Kansas State University

Geography faculty present at regional meeting

Submitted by Communications and Marketing

Papers and posters authored or co-authored by K-State geography faculty made a strong showing at the Great Plains/Rocky Mountain regional meeting of the Association of American Geographers meeting Oct. 8 in Denver.

Presenting papers were:

• Katie H. Costigan, doctoral student, and Melinda D. Daniels, associate professor, "Damming the prairie: Human alteration of Great Plains river regimes."
• John Harrington Jr., professor, "Using climate science to enable improved climate literacy."
• Christopher Morris, master's student, and Kendra K. McLauchlan, assistant professor, "Tallgrass prairie pollen assemblages in mid-continental North America during the late Quaternary.
• Jeffrey Smith, associate professor, and Charles Collins, former student, "Cuba's cacharros: Vintage automobiles as cultural icons or cultural debris?"

Presenting posters were:

• Daniels, "Effects of water diversions on drainage basins in the Medicine Bow National Forest."
• Bartosz Grudzinski, doctoral student, and Daniels, "Impact of Cattle and Bison Grazing on Stream Morphology in a Tallgrass Prairie."
• Chuyuan "Carter" Wang, master's student, and Marcellus Caldas, assistant professor, "The Comparison of Deforestation Fragment Patterns in Land Reform Settlements in the Brazilian Amazon."

John Harrington and Lisa Harrington each chaired a paper session. Lisa Harrington presented her final council report as outgoing regional councilor for the Association of American Geographers.

In other recent faculty presentations:

John Harrington presented "Climate Change: Global and Local Evidence and Implications" at the 10th annual Community Forum on Environmental Issues, Oct. 6, in Prairie Village, Kan.