News
Winkler receives alumni award
On October 2, Dr. Julie Winkler received the inaugural “Alumni of the Year” award from the Department of Geography at the University of North Dakota. Winkler presented a colloquium as part of the university’s homecoming activities and was the speaker for the Gamma Theta Upsilon awards banquet.
Yansa's research on ancient, giant beavers featured on Discovery News
The extinct giant beaver, Castoroides ohioensis, was just one species of large animals, or megafauna, stalking the North American landscape near the end of the last ice age. Fossils indicate that the creature was about twice the size of its modern-day cousin and therefore weighed between 60 and 100 kilograms, says Catherine Yansa, a paleoecologist at Michigan State University in East Lansing.
Geography welcomes visiting researcher from Czech Republic
Dr. Pavel Samonil, a forest ecologist and soil scientist from the Czech Republic, spent two weeks in residence this fall, working with Randy Schaetzl on research, participating in class field trips, and discussing future collaborations. Pavel also presented two talks in the Department. We hope to see him back at a future date!
Shortridge to Present at the MSU Public Health Student Society
The MSU Public Health Student Society will be welcoming Dr. Ashton Shortridge to speak on Thursday, October 8 at 7 pm in 209 Berkey Hall. Dr. Shortridge will be speaking about the Medical Geography lab's work with the Michigan Department of Community Health, as well as on disease cluster mapping. All students are welcome.
Darden is the co-editor of a new book on the African Diaspora
Most African Immigrants are recent arrivals in the United States and Canada. In the new book, The African Diaspora in the United States and Canada at the Dawn of the 21st Century, Frazier, Darden and Henry are the editors of a volume which compares the socioeconomic, spatial mobility and incorporation of African Immigrants in the two countries. The book is published by Global Academic Publishing, Binghamton University, 2009
Lusch and Colleagues Funded to Study Common Buckthorn as a Keystone Invader in Agricultural Landscapes
Dr. David Lusch (Distinguished Senior Research Specialist, Dept. of Geography, MSU), along with Dr. Mary Gardiner (Principal Investigator - OSU), Dr. Andrew Michel (OSU), Dr. Doug Landis (MSU) and Dr. Matthew O'Neal (ISU), recently received a three-year grant for more than $400,000 from US Dept. of Agriculture to study the role of common buckthorn, an exotic invasive shrub, as a keystone invader in the agricultural landscapes of the north-central region of the U.S. Common buckthorn invades natural areas where it serves as the primary overwintering host of the exotic soybean aphid, Aphis glycines, allowing the aphid to successfully overwinter. This soybean aphid negatively impacts the production of soybean and vegetable crops by direct feeding and by vectoring key plant viruses. Common buckthorn holds it leaves later into the fall compared with native co-occurring understory shrubs and overstory trees providing the possibility of remote sensing detection of buckthorn during the late fall. Dr. Lusch will map the probability distribution of buckthorn throughout the study areas using multitemporal, 30 m resolution Landsat imagery.
Image caption: Common buckthorn holds its leaves later into the fall compared with associated overstory trees and native shrubs. This trait may allow researchers to use satellite imagery to estimate the distribution of buckthorn across the north-central U.S.
Arbogast and Colleagues Uncover Dune on Campus
About 16 millennia ago, when the ice sheets melted on what would become Michigan State University's campus, tons of sand and other sediment were left behind on a barren, wind-swept landscape. Fast forward 16,000 years, and a team of MSU researchers and archaeology students has confirmed the existence of an undisturbed, prehistoric sand dune beneath a grove of pine trees between Demonstration Hall and Munn Ice Arena.
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Goldsberry selected as a 2009-10 Lilly Teaching Fellow
Twenty Michigan State University faculty members have been selected as Lilly and Adams Fellows for the 2009-10 academic year. The fellowships support excellence in and recognize commitment to the teaching profession. Goldsberry is one of eight MSU faculty members that has been named Lilly Teaching fellows for 2009-10.
Corey Receives Gill-Chin Lim Global Award
Early this year, Dr. Kenneth E. Corey, Professor of Geography and Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, Michigan State University was selected as the first recipient of the Gill-Chin Lim Global Award presented by the Consortium on Development Studies.