Geographers Recognized for National Research on COVID-19
Projects address mobility patterns, access to health care and food systems, racial and disability disparities during the pandemic WASHINGTON, DC…Geographers have been recognized in 16 research and educational fellowships from The Geospatial Software Institute (GSI) Conceptualization Project. The fellowships support 14 projects that tackle COVID-19’s challenges for public health, social networks and contact tracing, housing…
AAG Welcomes Fall 2020 Interns
Two new interns have joined the AAG staff this fall! The AAG would like to welcome Jenna and Mei to the organization. We are also grateful to have one of our summer interns, Sekour, continue working with us this semester. Jenna Pulice is a senior at Penn State University pursuing a Bachelor of Science in…
An Interview with AAG Executive Director Gary Langham (Part 2)
Last month I shared Part 1 of an interview I conducted with AAG's Executive Director Gary Langham to help the membership learn a bit about his perspectives, goals, and personal history that led him to AAG. We met on August 19, close to the one-year anniversary of his first week in this role—half of which…
Welcome to Clancy Wilmott, and thank you to John Kelmelis: AAG representatives on the Board of Directors of the GIS Certification Institute
The GIS Certification Institute or GISCI was established in 2002 by member organizations: Association of American Geographers (AAG), Geospatial Information and Technology Association (GITA), National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC), University Consortium of Geographic Information Science (UCGIS), Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA), to provide the GIS community with a complete certification program, leading…
An Interview with AAG Executive Director Gary Langham (Part 1)
While the AAG membership elects some of its governance ( president, vice president, Council), the temporal constant in leadership is the Executive Director (ED). Historically, his tenure spans multiple presidents and many dozens of councilors. Since COVID-19 has prevented our new ED, Gary Langham, from meeting the membership and vice versa, I decided to interview…
News from the Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences (HEGS) Program at the National Science Foundation (NSF), September 2020
Update 9/15/2020: In response to concerns raised by members of the AAG, the NSF has clarified its announced changes to the Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences program (HEGS), formerly known as the Geography and Spatial Sciences program (GSS). AAG appreciates the time many of our members have taken to bring questions and concerns about the program…
Participatory Forum on New Requirements for Ethical Geographic Science in Rapid Research
COVID-19 calls upon researchers to navigate a fast-paced scientific inquiry process under enormous public scrutiny. The rapid funding mechanisms, abundance of geographic data from emerging technologies, and the “real-time” expectations and needs of governments have posed new challenges to traditionally accepted research methods and timelines, collaborative relationships, parameters for data sharing, and public expectations of…
The Invisible and The Silent
I am the parent of an adult child with intellectual and developmental disabilities and have spent the past two decades watching how society (dis)engages with him. People avert their eyes. People pretend not to see him. People give him a wide berth in store aisles. Some adults demonstrate shockingly bad behavior when he makes his…
The Geography of Despair (or All These Rubber Bullets)
Aretina R. Hamilton This article was originally published on Medium. Follow Dr. Hamilton on Twitter at As a scholar, I entered the world of academia as a planner. I examined urban planning and the devolution of American cities — and then I discovered Geography. The original scene of the crime. This original technology was used…
AAG Welcomes New Editor of AAG Review of Books, Thanks Outgoing Editor
The AAG is pleased to announce Debbie Hopkins as the new editor of the AAG Review of Books. The AAG sincerely thanks founding editor Kent Mathewson, whose vision and ideas have shaped the AAG Review of Books since its beginnings eight years ago. Hopkins will take the helm when Mathewson steps down on July 1.…
The Spatial Scale of ‘We’
Every day around my town, I see signs of encouragement, most frequently — “We’re All In This Together.” That statement refers to the coronavirus pandemic, suggesting and assuming that we are all equally engaged in and affected by the pandemic. Similar messaging is delivered via emails, websites, and store speakers. Oregon’s public campaign takes the…
Summer Series on questions of Geoethics and Human Rights highlighted by COVID-19 Conditions
Introduction By Coline Dony and Emily Fekete This series developed from discussions that took place at the AAG’s Virtual Annual Meeting, April 6-10, 2020, during publicly available panels of the breaking theme “Geographers Respond to COVID-19”. The panels were set up by AAG specialty groups and their chairs who wanted to initiate discussions about the…