Geography Newsletter

GeographyNewsletterMay 2022Spring GraduatesINSIDE:Spring Graduates .1Farewells . . .2News From Aroundthe Department. .3Awards Gathering. 4Colloquia. .5End of Year Events .6As the semester closes, our big event isCommencement, which occurred in Gallagher-IbaArena on Saturday, May 7.The following undergraduate students are slated toreceive their degrees:Maxwell Browne – BS, Geospatial Information Sci.Zac Carnahan – BS, GeographyChristine Giles – BA, Global StudiesTanner Hurst – BS, GeographyGabriel Knight – BS, GeographyAudra Messenger – BA, Global StudiesReagan Page – BA, Global StudiesKawai Porter – BS, GeographyHarlan Rebek – BA, Global StudiesEthan Renner – BA, Global StudiesKyle Stoner – BS, GeographyStephen Stumpf – BA, Global StudiesMax Browne and Gabe Knight also earned GISCertificates.Congratulations to the:

Page 2FarewellsChangheng (Hank) Yang joined the GeographyDepartment as a GIS Specialist in 2016 andrecently left the department. He provided thefollowing message:"I have been involved in Recreation ManagementProject since 2016. I enjoyed working withstudents, faculty members, and OK State Parkpersonnel. I would like to give my thanks to youall and remember the time here. I usually spendmy spare time with my children and wife eitherice skating or visiting different parks."Dr. Christian Rossi, a visiting scholarfrom the Swiss National Park, visitedthe Department in February–April2022. Dr. Rossi obtained his Ph.D. inRemote Sensing from University ofZurich. His research focuses on usingmodern remote sensing technologiesfor ecological applications. Currently,he is leading projects on remotesensing of plant diversity, function, andecosystemservicesinAlpinegrasslands. Dr. Rossi was hosted by Dr.Hamed Gholizadeh.Dr. Rossi worked on developing remote sensing models for monitoringbiodiversity during his visit. Dr. Rossi gave a colloquium on April 4 titled "Birdseye view of a protected nature reserve in the Alps: Quantifying the effect of anon-intervention policy on biodiversity."

Page 3News From Around the DepartmentOn May 6, the Department of Geography was well-represented at the PhiBeta Kappa initiation. According to the chapter Treasurer, this is the moststudents from our department initiated in a single year. Inductees include:Lydia Blew – Global StudiesCaitlyn Brooks – Global StudiesAbigail Lesnick– Global StudiesCamille McCullough – Global StudiesKawai Porter – GeographyEthan Renner – Global StudiesJali Robertson – Global StudiesOn April 27, Channel 4 News in OKC (KFOR) aired an installment of “Is Thisa Great State or What?” featuring Dr. Brad Bays’ historic barndocumentation. A story and lots of barn photos can be viewed at this link.On May 7, the Stillwater NewsPress ran a lengthy and very inspiring storyabout Christine Giles, an OSU employee and May 2022 recipient of a BA inGlobal Studies. Christine has worked in the LASSO center on campusalongside one of her daughters Casey, who will graduate next year. Also,younger daughter Sera graduated from OSU on the same day as hermother. You can read the full story here.PhD alumnus Jasper Dung (2012) and onetime Visiting Assistant Professor AugustineAvwunudiogba (2006-07) have co-edited abook on human trafficking, published byRowman & Littlefield (2021).

Page 42021-22 Awards GatheringOn April 21, the annual Geography Awards Gathering took place in the SSH basementauditorium followed by the initiation of new students into Gamma Theta Upsilon (GTU),the international geographical honor society. All award winners were announced in theMarch 2021 newsletter.Gabby BoydOutstanding JuniorRooney ScholarshipEmma RiddleBrice ZoungranaJacob ShepherdNy Aina RakotoarivonyCroft ScholarshipOutstanding Senior Outstanding Grad Student Shaull Medal forOutstanding Teaching Geog. EducationNorris ScholarshipGTU Initiates (Front L-R): Emma Riddle, Erin Templeton, Ny Aina RakotoarivonyBack: Dr. Thomas LaVanchy, Emmanuel Kumi, Tanner Hurst, Elise Neighbors, SydneyGalante, Jacob Shepherd, Ethan Piske, Wenqi Liu, and Ehsan Foroutan(Not pictured: Abigail Hobbs and Nicholas Johnson)

Page 5ColloquiaVisiting scholar Dr. ChristianRossi gave a colloquium on April4 titled “Birds-eye view of aprotected nature reserve in theAlps: Quantifying the effect of anon-interventionpolicyonbiodiversity.” The image at left isa photo from his presentation –too bad he has such a blandenvironment to work in The ConocoPhillips Geography CareerSpotlight Speaker for this year was Dr.Diana Sinton (right), who gave a talk titled“Why GIS Matters in Board Rooms, BattleFields, and Bus Routes.” Dr. Sinton is aResearch Fellow with the UniversityConsortium for Geographic InformationScience (UCGIS) and an Instructor of SpatialAnalysis & GIS at Cornell University. Themaps below done by one of her studentsdemonstrates that administering COVIDvaccines at dollar stores in Kentucky wouldbe more accessible than pharmacies.

Page 6End of Year ShenanigansOn April 22, the various Geography student organizations hosted a potluck at BoomerLake to celebrate the end of the school year.Potluck Cornhole Competition results:1st place: Belem and Dr. Hu, Team Tornado (standing tallest, top right)2nd place: Emmanuel and Ehsan, Team GIS (middle, left)3rd place: Katrina and Brice, Team Last But Not Least (lowest level, right)This could be one of those clickbait photos on the web:“Moments caught on camera justbefore disaster strikes!” Thecompleters of GEOG 5303 posedfor this photo just beforeembarking on the all-essay finalexam for the course. Front (L-R):Ny Aina Rakotoarivony, BelemCarasco. Standing: Wenqi Li,Ehsan Foroutan, Emma Riddle,Instructor Jon Comer, and BasharBashar. No students werepermanently harmed

the Department in February-April 2022. Dr. Rossi obtained his Ph.D. in Remote Sensing from University of Zurich. His research focuses on using modern remote sensing technologies for ecological applications. Currently, he is leading projects on remote sensing of plant diversity, function, and ecosystem services in Alpine grasslands. Dr. Rossi .