Louisiana Topography: Third Lowest, Third Flattest, and Most Interesting
A look at quirks and idiosyncrasies of topographic flatness in "Louisiana Topography: Third Lowest, Third Flattest, and Most Interesting" by Tulane geographer Richard Campanella, courtesy Louisiana Cultural Vistas (PDF). New Orleans: Place Portraits — Over the next nine months, AAG’s “Focus on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast,” will feature a series of articles on New…
Some Hispanic and Latino Landscapes of New Orleans
If you have a penchant for landscape, be warned: you will be tempted to spend more time outside of the hotels than in the paper sessions of the upcoming AAG conference in New Orleans. Many aspects of the New Orleans landscape might seem generically American, especially within the compact Central Business District (CBD) upriver from…
The Serious Business of Public Communication
If you have not yet examined the AAG Long Range Plan, 2015-2025, then I encourage you to do so. It provides a useful update on the Association’s progress since its 2002 strategic plan and offers 20 specific recommendations important for the future of AAG and the discipline of geography. One of those recommendations calls on…
Expanding and Empowering a Culture of Mentorship
The Geography Faculty Development Alliance (GFDA) Early Career Workshop class of 2017 gathered for a photo at the close of the conference on June 24 at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn. Words cannot adequately capture my excitement and honor to be able to serve as President of the American Association of Geographers. I…
New Orleans: The Uncertain City
Skyscrapers in the New Orleans business district in the foreground contrast with the French Quarter in the background. Photo credit: Craig Colten New Orleans battles with its identity. Locals see their home as a river city. Its European colonial founders etched a street grid across the narrow natural levee and perched the incipient city on…
NSF Is Recruiting Geographers for its Graduate Research Fellowship Program
In addition to opportunities via the DDRI program in GSS, grad students in geography and related spatial sciences also have an opportunity to compete in NSF’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). This program is run separately from GSS, but will benefit from more geographers serving as panelists. To participate, you will need to register as a…
NCRGE Announces New Grants for Transformative Research
The National Center for Research in Geography Education (NCRGE), a research consortium headquartered at the American Association of Geographers (AAG) and Texas State University, has approved awards for three new projects under its Transformative Research grant program. This investment by NCRGE continues a long-term and broad-based effort to develop a research coordination network supporting implementation…
The New Plot to Hijack GIS and Mapping
A bill recently introduced in the Senate could effectively exclude everyone but licensed architects, engineers, and surveyors from federal government contracts for GIS and mapping services of all kinds — not just those services traditionally provided by surveyors. Read the document.
Upon Reflection
How fast time flies. It is hard to believe that the end of the academic year is upon us, June has come and I am writing my last president’s column. I want to use the opportunity provided by this final column to reflect upon the past year. I also want to look ahead and consider…
AAG Statement on the U.S. Withdrawal from the Paris Agreement
The American Association of Geographers (AAG) opposes the Trump Administration’s decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement. Climate change constitutes a major threat to the Earth’s environment and to the well-being of people in all nations and there is a substantial body of evidence that global climate change is driven by human-induced causes.…
Christine MacKrell Interns at AAG for Summer Semester
Christine MacKrell recently completed her bachelor of arts in geography from the University of Mary Washington where she also majored in political science and completed a certificate in geographic information systems. She will be attending George Washington University in the fall working toward a master of science. Her geographic research focuses on race and place,…
Meredith Stone Joins AAG Staff as Public Policy and Outreach Specialist
Meredith Stone has joined the AAG staff as Public Policy and Outreach Specialist at the Washington, headquarters. She recently completed her Master of Arts in Geography at Ohio University. There, she served as a teaching assistant for Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and Mapping Sciences and also as a research assistant for the Baltimore Ecosystem Study,…