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Dear Friends,

It’s been another busy and productive year in Geography. At the beginning of the Spring Term, our faculty and students represented the department at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geog-raphers (AAG) in San Francis-co. Nearly 20 PSU Geography faculty and students gave presentations at the confer-ence. Debbie Blackmore won the John Odland student paper award (3rd place) from the Spatial Analysis and Modeling Group. We will be even busier as we prepare to host the As-sociation of Pacific Coast Ge-ographers annual meeting in October of this year.

Our faculty and students have been engaging our communi-ty in many ways. Professor Teresa Bulman, who just re-turned from her sabbatical, has made significant contribu-tions to K-12 geography education for nearly 20 years. As a coordinator of the Center for Geographic Education in Ore-gon (C-GEO), she has run summer institutes every year by taking K-12 geography teachers abroad. Additionally, she and David Banis recently created new online teaching tools for PreK-12 geography teachers. With ever increasing use of online teaching materials, these resources will have sub-stantial impacts on future geography education. It is not surprising that C-GEO is recognized as one of the best cen-ters of geographic education in the US, as highlighted in our most recent External Program Review.

Other members of the department have been equally dedi-cated to disseminating our new geographic knowledge and perspectives to the community. Professor Martin Lafrenz, with colleagues in Biology and Environmental Science and Management, has been working with Metro resource man-agers to develop spatial tools for mapping out the Portland metro region’s biodiversity corridors. Once completed, such tools will be useful for urban planners and resource manag-ers who design better urban space to accommodate the need of urban wildlife and plants. Similarly, Ph.D. student Zuriel Rasmussen has been diligently working with the Audubon Society of Portland to study the behavior of urban coyotes and people’s perception on sharing their space with wildlife. Such examples clearly illustrate the power of geographers’ work in community-based scholarship, under-scoring the importance of space in urban natural resource

management.

Another excellent example of community engagement is David Banis and Hunter Shobe’s recent book “Portlandness: Cultural Atlas of Oregon,” which has drawn wide attention from the community. Not only was this book one of the best-selling books in recent weeks, but it also tells rich stories about our city from multiple per-spectives. Many of our former and current students con-tributed to the book by collecting the original spatial infor-mation and creating content rich maps. Since the publica-tion of the book, David and Hunter have been asked to give guest lectures and have been interviewed by media outlets, often in areas well beyond our Portland community.

Thanks to our quality advising and teaching, our undergrad-uate majors and minors have increased in the recent year. Our new Minor in Water Resources has already attracted a sizeable number of students. The students hail from Geog-raphy to Environmental Sciences to Urban Studies to Span-ish to Music, illustrating that this new minor is appealing to students across the campus. Now that each of our physical geography and GIS courses fulfill the Science Distribution Requirement, many of those classes are full well before the term starts.

With our Rethink Flexible Degree proposal (PI: Geoffrey Duh), we have been revising our undergraduate curriculum to better serve the need of our students. Several of our courses have been converted to different formats already. Once the project is completed in winter of 2017, students will be able to choose different courses to obtain flexible degrees. Our faculty has been successful obtaining internal and external grants, including two recent major NSF and NASA grants by Paul Loikith. Such grants helped recruit qualified graduate students into our program.

Recently, I have been invited to work on two campus-wide discussions – the New School of Public Health Big Idea dis-cussion and a proposed new Graduate Certificate in Emer-gency Management. Working with a group of faculty and staff from different disciplines and schools offered me unique opportunities to let my colleagues know what geog-raphers do and how we could contribute to such initiatives that directly involves community health and resilience. As always, geography is a profound discipline that addresses important societal and environmental issues in our commu-nity in a holistic way, and we cannot simply overlook new challenges and opportunities that are ahead of us.

PORTLAND STATE UNIVE RSITY

Department Newsletter—Spring 2016 College of Liberal Arts and Science | Department of Geography | Post Office Box 751 | Portland, OR 97209

A Message from the

Chair

1

Announcements 2

Faculty Spotlight 3

Student Updates 4

Alumni News 7

Research &

Publications

9

Geography Labs

& Centers

11

Inside this issue:

A MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

Welcome Andrea!

Andrea Celentano joined the department in November 2015 as Office Coordinator. Andrea is currently

pursuing her Masters of Public Administration with a

concentration in Natural Resource Policy here at PSU.

She is also an alumna of PSU undergraduate program, earning her Bachelors of Science in Political Science

with a minor in Sustainability.

When Andrea is not at work or concentrating on her studies, she enjoys spending as much time as possible seeking adventure outdoors and traveling. Andrea has a

wanderlust spirt, loves meeting new people, learning about different cultures and enjoys partaking in authentic

cuisine where ever she is traveling.

Fun Facts: Andrea has a vintage 1953 Singer, free time permitting she prefers to make things herself. In addition

to traveling the world, Andrea and her husband have

visiting every US National Park on their bucket list!

Be sure to stop by the department and introduce yourself to

Andrea our new Office Coordinator.

Save the Date

The Department of Geography at

Portland State University is excited to host the

79th Annual APCG Meeting,

October 5-8, 2016

in beautiful Portland, Oregon.

More details to come.

Please contact us at geog@pdx.edu with any questions.

Re-imagine the Rose City:

Professors David Banis

and Hunter Shobe dis-

cussed their book

Portlandness: A Cultural

Atlas on

KGW News earlier this

year.

Watch the full interview here.

Congratulations to

Andrés, Martin & Hunter!

Assistant Professor Andrés Holz,

Associate Professors Martin Lafrenz

and Hunter Shobe were recently

named Faculty Fellows at the Institute

of Sustainable Solutions at PSU where

they will work on cross-disciplinary

sustainability issues.

Join Us!

The Geography Department

invites you to the

Spring Geography Potluck

Friday, June 3. 5pm to 9pm.

At Professor Teresa Bulman’s house.

For details and to RSVP,

please email GEOG@pdx.edu

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FACULTY SPOTLIGHT

Back from Sabbatical:

Dr. Teresa Bulman This year, Dr. Teresa Bulman received a 25 Year Service Award for her dedication to the Geography Department at Portland State University, though her commitment to geog-raphy education extends far beyond the classes she has taught at PSU. Since 1996, Dr. Bulman has served as the Co-coordinator of the Center for Geography Education in Ore-gon (C-GEO). She spent Fall 2015 and Winter 2016 terms on sabbatical completing two key projects through the center in addition to broader ventures to promote geography edu-cation at the state, national and global levels.

Both of Dr. Bulman’s main projects are online teaching tools that augment the abilities of PreK-12 geography educators. The first is the Atlas of Oregon Climate and Climate Change: A Classroom Atlas, a comprehensive resource for secondary students in Oregon to learn about the environment in which they live. The atlas was published online in 2015, and Dr. Bulman introduced it formally during the 2016 Annual Geo-Fest sponsored by C-GEO as the event’s keynote speaker in March. Dr. Bulman described this atlas as the highlight of her sabbatical as it was a project two years in the making and involved many collaborators.

In addition to the atlas, Dr. Bulman worked on map literacy guides for teachers to utilize during classroom instruction. These online guides are most suited for PreK – 6th grade teachers to introduce students to essential tools in geogra-phy. The guides add to an ever-expanding selection of online materials for educators provided by C-GEO, many of which Dr. Bulman has had a direct hand in developing dur-ing her tenure as Co-coordinator. Collaborators for this pro-ject included PSU undergraduate Morgan Josef-Weiner and graduate student Gwyneth Manser, who were instrumental in producing these guides, Dr. Bulman noted.

Beyond these key projects, Dr. Bulman worked with fellow geography experts in national and global organizations in-cluding the National Geographic Society, the International Geographical Union, and the Geography Education Commis-sion. She added that these interactions were opportunities she would not have been able to take advantage of during a traditional academic term.

“As much as I love teaching, to have the time to focus on research is very valuable,” Dr. Bulman explained. “You get to think more deeply than you do during a normal year… I think it is also rejuvenating to speak with people and attend

events that you don’t have time for [when teaching].”

With her sabbatical officially behind her, Dr. Bulman is already planning next steps and gearing up for a busy summer with C-GEO. Three summer institutes sponsored by C-GEO will provide K-12 educators with in-tensive training on various topics in geog-raphy, including a July trip to Southern Iberia to examine the physical and human geography of the peninsula where Por-tugal and Spain are located.

For Dr. Bulman, personally, the upcoming year will be one of major transition.

“As for next steps, I will prepare for retirement and work on transitioning leadership at C-GEO,” she said, adding that she plans on retiring at the end of the next academic year.

Looking back on her time with C-GEO, Dr. Bulman described her initial involvement with the center as a learning oppor-tunity.

“I was asked to conduct a summer program for C-GEO, and that summer I learned a lot from the K-12 teachers and so I continued [being involved with the center].”

During her time as Co-coordinator of C-GEO, the center has received over $3 million in grants and a multitude of nation-al awards, including a Geographic Excellence in Media Award for the Student Atlas of Oregon and 25 national teaching awards for affiliated teachers.

In her career, Dr. Bulman has published over 90 works, giv-en over 80 academic presentations, and received 12 nation-al awards and certificates for her work with the National Geographic Society and geography education at large, in-cluding a Distinguished Teaching Award and a Distinguished Mentor Award, both from the National Council for Geo-graphic Education. In addition to her work in geography, Dr. Bulman is a longstanding member of the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States, a relic of her earlier career as an attorney in New York City and London.

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STUDENT UPDATES

Undergraduate Laura Zanolli has

been accepted into the Masters

program at University of Montana

at Missoula where she will continue

her research on the impact of

climate warming on water resources

of the Clark Fork Watershed.

LAURA ZANOLLI

Alexis Cooley is currently a

graduate assistant on the Ur-

ban Resilience to Extremes,

Sustainability Research Net-

work, which is funded by the

National Science Foundation,

to look at infrastructure and

community resiliency in the face

of extreme weather events.

ALEXIS COOLEY

In addition to presenting at

the VII Southern

Connection Congress, Kyla

Zaret recently finished con-

ducting fieldwork in the

Aysen Region of Chile dur-

ing the Winter 2016 term.

KYLA ZARET

Dirk Kinsey is currently a Carto-

graphic Technician for the United

States Army Corps Engineers. Last

summer, he travelled to Montreal as

part of a field course funded by the

Institute for Sustainable Solutions

and the government of Quebec.

He has finished his Master’s degree

at PSU and will begin a PhD pro-

gram at Temple University where he

was awarded 4 years of funding.

DIRK KINSEY

GIS Student Dillon Mahmoudi

has conducted worked on map-

ping and spatial analysis. A re-

cent project was featured in the

Washington Post.

DILLON MAHMOUDI

Bruce Rash’s poster en-

titled “Cigarette Butts

Toxicity on Water” has

been accepted for the

2016 Portland State

University Student Re-

search Symposium.

BRUCE RASH

Erik Memmott currently

holds an internship posi-

tion with the GIS Depart-

ment of the City of Tual-

atin. He is also conducting

research for a book with

PSU professors.

ERIK MEMMOTT

Zuriel Rasmussen is a current OMSI

Science Communication Fellow

where she can share her work with the

public. Recently, she was interviewed

by The Nature Here TV Show about

her work with Portland Urban Coyote

Project.

Watch the full interview here.

ZURIEL RASMUSSEN

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STUDENT UPDATES

Many people are una-

ware that we share our

urban spaces with medi-

um-sized carnivores.

Opportunistic and adap-

tive, the coyote has

made a living in cities

across North America

for at least the past 30

years. Researchers have discovered a variety of fasci-

nating things about these city-dwelling canids. Some

may picture coyotes staying on the edges of cities, but

coyotes have been found living in unexpected places.

For example, one radio-collared coyote led researchers

deep into the heart of Chicago, while other coyotes

have made a home in San Francisco. Coyotes are

known by some for their proclivity for killing cats, but

studies find that felines make up only about 1-2% of

an urban coyote’s diet. Most research on urban coy-

otes has helped us better understand their ecology,

but an important next step in understanding coyotes

in the city is to deepen our understanding of human-

coyote interactions. Some people fear that coyotes

may harm them or their pets, while others may feed

them in a misguided attempt to welcome them into

their neighborhood. Understanding these perspectives

and providing education to residents can go a long

way in successful coyote management. The Portland

Urban Coyote Project is part of the effort to learn

more about how people interact with, think, and feel

about coyotes.

In 2010, The Portland Urban Coyote Project was initiat-

ed by Professor Barbara Brower and graduate student

Jenny Grant, of the geography department, in partner-

ship with the Audubon Society of Portland. The project

asks people to participate in citizen science by report-

ing their coyote sightings on the project website.

These reported sightings are available to explore on an

interactive web map. The project website also includes

pictures and videos of coyotes submitted by citizen

scientists, and an interactive tutorial to provide addi-

tional information about coyotes to the public. In her

master’s thesis research, geography PhD student Zuriel

Rasmussen found that people’s knowledge about coy-

otes increased and their attitudes toward coyotes be-

came more positive after taking the tutorial.

The next step for

the project is to

look for meaning-

ful patterns in the

over 1,500 coyote

sightings reported

to the project.

This research will

help us sharpen our understanding of where coyote

sightings happen, when coyote sightings occur, who

sees coyotes, and how people feel about seeing coy-

otes in Portland. These findings will inform future edu-

cational programs for human-centered proactive man-

agement of urban coyotes. The Portland Urban Coyote

Project has been lucky to have the help of hard-

working undergraduate volunteers to assist with map-

ping and outreach. If you are a student or know a stu-

dent who might be interested in volunteering for the

project, please email zuriel@pdx.edu for more infor-

mation (course credit may be available).

STUDENTS IN ACTION AT THE PORTLAND URBAN COYOTE PROJECT

The Geography Department has numerous centers and projects that are powered by the students involved.

One such project is the Portland Urban Coyote Project. Ph.D. student Zuriel Rasmussen provided some

insight into the important work the Project is currently conducting.

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STUDENT UPDATES

Based on Enrollment Data from Fall, Winter & Spring of 2015-16 Academic Year

OUR STUDENTS ARE TAKING MORE CLASSES AND

COMING FROM MORE MAJORS THAN EVER!

THIS YEAR ALONE, OVER 1600 STUDENTS

FROM 7 SCHOOLS TOOK AT LEAST

ONE GEOGRAPHY COURSE.

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ALUMNI NEWS

Camille Cope was promoted to Project Manager at

FDH Velocitel in January 2016. She is also currently pursuing a

Project Management Certificate through PSU’s Center for Executive and Professional Education

(CEPE) program.

FIONA GLADSTONE

(MA ‘14)

was awarded a FULBRIGHT GARCIA

ROBLES FELLOWSHIP

to support her

dissertation fieldwork on the interac-

tions of local food economies and na-

tional food policy in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Kristi Mergenthaler ’94 is the Steward-

ship Director of Southern Oregon Land

Conservancy in Ashland, OR. She is also

President of the Siskiyou Chapter of the

Native Plant Society of Oregon and a

board member of Siskiyou Field

Institute. Her son, Taro Shido, was a tod-

dler when she attended PSU; he recently

graduated from Reed College.

This June, Mike Folsom is

retiring after 45 years on the

Geography faculty at

Eastern Washington University.

Klaus J. Meyer-Arendt ‘75 is retiring from the

University of West Florida in August 2016 as

Professor Emeritus. He was at UWF for 18

years, 12 of them as Chair of the Dept. of

Earth & Environmental Sciences. Before that,

he was faculty member in the Dept. of Geosci-

ences at Mississippi State University. For a

while, Klaus, and his wife Michele, will remain in

Pensacola, but they may move back to Oregon in

2017.

Lily House-Peters, (MA ‘10) recently defended her dissertation and will gradu-ate with a PhD from the School of Geog-raphy and Development at the Universi-ty of Arizona. She has accepted a posi-tion as an Assistant Professor of Sus-tainability Studies in the Department of

Geography at California State Universi-ty Long Beach.

David Pearson recently became a Natural Resource

Specialist at the Oregon Department of Forestry work-

ing at the Tillamook Forest Center.

Announcements

Joe Parker will be a 2016-17 Visiting Scholar at Sichuan Agricultural University and is continuing his studies of the

evolving situation with water management in Sichuan’s Dabashan Mountains. He is currently working on a book

about the environmental and cultural changes he has observed as well as a book about his experiences in China.

8

Notes from Alums

I had a stroke in 2014 but am on the road to recovery. Before I even knew about an update in the newsletter, I recog-

nized how the holistic paradigm of geography was a component of my ongoing rehabilitation. This goes to show how

my geography degree from PSU was still having a positive on my life--20 years after I graduated! Pretty amazing, and

a big thank you to the PSU Geography Department.

-Drew Bobzian

When I graduated with a geography degree there weren't many jobs in the field... so I went back into the Army and

ended up retiring after a career in geodetic surveying. What I learned with a geography degree was an appreciation of

all things universal in nature, and by applying this interest to a specific field gave me a competitive edge over my peers,

who may have looked at the world in a more narrow way, leaving them with fewer creative options to accomplish the

mission. The one thing I regret about my degree was that I [received] a BS instead of a BA degree. I was enrolled at the

time in German language courses [and] I would have ended up with a very useful skill that would have served me well

overseas with the Army or in Foreign Service.

-John Tomlinson ‘72

I graduated with a BS in Geography from Portland State University in 1973. I retired in 2010 after 40 years in the steel

fabrication business and 6 years in the US Air Force. I value my experience at PSU to be a main force in my successes in

life.

-Karl J Winkler Jr. ‘73

ALUMNI NEWS

Each dot represents one or more alumnus currently living in that location. Based on data from an April 2016 survey. List is not exhaustive.

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RECENT PRESENTATIONS PRESENTED AT THE

AAG ANNUAL MEETING, MARCH 29—APRIL 2, 2016

Debbie Blackmore and Heejun Chang: A geospatial tool for wetland prioritization at the watershed scale

Barbara Brower: What's the harm in a name? Anthro-pocene et al. and the history of Himalayan scholarship

Heejun Chang: Living with uncertainty: Coevolution of human-water systems in urban streams:

Alexis Cooley: Poster: Trends in hourly precipitation intensity in Portland, OR

Alexandria Costello: Poster: The beaver state: Urban beaver management in Oregon

Britt Crow-Miller: Sustainable urban water manage-ment in North China

Dirk Kinsey: Chasing the problem, rebuilding the vil-lage: Youth and gang violence policy and the suburban-ization of poverty in Portland's periphery

Martin Lafrenz, Catherine de Rivera (ESM), and Sa-rah Eppley (ESM): Poster: Transformation of salt marsh habitat in the Anthropocene

Daniel Larson: When you drink water, consider the source: An assessment of water customer support for source water protection

Aylan Lee: Decomissioning and disruption: The political ecology of Klamath River dam removal:

Katey Bisso, Kyle Lempinen, David Banis, and Todd Stevenson (Ocean Conservancy): Poster: Who's pro-tecting the Arctic: A GIS analysis of marine protected areas

Paul Loikith and J. David Neelin (UCLA): Poster: The effect of non-Gaussian temperature probability distribu-tion tails on future changes in extreme temperatures

Melanie Malone: Mapping the unintended conse-quences of no-till agriculture: Changes in vegetation over time from increased herbicide drift in Wasco Coun-ty, Oregon

Zuriel Rasmussen: How to reduce human-coyote con-flict with citizen science

Hunter Shobe and David Banis: Cartographies of geo-graphic imagination: The cultural atlas:

Kira Smith: Who's at the table? The effects of the Kla-math Basin restoration agreement process on the Kla-math Basin national wildlife refuges

Martin Swobodzinski: Immersive visualizations and individual stress relief

For a complete list of presentations,

visit our Department Webpage.

PRESENTED AT GIS IN ACTION, APRIL 4, 2016:

Graduate student Debbie Blackmore:

"Using Landsat Images and GIS to

Estimate the Hydrologic Connectivity of Wetlands

in the Tualatin River National

Wildlife Refuge"

Chris Grant, David Banis, and Don Pettit:

"Symbology Development for the Oregon Incident

Response Information System"

RESEARCH & PUBLICATIONS

PRESENTED AT

VIII SOUTHERN CONNECTION CONGRESS,

JANUARY 18-23, 2016:

Gutierrez, A., Holz, A., Pérez, M. F., Read, J.,

and Gaxiola, A.:

Trait-mediated processes in the dynamics of south-

ern temperate rainforests.

Veblen, T.T., Holz, A., Paritsis, J., Kitzberger, T.

and Mundo, I.:

Climate change, wildfire and feedbacks in southern

temperate forest ecosystems: an introduction and

overview.

Zaret, K. & Holz, A.:

Seedling Performance of Pilgerodendron uviferum

(Ciprés de las Guaitecas) in a Burned Peatland, Lower

Baker River Watershed: Implications for Restoration.

Puchi, P., Muñoz, A., González, M., Abarzua, A.,

Araya, K., Towner, R., Fitzek, R., Holz, A., and Stahle,

D. :

The potential use of Pilgerodendron uvifer-

um treering dating in the historical interpretation of

the churches of Chiloé.

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RECENT PUBLICATIONS

G. Hossein Parandvash & Heejun Chang (July 2016), Analysis of long-term climate change on per capita water deman in

urban versus suburban areas in the Portland metropolitan area, USA. Journal of Hydrology, 538, 574-586. Click for article.

Soares, D. de B., K. Lee, P. C. Loikith, A. Barkhordarian, and C. R. Mechoso: Can Significant Trends in Surface Temperature

and Precipitation be detected over South America? Accepted to the International Journal of Climatology.

Zbignew J. Grabowski, Eric Watson, & Heejun Chang (May 2016), Using spatially explicit indicators to investigate watershed

characteristics and stream temperature relationships. Science of the Total Environment, 551-552, 376-386.

Click for article.

Jonathan Straus, Heejun Chang & Chang-yu Hong (May 2016), An exploratory path analysis of attitudes, behaviors, and

summer water consumption in the Portland metropolitan area. Sustainable Cities and Society, 23, 68-77. Click for article.

Rossitza Wooster, David Banis & Ayesha Khalid (2016), A geographic view of expansion choices by U.S. firms in China. Inter-

national Trade Journal, 30, 33-58.

Click for article.

RESEARCH & PUBLICATIONS

May 2016 - Paul Loikith received $269,989 from the NSF for work a proposal titled “Collaborative Research: As-

sessing and Understanding Climate Change in South America” in conjunction with the Climate Science Lab and

UCLA.

May 2016 - Heejun Chang received $336, 478 from the NSF for his project titled “Analyzing the Effects of Spatial

Autocorrelation in Geospatial Databases” with his colleagues at University of Kentucky and The University of Texas-

Dallas.

March 2016 - Paul Loikith received $464, 082 from NASA for his project titled "A Gridded Climate Indicator for Ex-

treme Precipitation Events Over the Continental United States.”

February 2016 - CSAR received an additional $3,375 for the contract “GIS Support to the Ocean Conservancy for

Ocean Planning in the Arctic" PI: David Banis

January 2016 - Teresa Bulman received a grant for $10,000 from the Library of Congress for a summer program on

"Teaching Geography with Primary Sources.”

For a complete list of Geography Grants, visit our webpage.

2016 FACULTY GRANTS

RECENT PRESENTATIONS (continued)

PRESENTED AT URBAN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION SYMPOSIUM, FEB. 8, 2016

Graduate student Zuriel Rasmussen: "Clickable Coyotes: The efficacy of online education for pro-

active wildlife management”

Martin Lafrenz, Leslie Bliss-Ketchum, Catherine de Rivera, and Lori Hennings:: "Assessing Habitat

Permeability at Wildlife Corridor-Road Intersections"

Seong Yun Cho and Heejun Chang: “Assessment of urban flood vulnerability using an indicator-

based approach”

11

A Look Back: 2015 Portland Cartography Symposium

Introducing: The NEW Climate Science Lab

The third biennial Portland Cartography Symposium took place on November 3, 2015 in the Smith Memorial Union on

the Portland State University campus. The purpose of the event was to provide an opportunity for an exchange of ideas

related to technique and philosophy among students and cartographic professionals from the Ore. and Wash. region.

A total of 110 attendees were present on the day of the event. Nine registrants represented federal agencies, 27 people

from non-federal agencies, 2 from non-profits, 20 from private commercial organizations, and 7 from universities and

colleges. A total of 39 students registered, of whom 32 were PSU students. While most attendees were from the Port-

land-Vancouver metro area, people based in the Seattle, Medford, Bend, Eugene, Corvallis and Salem areas attended.

The principal organizers of this free, public event were Tera Hinkley, geography graduate student and Presi-

dent of the GIS Club, the PSU student chapter of ASPRS; Debbie Blackmore, geography graduate student and Past-

President of the GIS Club, and David Banis of the PSU Department of Geography. The majority of financial support was

provided by the GIS Club and the Columbia River Region of ASPRS (the Imaging and Geospatial Information Society),

with additional support from the Department of Geography, and the Portland State Educational Activities Speakers

Board.

Andrés and Kyla just wrapped up a successful

field expedition in western Patagonia with

MSU paleoecologist Dave McWethy

(and his lovely family)!

Updates from the

Global Environmental

Change Lab

For more updates, visit the

Global Environmental Change Lab website

The Global Environmental Change Lab welcomes

Adrien Cannet from the Eduter Institute in France.

Adrien is visiting our lab as an intern for the

March-August period. As an intern, he is being trained in

tree-ring techniques in our lab.

STUDYING GLOBAL CHANGE AT THE INTERFACE OF WEATHER AND CLIMATE.

This is the mission of the new Portland State Climate Science Lab (CSL). Located in CH 412 and directed by the Geogra-

phy Department’s newest faculty member Paul Loikith, the CSL is now up and running. Currently the lab has four cubi-

cles, which will house workstations for members of the CSL and a conference table for group meetings. The lab group is

growing with two new Geography graduate students already active group members. If you stop in the CSL during the day

(and you are encouraged to do so!) you will likely find Judah Detzer working diligently studying the role of climate change

on observed trends in dust storms over the Arabian Peninsula. Judah graduated PSU this winter with a B.S. in Physics and will

be joining the Geography graduate program in the fall. In July, Emily Slinskey will be joining the CSL. Emily received a B.S.

in Geography from SUNY Geneseo in western New York and will be working on a NASA-funded project to develop an indica-

tor to track changes in extreme precipitation over the United States. This project will help NASA support the ongoing efforts

of the US National Climate Assessment.

For the latest news from the CSL, please visit the lab’s website at http://www.pdx.edu/climate-science/ and feel free

to drop in and check out the space!

GEOGRAPHY LABS & CENTERS

12

C-GEO introduced its newest publication this winter. The Atlas

of Oregon Climate and Climate Change: A Classroom Atlas was authored

by Professor Teresa Bulman; Chief Cartographer David Banis led The

Center for Spatial Analysis and Research (CSAR) team on the project.

The 63-page atlas features an extensive amount of data-driven infor-

mation and pages of colorful maps and graphics. It is available for free

download on the

C-GEO website.

More than 300 K-12 students will participate in BioBlitzes

around the state supported by C-GEO. A BioBlitz is an event in which

teams of volunteer scientists, families, students, educators, and other

community members work together to find and identify as many species

of plants, animals, microbes, fungi, and other organisms as possible in a

specific geographic location. C-GEO supports BioBlitzes at Crater Lake

National Park, Yaquina Head Natural Area and Tom McCall Preserve at

Rowena Plateau.

On March 5, 2016, C-GEO hosted more than 100 prek-12 teachers and pre-service teachers at its annual GeoFest

Conference at PSU. Participants heard a keynote about climate change and received an introduction to C-GEO’s new class-

room climate atlas. They enjoyed countless networking opportunities, resources for teaching geography, and chose from ten

different workshops, including “Help Improve GIS & Geography Education: Partner with or Be a GeoMentor!,” “Race, Place, &

Perceptions ,” “Introduction to the Willamette Promise: College credit in geography for high school”. One teacher and one

pre-service teacher each won a prize for $500 towards professional development travel. The GeoFest was support by The

Gray Family Foundation.

We’re looking forward to a busy summer with three summer institutes, including one in Spain and Portugal, one on

teaching geography with primary resources, and one on geography in outdoor school.

Support the

Geography Department

If you are interested in making a donation

to the Geography Department (including the Thomas Harvey Memorial Scholarship),

please click here:

Thank you, as always,

for your continued support.

Center for Geography Education in Oregon (C-GEO)

GEOGRAPHY LABS & CENTERS