News Archive

Geography Colloquium Series Continues Thr. April 5'th with Rebecca Lave:

The next Dept. of Geography Colloquium will feature Rebecca Lave from the Department of Geography at Indiana University. The colloquium will be held in Derby Hall Room 1080 on April 5'th from 3:30-5:00PM. There will also be an open discussion during lunch on Friday April 6'th, on a short piece called "Engaging within the Academy: A Call for Critical Physical Geography." This lunch is open to all, but you must RSVP to Diane Carducci by Wednesday at noon to be included. She will forward the paper to you once you have replied. Please also let her know if you have any dietary restrictions. See the full colloquium schedule here: Geography Colloquium series.

Rebecca Lave
Department of Geography
University of Indiana

Will present a lecture entitled:

Free Range Science: Producing Scientific Expertise Outside the Academy

The American stream restoration field is an unusual state, convulsed since the mid-1990s by a struggle that has come to be known as the Rosgen Wars. Over the vehement protests of university - and agency - based scientists Dave Rosgen, a consultant with little formal training, has become the most widely acknowledged scientific expert in the field. Rosgen's approach has been adopted by the majority of resource agencies at the state and federal levels. His knowledge claims, applied tools, and educational system are increasingly seen not just as scientifically legitimate, but as a more legitimate basis for stream restoration practice than academically - produced science and training. How can we explain this startling reversal of the typical dynamics of scientific authority? Based on social and natural science data gathered over four years of research, she argues that the root causes of Rosgen's success lie not in the man or his method, but in political economic forces internal and external to the stream restoration field. Simply put, Rosgen met the needs of restoration markets and the state by providing the lingua franca, standards of practice, and educational system for the field when universities failed to do so. Further, broad neoliberal changes in science and environmental management have strengthened Rosgen's authority by encouraging the privatization of knowledge production and its commercialization in the service of environmental markets.

Geography Colloquium series is funded in part through the John Nelson Endowment, alumni, faculty, and friends of the Ohio State Geography Endowment.

16'th Annual Severe Weather Symposium post script:

The Ohio State Meteorology Club hosted the 16th Annual Severe Weather Symposium this past Friday, March 2, at the Fawcett Center. The event featured prestigious speakers with highly varied backgrounds in the field of meteorology. The speakers included Dan McCarthy of the National Weather Service office in Indianapolis, Indiana, Jim Noel of the Ohio River Forecast Center, Ariel Cohen of the Storm Prediction Center, Alan Gerard of the National Weather Service office in Jackson, Mississippi, Andre Bernier of WJW-TV Fox 8 in Cleveland, Ohio, Captain Bob Maxson of the Aviation Weather Center, Dr. John G.W. Kelley of the NOAA/National Ocean Service, Eric Wilhelm of AccuWeather, and Gary Garnet of the National Weather Service in Cleveland, Ohio. Numerous interesting aspects of severe weather was discussed, including the April 2011 tornado outbreak, how social media plays a role in forecasting severe weather, Hurricane Irene, broadcast meteorology, weather in aviation, and ad-hoc gatherings talking about the current day severe weather outbreak which quickly started to look eerily familiar. As usual much fun was had on High Street post Symposium. For more information about past and upcoming Severe Weather Symposia, and the Meteorology club in general please visit the Meteorology Club's website, geography.osu.edu/metclub. Nice job Metclub we look forward to next year’s symposium.

Dr. Hobgood speaking with Dan McCarthy, NWS MIC at Indianapolis, IN.

The symposium lunch

Group of metclub members gathered around presenter and alumni Ariel Cohen analyzing the severe weather situation after the symposium.

Dept.. of Geography T-Shirt Design Contest:

The Dept. of Geography is excited to announce that we will be starting a design contest for an official Department of Geography T-shirt.  The contest is open to all current faculty, students and staff in Geography.  The selected design will be used for the official Department T-shirts over the next two years. All faculty, students and staff will vote for their preferred design among the submissions. The designer with the most votes will receive professional development funds and will have his or her design featured on our official Department T-shirt. Two runners-up will also receive professional development funds. Keep checking this link for more information: Please refer to this link for rules and deadlines.

Colloquium Series Continues March 8, with:

Cartoon Room 1, Ohio State Union, 3:30-5:00PM Thursday, March 8, 2012. We present Elvin Wyly, Associate Professor of Geography and Chair of the Urban Studies Program at the University of British Columbia, and editor of the journal Urban Geography, will be our next speaker in the Geography Colloquium series. Elvin is a prominent and lively urban geographer.

Dr. Elvin K. Wyly, The University of British Columbia

Will present a lecture entitled:

Automated (Post) Positivism

For a half a century, the word "positivism" has been invested with meanings of methodological and political conservatism. Yet the shared reference point for the collective memories of urban geography and other social sciences -- the Fordist methodological positivism of the mid-twentieth century -- obscures an earlier radical history. The long-forgotten project launched by Auguste Comte in 1822 was hijacked and corrupted in the twentieth century, and today the informational innovations of digital capitalism are reanimating the corpse of Cold War positivism. Yet this reanimation is a dehumanized, automated adaptation to the poststructuralist situated epistemologies of consumer sovereignty, creating a strange hybrid zombie of the dashed hopes of Enlightenment modernity and the postpositivist relativism that goes back to a pre-Comtean metaphysics and (market) theology. Reclaiming the radical Comte is the first step in the fight against an aggressive, right-wing (post)positivist zombie reanimated by the neoliberal project.

Professor Jianya Gong Visits Geography and CURA:

Professor Jianya Gong from Wuhan University (China) visited Geography and CURA on Feb. 3, 2012. Professor Gong is a leading GIScientist in China and a newly elected member of Chinese Academy of Science.  Professor Gong currently serves as Director of the State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing, Wuhan University - a first tier research university and one of OSU's sister institutions in China. During his visit, Professor Gong met with Geography and CURA-affiliated faculty and graduate students. He also gave a CURA roundtable presentation on the International Collaborative Center for Geo-computation Studies (ICCGS) via GeoSquare.org currently being developed by professor Gong's group.

Dan Sui reappointed to serve on NMSC:

Daniel Sui, Distinguished Professor of Social & Behavioral Sciences and Chair of the OSU Geography Department, has been reappointed to serve another three-year term on the Mapping Science Committee (NMSC) of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council.
The Mapping Science Committee organizes and oversees National Research Council studies that provide independent advice to society and to government at all levels on geospatial science, technology, and policy. It also addresses aspects of geographic information science that deal with the acquisition, integration, storage, distribution, and use of spatial data. Through its studies, the committee promotes the informed and responsible development and use of spatial data for the benefit of society.
As a committee member, Sui travels to Washington DC for meetings twice a year to discuss emerging issues of interest to the broader geospatial community, provide feedback on NMSC studies, and to plan new studies.
Sui's initial appointment on MSC was made back in 2008 while he was still at Texas A&M University. He came to OSU as Director of the Center for Urban & Regional Analysis (CURA) in summer 2009. He was appointed as Chair of Geography in July 2011.
For more information, visit the MSC on the web at http://dels.nas.edu/global/besr/MSC. Information about Sui's recent work can be found at http://www.geography.ohio-state.edu/our-department/faculty-more/sui

Dept. of Geography Colloquium:

The Department of Geography Colloquium Series continues with Dr. Aaron T. Wolf, Chair of the Dept. of Geoscience, Oregon State Univ. 3:30-5PM Thursday, January 26, 2012
Ohio Student Union, Cartoon Room 1, (3rd floor).

Aaron T. Wolf, Chair of the Dept. of Geosciences at Oregon State University, will present a lectur entitled:

Healing the Enlightenment Rift:
Rationality, Spirituality, and Shared Waters

While press reports of international waters often focus on conflict, what has been more encouraging is that, throughout the world, water also induces cooperation, even in particularly hostile basins, and even as disputes rage over other issues. Which begs the question, why do countries that share a basin cooperate on water, even when they will not cooperate over other issues? Studies offer economic, environmental, or strategic rationale to explain this "hydrocooperation," but none seems completely adequate. Perhaps some part of the answer lies not in the world of rationality, but rather in the spiritual, ethical, and moral dimensions of water conflict resolution. This talk will begin by setting the context of current understanding of water conflict and cooperation, then by documenting the geography of the "Enlightenment Rift" - the process by which the global West/North separated out the worlds of rationality from spirituality - and the impact of this rift on ideas related to natural resources management. We continue with a discussion of the current clash of worldviews, and conclude with a section describing how the two worldviews might gently be interwoven, for example within a fairly-universal construct of Four Worlds of perception, and how this construct might be employed within the framework of more effective water conflict management and transformation.

Spatial Analysis and Modeling Plenary Lecture and Geographic Analysis Reception:

Spatial Analysis and Modeling Plenary Lecture and Geographic Analysis Reception at the AAG. The GA reception/plenary lecture is scheduled for: Saturday, Feb. 25, 2012 4:40-6:20 PM in the room Nassau B, second floor of the Hilton NY.

Lonnie Thompson and Ellen Mosley-Thompson Awarded the Benjamin Franklin Medal:

Our very own Ellen Mosley-Thompson, distinguished university professor of geography and director of the Byrd Polar Research Center and her husband, Lonnie Thompson, distinguished university professor of earth sciences here at OSU have been selected to receive this year's Benjamin Franklin Medal from The Franklin Institute. This is a very prestigious honor previously awarded to scientists such as Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Jane Goodall and Jacques Cousteau. OSU Research Announcement.