document

more are planned.But numbers do not tell the whole

story. They do not necessarily answer the question: what has happened to the Department—and of equal importance—what will happen to the Department? One answer lies in the attitude of everyone associated with the program. I believe that everyone is imbued with a sense of excitement and commitment. Most obvious is the prolifi c output of scholarship. It is also the driving force behind new initiatives such as the GeoVISTA Center and the MGIS program. I also believe that everyone is willing to take risks to do things differently in order to do things better. The WC-GIS program was a huge gamble because no one had done anything like it before. The Philadelphia Field Program was a radical change in ways of teaching and learning.

So where are we going in the future? Well one answer is that I don’t know. But I do know that we will do things with excitement, commitment, and a willingness to think outside of the typical Departmental box. If I had to speculate, I would see interesting blends between resident and distance education. For example, what would happen if we offered graduates short courses in the latest developments in parts of geography—courses that would be valuable in building career skills? Our Department will no longer be physically defi ned by University Park. For example, the MGIS program will have faculty in New York City and New Zealand. What would happen if we were to offer you opportunities to become structurally linked to the teaching and research programs of the Department?

I want to leave you with those thoughts and ask you to consider what we might become and how we might continue to grow and to change in innovative ways. Please let us know what you think in person and electronically. We’d be delighted to hear from you.

Roger Downs, Department Head

From the HeadReturning to the Department

after a year’s sabbatical, it is tempting to think about changes that have occurred during that time. However, I want to think back to earlier times in order to see who we are now and what we might become in the future. When I arrived in 1970, there were 12 faculty and two

staff members in what was essentially a human geography Department and, for those of you who can remember, it was one of the best programs in the world.

Today, there are 28 tenure-track faculty members (with two faculty holding senior administrative positions outside of the Department). There are 16 fi xed-term Ph.D. staff members and upwards of 15 staff members in the main offi ce, the GeoVISTA Center, the Dutton e-Education Institute, and the Wetlands Institute). There are at least eight additional people in other departments, institutes, and working independently in the community who are formally connected to the Department.

The fi rst reaction is to the impressive growth in absolute numbers. But I want to point to something that is equally impressive: diversity in people, interests, and activities. We have a remarkably broad Department. Banks claim to be full-service in their adverts; I believe that we are a full-service Geography program. We are arrayed around physical geography, nature-society studies, GIS, and human geography. We have moved from a complete focus on resident instruction to a program with a growing emphasis on distance education. The online WC-GIS program has awarded 434 certifi cates to students. We offer online courses through the ESRI Authorized Training Program. The new online Masters in GIS (MGIS) program will add to our strength in distance education. Through Lucky Yapa’s inspiration, we are at the forefront of service learning. Starting with his work in Philadelphia, we have offered service learning courses in Mexico and India, and

In this Issue:New Alumni, New Hires...........2Editor’s Note........................2Online Masters in GIS............3Students Win Awards.............4Faculty Accolades..................5Current Research:Paul Desanker......................6Donna Peuquet.....................7Lakshman Yapa.....................8

Volunteering in India.............9Filming the National Parks.....10Interviewing our Alumni.......11Alumni News.................12-13Moving On.........................14Keep in Touch!....................15AAG Alumni Party................16Volume 2, Issue 2Summer/Fall 2004

Contact us:The Pennsylvania State UniversityDepartment of Geography302 Walker BuildingUniversity Park, PA 16802Telephone: 814-865-3433Fax: 814-863-7943E-mail: [email protected]

DEPARTMENT OF

EOGRAPHYCOLLEGE OF EARTH AND MINERAL SCIENCES

G

Looking northeast, a rainbow appears over Walker Building and the new Information Sciences and Technology Building.

Fall 2003B.S. Paul Simmons II (We apologize for accidentally omitting Paul from our last issue.)

M.S. and Ph.D. Nathan Currit, Ph.D. (W. Easterling) “Environmental Dependency: Maquiladoras as Drivers of Land Use and Land Cover Change in Chihuahua, Mexico”Rachel Kurtz, Ph.D. (B. Yarnal) “Modeling Impacts of Land-Use/Land-Cover Change on Terrestrial Carbon Storage in the Northeastern United States”Latha Baskaran, M.S. (M. Gahegan) “Analyzing the Effect of Topography on Remote Sensing Imagery”

Spring 2004B.A.Alice Yahner

B.S. Environmental Option:Lisa Alexander Beth Auman Adam Bender Francis DiCicco Molly DurkinCatherine FolkNathan Jones

From the EditorIn this position, I have the unique opportunity to work with everyone—undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, staff, College staff, and alumni. If there’s one thing that we could do better, it would be to connect our bright and talented students with you—our successful alumni. This could simply be a willingness to answer students’ questions about your job. I want to coordinate recruiting and job opportunity discussions with you here in the Department. If your company is hiring, please let us know! We can circulate job announcements to our students and recent graduates for you. Please help us to help our students learn more about the diverse job opportunities available. Thank you for staying in touch, and, as always, I am open to your suggestions and ideas. ~Anna Brendle (B.S. Geography ‘02) [email protected], or call 814-863-4562

New Alumni: Recent Geography Graduates

2 Penn State Geography Summer/Fall 2004

Michael Kulinski Amanda McCarron General Option:Michael ConnollyHeather Di Egidio Andrew Greenwald Jessica Greenblatt Lauren Kologe Andrew Leh Michael Loder

Robert Martin Kristina Messmer Ha Thach Geographic Information Systems Option:Daniel Biggio Anthony Calamito Michael Clements Zach Eckenroth Charles FeldmanJerri Glassman

Jessica Harper Charles HildenbrandBenjamin HollandRichard MurphyTodd PetoRobert PontzerGregory PrawdzikLee PuskarPrithvi ShenoyJason Spangler Chaihao TsuiKelly VanderbrinkAnne Zajac Urban & Regional Development Option:Chris Dorney Jonathan Harahush William Smith Kristen Wilson Morgan Windram

M.S. and Ph.D. R. Matthew Beaty, Ph.D., (A. Taylor) “Multiscale Analysis of Fire Regimes and Forest Structure in Mixed Conifer Forests in the Lake Tahoe Basin, California, USA”Amy Griffi n, Ph.D., (A. MacEachren) “Understanding How Scientists Use Data-Display Devices for Interactive Visual Computing with Geographical Models”Amy Heasley, M.S., (B. Yarnal) “Perceptions of Climate Forecasts by Pennsylvania Community Water Systems Managers”Christine Jocoy, Ph.D., (A. Glasmeier) “Learning From the Inside Out: The Social and Spatial Contexts of Learning Within Firms”Birgit Muehlenhaus, M.S.,

Kathy Sherman congratulates Jerri Glassman backstage at the Spring 2004 Commencement.

Job Placement!Beth Auman (B.S. ‘04): Project De-signer, McCarthy Engineering Associ-ates, Bernville, PAMatthew Beaty (Ph.D. ‘04): Post-doctoral Fellow, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Canberra, AustraliaAdam Bender (B.S. ‘04): Land Plan-ner, Ludgate Engineering Corporation, Reading, PA Amy Griffi n (Ph.D. ‘04): Lecturer, School of Physical, Environmental and Mathematical Sciences, University of New South Wales, AustraliaJeff Hermann (B.S. ‘03): GIS Special-ist, Wyle Laboratories, Arlington, VANicola Horne (M.S. ‘04): Fundrais-ing and Marketing Directorate Trainee, Cancer Research UK, London, EnglandChristy Jocoy (Ph.D. ‘04): Assistant Professor, Dept. of Geography, Califor-nia State University, Long Beach, CACorene Matyas (Ph.D. ‘04): Instruc-tor, Department of Geography, Ohio University, Athens, OHLisa Rygel (M.S. ‘04): Instructor, Earth Systems Research Institute (ESRI), Vienna, VASteve Smith (Ph.D. ‘04): Assistant Pro-fessor of Geography, Missouri Southern State University, Joplin, MOChris Steuer (M.S. ‘04): Energy Policy & Programs Associate, Inner City Fund Consulting, Washington, DCRisa Whitson (Ph.D. ‘04): Assistant Professor of Geography and Women’s Studies, Ohio Universrity, Athens, OHKristen Wilson (B.S. ‘04): Environ-mental Planner, Beals & Thomas, Inc., Southborough, MA

(D. O’Sullivan) “The Diffusion of Retail Location-Based Services: Geography and the Privacy Issue”Christopher Steuer, MS, (B. Yarnal) “A Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory and Projection for The University Park Campus of the Pennsylvania State University”Kim Zielinski, M.S., Summer (W. Easterling) “Environmental and Anthropogenic Factors: Modeling the Effects on Fire in Zambia”

Summer/Fall 2004 Penn State Geography 3

New Online Masters in GIS Program

When Kathy Beeler creates reports at her job doing decision support for a Sacramento County welfare department, she uses geographic information systems (GIS). “Many of our questions have a spatial component. In assisting clients in moving from welfare to work, we ask: Where do the clients live? Where are the jobs? Where is the public transportation? Where are the childcare centers?”

Several years ago, she took a course in GIS and discovered Penn State’s Certifi cate in GIS course online, and her employer encouraged her to enroll. “I now have a better understanding of geography. My background is in science [chemistry] and here is this whole area of science that I knew nothing about. I have a deeper understanding of not just how to solve problems, but how to approach them using the ArcView tools,” said Kathy.

Since 1999, The Peter R. Gould Center for Geography Education and Outreach has offered the Certifi cate Program in GIS online through Penn State’s World Campus. Over 1,000 students have enrolled from across the country and around the world. Overwhelmingly, students have asked that Penn State should “seriously think about how to expand the program to a full Masters” (Penn State Outreach Offi ce, 2002).

But David DiBiase—Director of the new John A. Dutton e-Education Institute, then Director of the Gould Center—was thinking ahead of his students. In March 2003, DiBiase and colleague Mark Gahegan

invited 16 GIS industry professionals to the Penn State Department of Geography for a three day meeting to share ideas for the development of a new online professional Masters in GIS (MGIS) program.

This Advisory Board identifi ed over 70 specifi c competencies that MGIS graduates should be expected to have mastered. The Board clustered these qualifi cations into

six new courses, which—when combined with the existing six courses offered in the GIS Certifi cate Program—will form the initial MGIS curriculum.

How is it different from a resident Masters?

The new MGIS program will complement the Geography Department’s existing academic, resident Master of Science degree in Geography. It is designed for professionals to enroll part-time and at any distance from Penn State. The average age of students enrolled is 39, and they complete their courses from places as far away from Penn State as Antarctica.

For example, Kathy fi nished her Masters in Chemistry in the early 1980s. After fi nishing the Certifi cate Program in GIS through the World Campus, she says, “A few months ago, I was working on a spatial analysis project doing spatial joining

in ArcView. Then something came up at work where I needed to fi nd information about Census tracts. I knew exactly where to fi nd the information and how to analyze the patterns that came up.”

Like the Certifi cate Program, the MGIS program operates in a compressed 10-week format, requiring eight to ten hours of student work per week. Most courses are

offered quarterly, with students scheduling three or four courses per year. Most MGIS students will complete their degrees in three years. A fl exible schedule allows students to suspend their studies for one or more quarters and earn the MGIS degree within eight years after their starting date. What’s in the Curriculum?

First-year courses help students develop information literacy and technical competencies to become knowledgeable and skillful users of GIS technologies. Second-year courses prepare students for leadership in their companies or organizations in designing, specifying and managing complex geographic information infrastructures. Third-year courses include electives and an independent study project, encouraging students to apply their new knowledge specifi cally to their fi eld, company, or organization.

The fi nal independent study project includes a formal public

presentation, which takes place at either an appropriate professional conference (such as annual conferences of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association, the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping, or the ESRI Users Conference) or an annual meeting of MGIS students, faculty, and Advisory Board members. A dress rehearsal precedes the fi nal presentation and is open to all students in the program through Web and audio conferencing.

When Can I Apply?Preference is given to students who

are only able to participate part-time and at a distance—students who are effectively excluded from participation in the Geography Department’s resident M.S. program. Applications and informational materials are available online at: www.geog.psu.edu/grad.

Will Enable Full-Time Professionals to Study Part-Time From Anywhere

The John A. Dutton e-Education Institute is working with the Department of Geography and Penn State’s World Campus to offer the new online Masters in Geographic Information Systems degree.

For more information, please visit:The Penn State Department of Geography: www.geog.psu.eduThe College of Earth & Mineral Sciences’ John A. Dutton e-Education Institute: www.e-education.psu.eduPenn State’s World Campus: www.worldcampus.psu.edu

E. Willard Miller Award in Geography: Each year, the Department of Geography recognizes outstanding student work from undergraduates, M.S. students, and Ph.D. students. This year’s winners are:

Stefan Gaston (B.S. student): plans to attend graduate school in geography beginning in

Fall 2005. He studies GIS, remote sensing, the arctic and subarctic, geomorphology, land use/land cover change, and climate change.

Stephen Weaver (M.S. student): researches location-aware mobile t e c h n o l o g i e s . He is primarily interested in how these technologies

may inhibit Fourth A m e n d m e n t rights and the ethical and legal aspects of ubiquitous mobile and GPS technologies.

Guo Chen (Ph.D. student): studies urban geography and spatial analysis with a focus on urban poverty in third-world countries. She plans to teach human geography.

Reuben Rose-Redwood: Discovery Channel documentary “We Built This City: New York” focused on his Manhattan grid street plan research and 3D GIS model of pre-grid topography. He has published “Re-creating the Historical Topography of Manhattan Island” (The Geographical Review 2003) and “The Surveyor’s Model of the World: The Uses and Abuses of History in Introductory Surveying Textbooks” has been accepted to Cartographica (forthcoming 2005).

Chris Steuer: presented “Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the University Park Campus” at the “Colloquium on Environmental Initiatives at Penn State”.

Amy Trauger: the Rural Geography Specialty Group’s Paper Award at the Association of American Geographers’ annual meeting.

Jodi Vender: the Special Recognition Award for distinguished contributions to geography education from the Pennsylvania Geographical Society at its annual meeting last September.

Risa Whitson: the Outstanding Graduate Student Award, Penn State’s Women’s Studies Program.

Graduate Student Achievements: Guo Chen: the Small Grant Award, Urban China Research Network at SUNY Albany offered Guo a Small Grant Award to conduct a survey on urban poor households in Nanjing, China.

Nate Currit: a travel stipend, Department of Geography to present dissertation research at the fi rst LAND open science conference in Morelia, Mexico.

Alistair Geddes: the 2004 Centennial Research Award in Earth and Mineral Sciences, Penn State for his dissertation research.

Dave Jansson: the 2004 Alumni Association Dissertation Award, Penn State Graduate School Alumni Society’s Board of Directors.

Margaret Mwangi: a research grant, International Foundation for Science to undertake her research on Collembola in the Miombo woodlands of Africa. She also contributed a chapter to the book Managing Nutrient Cycles to Sustain Soil Fertility in sub-Saharan Africa.


Geography Students Win Awards, Scholarships, RecognitionUndergraduate Student Achievements:Dave Beausang: G.D. Richardson Scholarship recipient. Dave is applying to medical school after completing his B.S. in geography, with a concentration in GIS. He works in a biochemistry laboratory studying isotopes of modern leaf waxes and Miocene paleosols. Christopher Dorney: the Dean Edward Steidle Memorial Scholar Award. Chris is interested in studying historic preservation planning in Pennsylvania. Devin Yeatman: the Balmat Family Scholarship in Geography. Devin has just fi nished his freshman year and is interested in biogeography and geomorphology. He hopes to work with Dr. Alan Taylor in the Vegetation Dynamics Laboratory, researching fi re histories.Morgan Windram: Ellen Steidle Achievement Award. Morgan is interested in urban planning and ultra-distance running. She will attend graduate school at Penn State in Fall 2004, but fi rst, she plans to run Pennsylvania’s Appalachian Trail—150 miles in three days!

Left: Undergraduate students Molly Durkin and Morgan Windram were awarded paid semester-long internships in Washington D.C. at the National Geographic Society.

Stefan Gaston accepted the undergraduate E. Willard Miller Award in Geography from Dean Eric Barron.

National Geographic Society Internships:Molly Durkin and Morgan Windram were awarded internship positions at the National Geographic Society’s headquarters in Washington DC. Molly will work in the Outreach and Children’s Programs in Fall 2004. Morgan’s position was in the Geography Bee and Educational Programs for Summer 2004.

The College of Earth and Mineral Sciences held its annual Wilson Awards Banquet on April 25, 2004 to reward student achievement, faculty mentoring, recognize faculty commitments to service, celebrate excellence in research, honor excellence in teaching, and reward innovative teaching.


Department Accolades: Faculty Awards & NewsFaculty Achievements:Andrew Carleton: On April 28, USA Today contacted Andrew for a news story, “Plane exhaust putting heat on climate, research suggests”. “It suggests we may be having a double whammy here,” he was quoted, “It’s not good news for the Earth when you’ve got greenhouse gas increases and you’ve got … contrails (that) seem to warm the surface of the Earth.”

Paul Desanker: Since November 2003, Paul has served on the U.S. National Committee for Geodesy and Geophysics of the National Academy of Sciences. He also serves on the National Research Council’s Committee on Metrics for Global Change Research.

David DiBiase: Penn State’s World Campus GIS Certifi cate Program received an ESRI Special Achievement Award. The program is administered through the John A. Dutton e-Education Institute, of which David is Director, and was chosen from over 100,000 GIS user sites worldwide.

Lorraine Dowler: In June, Lorraine accepted an invitation to become the new Director of the Women’s Studies program at Penn State.

Roger Downs: Roger has been appointed Chair of the Geographical Sciences Committee of the National Research Council, which provides independent, objective advice to federal agencies on national and international human-environment and place-based issues. He and Jodi Vender also co-authored a chapter in Gaile & Willmott’s Geography in America at the Dawn of the 21st Century. Amy Glasmeier and Brent Yarnal also contributed chapters.

Colin Flint: At the Association of American Geographers (AAG) centennial meeting in March, Colin received the inaugural “Young Scholar Award in Political Geography” from the Political Geography Specialty Group.

Amy Glasmeier: The AAG recently nominated Amy to serve on the editorial board of Annals of the Association of American Geographers.

Deryck Holdsworth: After his year of service as acting Department Head, Deryck has accepted the position of Director for the Peter R. Gould Center for Geographic Education and Outreach at Penn State.

C. Gregory Knight: Greg and Dr. Marieta Staneva recently published Drought in Bulgaria: A Contemporary Analog for Climate Change: Environmental, Economic and Social Impacts of the Drought 1982-1994. English versions are available in the United Kingdom.

Alan MacEachren: In June, Alan received the Canadian Cartographic Association’s “Award for Exceptional Scholarly Contributions to the Field of Cartography”.

A softcover edition of his book, How Maps Work will also be published for the fi rst time this summer.

Adam Rose: The University of Hawaii’s East-West Center has honored Adam with a 2003-2004 Visiting Fellow appointment. In March and in August 2004, Adam visited Hawaii to work with the environment research group on cooperation on climate change policy within the Pacifi c Rim.

Denice Wardrop: The Center for Coastal Resources Management at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science has appointed Denice as a Fellow for 2004-2006.

Faculty Mentoring Award in Earth & Mineral SciencesElizabeth King (John A. Dutton e-Education Institute): Beth is an instructor in Geography’s World Campus Certifi cate Program in GIS. As volunteer organizer and host of Geography’s annual celebration of GIS Day, Beth has encouraged many high school students and teachers to envision how geographic information technologies can make a difference in their lives, work, and communities.

Brenton Yarnal (professor of geography): Brent is recognized for his outstanding work and commitment in all facets of undergraduate education. He has served as Geography’s Undergraduate Offi cer since 1996 and has led the Department in revising the undergraduate curriculum. Brent researches global change in local places: how people and the places in which they live contribute to global environmental change and how global environmental change affects people and places.

Recognizing Commitment to Service:Lakshman Yapa (professor of geography): Lucky received the 25-Year Service Award for his research combining theories of economic development, postmodern discourse theory, and GIS. Lucky offers the service-learning project as a course to undergraduates at Penn State. Each summer, they work in West Philadelphia to respond to the needs of inner-city communities such as small business development, nutrition and health.

Wilson Award for Excellence in Research:Mark Gahegan (professor of geography): Mark has helped to cement the Department’s reputation as one of the major sites for innovation in GIScience. He is author of over 70 peer-reviewed articles and PI or Co-PI of 25 funded grants. His previously funded research includes visualization, semantics and the construction of meaning, development of neural network classifi ers, geographical analysis of measures of harm due to alcohol abuse, interoperability and data translation, land cover classifi cation and change detection, and spatial data structures and algorithms.


Africa’s Miombo ecosystem includes an expansive area of about three million square kilometers—about a third the area of the continental U.S.—and is home to more than 20 million people. This area includes most of Angola, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique and Tanzania, and parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Botswana and South Africa.

The Miombo ecosystem is a dry woodland area characterized by three dominant tree genera—Brachystegia, Julbernardia and Isoberlinia. It is also relatively poor in soil nutrients, perhaps as a result of long-term export of nutrients from repeated fi re activity. In contrast, so-called Acacia woodlands that co-occur in this region—but over a much smaller

area—have a higher nutrient content, host more palatable grasses, and so, support a much higher density of grazing animals. These grazers in turn, continue to recycle nutrients into the soil.

The Miombo region is predominantly economically poor, with the majority of people practicing subsistence agriculture on small tracts of land—on an average of 2-10 hectares. Fire is widely used as a management tool to clear land and grass. In some less populated areas, shifting cultivation is practiced, with land abandoned every three to fi ve years to compensate for low nutrient contents. In many areas though, high population density has resulted in less shifting cultivation, with people relying on chemical inputs, or getting by on decreasing yields.

We have been studying the ecological viability of utilizing this region for afforestation and reforestation activities

in support of carbon sequestration. Over the last fi ve years, we have been measuring rates of carbon depletion due to changes in land use from woodland to agriculture, and subsequent recovery of soil carbon after abandonment.

We have taken measures along rainfall and landuse intensity gradients at four sites in three countries—Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. We have documented serious depletion of soil carbon in farmed areas, and very low rates of carbon recovery after abandonment. This is contrary to a popular belief that abandonment would allow the ecosystem to recover after

only a few years. Overall, agriculture has reduced the observable soil carbon and nitrogen stocks by an average of 40%. This reduction level is typical of semi-arid and tropical areas, and is likely caused by a phosphorus defi ciency. We are analyzing more samples to verify this. Areas that are planted with trees can build up substantial carbon, both in the soil and above ground, and present a signifi cant economic opportunity for local farmers.

The new Global Environmental Change Lab in 204 Walker is further exploring the functioning of Miombo species to better unders tand

the role of coppice (vegetative regrowth after cutting) in the carbon cycle.

One study is asking questions about relative rates of nitrogen release through biomass burning in coppice versus non-coppice systems, to evaluate the long-term impacts of repeated disturbances on the nitrogen cycle in these systems.

We hypothesize that repeated burning of coppice releases nitrogen from the foliage at a much

faster rate resulting in faster ecosystem impoverishment. The increased conversion of the woodland to agriculture is resulting in increased coppice growth. Ths is, in turn, speeding up the process of nitrogen loss in this system. On the other hand, we are exploring the benefi ts of fi re protection where the coppice, which grows much faster than from seedlings, would act as a more effective mechanism for sequestering carbon through afforestation.

For more information, please visit us online at: www.geog.psu.edu/geclab

Research in Physical Geography:“A Study of Africa’s Miombo Ecosystem” By Dr. Paul Desanker

Young men sell charcoal from miombo trees along a main road in Manica, Mozambique. Charcaol production is responsible for peri-urban deforestation, and major smog problems from the fi res.

Young girls collect wood from nearby farms and woodlands (Salima, Malawi). Most of the inhabitants of the Miombo region rely on wood to fuel their cooking stoves.

Ash from burnt miombo trees is used to fertilize crops such as maize and vegetables. After three to fi ve years, there is very little left to burn, so farmers must move to new fi elds to accumulate enough of a fertlization effect (Zambia).


Phenomena that impact human safety, economic prosperity and the health of our environment involve a complex interplay of socioeconomic and environmental factors that vary over space and time. For example, the potential for the spread of a new disease strain is dependent on the density of the human population and their movement patterns, the weather, climate, and the environmental context (urban, etc.). Pollution can have short-term and long-term effects on human health, on the diversity and overall health of an ecosystem, as well as on economic growth and prosperity. Urban growth has complex positive and negative effects on a local economy, the quality of life for the local population and very pronounced effects on the natural environment. And nobody really has a good explanation for why crime rates have been falling at a national level.

How do the components of such earth-related processes relate to each other, and at which spatio-temporal scales? Is there a causal, controlling, or constraining relationship between parts and wholes? For example, the process of a landslide may provide the material for the process of fl uvial sediment transport in a river.

While the sheer volume and complexity of the data required to study such questions make computer-based approaches essential, the basic representational and analytical approach used by Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and related geoprocessing software has not changed since they were fi rst developed over forty years ago. These maintain a static view of the world derived from traditional manual cartography—the world on a paper map. They also focus on theory-free, data-driven approaches—‘let the data speak for themselves.’

My research is concerned with developing the next generation of geospatial analysis and modeling environments that can provide an effective tool for gaining a better understanding of earth-related processes—one that can represent the full richness and analyze the complexities of space-time interactions.

The focus of this work is on three interrelated areas: The fi rst is in developing strategies for effi ciently and effectively dealing with the temporal dimension, as well as the spatial dimension, in representing observational data. The second is in techniques for capturing and using higher-level, derived information. The representation of geographic phenomena

Research in GIScience:“Mapping Cardiac Vulnerability Across Space & Time” By Dr. Donna Peuquet

Three time series maps illustrate particulate exposures to pollution infl uencing cardiac vulnerability. This shows variation over time, infl uenced by agriculture and weather patterns (top to bottom: 7/5/00, 7/11/00, 7/17/00).

in a way that retains the essential nature of the phenomenon in a ‘natural’ way from a human standpoint and can also be applied to a wide range of application contexts is a particularly challenging problem. The third is the development of methodologies for analyzing space-time dynamics that go beyond current statistical approaches and utilize stored information (both observational data and higher-level knowledge). A key issue with the last two focus areas is the capacity for use by teams of analysts with differing areas of expertise and differing views of the phenomenon.

One current research project focuses upon an epidemiological problem that demonstrates the potential power of geospatial information technologies for space-time analysis. There is a widely acknowledged association between

environmental factors and various aspects of human health. For example, a consistent relationship has been found between daily variations of ambient air particles and all-cause mortality, with a stronger effect among the elderly. The recent spread of SARS and the Nile Virus has underlined the urgency of understanding the space-time dynamics of contagious disease.

In close collaboration with epidemiologists at Penn State Hershey

and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, we are assessing the cardiac vulnerability associated with both short-term and long-term pollution exposures to middle-aged men and women within the U.S. Two fundamental problems are being addressed in terms of using geoprocessing techniques for epidemiology: (1) How to represent dynamics in observational data while also taking gaps in the historical record into account, and (2) how to deal with multiple scales.

We are, in turn, addressing two specifi c aspects within epidemiology that could not be addressed previously: (1) How do specifi c mixtures of co-pollutants change over space and time and how do these relate to cardiovascular health? (2) What are the subgroups within the entire population that may exhibit increased susceptibility and do the problems these subgroups experience change over time?

The issues related to developing a next-generation GIS that can represent and analyze the space-time dynamics of complex earth-related processes are many and diffi cult to solve. Certainly, no one project can manage to address them all at once. Slow and steady progress is the path to resolving them.


Research in Human Geography:“Women and Self-Empowerment in Southern Sri Lanka” By Dr. Lakshman YapaI have just completed 25 years with

the Penn State Geography faculty. During that period my teaching, research, and consulting interests focused primarily on questions of poverty and economic development, both here in the U.S. and overseas. Over the last seven years I have worked on concepts of public scholarship and service learning which I have done through my work in a course titled, “Rethinking Urban Poverty: Philadelphia Field Project”. I studied poverty issues in poor countries in South and Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa for many years before I started the project in Philadelphia. I have always believed that poor places that do not have money and economic capital can nevertheless improve their quality of life by harnessing “social capital” which can be loosely defi ned as value created by social networks where members of the network do things for each other.

In the latter half of 2003 I spent several months in Sri Lanka as part of my sabbatical leave from Penn State looking at an organization called the Women’s Development Federation (WDF) that provided credit to poor women, an example

that illustrates well the potential of social networks. The organization is based in Hambantota, a very poor district located in the arid south-east of Sri Lanka which despite its poverty status has a relatively high quality of life measured in terms of nutrition, literacy, and life expectancy.

The Women’s D e v e l o p m e n t Federation (WDF) is a non-governmental organization that was established in 1989 with the expressed objective of increasing women’s participation in development through personal and social empowerment. Known in Sri Lanka as Janashakti, which means “people’s strength,” WDF has a well developed bottom-up organizational structure modeled on the now famous Grameen Bank of Bangladesh pioneered by Professor Muhammud Yunnus. It has over 30,000 members with an operating staff of 3,500 several of whom are part-time or full-time employees. Originally Janashakti was organized around family health issues, but soon moved into banking and micro-credit.

At the grass-roots level there is what is known as the “group of fi ve.” This is a group of fi ve women who are family members or are close friends. They meet about twice a week to discuss problems and to conduct fi nancial transactions. At the village level the groups of fi ve form women’s d e v e l o p m e n t committees (Kantha Samithi) of which there are over 465 in the area. Leaders of approximately 10 women’s

committees form bank societies which run like professional banks making available loans to poor people for income generating activities. There are about 70 such community-driven banks in the area with each containing 300-500 members. The entire structure forms the larger federation.

In the past the larger commercial banks in Sri Lanka were not very successful in meeting credit needs of the very poor. The banks experienced high transaction costs and high delinquency rates while servicing the poor. On the other the grass-roots micro-credit banks of the WDT have very high rates of loan repayment, often exceeding 95 percent. This is similar to the experience of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh.

The key to the success of WDF can be explained through the concept of social capital focused on the social dynamics of the “groups of fi ve” and the women’s committees. The women are all known to each other and trust one another. When a loan is granted, the bank has intimate knowledge of the credit-worthiness of the recipient Moreover, the intimacy of the social network exerts powerful “peer pressure” to repay loans on time. When a particular individual has trouble re-paying a loan, the group of fi ve is aware of these circumstances and often the bank offi cials intervene to help people in trouble.

The value created by social capital was not entirely confi ned to money and banking. The manner in which social capital works had a profound effect on the lives and status of poor women. Many women I met exuded a sense of their new power, confi dence, and dignity. A woman who successfully obtained a loan of 10,000 rupees (about a hundred US dollars), a rather large sum of money in a poor area

The women’s committees from bank societies meet monthly to make loans available to poor people in Sri Lanka. These loans provide fi nancial capital, enabling the poor to invest in income-generating activities.

This Sri Lankan family a received fi nancial credit from the community-driven Sri Lankan bank to manufacture brushes and brooms.

“Sri Lanka” continues, next page


of Sri Lanka, told me that before WDF came into the area she would not have had the confi dence to simply walk into a bank, let alone apply for and receive a large loan. The new economic power of the women also changed their relationship to men who are not permitted to be members of WDF. I visited several homes where men fully participated in enterprises begun with credit obtained by their wives. The larger regional meetings of WDF held at its headquarters require women to travel long distances from their home villages and stay overnight at the dormitory facilities. I attended one of these meetings where the men dropped off the women and came back for them

Financial credit from the Sri Lankan community-driven bank enabled this couple to install a drip-irrigation system on their farm and build a sturdy brick house for their family.

Geography graduate student David Fyfe (Ph.D.) and his wife, Jenifer Yost, will lead eight undergraduate honors students to India this summer as part of a service-learning course about making a difference in a globalizing world. In the spring, David and Jenifer are teaching the course, which integrates academic perspectives on how to make a positive difference in a globalizing world with the experience of doing service work in orphanages run by HOINA (Homes of the Indian Nations) in Southern India. Students learn about contemporary perspectives on globalization, development, and social change in international contexts. Each student will carry one suitcase of supplies for the children.

The course, entitled “Experiences in International Service Learning HOINA, India: Making a Difference in a Globalizing World”, has been taught through the Schreyer’s Honor College since 2000, but due to the recent state of world affairs, it has not run in the past two years.

Mrs. Darlene Large, a distinguished Penn State alumna, founded HOINA over 30 years ago. She has built two orphanages (one boys’ and one girls’) in southern India in the states of Andrea Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Travel for this summer is divided so that male students will visit to

the orphanages for several weeks in early July, and the female students will go from mid-July until the end of the month. David and Jenifer will accompany both groups of students.

The last time the course ran in 2002, Sasha Davis, a geography graduate student, and his wife, Kat, taught the course. Last year, David talked with Sasha about the course because, he said, “I love the opportunity to travel, teach geography, and to travel with students”. So he attended an informational meeting last year at the Schreyer Honors College. HOINA’s founder, Mrs. Large, liked having graduate students from the Department of Geography.

“Geographers have that view of the world that Mrs. Large was looking for,” said David. “Hopefully we will be able to keep teaching this course in the Geography Department. It’s a great opportunity for our graduate students”.

two days later, attesting to women’s independence and support from the men. What I witnessed was quite remarkable even in a Buddhist culture where historically women have always enjoyed a reasonable degree of equality with men. The women’s groups are not all about credit and enterprises. They are also support groups in which women discuss problems of spousal abuse, raising children, nutrition, and family health.

WDF in Sri Lanka is a good example of how a group marginalized people in a poor area has begun to strengthen itself by focusing on social networks, friendships, trust, and local knowledge. in trouble. This is precisely what Bourdieu called the working of “social capital.”

For more information about Lakshman Yapa’s “Rethinking Urban Poverty: Philadelphia Field Project”, please visit: www.geog.psu.edu/phila.

Geographers Travel to India, Help Orphan Children

For more information about the Penn State Schreyer Honors College Program with HOINA , please visit: http://web.scholars.psu.edu/~hoina.

David Fyfe is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Geography, studying historical geography with Dr. Deryck Holdsworth.

“Sri Lanka”, continued from Page 8:

The red rocks of Arches, the panorama of the Grand Canyon and the thrill of fi lming and being fi lmed are just some of the things that 13 students from Penn State’s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences experienced this summer during their fi eld trip to ten national parks.

The trip, which ran from May 16 through June 4, is part of a yearlong Center for Advanced Undergraduate Study and Experience (CAUSE) course, called “Taking Geology of the National Parks On Location, On Line, and On TV”. Dr. Richard Alley,

Evan Pugh Professor of geosciences, wants to teach his popular “Geology of the National Parks” course online, and Penn State’s public television station fi lmed the students fi lming the parks.

Starting with the Grand Canyon, students fi lmed creative video segments for Alley’s course. Each student fi lm crew wrote an article to Penn State Live, documenting their travels, lessons, and overall experiences. A fi lm crew from Penn State’s public broadcasting affi liate, WPSX, joined the students to shoot a reality TV-style documentary. The show will serve as a pilot, with the hopes of fi lming more shows in different parks in future summers.

During the spring semester, the students—fi ve geographers, two geoscientists, two meteorologists, three earth scientists, and one materials scientist—planned and organized their trip, with the help of instructor Eric Spielvogel, professor Sridhar Anandakrishnan, and assistant Anna Brendle. They camped, hiked, fi lmed,

10 Parks in 20 Days: Students Film Geology of National Parks cooked, and traveled together on this whirlwind tour through the national parks around the Colorado Plateau.

Together, they chose their route to include the Grand Canyon, Glen Canyon and Lake Powell, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, Arches, Mesa Verde, Petrifi ed Forest, and Sunset Crater National Parks. They also became video producers and directors for these parks. In the fall, they will become video editing experts as well, compiling and creating short fi lms for Alley’s new online course.

At the Grand Canyon, students hiked the arduous ten-mile Bright Angel trail from the South Rim to come face-to-face with the Colorado River for the fi rst time, hauling video equipment to document their experience. The student fi lm crews received fi eld assignments from their professors to shoot specifi c geologic formations, interview park managers and interpreters, talk to visitors about their reactions to the parks, and teach their fellow students about the geologic science behind these majestic canyons.

For example, Dave Janesko (B.S. Geosciences), Sheri Shannon (B.S. Earth Sciences), and David Witmer (B.S. Geography) are producing and directing 10 short video fi lms in Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks. Through geologic sedimentary rock formations in Bryce Canyon, they will tell the story of how the canyon was once a great inland lake—evidenced by fossils and the nature of the rocks themselves, but moving continents forced the land upwards along faults, and higher altitudes coupled with a changing climate dried it to a near desert today.

Alley described Bryce Canyon as, “Pillars, spires and minarets, seemingly fragile and toylike when viewed from the rim, they tower far above the hiker who descends into the ‘canyon’, really a bowl carved out of the edge of a plateau. The morning sun, bouncing off the pink-pastel walls, casts a rosy glow … Gnarled trees cling to high slopes, their root structure exposed by erosion but somehow holding and nourishing the trees. The old settler Ebeneezer Bryce called it ‘a hell of a place to lose a cow,’ but almost everyone who followed him has had a kinder assessment.”

The CAUSE 2004 class is taught each year in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences around a different scientifi c discipline. With a short-term impact in the thousands—Penn State students enrolled in Alley’s course—and a longer-term impact in the millions—public broadcasting audiences—Penn State’s CAUSE 2004 course strives to set a higher standard for collaborative course development, public-service media production, and impact on public science literacy.

Read the students’ dispatches online at Penn State Live: http://live.psu.edu.

At Zion National Park, a WPSX producer (right) fi lms geosciences student Dave Janesko discussing the camera setup with e-Education Instutute instructor Eric Spielvogel.

Geography students Sam Ascah and Stephanie Shepherd form a human arch in Arches National Park.

Dr. Richard Alley, describes the formation of petrifi ed rock to students in Petrifi ed Forest National Park, as geography student Sam Ascah records the lesson on fi lm.



Where Are They Now? ...Catching up with our alumni

Dr. David Ley (Ph.D. ’72) at the University of British Columbia

In the early 1970s, David Ley studied a neighborhood in north Philadelphia for his dissertation with the late Dr. Peter Gould. After receiving his Ph.D. from Penn State in 1972, David accepted a faculty position at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver.

David attended the AAG’s centennial meeting in Philadelphia this past March. This was his fi rst visit back to Philadelphia since the late 1970s; when he revisited the north Philadelphia neighborhood of Tioga, he was pleasantly surprised to see signs of apparent improvement.

He had studied and mapped the presence of abandoned buildings and cars in Tioga in the early 1970s. In his dissertation, “The Black Inner City as Frontier Outpost: Images and behavior of a Philadelphia Neighborhood” he did not

disclose the name of the neighborhood. Now, many abandoned houses have been bulldozed, and the streets are free of stripped, abandoned cars.Transporting Philadelphia’s Lessons

“You could not use the term ‘white fl ight’ to describe migration patterns in Vancouver because the wealthiest area remains in the inner city.” For example, the prevalence of poverty in Vancouver as more dispersed and not as racialized as it is in Philadelphia. “The African-American inner city aspects of Philadelphia were not as portable. I had to reinvent many of my ideas about poverty,” he explained. “But much work remains to be done in Vancouver’s inner city.”Learning from Dr. Peter Gould

“I was at Penn State at a very exciting time—during the quantitative revolution in geography,” David explained. “It was a time of much enthusiasm and zeal, but I had a sort of ambivalent relation with that. I have an enormous appreciation for what quantitative methods have brought to geography, but I never quite bought the full package of goods,” said David.

He has held onto and valued the need for analytical rigor and mixing methods, which he learned from the late Dr. Peter Gould. “While there is now a huge swing towards qualitative methods today, I don’t have a purist view either. The power of mixed methods is quite signifi cant because it enables the researcher to have considerably more confi dence in the results,” said David.

“I had excellent instructors at Penn State—really fi rst-rate teachers,” he exclaimed, continuing, “I picked up any teaching ability I have from my teachers at Penn State.” Specifi cally, David learned the importance of performance in the classroom

from the late Dr. Peter Gould. “He was really a performance artist, especially in teaching very diffi cult material. Peter was one of the greatest ever.” Improving Living Conditions

David’s work at the University of British Columbia has focused around three major themes: (1) Social theory in human geography, analyzing the geography of voices of people on the streets, in their homes, and in their workplaces; (2) The meaning of post-industrialism and postmodernism for the built environment; and (3) Social and economic change in the inner city, studying gentrifi cation, immigration and patterns of settlement, and the role of neighborhood organizations. Leading the Metropolis Project

Since the mid-1990s, David Ley has studied immigration and the inner city. The “Metropolis Project” on immigration and urbanization is centered in Vancouver at the Department of Geography at the University of British Columbia and the Department of Economics at Simon Fraser University. “Researchers from more than 12 disciplines are involved,” he explained. “We were all introduced to a new scholarly project, which was very exciting.”

There are four “Metropolis Project” research centers in Canada. The project holds an international conference each year with representatives from 20 countries, including academics, government policy-makers, and leaders of non-governmental organizations. “It’s an enormously networked project, and a wonderful opportunity for academics to reconnect with government and non-government organizations,” David said.

In 2003, David was named one of the fi rst Pierre Trudeau Foundation Fellows in Canada.

Using Remote Sensing Classwork as a Photogrammetric TechnicianGreetings from Pittsburgh! In Geography at Penn State, I took two classes with Dr. Mark Gahegan, one about remote sensing,

(Geog 352) and a GIS course (Geog 481). Now, the project I’ve been working on is just being published and available to the public. I was hired by BAE SYSTEMS as a photogrammetric technician and have been working with radar imagery/data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) project. Basically the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA, formerly NIMA) collected radar data of the entire earth from 60 degrees north to 60 degrees south via the Shuttle Endeavor in January 2000.

We were contracted to work with the Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) created by NASA’s JPL (jet propulsion laboratories) and to analyze intensity returns to create vectorized waterbodies. With our product/data the U.S. Geological Survey has created some pretty cool stuff. I especially like the images on NASA’s web site: www2.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/index.html.

I also want to thank Dr. Gahegan for the time I spent in your classroom. The education I received in your classes has made me an asset to my company. It’s really weird; I never realized how much knowledge I acquired until I started applying it to real world applications.

Sincerely, Adam Ziegler (B.S. 2002)


News from our Alumni: Thanks for Staying in Touch!Arthur Getis (B.S. 1956, M.S. 1958 (University of Washington, Ph.D. 1961) I recently retired from the Department of Geography at San Diego State University where I held the Stephen and Mary Birch Chair of Geographical Studies. I continue to edit the Journal of Geographical Systems and do research on spatial statistics and the transmission of tropical diseases. Recently, the University named me Distinguished Professor of Geography.Vaclav Smil (Ph.D. 1972) Two of my latest books are: Energy at the Crossroads (MIT Press, November 2003) and China’s Past, China’s Future (Routledge, January 2004). Creating the 20th Century is coming out in November (Oxford University Press). Otherwise, I have been cutting down on my foreign lectures, working hard to complete Transforming the 20th Century. John V. O’Loughlin (M.S. 1971, Ph.D. 1973) I have received a Guggenheim Fellowship to pursue research on democratisation and its problems in Russia and Ukraine. I also just won a special NSF competitive grant for a study of democratisation problems in Bosnia.Gene Ziegler (Ph.D. 1977) After six years teaching Geography and Computer Science at Colgate and 23 years at Cornell in the Business School, I took an early retirement from Cornell to spend my time as a freelance consultant in “online learning” (www.geneziegler.com) I’ve had a good run at consulting with a blue-ribbon client list in higher education and for-profi t startups. I have also had longer term assignments in business development at Global Minds (Thunderbird Management School), as Chief Learning Offi cer at Corpedia Education, and as Dean of the American Graduate School of Management, an online startup in Nashville. I also have an active interest in the education and training of entrepreneurs, and have authored a program that can be seen at: http://nesheim.grovesite.com. I recently became engaged to Lynn Hand, a professional photographer with a specialization in digital aerial photography. She is in the process of starting her own aerial photography

Wayne Brew (B.S. 1981). I have recently been promoted from Instructor to Assistant Professor of Geography at Montgomery County Community College (Pennsylvania).Carol Bouchard (B.S. 1987) I am still working for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and living in the UK. This year, I was deployed to, would you imagine, Timbuktu of all places! So far, I have been to 95 countries, the worst being Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Liberia, and Angola. Anne Mosher (M.S. 1983, Ph.D. 1989) I recently published Capital’s Utopia: Vandergrift, Pennsylvania, 1855-1916 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press), which chronicles the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century steel industry’s attempt to create through urban planning techniques and the promotion of homeownership a social contract that would mitigate confl ict between capital and labor. I am an associate professor of geography and co-director of the “Space and Place Initiative” in the Maxwell School’s Daniel P. Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs at Syracuse University. David G. Smith (B.S. 1989) I am now with Synergist Technology Group, Inc (www.synergist-tech.com) as Director of Geospatial Information Technology, and I am Program Manager for Synergist on

business and has dragged me back to my geography roots. She has worked for two of the largest digital aerial companies in

the country, Aerials Express and AirPhotoUSA. Helping her launch her business is like a geography retraining program for me, but things have changed a bit since my days at PSUDOG. I am still professionally active in most areas, most recently fi nished a review of online programs for the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State. Lori Simmons (B.S. 1979) I just published the 2nd edition of my Berkeley County, West Virginia Map. My other published maps and products are listed on my website at:

exploremaps.com I just returned from Craters of the Moon National Monument with my real job as one of the four cartographers who create the offi cial brochure maps for all the national parks. I recently received an award from the director of the National Park Service for my work in making the national parks more accessible for people with disabilities.

Robert Slivinsky and his wife Amy have a new baby, Nathan—already a happy Nittany Lion!

Anne Mosher recently published Capital’s Utopia, about southwestern Pennsylvania’s steel industry.

Arthur Getis recently retired from the Department of Geography at San Diego State University

a Lockheed-Martin subcontract on the EPA Information Technology Solutions and Environmental Systems Engineering (ITS-ESE) contract, as well as provider of GIS and environmental application support for EPA Response Engineering and Analytical Contract (REAC). I am also working on various state projects for Homeland Security and Transportation GIS applications. I have a book due to be published in Spring 2005 by Professional Publications, Inc., as contributing author

for the Land Surveyor Reference Manual, 4th Edition. Finally, I was recently appointed by Governor Rendell to the State Registration Board for Engineers, Land Surveyors and Geologists, and I am also now serving as a Pennsylvania representative to the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) and Colonial States Board of Land Surveyor Registration.Martin von Wyss (B.S. 1994) I recently published my fi rst map, “The NPR Map.” It’s available for sale at www.radio-maps.com.Jeremy Crampton (Ph.D. 1994) I would like to mention my new book The Political Mapping of Cyberspace from the University of Chicago Press. I was also promoted to Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology & Geography at Georgia State University earlier this year.John E. Bodenman (Ph.D. 1995) I have recently been promoted to full Professor of Geography and Geosciences at Bloomsburg University as of August 2004.


Martin von Wyss recently published “The NPR Map” of National Public Radio station locations across the country.

Jason Cupp (B.S. 1995) I’ve moved back from Europe and now work for ESRI in Redlands, California. I’m a Metadata Product Specialist (in Software Developement) for ESRI, an ISO TC211 expert for North America working on the new metadata standard ISO 19139: Geographic

I n f o r m a t i o n —Metadata and a member of the OpenGIS Catalog Service Revision Working Group.Robert Slivinsky (B.S. 1995) My wife Amy (PSU/Elementary ED, ‘96) and I had a baby in September, Nathan. Also, in December, I received an MBA from the University of Phoenix, Maryland Campus. Brian Wesdock (B.S. 1995) Several of us at GeoDecisions, State College, are working on a long-term project for the U.S. Army. Most of us on the project are Penn

Staters, but the main players are PSUDOG graduates. I serve as Project Manager, Todd Smith ‘99 is Development Manager, Kelly Dieseroth Fisher ‘97 is Lead Developer, and Bryan Reid ‘01 (GIS minor) is Senior Developer.Robin Leichenko (Ph.D. 1997) I recently received a promotion to Associate Professor with tenure in the Department of Geography at Rutgers University. David Rain (Ph.D. 1997) I left the Census Bureau and am joining the faculty in the Geography Department at George Washington University in Washington DC. I’ll be teaching Urban Environmental issues, HDGEC, Africa, and GIS. The Dept. is housed with the Elliott School of International Affairs and has a focus on urban

More News from our Alumni issues. Our house in Hyattsville is always open to PSUDOGS who need a place to stay while in the DC area. Our home email address is [email protected] Wentz (Ph.D. 1997) I earned promotion and tenure at Arizona State University this year. I also got married this past year.Brent Frakes (Ph.D. 1998) Same job, better location! I work as the Rocky Mountain Network Data Manager for the National Park Service, based in Fort Collins, CO. For more information, visit: www1.nature.nps.gov/im/units/romn/index.htm.Erin Heithoff (B.S. 1999) I got

married June 5, 2004 to Chuck Greb. I am still living in Lancaster working for Mapquest doing textbook cartography.Crystal Nesbitt Stanionis (B.S. 2000) In August of 2002 I married my high school sweetheart—Ryan Stanionis. He is also a PSU alumnus. In December 2003, I

Brent Frakes (left) “working” at Glacier National Park, in Montana.

Robin Leichenko has received tenure at the Department of Geography at Rutgers University.


Moving On: Kathy Sherman, Staff Assistant EmeritusOn July 16, 2004, Kathy Sherman moved from her position as a Staff

Assistant in Geography to a similar position in the Department of Physics. Since 1992, Kathy has been one of the cornerstones of the Department. She has been responsible for the Undergraduate program and has been the point of fi rst contact with the world, answering phones and greeting visitors. Kathy was always there, ready to help, no matter what the weather, no matter what the day of the week—she even came in on Saturdays to help students celebrate Commencement.

She always went the extra two miles to help people, providing calm, sympathetic advice and guidance. For undergraduates, she solved problems ranging from course scheduling to advice about the most serious issues of life. For Will and Ruby Miller, Kathy was a wonderful companion, helping them through the diffi culties of life.

We wish her well in her new position, but she is always welcome back as Staff Assistant Emeritus, a new position that she has earned. Thank you Kathy, from all of your colleagues and friends in Geography. ~ Roger Downs

graduated from Montana State University in Bozeman, with a M.S. in Earth Sciences (Geography Option). Although the job market in Bozeman is very limited and competitive, we just can’t leave because we absolutely love it out here. There’s only one

drawback—hardly any televised PSU football games! Currently, I’m working as the fundraising coordinator for the “Tracy for Congress” campaign. She is running for Montana’s lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. If only I could travel with her as she criss-crosses the state campaigning, to soak up all the physical, cultural, and social diversity in Montana—a geographer’s dream!Eliott Westerman (B.S. 2000) I got married on October 26, 2002 to Julie Muselwhite of Seattle, Washington. I currently work for Kennedy Associates Real Estate Counsel, Inc. in Seattle, Washington, for David Lindahl, (formerly on the faculty at PSUDOG) as the fi rm’s Research Associate. Previously, I worked for Starbucks Corporation in the North American Strategy Department. Alissa Shirk (B.S. 2002) I recently moved to Portland, OR to begin work in Student Affairs/Higher Education as a Residence Life Coordinator for The Art Institute of Portland. I plan to fi nish my M.Ed. in Educational Leadership at Portland State University next year.Zach Richards (B.S. 2002) I’ve been working at Mapquest in Mountville since July ‘02. But I don’t work for the website—I make print maps for atlases, textbooks and phone directories. Jerod Sperry (B.S. 2002) I married Lisa Dragisic (B.S. 2003 Finance) on May 22, 2004. We got married at St Paul’s

More News from our Alumni

Cathedral in Pittsburgh and now reside near Fairfax, VA.Rachel Kurtz (Ph.D. 2003) I was promoted to a Research Geographer position in the U.S.G.S. after I graduated last December. I got married on 10 July 2004 to Tom Parker, from Grand Rapids, Michigan. We are currently building a house in Sioux Falls, South Dakota—a free place to stay off of Interstate 90!Amy Heasley (M.S. 2004) I will be serving as a Peace Corps Voluneer in Ukraine as a Secondary Education TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) Teacher. I will serve from 10/1/2004-12/22/2006. My contact information during training will be: Amy Heasley, PCT c/o Peace Corps, Ukraine PO Box 298 01030 Kyiv, Ukraine.

Jerod Sperry married Lisa Dargisic on May 22, 2004 in Pittsburgh. They now live near Fairfax, Virginia.

“Using concepts and methods derived from the work of Michel Foucault, Jeremy Crampton outlines a new mapping of cyberspace to help defi ne the role of space in virtual worlds and to provide constructive ways in which humans can exist in another spatial dimension,” from the University of Chicago Press review.

Ronald F. Abler Award in Geography: to assist outstanding undergraduate and graduate students in presenting the results of their research at a meeting of a scholarly geographical societyBalmat Family Scholarship in Geography: recognizes and supports outstanding undergraduate sophomores and juniorsErickson Fund in Geography: provides monies to be used to enhance the DepartmentPeter R. Gould Memorial Fund: supports programs of the Peter R. Gould Center for Geography Education & Outreach Geography Alumni Scholars Award: honors undergraduate and graduate students who have exhibited exemplary achievementC. Gregory Knight Endowment in Geography: provides support for research, faculty, and student scholarly travel, equipment, and lecturesE. Willard and Ruby S. Miller Lectureship in Geography: supports lectures by outstanding geography scholars and professionals who are not currently Penn State faculty or studentsRuby S. Miller Endowment for Geographic Excellence: improves the quality of the Department by providing fi nancial assistance to graduate studentsG.D. Richardson Scholarship: annual award for outstanding students enrolled in the Department Glenda Laws Endowment: to provide general support for the Geography DepartmentPlease consider donating to one of our endowments. Checks can be made payable to: “The Penn State Department of Geography”. If you are interested in creating an endowment, or want more information about our endowments, please contact us: [email protected].


Endowments

Undergraduate student Irene McKenna cores a tree in Yosemite National Park for a research project with Dr. Alan Taylor’s Vegetation Dynamics Laboratory.

Your generous contributions help us to provide these student fi eld research and travel opportunities. Thank you for your support.

It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to Dr. David O’Sullivan, who is leaving us to take up a position as a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Geography in Auckland, New Zealand. David has family connections in Auckland so has effectively reduced travel time to a doting grandma baby-sitter by several orders of magnitude. I mention this because although I’m sure David never did this calculation, if asked he would probably have an answer within twenty minutes, such is his mastery of spatial analysis and working knowledge of GIS.

David has made a huge positive impact on the teaching of spatial analysis within our undergraduate program, and although this must sadly end I’m glad to report that he will continue to be involved with geography education here at Penn State as an off-site instructor in our new Professional Masters in GIS. He has also contributed much to ongoing research projects in the GeoVISTA Center, tackling cancer incidence and prevalence problems using a variety of spatial analysis methods. He will be sorely missed, and we wish him the very best of luck as he begins a new life in a different hemisphere. ~Mark Gahegan

Saying Goodbye to David O’Sullivan

www.geog.psu.edu/alumni: Please visit our alumni pages online to update your contact information, send us your news, reconnect with old friends, or sign up for a new “job announcements” e-mail service.

THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY302 WALKER BUILDINGUNIVERSITY PARK PA 16802-5011

This publication is available in alternative media on request.The Pennsylvania State University is committed to the policy that all persons shall have equal access to programs, facilities, admission, and employment without regard to personal characteristics not related to ability, performance, or qualifi cations as determined by University policy or by state or federal authorities. It is the policy of the University to maintain an academic and work environment free of discrimination, including harassment. The Pennsylvania State University prohibits discrimination and harassment against any person because of age, ancestry, color, disability, or handicap, national origin, race, religious creed, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status. Discrimination or harassment against faculty, staff, or students will not be tolerated at the Pennsylvania State University. Direct all inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination policy to the Affi rmative Action Director, The Pennsylvania State University, 201 Willard Building, University Park, PA 16802-2801; Tel 814-865-4700/V, 814-863-1150/TTY.U.Ed.: EMS05-09

@ Penn State2003 - 2004partme of Geography

GeographyGeography

@ Penn StateDepartment of Geography

ECONOMIC

HUMAN

GIScience

NATURESOCIETY

PHYSICAL

political

land use

water

environmentalstudies

social

planning

resources

education

qualitativemethods

remotesensing

CLIMATE

medical

culturalecology

BIOGEOGRAPHY

quantitativemethods

DEVELOPMENTurban

historicalcartography

GEOVISUALIZATION

environmentalcognition

Physical Nature-Society Human GIScience

energy

geomorphology

hazards

coastalregional

agriculture

gender

locationtheory

GLOBALCHANGE

GIS

LANDSCAPEECOLOGY

The “Geography @ Penn State” illustration (originally designed by Cindy Brewer) represents faculty research areas and subdisciplines in our Department. It is updated each year so that larger fonts represent more faculty expertise.

We held a fun “happy hour” party in Philadelphia at the Association of American Geographers’ Centennial conference in March 2004. By organizing and splitting the costs with our friends at Syracuse, we were able to save money and offer an opportunity for our alumni to meet current students, faculty, and friends in a relaxing jazz bar atmosphere. Penn State alumni Don Mitchell (on the faculty at Syracuse) and Lorraine Dowler (Syracuse alumni on the Penn State faculty) organized the party.

A record turnout of more than 200 people has encouraged us to continue holding alumni parties at future AAG conferences. We plan to hold another party at the 2005 AAG conference in Denver. Look for an email invitation in February. Suggestions for a venue in Denver? Please let us know! E-mail [email protected].

2004 AAG Conference: Alumni Party

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