ASU - School of Geographical Sciences

News Archive

ASU ASPRS Kickoff Event will take place Nov. 13 (11.08.07)

The newly formed student chapter of American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) an imaging and geospatial information society, sponsored by with the School of Geographical Sciences, will be hosting a kickoff and informational event for all new members, those students interested in joining and all faculty members. Guest speakers will include Mr. Leland J. Harbers, ASPRS National Director and Dr. Stephen R. Yool, President of the Southwest Region of ASPRS. It will be held from 10:00 AM-12:00 PM at the Brickyard Orchid House, Decision Center for a Desert City Conference Rom 175, Arizona State University at the Tempe campus.

Alumni Chris Graham completes Fulbright year, works on MPA at Columbia (11.07.07)

Chris Graham graduated from Arizona State University in 2005 with a BS in Geography. He is also a graduate of the Barrett Honors College writing a thesis entitled "A Hydroclimatic Indexing Method for Drought Monitoring." Upon graduation he interned at the Arizona House of Representatives for the 2006 Legislative Session. The following year, Chris conducted research on drought in the Republic of Mauritius as part of a Fulbright Fellowship. He is currently working on a masters degree in Public Administration, specializing in Environmental Science and Policy, at Columbia University. He is also working on GIS applications at the Center for International Environmental Science Information Network.

Wei Li is featured in several media (11.07.07)

The work of Wei Li, Associate Professor with a joint appointment in Geographical Sciences and Asian Pacific American Studies, appeared recently in two public news venues. On October 30, Radio Canada aired and interview with Li on Pacific Rim immigration and diversity. A few days earlier, the October 27 edition of World Journal featured her research in an article on polarization among Chinese Americans.

Michael Kuby et al. in Pediatrics, on geography of obesity (11.07.07)

Tudor-Locke C, Kronenfeld JJ, Kim SS, Benin M, and Michael Kuby. 2007. A geographical comparison of prevalence of overweight school-aged children: the National Survey of Children's Health 2003. Pediatrics 120(4):e1043-50.

Mark Schmeeckle and team receive grant to study Verde River Ecological Flows (11.05.07)

Assistant Professor Mark Schmeeckle, together with Juliet Stromberg (ASU School of Life Sciences), Abe Springer (NAU Department of Geology), Tom Meixner (UA Hydrology and Water Resources) and Peter Reinthal(UA Ecology & Evolutionary Biology) received a grant from the Arizona Water Institute to continue their work in linking hydrological variation in the Verde River to ecological response on the river. This second phase of the project will develop integrated data collection to confirm and futher develop flow-ecology response models built in the first phase. The project allows continuation of research focusing on one of the most critical sustainability issues in Arizona.

Nancy Selover to lead evaluation of Arizona drought status determination (11.04.07)

Under a grant from the Arizona Water Institute, State Climatologist Nancy Selover will lead an evaluation of Arizona's drought monitoring tool. The project will conduct a systematic, quantitative evaluation of drought status triggers in order to ensure credibility of the Drought Status Reports which are used to promote appropriate drought preparedness actions. The project is being carried out cooperatively with Michael Crimmins (Climate Science Extension Specialist) and Greg Garfin, (Outreach Director of CLIMAS) at the University of Arizona, and Susan Craig, Drought Planning Coordinator of the Arizona Department of Water Resources.

Professor Pasqualetti receives grant dealing with AZ-Sonora water and energy sustainability (11.02.07)

Prof. Martin J. (Mike) Pasqualetti is Co-PI on a new grant from the Arizona Water Institute. The title of the grant is “Water and Energy Sustainability with Rapid Growth in the Arizona-Sonora Border Region”. He is joined by Christopher Scott (Co-PI), Asst. Professor, Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, and Dept. of Geography & Regional Development, University of Arizona (UA) Robert Varady Research Prof., Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, UA Gregg Garfin, Deputy Director, Institute for the Study of Planet Earth, UA Subhrajit Guhathakurta, Professor, School of Planning, ASU. The grant, which addresses water and energy from a combined management perspective, was one of 12 selected from 58 submitted.

MA student Scott Kelley presents "Arizona's Energy-Water Nexus: Electrical Generation and Associated Water Consumption" at Southwest Users Group annual meeting (11.02.07)

Scott Kelley presented findings from part of his MA thesis research, directed by Professor Mike Pasqualetti, at SWUG annual conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Oct. 31. The Southwest Users Group (SWUG) annual conference brings together GIS users from Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. For more details about the meeting, see http://www.swuggis.org/

91st Arizona Town Hall, "Land Use Challenges and Choices for the 21st Century" includes contributions from Geographical Sciences faculty (11.02.07)

Professors Patricia Gober, Mike Pasqualetti and Tony Brazel contributed to the background report prepared for the 2007 Arizona Town Hall, held in Prescott, Arizona Oct. 28-31.
Arizona Town Hall is a private, nonprofit civic organization created in 1962 to increase citizens’ understanding of the many facets of the state's economic, cultural and social life. Twice each year, the Arizona Town Hall brings together a wide cross-section of approximately 150 prominent Arizona citizens to consider and discuss a topic of major concern to Arizona's future.
Patricia Gober edited the background report, which will be combined with recommendations from the Town Hall into a final report that will be widely distributed to Arizona public officials, community and business leaders. Mike Pasqualetti wrote a chapter dealing with the role of urban energy demand on rural landscape quality, and Tony Brazel contributed to a chapter on land use and environmental quality. Background report (28.5 mb PDF)

Paul Torrens is featured in "The Futurist" Magazine (11.01.07)

The November/December issue of "The Futurist" magazine, features the work of Assistant Professor Paul Torrens. The article, "Predicting Panic" opens with the questions "Wnen does a crowd become a mob? And what can public safety and security professionals do to predict, prevent, or control it?" The full article is available at http://www.wfs.org/Nov-Dec%20Files/N-D2007_scenarios.pdf.

Chris Lukinbeal introduces "Shane" at Phoenix Art Museum, Sunday Nov. 11 (10.31.07)

As part of the Phoenix Art Museum's "Westerns in the West" movie series, Chris Lukinbeal, Assistant Professor in the School of Geographical Sciences, will be introducing the film "Shane" and leading a discussion after its showing. The program will begin at 1 pm; admission is free. Westerns in the West is sponsored by ASU’s Center for Film, Media and Popular Culture. George Steven’s 1953 masterpiece Shane, is a classical tale of America’s frontier myth that situates transplanted Europeans in a new and empty landscape (space) for their cultivation (place). Shane mediates this myth by framing landscape as a contested place of ranchers and farmers. The hero, Shane, embodies the paradox of the frontier: moral civility (civilization, place) and savage, violent wilderness (nature, space). Filmed near Jackson Hole Wyoming, the Grand Tetons symbolize uncivilized space looming over the contested formation of civilized place.

Arizona Republic features Arizona Indicators project, with contributions by Professors O hUallachain and Gober (10.29.07)

Sunday's Arizona Republic describes ASU's Arizona Indicators project, an initiative to aid in community planning by making key information about Arizona easily accessible. The School of Geographical Sciences is a partner in this effort, with leadership from Breandan O hUallachain and Patricia Gober. To find out more about the project, and explore its interactive maps and digital dashboard, see http://www.asu.edu/indicators/.

NEH Grand Canyon NP project, Ph.D. student Yolonda Youngs, featured in upcoming ASU Research Magazine. (10.27.07)

The upcoming edition of the ASU Research Magazine will feature an article profiling a recent trip to Grand Canyon National Park with the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) “Interpreting America’s Historic Places: Nature, Culture, and History at the Grand Canyon” project team led by Dr. Paul Hirt (Department of History). Yolonda Youngs participated in the grant writing for this project that is now funding her dissertation research into the visual landscapes and iconography of Grand Canyon National Park. The online edition of ASU Magazine is available for this article at: http://researchmag.asu.edu/2007/09/outdoor_classroomgrande.html

Julia Koschinsky (GeoDa Center) present findings on rental spillovers at ACSP in a paper co-authored with Luc Anselin (10.24.07)

Julia Koschinsky presented the research findings of a co-authored paper with Luc Anselin on spillover effects of un-assisted rental housing on single-family home values at the Annual Meeting of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) in Milwaukee, WI, Oct. 2007. In their paper, they are the first to compare impacts of subsidized rental units to those of unsubsidized units, by zoning area. They find that neither subsidized nor unsubsidized rental units in multi-family or neighborhood commercial zones have any impacts on nearby property values (of homes in either multi-family or single-family zones). However, new rental units in single-family zoning areas have negative property value impacts on homes in these areas. These differential effects are masked by traditional model specifications applied in the existing literature. Julia is affiliated with the School of Geographical Science’s GeoDa Center for Geospatial Analysis and Computation.

Julia Koschinsky (GeoDa Center) receives U.S. HUD grant for dissertation research (10.24.07)

Julia Koschinsky received a competitive grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to complete her dissertation on modeling spatial spillover effects from rental to owner housing at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The dissertation improves traditional time series-based methods to measure spatial spillover effects through the application of spatial methods and spatial concepts. Dr. Luc Anselin is the PI on the project. Julia is affiliated with the School of Geographical Science’s GeoDa Center for Geospatial Analysis and Computation.

Tony Brazel speaks at two conferences, Ecological Society of America and National Council of Geographic Education (10.22.07)

Tony Brazel was an invited speaker at two recent conferences: In August, he spoke at a special Symposium on "Effects of Human Choices on Characteristics of Urban Ecosystems", at the Annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America held in San Jose, CA. The write up of the symposium appears in ESA Reports, Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America, pp 404-409.
He also was invited to make a presentation on “Changing Urban Climates” at a special session on “Climate Variation and Change” of the National Council of Geographic Education’s Annual Meeting in October held in Oklahoma City. Session participants have contributed a chapter to a book by the same title as the session advertised on the NCGE website at www.ncge.org.

ASU students win honors at 2007 meeting of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers (10.22.07)

Many ASU students and some faculty participated in the 70th Annual Meeting of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers in Long Beach, CA, Oct. 17-20. ASU students continue a tradition of excellence at these meetings and two of ours received distinguished awards in Long Beach. Ann Fletchall received the President's Award for Outstanding Paper by a Ph.D. Student for "The Spectacle of the Festival." Arianna Fernandez received the Cultural Geography Fieldwork Scholarship for "The Pro's Ranch Market Landscape: Latino Community Identity through Commercial Space in Metropolitan Phoenix."
In addition to these award winners, other graduate students presenting papers were Casey Allen, John Finn, Der-Shiuaun Lee, Bryan Paris, Darren Ruddell, Lindsey Sutton, and Yolonda Youngs. Faculty Daniel Arreola, Robert Balling, Patricia Gober and Christopher Lukinbeal presented or authored papers.

Architect Magazine: "Paul Torrens Learns how People Navigate Urban Spaces" (10.17.07)

The current edition of Architect Magazine features the work of Assistant Professor Paul Torrens in modeling behavior of crowds. The article, describing the Torrens' work in modeling based on the premise that crowds are made up of individuals endowed with unique behavioral traits, is currently available here.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change wins Nobel Peace Prize; two Geographical Sciences faculty are contributors (10.16.07)

The Nobel Peace Prize award to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recognizes the work of the IPCC’s many contributors for “their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.” (http://nobelprize.org)

Two School of Geographical Sciences faculty were among these contributors. Robert Balling, Professor, was a contributing author for two chapters of the IPCC’s Second Assessment Report, and one chapter of the Third Assessment Report. He wrote about climate variability in two of the chapters (addressing the issue of whether or not climate variability spatially and/or temporally has increased) and wrote a section on desertification and climate for the other chapter. Netra Chhetri, Assistant Professor, was involved in the Third and Fourth Assessment Reports. As contributing author to chapters on food, fiber and forest products, he reviewed the literatures on impacts of climate change in agricultural sector and its socio-economic impact in tropical and temperate regions of the world.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established by the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to assess the scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant for the understanding of human induced climate change, its potential impacts and options for mitigation and adaptation. To date the IPCC has completed four full assessment reports and a number of special reports and technical papers.

Emily Talen presents keynote at University of Notre Dame conference on New Urbanism, Oct. 5, 2007 (10.15.07)

The University of Notre Dame chapter of “Students for New Urbanism” held a three-day conference titled “Ask Me About My T-Zone: How We Discuss New Urbanism” Friday, October 5th through Sunday, October 7th at Bond Hall, home of the School of Architecture. The conference allowed students and young practitioners to connect and collaborate with other young people interested in the practice of New Urbanism, to learn the latest new urbanist trends and to contribute ideas and experiences that will help advance the mission to improve the built environment. John Norquist, president and CEO of the Congress for the New Urbanism and Emily Talen, Professor of Urbanism in the School of Geographical Sciences at ASU delivered keynote addresses.

Emily Talen participates in a charrette on low income housing for Sunland Park, New Mexico (10.15.07)

Emily Talen participated in a 3-day charrette in Pasadena, California from Wednesday, October 10th through Friday, October 12th at the offices of Moule/Polyzoides, architects and planners. The charrette examined low-income housing in Sunland Park, New Mexico, a small town on the U.S.-Mexico border, near El Paso, Texas. The participants studied existing conditions, and then proposed design strategies for housing units and neighborhood layouts as well as implementation strategies. The charrette was funded by a grant from the State of New Mexico.

Casey Allen receives NSF funding for dissertation research (10.10.07)

As part of the National Science Foundation’s initiative to bring science into K-12 classrooms, Casey Allen was recently awarded a highly-competitive year-long Fellowship for 2007-08, while he completes his dissertation. This award provides Fellows the opportunity to work with teachers and students to enrich science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) content for their K-12 partners through inquiry-based instruction. Specifically, Case works with Sheila Wilson’s seventh-grade Integrated Science classes at Anderson Junior High in Chandler School District, where he brings “geographical science” thinking into the classroom. Case was selected for the program based on his work with the Arizona Geographic Alliance, his dissertation topic that assesses student learning of environmental processes, and his involvement with the MAS in Geographic Education program. The “Down to Earth” GK-12 program at ASU is led by Dr. B. Ramakrishna of the School of Materials Science and Engineering. More information ASU’s “Down to Earth” program can be found at: http://gk12.asu.edu/, and additional information about the NSF Graduate Teaching Fellows is at: http://www.nsfgk12.org/.

"It's not a weather record until he says it is" -- Arizona Republic article features Randy Cerveny (10.08.07)

The Sunday, October 8 edition of the Arizona Republic featured Professor Randy Cerveny on the front page, and describes his new responsibility for researching and verifying weather records, from deadliest tornado to highest temperature. This project, sponsored by the World Meteorological Organization, is a new tool to help confirm climate shifts. See the full article at http://www.azcentral.com, and explore Dr. Cerveny's World Weather / Climate Extremes Archive at wmo.asu.edu.

Soe Myint presents paper on vegetation cover in relation to urban heat island, at SW US Region ASPRS symposium (10.07.07)

Dr. Soe Myint, Assistant Professor of Geography, presented a paper at the Southwest US Region, American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing Symposium, held in Tucson, Arizona on October 5. Myint spoke about "Exploring spatial patterns of vegetation covers in relation to the urban heat island effect". The symposium was held in collaberation with the National Phenological Network (http://usanpn.org/), a newly-formed organization whose objective is to establish a continental-scale network of observations demonstrating how seasonal and interannual variations in climate influence periodic plant and animal life cycle events.

Yolonda Youngs receives NEH funding for doctoral research (10.07.07)

Yolonda Youngs recently received funding for her doctoral research from the National Endowment for the Humanities “Interpreting America’s Historic Places: Nature, Culture, and History at the Grand Canyon” as part of the “We The People” Initiative Collaboration. Working with a project team lead by Dr. Paul Hirt (Department of History), the Grand Canyon Association, and the National Park Service, this project explores Grand Canyon National Park as a historical and cultural landscape. We will explore the ways that this unique place has influenced American science, art, environmental values, popular culture, tourism, and leisure. To accomplish these goals, the project team will develop an interactive website and DVD exploring the human history of the Grand Canyon; a pedestrian audiotour of the Grand Canyon Village historic district and various locations on the North Rim and along the trails in the inner gorge; brochures for park visitors; “traveling trunks” for public school teachers with curriculum and classroom materials; training seminars for park interpreters; and public lectures. For more details about the project and personnel, see the CLAS website, or the ASU Department of History website for the project.

GeoFest Conference, Oct. 27, Features English Language Learner Adaptations (10.06.07)

The ongoing crisis in Arizona's English Language Learner (ELL) education program makes periodic headlines over lawsuits. To hear some good news on this issue, please consider attending this annual teacher conference of the School of Geographical Science's Arizona Geographic Alliance. You will learn of the results of a quarter-million dollar National Geographic Society grant: lessons especially designed to teach geography, reading, and writing to both mainstream and ELL will be demonstrated. To obtain registration information, please visit http://alliance.la.asu.edu/azga/ and click on GeoFest 2007.

Randy Cerveny appears on Weather Channel, premiering Oct. 5 (10.05.07)

Professor Randy Cerveny appears as an expert for a new episode of the Weather Channel's "Epic Conditions." The episode features Arizona Skydiving, and will premier on Friday, October 5. It will be repeated, in rotation with other episodes, through November 23.

Kevin McHugh in ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies (10.01.07)

Kevin E. McHugh. 2007. Un-poetically “Man” Dwells, ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies. Vol. 6, No. 2.

Anthony Brazel, Patricia Gober, Seung-Jae Lee, Susanne Grossman-Clarke, Joseph Zehnder, Brent Hedquist, and Erin Comparri, in Climate Research (10.01.07)

Anthony Brazel, Patricia Gober, Seung-Jae Lee, Susanne Grossman-Clarke, Joseph Zehnder, Brent Hedquist, and Erin Comparri. 2007. Dynamics and determinants of urban heat island change (1990-2004) in Phoenix, Arizona USA. Climate Research 33: 171-182.

Paul Torrens in Computers, Environment and Urban Systems (10.01.07)

Paul M Torrens.; Nara, Atsushi. 2007. Modeling gentrification dynamics: A hybrid approach. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems ,Vol. 31, pp 337-361.

Mike Pasqualetti presents paper at the Alternative Energy Expo in Tucson, Sept. 15 (09.26.07)

The Expo, which ran Sept 14-15, drew 10,000 people. Mike’s presentation outlined the status of renewable energy development in Arizona, concluding that wind and geothermal, while helpful, will play a small role in the state when compared to future contribution from solar energy.

Tony Brazel explains Urban Heat Island in Arizona Republic (09.23.07)

The September 22 issue of the Arizona Republic featured a column by Professor Tony Brazel, discussing Phoenix's urban heat island; its cause and impact on Phoenix-area temperatures. The article is available at http://www.azcentral.com.

Mike Pasqualetti presents paper at the Annual Meeting of the Arizona Hydrological Society, Tucson, August 31 (09.01.07)

Mike and graduate student Scott Kelley have been working on the water costs of Arizona’s electricity under contract for the Arizona Water Institute. They have produced maps detailing the export and import of water embodied in the traded electricity with neighboring states, the water use for each of the sources of electricity in the state, and they have made a first estimate of how much water is lost to evaporation and bank storage from the large hydro-electric dams serving the state.

Arizona Geographic Alliance training teachers nationally in Geography Action! (08.20.07)

A team of Arizona's specialists led a special training of teachers from across the country in how to teach the National Geography Society GA! theme of Asia, while also helping students practice skills in language arts and mathematics. Teachers from across the country converged on Washington D.C. this summer to be treated to a special training in the GeoLiteracy and GeoMath programs developed in the School of Geographical Sciences.

One-stop Source for K-12 Maps: The Arizona Geographic Alliance website (08.20.07)

A collaboration between Barbara Trapido-Lurie of the School of Geographical Sciences, her cartography students, and Arizona's K-12 teachers has led to a one-stop source for classroom maps (http://alliance.la.asu.edu/azga/ and click on maps). This summer, a milestone was reached of the 100,000th map downloaded.

School launches fourth year of MAS/GIS program on August 20 (08.20.07)

The MAS-GIS program is now in its fourth year, and the new group of 17 students began the one-year experience on Monday, August 20^th. This year’s cohort includes three international students and undergraduates from the University of Missouri, Texas A&M, Colorado State, Oregon State, Michigan State, and one from the University of Arizona. They will complete the two academic semesters, attending four and five nights a week, and at the end of the eight-week summer session, they will hopefully all join our existing 55 graduates.

After meeting in the new lab for 90 minutes, the group attended a reception at the University Club where they were joined by new School Director Luc Anselin, new faculty member Emily Talen, our new division dean Linda Lederman, instructors in the MAS-GIS program, and a dozen or more MAS-GIS alumni. Following welcoming remarks, each of the alumni spoke about their experience with the MAS-GIS program and how valuable their degree has become in the ever-expanding world of geospatial technologies.

DCDC, WaterSim in the Arizona Republic (08.12.07)

ASU’s Decision Center for a Desert City and their software WaterSim received ample coverage in an article titled “Choosing a Future for Arizona”. To read the full article, go to azcentral.com and search for “DCDC”.

Rob Edsall Travels to Helsinki, Moscow (08.01.07)

In early August, Rob Edsall traveled to Helsinki and Moscow to present two papers and take part in activities of the Commission on Visualization and Virtual Environments of the International Cartographic Association.

Rob Edsall Elected Director of CGIS (07.31.07)

Rob Edsall was recently elected to be a Director of the Cartography and Geographic Information Society, the national disciplinary society for Cartography and GIS. He joins Libby Wentz on the Board of Directors of the society, which sponsors scholarships, hosts major disciplinary conferences, coordinates communication among government, academia, and industry, and advocates for geography’s role in the dynamic subdisciplines. One of his duties as a Director is co-chairing the Program Committee for AutoCarto 2008, one of the premier conventions for cartography and GIScience research in the US.

Edsall, Wentz Win USDA Grant (07.31.07)

Rob Edsall and Libby Wentz were recently awarded a grant from the US Department of Agriculture to develop decision support tools (GIS and visualization) enabling local water managers and landowners to understand sinks of Nitrogen in estuaries and stream ecosystems. The $300,000 grant, led by scientists at the University of Rhode Island’s Watershed Hydrology Laboratory, includes $50,000 for research at the School of Geographical Sciences.

Geography Helps Boost Reading Comprehension (07.20.07)

Transdisciplinary collaboration between College of Teacher Education and Leadership and the School of Geographical Sciences reveals the power of geography to improve reading comprehension. The Summer 2007 issue of the prestigious journal Theory and Research in Social education published the largest controlled study on role of content integration in building reading skills. This bi-state study of OVER 2500 Arizona and Michigan students reveals that integration of geography content with reading skills led to statistically significant improvement in reading comprehension scores in Grades 5 through 8.

Dr. Torrens’ research widely printed (07.12.07)

Research by Dr. Torrens has been making its way into popular science print recently. His crowd modeling work was featured in Vanity Fair in May and appears in Italy’s Il Corriere della Sera newspaper and Focus Magazine this month. Livescience is also running a feature on his crowd model, complete with a narrated movie of his simulations. His research on geosimulation features in PC Magazine’s “Future Watch” in this month’s issue.

ASU Geography alum makes space fame (06.26.07)

James Rice, of ASU’s Mars Space Flight Facility, was one of the initial eight inductees into the Space Camp Hall of Fame at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL. [more]

Crowd modeling research in the news (05.30.07)

Research by Dr. Torrens to build and apply a reusable model of crowd behavior has been garnering some attention in the press and is featured here, here, here, here, and here. The research made the front page of the University’s newspaper and his work is also currently featured on the front page of the University’s Website.

An interview with Torrens was broadcast to >1 million listeners of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s “As it happens” show. [this is a direct link to the broadcast show; the piece with Dr. Torrens begins at time-point 15:00.]

A fuller description of the research work is featured here, and you may download a video in Windows Media or Podcast format below.

crowds Windows Media Player (15.8 MB | .avi)

Podcast (20 MB | .m4v)

Wei Li Presents two keynote addresses at New Zealand conferences (05.30.07)

On May 15, Associate Professor Wei Li discussed “Changing Immigration, Settlement and Identities in the Pacific Rim” as the keynote address for a national conference on “Pathways, Circuits and Crossroads: New Research on Population, Migration and Community Dynamics” in Wellington, New Zealand. Earlier in the year, Li also presented a keynote address on “Immigration and Pacific Rim Diversity: inside and beyond academy” for the BRCSS New Settler Researchers Network National Conference, held in Auckland, New Zealand, February, 2007.

IHR Competitive Seed Grant Program - Spring 2007 Seed Grant Projects (05.18.07 - 05.26.07)

Prof. Arreola and Lindsey Sutton participated in a pilot Border Field Institute excursion this past May. In Spring 2008, Arreola will teach a graduate seminar titled Nature and Culture in the Sky Islands Borderlands. Read more.

Director and Foundation Professor Anselin is elected to National Academy of Sciences (04.29.07)

Professor Luc Anselin, Director of the School of Geographical Sciences since Fall 2007, is ASU's 13th and newest National Academy of Sciences member. The National Academy of Sciences, annually elects members with distinguished and continuing achievements in original research, and currently has 2,041 active members. The Academy acts as an official adviser to the federal government, upon request, in any matter of science or technology. For more details, see press release.

Dr. Paul M. Torrens earns prestigious CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation (04.11.07)

Dr. Paul M. Torrens has earned the National Science Foundation’s most sought-after award for junior faculty, the NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award, one of only two awarded in Geography this year. This is a five-year, $400,000 award to Torrens and the School of Geographical Sciences in support of his proposal, “Exploring the dynamics of individual pedestrian and crowd behavior in dense urban settings: a computational approach.” Torrens will develop new science in support of geocomputational modeling of pedestrian movement and crowd behavior amid dense urban environments, and state-of-the-art simulations that will serve as a test-bed for experimentation with ideas, hypotheses, and plans that would otherwise lie beyond the reach of academic inquiry.

The School of Geographical Sciences is now home to two current CAREER Award holders; this is an unprecedented track-record for junior faculty in any Geography Department. Dr. Mark Schmeeckle is also a NSF CAREER Award recipient.

Dr. Paul M. Torrens is part of a team to receive a $399,280 Science Foundation Arizona Competitve Advantage Award (04.11.07)

Dr. Paul M. Torrens is part of a team to receive a Competitive Advantage Award from Science Foundation Arizona. The Competitive Advantage Award is an investment by SFAz in research of exceptional quality to create a competitive advantage for future Federal funding. The Award supports activities necessary to the development of outstanding and highly competitive research and technology development proposals. The Award is for one year for $399,280, to explore “Environmental and Economic Impacts of Material Used in Future Urban Development.”

Rob Edsall Named “Best Overall Professor” (04.05.07)

Rob Edsall was named “Best Overall Professor” at ASU in the April 5, 2007, “Best of ASU” issue of the State Press Magazine.

Geographical Sciences takes a leading roll in dealing with the high cost of textbooks (03.20.07)

A constant complaint of students taking their first laboratory science class is the incredibly high cost of textbooks. In recent years internet readings have emerged as a low-cost alternative, but students and faculty alike have lacked insight on the comparative impact of online versus hardcopy readings on student performance. A seven year analysis of 1751 introductory lab science students in Geography at Arizona State University, published in Science Magazine in March of 2007, revealed no statistically significant differences in class performance between users of online and hardcopy readings.

8^th annual GELSS Research Symposium (02.09.07)

The Graduates in Earth, Life, and Social Sciences (GELSS) would like to invite you to participate in our annual research symposium highlighting graduate research on the ASU campus!

WHO: calling all graduate students in earth, life, and social sciences, and related fields
WHAT: 8^th annual GELSS Research Symposium
WHEN: Friday, February 9, 2007; symposium begins at 8:45am, keynote speaker at 3pm
WHERE: Old Main, ASU Main campus

The symposium is an all-day event, which includes podium and poster presentations by graduate students, as well as breakfast and lunch. Please also join us in welcoming our keynote speaker, Dr. Paul Robbins from the University of Arizona, who will be giving a lecture entitled, “Fractured Ecology: Conservation, Predation, and Micro-Political Economy in Rajasthan, India.”

The GELSS symposium is a great way to meet other graduate students and share your work in an interdisciplinary setting! All stages of research are welcome!

More information about the panel discussion (featuring Paul Robbins) to be held the night before the symposium (February 8) will be forthcoming.

Patent-pending Research Work in the School of Geographical Sciences Picked Up for Commercialization (02.01.07)

Patent-pending research by Dr. Paul Torrens on harvesting, analyzing, and visualizing the properties of wireless data transmissions has been added to Arizona Technology Enterprises’ technology portfolio. (More details of the technology are outlined here and an example of the technology in action is available here.) AzTE is the University’s technology commercialization company and brings together ASU inventors and industry to transform scientific discoveries into marketable products and services.

Prof. Schmeeckle Leads Soil Erosion Research Team (01.16.07)

Read the full article.

Mike Pasqualetti presents paper at the Alternative Energy Expo in Tucson, Sept. 15 (10.26.06)

2006 ASU Homecoming (10.20.06 - 10.21.06)

We hope you will attend. Click here for important information.

Dr. Torrens receives $1.75 million in funding for research projects (10.01.06)

Dr. Paul M. Torrens has received two grants for his research work. Along with Dr. William Griffin and Dr. Jennifer Fewell from ASU’s Center for Social Dynamics and Complexity, Torrens was awarded a $725,000 grant over three years from the National Science Foundation (Human and Social Dynamics) for a project entitled “Modeling time, space, and behavior: Combining ABM & GIS to create typologies of playgroup dynamics in preschool children”. Torrens was also part of a team in the College of Design that was awarded $1 million over four years from the Herberger Foundation for a project entitled “Digital Phoenix”.

Dr. Jeff Dozier Lecture (09.19.06)

The lecture will be held in SCOB room 335, and will begin at 3:45pm. Refreshments will be available at 3:30pm. For more information on this and our other Fall colloquia, please see our Events page.

Dr. Torrens’ work showcased at ASU Emerging Technologies Expo (09.12.06)

Research by Dr. Paul M. Torrens in monitoring wireless Internet signals will be showcased at ASU’s Emerging Technologies Expo on September 12^th from 9am to 4pm in the Memorial Union. The ASU Technology Expo is a combination of exhibits and education to showcase the exciting new discoveries emerging from the University.

Grad Student Orientation (08.18.06)

The 2006 Fall Grad Student Orientation is Friday, August 18^th. This is a mandatory orientation for all School of Geographical Sciences grad students and faculty as the launching of the school, changes in DGS procedures and requirements and the School will be noted. All graduate students will receive updated materials, as will faculty. It will be held in SCOB room 252. The orientation will run from 8am-10am. Refreshments will be served at 7:30am.

MAS/GIS Graduate Students have their orientation at 6pm on Monday, August 21^st in SCOB room 316.

Dr. Brazel Appointed as Acting Director (07.17.06)

Tony Brazel has been appointed Acting Director of the School of Geographical Sciences. This announcement comes from Alan Artibise, Dean of the Division of Social Sciences in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Dr. Brazel will be replacing Richard Aspinall, who has accepted a new position in Scotland.

Drs. Comeaux and Mings Honored (07.03.06)

Drs. Malcolm L. Comeaux and Robert Mings have been selected to receive the National Council for Geographic Education’s Distinguished Mentor Award for 2006. The awards will be presented at the Annual Meeting of the NCGE in Lake Tahoe in October this year. Specially designated Distinguished Mentor sessions at the meeting will consist of papers that reflect the academic fruits of their mentorship.

The award honors university faculty who have mentored graduate students in geography and geography education. Drs. Comeaux and Mings are additionally honored for their work in the State of Arizona through the Arizona Geographic Alliance. The awards recognize that Dr. Comeaux’s and Dr. Mings’ creative efforts and those of the teachers they have mentored through the Alliance have brought positive change to K-12 classrooms across the nation.

Professors Larson and Shaeffer Win Awards (05.01.06)

Dr. Kelli Larson has earned a Catalyst Grant from ASU?s Institute for Social Science Research. Along with an urban ecologist from Portland State University they will research Patterns and Drivers of Residential Landscaping Practices: Implications for Water Demand and Environmental Quality.

Dr. John Shaeffer has been awarded the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences “Distinguished Teaching Award for Lecturers” for the 2005 - 2006 academic year.

Kay Pealstrom Nominated for STATUS Award (04.26.06)

STATUS (Student Affairs Tribute to University Staff) recognizes administrative, classified and service professional staff across the campuses who make a difference by providing continuous, outstanding service to students at Arizona State University. more

Geography Professors Win Top Honors (04.20.06)

Dr. Kevin McHugh has been nominated as professor of the year by the ASU Parents Association. The award from the ASU Parent’s Association rewards faculty who have a passion for education, exhibit undergraduate teaching excellence and stand out in their area of research or creative activity. more

Dr Rob Edsall has been selected as a winner of the 2006-2007 Centennial Professor Award for “his realistic and proven dedication to the community and his ability to demonstrate why geography matters” The award is given out to reward community service, and to compensate, recognize and encourage excellent teaching and leadership in and out of the classroom.

ASU Geography Now Manages GIS Listserv (04.10.06)

The Geography Department has taken over coordinating the ASU GIS listserv. This listserv is a means of sharing information about GIS-related events, news, and opportunities of interest to ASU faculty, staff and students. The list presently has 240 subscribers. more

Two ASU Geography Students Win Awards at the AAG (04.03.06)

Tim Collins won the Gilbert F. White Award of the Hazards Specialty Group of the AAG for his paper entitled, “The Production of Hazard Vulnerability: The Case of People, Forests and Fire in Arizona’s White Mountains.”

Honorable mention was given to Neil Barton (Arizona State University) for his paper: “North Pacific jet streams and their relationship to seasonal precipitation anomalies across the Western United States.”

Recent Student Accolades (03.07.06)

James A Miller was awarded Best Oral Presentation for “The Changing Bioclimate of Las Vegas, NV”. at the Sixth AMS Symposium on the Urban Environment, held in Atlanta, GA.

Olivia Montalvo received 2nd place for the Cultural Geography Specialty group (CGSG) Student Paper Competition for the master’s level.

Stephanie Deitrick has been awarded a $1000 Cartography and Geographic Information Society (CaGIS) Scholarship, a highly competitive national award given to just one applicant each year.

Additionally Stephanie and Rob Edsall have been selected to present at the International Spatial Data Handling meeting in Vienna in July 2006. The paper is titled “The influence of uncertainty visualization on decision making: an empirical evaluation.”

Billie Turner, national leader in land change science, joins School (03.14.00)

For details, see ASU News.

Alan Murray joins School faculty (02.28.00)

The School of Geographical Sciences welcomes Dr. Alan Murray as a new faculty member, arriving Fall 2008. Dr. Murray is currently Director of the Center for Urban and Regional Analysis and Professor of Geography at The Ohio State University. His research interests include Geographic Information Science, urban, regional and natural resource planning, applications of quantitative methods, location modeling, and spatial decision support systems. For more detail see his current web site.

Sergio Rey joins School faculty (02.23.00)

The School of Geographical Sciences welcomes Dr. Sergio Rey as new faculty. Dr. Rey, currently Chair of the Department of Geography at San Diego State University, researches integrated multiregional modeling, region and urban socioeconomics, spatial econometrics and spatial data analysis, regional economics, and open source geocomputation. Dr. Rey will be in residence at ASU effective Fall 2008. View CV: Rey

Janet Franklin joins School faculty (02.23.00)

The School of Geographical Sciences welcomes Dr. Janet Franklin as new faculty. Dr. Franklin is currently at San Diego State University, Professor and Associate Chair of the Department of Biology Adjunct Professor of Geography. Her research focuses on landscape ecology, plant ecology, biogeography, biophysical remote sensing, digital terrain analysis, and geographic information systems. Dr. Franklin will be in residence at ASU effective Fall 2009. View CV: Franklin

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