can be used on…
Representatives from American Electric Power visited the Sharpe Commons this Wednesday, April 25, to present a donation of a DJI drone with LiDAR equipment that can be used in a wide range of…
A group of faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students from the Department of Geography went on a tour of some of OSU’s energy infrastructure, led by staff with ENGIE, the energy provider for…
Congratulations to Emma Maher, a third-year honors student double majoring in Geography (Urban, Regional, and Global Studies) and International Studies (Globalization) with a…
At the AAG meeting in Hawaii Becky Mansfield was recognized with the CAPE Distinguished Career Award from the Cultural and Political Ecology Specialty Group. This award is given annually “in…
Congratulations to Dr. Madhumita Dutta and Jackie Beck, both of whom were celebrated at the Arts and Sciences Spring Recognition Reception yesterday afternoon.
Madhu received the…
Social and Environmental Geography (SEG) majors Cat Adams, Tyler Littlejohn, Natalie Stotz, Emma Maher, Allen Liu, and Geoffrey Brown join Dr. Max Woodworth after…
Congratulations to Dr. Jana Houser who found time between consulting on the new Twisters film (in theatres on July 19) and building her $1.75 million radar truck to be honored last night…
Kendra McSweeney has been elected as an American Association for the Advancement of Science fellow! This is one of the most prestigious honors that can be bestowed upon a U.S. scientist. Fellows…
Last week the College of Arts and Sciences recognized Wes Haines (B.S. Geography, 2008; M.S. Atmospheric Sciences, 2013) with an Emerging Leadership Award in recognition of his professional…
Dr. Jana Houser has partnered with the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center to build an Ohio-specific severe weather dashboard. The dashboard provides navigation options for users to access…
If you were a Geography student, you wouldn’t be in class this lovely Spring morning—you’d be on the oval flying our weather blimp! Happy Friday from everyone on the Geography 1900 team! Pictured…
Dr. Luyu Liu (Geography PhD, 2023), Adam Porr (MORPC), and Professor Harvey Miller have received the JGS Best Paper Award for their 2022 article in the Journal of Geographical Systems,…
Prof. Madhumita Dutta published an op-ed in the Columbus Dispatch today concerning the health and environmental impacts of the new Intel site currently under construction in New Albany, Ohio. She…
Professor Harvey Miller, director of the Center for Urban and Regional Analysis, spoke with All Sides host Anna Staver about a new Capital Line Trail for downtown Columbus. Harvey’s…
Dr. Anisa Kline, a graduate from our department last year, presented her research on trends and patterns in H2A workers in Ohio. Her talk focused on the need for changes and more human treatment…
We are pleased to announce that Sen Wang, a PhD candidate graduating from Purdue University this spring will be joining our department in the fall!
While pursuing his doctoral degree in…
Geography faculty Mat Coleman and Kendra McSweeney have hosted two talks in their Mershon-funded colloquium series ‘Legal Geopolitics of the Ocean’. Professor Laleh Khalili (University of Exeter)…
New research by Jonathan Stiles (https://www.arch.columbia.edu/faculty/5512-jonathan-stiles) and Geography faculty member and CURA Director Harvey Miller shows that the built environment plays an…
Geography professor Kendra McSweeney is a 2024-2025 Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar (https://www.pbk.org/visitingscholars/2024-2025/kendra-mcsweeney). Since 1956, the Phi Beta Kappa Visiting…
Master’s student John Layman showcased his research on the city’s proposed high-capacity bus rapid transit (BRT) initiative at a recent Arts and Sciences event on promoting economic opportunity in…
The Ohio State University Meteorology Club hosted their Annual Weather, Water, and Climate Symposium on Thursday, February 8, 2024. This event connected students and community members with…
The GGO (Geography Graduate Student Organization) put together a celebration of the Lunar New Year, a festive time across East Asia and diasporic communities around the world. Professors and…
Now that we are a few weeks into spring semester, it's a great time to meet our newest faculty members! They are doing incredible work in research and teaching and are great resources to connect…
Dr. Anisa Kline, who graduated from our department last year, will be giving a TedxOhioStateUniversity talk on the agricultural guestworker economy in Ohio. See more at https://www.linkedin.com…
Veronica O. Davis, author of Inclusive Transportation: A Manifesto for Repairing Divided Communities, wrapped up the year’s shared speaker series at CURA and Kirwan with a talk on equity and…
Atmospheric Sciences student, Gavin White, won $100,000 towards tuition and school expenses during the Dr Pepper Tuition Giveaway at the Big 12 Championship in Dallas between the Texas Longhorns…
As part of their National Science Foundation Research Coordination Network grant, Max D. Woodworth and co-PI Jeffrey Jacquet (SENR) are organizing the Conference on Global Coal Transitions for…
Professor Max D. Woodworth has been awarded a Faculty Individual Research Grant by the Mershon Center for International Security Studies for a project titled “Making Taiwan Home: Space, Territory,…
Congratulations to Oluwadamilola Salau who won first place for her research poster at the Translational Data Analytics Institute’s 2023 Interdisciplinary Research Fall Forum! Dami…
Professor Harvey Miller, director of CURA, has won the International Society for Urban Informatics’ Outstanding Achievement Award in recognition of his pioneering research in analytical time…
The Ohio State University Alumni Magazine is featuring our very own Associate Professor Jana Houser anwsering a few Weather related questions. Nice job Jana.
Dr. Huyen Le is a collaborator on the FLEETS for All project which has been rewarded with an $11M EPA grant to address Energy Transitions in Underserved Communities.
…
Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) GIS Conference 2023
Promoting Collaborations among BTAA Institutions
We would like to announce that the…
Grads and faculty convened this past weekend to enjoy the weather and throw balls at one another! The grads outnumbered faculty by 10:1 and were victorious. But the faculty aka, The Natural…
The OSU Geography 1900 Blimpeteers were at it again this afternoon. Flying the maiden voyage of the new Geography helium Blimp for the Atmospheric profile lab in the Geography…
From the State Climate Office of Ohio.
Check out the State of Ohio Monthly Climate Update for August 2023 to learn about the month's weather patterns and notable events.
Krista reflects on her time in Cyprus with Professor Stavros Constantinou during our May 2023 ‘Sustainability in Cyprus’ study abroad class!
https://oia.osu.edu/units/global…
As you can see from the pictures OSU Geography was well represented by the GBEX Team at the DRONE RODEO hosted by the Center for Aviation Studies…
Heads Up Everyone the Colloquium/Speaker Series Committee has published the 2023-24 Speaker Series Schedule.
Please see our Colloquium web page for more information.
Volunteer Opportunity for Students at GIS Pro
There is an opportunity for students to attend this years GIS Pro in Columbus, Ohio.
Students attending a Ohio university are…
As we get ready for the start of Autumn Semester 2023 please find some time to welcome our new Faculty members,
Theresa Hice-Fromille, 1156 Derby Hall
…
Dr. Z. Liu is the successful PI on a second $900,000 NSF grant, with Ellen Mosley-Thompson and Lonnie Thompson as co-PIs, titled ‘A Model-Data Approach to Better…
Exceptionally good news! Our department will be receiving a Good-to-Great Grant from the Office of Academic Affairs Provost Melissa Gilliam’s office. To the tune…
Dr. Z.Liu has won a $650,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (PD 06-5740 Climate and Large-Scale Dynamics), as PI, for a project titled ‘Assessing and Understanding…
Student Attending Tuesday Only – Free Registration! This opportunity is for students who are currently enrolled full-time in an accredited undergraduate program with an Ohio college…
Professor Steven Quiring founded StormImpact, an Ohio State University-based startup, in 2022 with co-founders Dr. Brent McRoberts (formerly a Senior Researcher in the Department…
Mathew Coleman, professor and interim chair in the Department of Geography, has been appointed chair of the department for a four-year term. An expert in geopolitics, immigration…
Professor Zhengyu Liu comments on a new paper published in Nature Communications which suggests that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation—a system of currents that circulates…
Dr. Alvaro Montenegro’s new paper in PLOS ONE (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0287290) on ancient canoe voyages and thermoregulation (body temperature)…
“Just out in Political Geography Open Research, an article by current PhD student Paromita Bathija and OSU Geography alum Dr. Nora Sylvander (’19). The…
On Friday June 16, Mat Coleman, Alvaro Montenegro and Jens Blegvad went on an adventure to attempt to preserve some of this extraordinary personal library of our former Geography Professor…
Dr. Jana Houser is storm chasing in Texas and has been able to demonstrate that everything is indeed bigger in Longhorn country! On June 13 Dr. Houser collected a grapefruit-sized chunk of hail…
Columbus Landmarks is recognizing the Center of Urban and Regional Analysis’ Ghost Neighborhoods project (https://cura.osu.edu/projects/existing/ghost-neighborhoods) with the Frederick J…
Dr. Jana Houser spent the week chasing storms in the central US, with a film crew based out of Los Angeles, California. The team was capturing footage for the Hollywood production of Twister 2. Dr…
Anisa’s voyage through grad school, her research, and her love for all things geographical are covered in a new Ohio State News story! See more at https://news.osu.edu/ohio-state-doctoral-students…
Geography's very own, Larkin Cleland! Read in detail Larkin's article in Ohio State Impact about how he follows his many passions and serve the community in the process.
https://www.osu…
We are very excited—and proud—to announce that our very own Kendra McSweeney has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences! Kendra’s election to the AAA&S…
This spring at the AAG annual meeting in Denver, OSU Geography Graduate Student John Layman was fortunate enough to represent the Ohio State and the Eastern Lakes Division of the…
Grad students put up a tremendous fight, and took up an early dominant lead, but faculty (aka the Natural Disasters) dug deep and came from behind to win 16-15 in Saturday’s game! Big thanks to …
Dr. Houser explains to Newsweek readers why tornadoes are so difficult to predict, even with the advancement of weather-forecasting systems. Read the full story…
Caroline Mallory has been named a Gaither Junior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington D.C. Approximately 14 Gaither Fellows are selected each year from a very…
Dr. Emily Cody, who started this semester as our new Assistant to the Chair, has an article out in the journal Women’s Writing on working class motherhood and reproductive politics in…
Professor Houser recounts her first storm chasing experience and explains what needs to be accomplished to improve our understanding of tornado formation. See the full story at https:/…
It gives me great pleasure to announce that Jackie Beck is a recipient of the 2022-23 Graduate Association Leadership Award. This is a highly competitive award that recognizes …
Professor Harvey Miller was featured in Ohio State’s ‘Engaged Scholars’ series for his community-engaged research and teaching. Read an interview with Harvey about the “long view” of community…