Kansas State University

Geography faculty and students present at national conference

Submitted by Chuck Martin

Faculty members and graduate students from the geography department participated in the annual American Association of Geographers meeting, March 29-April 2, in San Francisco, California. The meetings are the largest annual gathering of professional geographers in North America.

The following faculty members and students made presentations at the meetings: 

Marcellus M. Caldas, associate professor; Gabriel Granco, graduate student; and colleagues S. Sabates, P. de Marco Jr. and T. Link presented "Agriculture Production Impacts on Cerrado Biodiversity: A Land Use Analysis."

Subarna Chatterjee, graduate student, and Bimal K. Paul, professor, presented "Migration as a Response to Climate Change: A Cluster Analysis of Internal Migration in Bangladesh."

Julie Commerford, graduate student; Bèrangère Leys, postdoctoral associate; Kendra K. McLauchlan, associate professor; and colleague J. Mueller presented "Variation in Grassland Vegetation Composition and Fire Activity throughout the Holocene at Fox Lake, Minnesota."

Douglas G. Goodin, professor, and colleagues R. McKane, B. Barnhart, J. Halama, P. Pettus, K. Djang and A. Brookes presented "Integration of Process Models and Remote Sensing for Estimating Productivity, Soil Moisture, and Energy Fluxes in a Tallgrass Prairie Ecosystem."

Granco and Caldas presented "Ethanol and Farmer's Land Use Decision-Making in the Brazilian Savanna."

Deborah Hann, visiting assistant professor, presented "Girding the Lion's Den: Space, Place and Gender in Alcott's Little Women."

J.M. Shawn Hutchinson, associate professor, and colleagues A. Jacquin, B. Pockrandt and S.L. Hutchinson presented "Time Series Analysis of Vegetation Phenometrics for Military and Non-Military Lands using Moderate Resolution Satellite Imagery."

Christy Jean, graduate student, presented "Hydrological Transitions: The Story of Kansas Watersheds."

Thomas B. Larsen, graduate student, presented "Geo-progressions, Mental Maps and Community Perception among Kansas Third-Graders."

Max Lu, professor, presented "'Chaiqian' and the Chinese Style Urbanization."

Bryce K. Marston, graduate student, and colleagues M. Daniels and S. Ryan-Burkett presented "Geomorphology and Large Wood Dynamics of Headwater Mountain Streams Infested by the Mountain Pine Beetle, Medicine Bow National Forest, Wyoming."

Richard A. Marston, university distinguished professor, presented "Attribution Science in Geomorphology: What Works."

Francesco Orsi, assistant professor, presented "The Quest for Nature in Urban Contexts: Modelling Emerging Patterns in a Virtual City."

Paul and colleague S. Mahmood presented "Selected Physical Parameters as Determinants of Flood Fatalities in Bangladesh, 1972-2013."

Avantika Ramekar, graduate student, presented "Evaluations of Risk Perception of Unconventional Natural Gas (UNG) Development using Psychometric Paradigm."

Jeffrey S. Smith, associate professor, presented "Putting PLACE Back in Place Attachment Research: An Introduction."

Lianling Su, graduate student, and Hutchinson presented "Understanding Weather and Climate Information Consumptions to Motivate Consideration of Climate Change in Agricultural Production."

Lisa Tabor, graduate student, and John A. Harrington Jr., professor, presented "Subversive GeoSpatial Technology (GST) Education: Teaching Educators to Use GST's in Their Classroom."

William A. Wetherholt, graduate student, presented "Place Attachment in Kansas and Nebraska's Emptying Plains."           

The following faculty members and graduate students in the geography department served as discussants, chairs, or organizers for panels or sessions at the conference: 

• J. Harrington, Jr., panelist for "The Geographic Alliance Network: 30 Years of Progress in Geography Education," and panelist for "Teaching Civil Rights as a Geography Awareness Week Theme."
• Lisa M.B. Harrington, professor, panelist for "Doing Qualitative Research While Introverted."
• Paul, chair for "Rivers and Flooding."
• Smith, chair and organizer for "PLACE Attachment Research I," chair and organizer for "PLACE Attachment Research II," and chair and organizer for "PLACE Attachment Research II."
• Wetherholt, organizer for "New Voices in Rural Geography I," "New Voices in Rural Geography II," "New Voices in Rural Geography III," and panelist for "Gamma Theta Upsilon (GTU): Engaging Exceptional Students in the Geography Honor Society."