News

Article co-authored by Arreola and alumnus Oberle appears in Geographical Review (05.05.08)

The article, "Resurgent Mexican Phoenix," appears in the latest issue of Geographical Review. See Abstract. Complete citation: Alex P. Oberle and Daniel D. Arreola. 2008. Resurgent Mexican Phoenix. Geographical Review 98(2):171-196.

Edsall leads session on Google Earth and Web Maps at ASPRS Annual Meeting (05.01.08)

Rob Edsall recently organized, chaired, and presented in a panel discussion on Google Earth and Web Maps called “Implications and Advances in Satellite and Aerial Imagery for Popular Cartographic Applications” at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Photorammetry and Remote Sensing in Portland, OR.

ASU home page features work of Professor Gober (04.30.08)

Professor Patricia Gober, co-director of the Decision Center for a Desert City, leads research that explores the crossroads of climate change, growth and public policy. This role that evolved from her earlier focus in demography and urban geography. See ASU News feature on Dr. Gober and her career here.

Geographic Visualization: Concepts, Tools and Applications features chapter by Deitrick and Edsall (04.29.08)

Ph.D. student Stephanie Deitrick and Assistant Professor Rob Edsall recently published a book chapter called “Making Uncertainty Useful and Usable” in Geographic Visualization: Concepts, Tools and Applications, Martin Dodge (Editor), Mary McDerby (Co-Editor), Martin Turner (Co-Editor), published by Wiley and Sons.

Geography of Cinema -- A Cinematic World, co-edited by Lukinbeal, available for order (04.28.08)

Geography of Cinema -- A Cinematic World, addresses questions surrounding the construction of space, culture, society, identity and representation within the context of the cinema and its world. More information about the book, and order information

Summer Cyprus Field School offers opportunity to earn Geography credit and field research experience (04.15.08)

The ASU Cyprus Field School, to take place May 12 - June 14, 2008, will offer "hands-on" training in archaeological and geographical field research for students ranging from beginning undergraduates to more experienced graduate students. Field school participants will become adept at field methods, analysis and interpretation as part of an interdisciplinary investigation of agrarian village life during the rise of civilization on Cyprus. For more information about the program and how to apply, see Cyprus Field School.

GeoDa affiliate Julia Koschinsky named "Outstanding PhD Student" at UIUC (04.11.08)

Julia Koschinsky, currently a visiting scholar at ASU and affiliate of the GeoDa Center for Geospatial Analysis and Computation, was named as this year's "Outstanding PhD Student" in her home institution, the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Journal Nature features ASU and Billie Turner (04.09.08)

The April 10 issue of Nature features an article on Professor Billie Lee Turner II, who will arrive in Fall 2009 to become the Gilbert F. White Chair in Environment and Society in the School of Geographical Sciences. The article describes the evolution of Turners' research and his decision to join ASU's faculty. See full article here.

Anselin and Lozano-Gracia win best paper award in Empirical Economics (04.08.08)

Luc Anselin and Nancy Lozano-Gracia won the "2006/07 Empirical Economics Springer Prize" for best paper in the journal Empirical Economics. Their winning article, “Errors in Variables and Spatial Effects in Hedonic House Price Models of Ambient Air Quality,” appeared in Empirical Economics 34(1), 2008: 5-34.

ASU ASPRS members J. Chirumamilla, G. Judkins, M.J. Kang, W.K. Kim, S. Myint and E. Ridder present papers at ANAS/SW-ASPRS conference (04.04.08)

The Arizona Nevada Academy of Science / Southwest Region - American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing conference, held March 29, featured presentations by Dr. Soe Myint, Assistant Professor, five graduate students (Elizabeth Ridder, Gabriel Judkins, Min Jo Kang and Wong Kyung Kim), and one recent alumni (Jagadeesh Chirumamilla). Presentation titles

Paper authored by PhD students Judkins and Smith Appears in The Geographical Journal (04.04.08)

GABRIEL JUDKINS, MARISSA SMITH, ERIC KEYS. March 2008. Determinism within human-environment research and the rediscovery of environmental causation. The Geographical Journal 174(1):17-29.

Cerveny, Balling and Ellis receive award from National Science Foundation Geography and Regional Science Program (04.01.08)

Congratulations to President's Professor Randall Cerveny, Professor Robert Balling, and Associate Professor Andrew Ellis for their National Science Founation grant, awarded March 6, 2008, for "Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Climatological Variations in Isentropic Surfaces." This study will reintroduce isentropic data analysis, a much-neglected analytical tool to aid in the climatological detection and prediction of moisture flow and stability to geographic climatology. This study's ultimate goal is for the proposed isentropic database to represent a unique tool for drought reconstruction, monitoring, and forecasting that will be made accessible to the global community of climate scientists. Professor Cerveny is Principal Investigator on this project, with Balling and Ellis participating as co-investigators.

Brazel receives Outstanding Service Award from Arizona-Nevada Academy of Sciences (03.31.08)

At its 52nd Annual Meeting on March 29, the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Sciences (ANAS) honored Professor Anthony Brazel with an Outstanding Award. The award recognized his outstanding contribution to the field of climatology and public policy and influential leadership of ANAS. Dr. Brazel served as central Arizona Director from 1992 to 1998, ANAS President-elect and President from 1996 to 1998, and was geography session chair for several annual meetings. He became the editor of the journal of Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science (JANAS) in 2000 and continued to serve in that capacity until the end of 2007. In his very capable hands, JANAS has been able to get back into a more regular publication schedule and to elevate its stature in the academic and research communities of the Southwest.

Selover discusses drought and reservoir water levels in Arizona Republic (03.31.08)

A front-page feature in March 29th's Arizona Republic explores the impact of higher water levels in Roosevelt Lake and other Phoenix-area reservoirs in relationship to the wider regional drought. In the article, Dr. Nancy Selover, Arizona State Climatologist and Academic Associate with the School of Geographical Sciences, interprets the effects of the higher water levels locally, regionally, and over a longer time frame. See online edition for full article.

KHPO Channel 12 features Cerveny and Brazel in climate change series (03.27.08)

Each night the week of March 24-28, Channel 12's "News at 6:00 pm" features a segment on climate change and its local implications. Monday's epsisode features Professor Randy Cerveny discussing evidence and causes of climate change in Arizona; and Thursday's features Professor Anthony Brazel on urban heat islands. See Channel 12 web site for summaries and videos.

Anselin receives cooperative agreement from the U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory in Champaign, IL (03.27.08)

On December 13, 2007, Foundation Professor and Director, Luc Anselin was invited to submit a full proposal and subsequently received a cooperative agreement from the U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory in Champaign, IL. In his project, entitled ‘A Socio-Cultural Geospatial Analysis and Modeling Framework in Support of Stability Operations and Infrastructure Applications,’ Luc proposes a methodological and conceptual framework for geospatial analysis that relates the spatial event data to the characteristics of the physical and socio-economic context in order to explain the dynamics of events in function of changes in the surrounding context. This will provide the basis for a future methodological approach that moves from data exploration and pattern recognition to explanatory modeling and prediction. This project is envisaged consisting of a number of phases. Beyond the first phase of conceptual model development, three further one year phases are outlined for future work, in which the conceptual model is implemented through exploratory spatial data analysis, spatial regression modeling and modeling of space-time dynamics, accompanied by software development to support these analyses in an operational context.
Performance Period: 2/1/08 – 9/30/08
Award Amount: $175,000

ASU ASPRS Student Chapter and School host Brown Bag on "Finding the Data You Need" (03.25.08)

This program, to take place 12:00-1:30 pm, Friday April 4, will feature four directors of key data repositories describing the types of data they have, and, how students, faculty and researchers can gain use of these data! Speakers are: Corrina Gries from GIOS (Director of Data Management, Global Institute of Sustainability); Jana Hutchins from ISSR (GIS Manager, Institute for Social Science Research); Lela Prashad from the 100 Cities Project (Director of 100 Cities Project, which specializes in urban remote sensing products) and Mary Whelan, from Hayden Library (Geospatial Data Manager, Informatics and Cyber-infrastructure. For more information, see flier.

ASU's School of Geographical Sciences featured in Chronicle of Higher Education (03.24.08)

An article in the March 28 Chronicle of Higher Education describes the School's recent series of strategic hires, including the recent addition of Billie Lee Turner to the faculty. Full article

Professor Larson Interview by McDowell Sonoran Conservancy (03.19.08)

The McDowell Sonoran Conservancy, a nonproit organization that supports the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, features Assistant Professor Kelli Larson in its March newsletter. The interview explores Larson's perspectives on the importance of the Preserve, as illuminated by her research addressing people's relationship with the environment and natural resources. For the full article, see sheet 6 of the newsletter.

PhD student Brian Sovik authors lead article in URISA newsletter (03.19.08)

The January/February newsletter of URISA, the Urban and Regional Systems Association, features a lead article by Brian Sovik, PhD student and GIS Manager for AMEC, a Phoenix engineering firm. In the article, Sovik discusses the importance of direct field observation to creating valid GIS data. Read a pdf of the article, used with permission from URISA, www.urisa.org.

Yolonda Youngs awarded support to attend 2008 International Geographical Union Congress (03.18.08)

Ph.D. student Yolonda Youngs was awarded a $2000 travel grant from the American Association of Geographers and the National Science Foundation to attend the 2008 IGU Congress in Tunis, Tunisia this August. Yolonda will present her dissertation research on the iconography of Grand Canyon National Park in popular media.

Yolonda Youngs presents GIS Research Opportunities at Undergraduate Career Workshop (03.18.08)

On March 6, 2008, Ph.D. candidate Yolonda Youngs gave an invited panel presentation on “Opportunities for History Undergraduates in GIS” at ASU's Department of History Undergraduate Career Workshop.

Pasqualetti presents paper on Alberta Oil Sands (03.17.08)

Prof. Martin J. (Mike) Pasqualetti presented an invited paper in Vancouver, British Columbia on March 15, 2008 entitled “The Alberta Oil Sands from Both Sides of the Border”. The presentation was part of the NNASC Annual Policy Conference - North American Issues: Designing Institutions, Choosing Policies. http://www.nnasc-renac.ca/upcomingevents.htm. The Network on North American Studies in Canada was developed by the Foundation for Educational Exchange between Canada and the United States of America (www.fulbright.ca) in response to the need for a clear and focused national agenda with respect to building academic capacity in the area of North American studies. More information is available on the NNASC web site: http://www.nnasc-renac.ca/missionstatement.htm. The presentation was arranged through ASU’s North American Center for TransBorder Studies (NACTS) http://nacts.asu.edu/. Funding for the research reported in the paper was provided through a grant from the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C.

New Courses Offered Fall 2008 (03.13.08)

Courses with numbers ending in "94" and "98" have no catalog descriptions because they're newly-introduced. Click here for fuller descriptions of these courses, their focus and prerequisites.

Routledge introduces "Journal of Urbanism"; Talen is co-editor (03.12.08)

The Journal of Urbanism is a multi-disciplinary journal that focuses on human settlement and its relation to the idea of sustainability, social justice and cultural understanding. The content will focus on urban regeneration, new urbanism, European urbanism, landscape urbanism, urban sustainability, smart growth, livable communities, transit-orientated development, walkable communities and more.
Professor Emily Talen will edit the new journal, along with Charles C. Bohl, University of Miami, USA, and Matthew Hardy, INTBAU, UK. Find out more at: www.informaworld.com/RJOU"

Torrens research featured in Californian art exhibit and Forbes Magazine (03.12.08)

Work by Dr. Paul Torrens was recently part of a Californian exhibit of emerging art. Dr. Torrens’s research on Wi-Fi geography (http://geosimulation.org/wifi/) was one of the six installations that composed the “O’Reilly Emerging Arts Fest” in San Diego on March 5, 2008.
The current Forbes Online magazine also mentions Torrens' work in its Technology section.

Gabriel Judkins and Penny DeLuca win ASPRS Achievement Awards (03.11.08)

Two School of Geographical Sciences students were selected for awards being given for the first time this year by the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing's Southwest Region. PhD student Gabriel Judkins earned the 2008 Graduate Student Achievement Award for Image-based Studies; while Penny DeLuca was awarded the Undergraduate Student Achievement Award for GIS-based Studies.

Schmeeckle's analysis of Grand Canyon flows featured on ASU home page (03.06.08)

Assistant Professor Mark Schmeeckle is playing a key role in an experimental release of Colorado River water through the Grand Canyon. For more information about the experiment and its impacts, see ASU's home page, or the feature article.

IEEE Spectrum and Discover Magazine feature Torrens' research (03.05.08)

Research by Dr. Paul M. Torrens on charting the invisible geography of wireless Internet signals is the subject of an article in this month’s IEEE Spectrum: "Wi-Fi cloud hovers over Salt Lake City: Researchers map the invisible geography of wireless networks", IEEE Spectrum , February 28, 2008.
In addition, Dr. Torrens is featured in a two-page special in the April issue of Discover Magazine, where it is referenced on the front page of both the magazine and its website: "The sim that saves people from each other". The articles detail Dr. Torrens's work to build a reusable and behaviorally-driven modeling environment for studying the small-scale geography or crowds.

Torrens article in Annals of Association of American Geographers (03.03.08)

Torrens, P.M., 2008. Wi-Fi geographies. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 98(1): 59-84

Franklin, Murray and Rey join School Faculty (03.01.08)

The School of Geographical Sciences is pleased to welcome three new faculty members, Dr. Janet Franklin, Dr. Alan Murray and Dr. Sergio Rey. More information

Arreola to discuss Sky Islands research, 4/21 - 2:00 pm - SS109 (03.01.08 - 04.22.08)

Professor Arreola, together with Dr. Paul Hirt, History, will discuss their research, teaching and field studies in the US-Mexico borderlands region known as the "Sky Islands", in a talk sponsored by the ASU Institute for Humanities Research. For more details, see flyer.

Talen's new book, Design for Diversity: Exploring Socially Mixed Neighbourhoods now available (02.27.08)

Emily Talen. 2008. Design for Diversity: Exploring Socially Mixed Neighbourhoods. London: Elsevier.

Chhetri presents to USDA group (02.26.08)

On February 25, Assistant Professor Netra Chhetri presented "Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change" at the US Department of Agriculture's U.S. Arid-Land Agricultural Research Center in Maricopa, Arizona.

School Sponsors Spring Tour for prospective graduate students (02.22.08)

On March 6-8 the School of Geographical Sciences will host “Spring Tour 2008”. This event gives prospective graduate students a chance to meet with professors and current graduate students and attend several professional and social events. Prospective students who would like to attend should send a note to Graduate Coordinator Kay Pealstrom (kay.pealstrom@asu.edu).

Pasqualetti presents at first meeting of Binational Institute for Water and Renewable Energy (02.22.08)

On Feb 21, 2008, Prof. Martin J. (Mike) Pasqualetti made an invited presentation entitled “Water and Renewable Energy and the U.S./Mexico Border” at the first meeting of the Binational Institute for Water and Renewable Energy. The institute is a public-private partnership dealing with water resources, energy requirements and the technologies needed to sustain them. It was established under the auspices of the Arizona-Mexico Commission, and involves all three Arizona Universities and six Sonoran universities. For more information, see http://www.azwaterinstitute.org/binational.html

AZ Republic features Brazel on climate change (02.22.08)

The Arizona Republic's February 22 newspaper features a column written by Professor Anthony Brazel, in which he discusses the current state of climate change research, and the importance of policy-making. View the article in the newspaper's online edition here.

O hUallachain's "Regional Growth Transition Clubs in the United States" appears in Papers in Regional Science (02.22.08)

Breandán Ó hUallacháin, 2008. Regional Growth Transition Clubs in the United States. Papers in Regional Science, 87(1):33-53.

PhD student Marissa Smith presents at Inter-American Foundation Conference in Cartagena, Colombia (02.18.08)

Marissa Smith presented her preliminary field research results at the Inter-American Foundation Mid-Year Conference in Cartagena, Colombia on Febuary 7th. The two day conference was held as an opportunity for the recipients of the Inter-American Foundation Fellowship for Grassroots Development to update the Foundation on their work in the field and its implications for grassroots development in Latin America.

Brazel is panelist for American Meteorological Society Plenary Session (01.29.08)

Tony Brazel was one of five panelists in a Plenary Session at the 88th Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society in New Orleans, LA January 23rd. The session was called “Enhancing the Connectivity of Research and Application for the Benefit of Society”. Tony’s panel presentation was on the past successes, current issues, and future prospects in research benefits in the area of urban climate and weather and urban environments. The session presentations were followed by lengthy discussion by audience and panelists on the benefits of research that have led to recognizable impacts to solve problems for society

Geography Ph.D. student Darren Ruddell wins 2008 CAP LTER Poster Symposium competition (01.24.08)

Darren Ruddell's was selected as best out of 58 posters presented at the 10th Annual Research Poster Symposium sponsored by CAP-LTER (Central Arizona - Phoenix Long Term Ecological Research). Ruddell's poster focused on "Public Park Ecology and Neighborhood Crime: Assessing Resident Perceptions of Crime and Park Quality". For more details, see http://caplter.asu.edu/home/symposia.jsp

Pasqualetti presents seminar for Economic Development Research Program, U of A (01.23.08)

On January 22, Professor Mike Pasqualetti presented a seminar entitled “Environmental Quality & Economic Development: Getting to the Promised Land” for the Arizona Economic Development Course organized by the Economic Development Research Program of the University of Arizona, Tucson.

Soe Myint elected as officer for American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (01.22.08)

Assistant Professor Soe Myint has been elected to the post of Vice President for the Southwest US Region of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) for 2008. He had previously served as Regional Director and Membership Chair, and has spearheaded creation of an ASU student chapter of the organization. More information about ASPRS is available at http://www.asprs.org/

Dr. Myint receives award for academic and research excellence (01.11.08)

Dr. Soe Myint recently received an AITAA (Asian Institute of Technology Alumni Association) Distinguished Award for Academic and Research Excellence. The award was presented by General Dr. Boonsrang Niumpradit, President of AITAA at the AITAA annual meeting at Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok on the 8th December 2007.

Climatologist Randy Cerveny discusses 2007, 2008 weather in East Valley Tribune (01.08.08)

A front-page story appearing in the East Valley Tribune on Jan. 3, 2008 features President's Professor Randy Cerveny. He discusses 2007 Phoenix weather statistics in relation to larger climate patterns. Read the article and see a video of Professor Cerveny at http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/105745

Congratulations Fall grads! Twenty-two earn degrees (12.14.07)

Congratulations to 22 new ASU geography graduates -- 14 with bachelor's degrees, 5 with master's degrees, and 3 new Ph.D.s. Here are the new grads:
Doctor of Philosophy: Timothy Leslie, Seow Huan Lim, Brandon Vogt
Master of Arts: Andrew Burnett, Juan Declet, Jyoti Jain, Shea Lemar, David Tompkins
Bachelor of Arts: Kirsten Harshaw, Ashley McQueen, Shaun Savage
Bachelor of Science: Justin Davis, Joseph Dickinson, Jeremy Dorn, Peter Gatzke, Brandon Holloway, Daniel Krahenbuhl, David La Conte, Luanne Lynch, James Russell, Scott Ryan, and Cole Turnbull

Torrens embarks on lecture tour of Ireland (12.13.07)

Paul Torrens just returned from a 25 km lecturing micro-tour of Ireland, where he gave invited talks on “Using geospatial agents to explore riot dynamics” at the National Centre for Geocomputation in National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NCG just won a 10 million Euro grant for Geotechnologies), and on “Geosimulation as an engine for synthetic actors in urban simulations” at the Graphics, Visualisation and Vision Group in Trinity College Dublin’s School of Computer Science.

CBC radio discusses Canada immigration and "ethnoburbs" (12.06.07)

In a December 5 news feature, CBC radio discussed Canada's changing immigration patterns, emphasizing an increase in "ethnoburbs" -- ethnic enclaves in suburbs on the outskirts of large cities. Dr. Wei Li, of ASU Geographical Sciences and Asian Pacific American Studies, first coined the term "ethnoburb" beginning over 10 years ago, and is interviewed in the CBC feature. The broadcast is available over the internet at http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/2007/200712/20071205.html

Aether: The Journal of Media Geography debuts; Lukinbeal is a founding editor (11.27.07)

Aether is a new online peer-reviewed journal offering a forum that examines the geography of media, including cinema, television, the Internet, music, art, advertising, newspapers and magazines, video and animation. Aether provides a space to engage issues surrounding these media, beginning with constructions of space and place, cultural landscapes, society, and identity.
The first issue of Aether (Volume 1, Fall 2007) is now available online and contains short essays by the editorial board on the current state of media geography research and theory.

Torrens and Nara present research on behavioral AI and space-time analysis in Chicago and Seattle (11.26.07)

Dr. Paul M. Torrens and Ph.D. student Atsushi Nara presented their recent research work on behavioral AI and space-time analysis in Seattle at the ACM SIGMETRICS GIS conference in Seattle and the Agent 2007 meeting in Evanston, IL. For more details on these projects, see below or browse to geosimulation.org:

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