News as of 20 November 2003

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Geography Awareness Week and GIS Day

Dr. Unna Lassiter and Mr. Noel Ludwig have put together another outstanding Geography Awareness Week and GIS Day program, and Mr. Norm Carter will be making those fabulous Geography @ the Beach t-shirts available.

Monday, 17 November

• 9 a.m. to noon: Mr. Noel Ludwig demonstrates the operation of the flume in the walkway in front of LA4
• All day: Geography Photo Contest entries will be on display in the walkway in front of LA4
• Noon-2 p.m,: Lunch visit by community colleges
• 2-3:15 p.m., Anatol Center: Mr. Tim Dufault, AIA, will give a talk, "Schools that Fit." It describes how built environments that are well-thought out demonstrate how ideas, including utopian ideas, can be made into reality. The talk will be held in the Anatol Center in the East Library.

Tuesday, 18 November

• Morning: Book and t-shirt sale to benefit the Geography Student Association

Wednesday, 19 November

• 9 a.m, to noon: Prof. Ludwig will be demonstrating the flume
• 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.: Dr. Christopher Lee will host a multimedia presentation of remote sensing and GIS in LA4 205 and LA4 207

Thursday, 20 November

• 9 a.m.-3 p.m.: Geography on Display (posters by students and faculty)
• 12:30-1:45: Mr. Chris Kahle, Department of Geography, University of Southern California, will make a presentation entitled, "Green Dreams: How Geographic Imaginaries Reshape the Los Angeles River," which will discuss how the long ignored L.A. River is now at the heart of new ideas about the city and its diverse residents. The talk will be held in the Anatol Center in the East Library
• 2 p.m.: Announcement of GSA raffle and silent auction winners (and last chance to vote for your favorite photo contest winners!)
• 5 p.m.: Dr. Sidorov will announce the photo competition winners

Friday, 21 November

• Morning: Book and t-shirt sale for GSA

Enhancing Educational Effectiveness

All faculty (full-time, part-time, and FERPs) can apply for an Enhancing Educational Effectiveness Award. The call for proposals, with deadlines, is available at http://www.csulb.edu/centers/fcpd/Funding/3eawards.shtml.

Geography Student Association

GSA is hosting a wine-tasting fundraiser on Friday, 6 December, 7 p.m. at John Callanan's house at 4261 Avenida Madrid in Cypress 90630. Cost is $10 for non-GSA participants and $8 for GSA members. Please bring your own wine glass. Please RSVP no later than Tuesday, December 2, 2003 @ jjennesk@csulb.edu or maribele1@yahoo.com or leslieedwards@socal.rr.com and please indicate the number of people in your party. Reminder, the wine tasting is open to everyone over 21, not just geography students. Appetizers will be provided.

Dr. Rodrigue Has a New Publication

Dr. Chrys Rodrigue has a new publication out on her work on the media representation of the September 11th attacks of 2001. The paper is entitled, "Representation of the September 11th Terrorist Attacks in the Online Edition of the Los Angeles Times, and it came out in Beyond September 11th: An Account of Post-Disaster Research, ed. Jacquelyn L. Monday.

GDEP Symposium

Drs. Chrys Rodrigue and Chris Lee led two related Geoscience Diversity Enhancement Project summer research projects, one on mapping Charmlee Park in the western Santa Monica Mountains and another preparing IKONOS satellite imagery for analysis of road networks and structures in the Santa Monicas in the event of a wildfire needing evacuation. Their teams have included three student interns: Ms. Sally Lwin (Lakewood High School), Ms. Luz Mendez (Cerritos College), and Ms. Barbara Talalemotu (El Camino College), with Ms. Dalina Thrift- Viveros (Millikan High School). Also involved were the following faculty: Dr. Tere Ramírez (Geological Sciences, CSULB), Dr. Stephen Koletty (El Camino College), Dr. Chris Carter (Long Beach City College), Ms. Elizabeth Fessler and Ms. Linda Sanders (Lakewood High School) and Mr. Myles Lovall (Lakewood High School), with Mr. Woody Williams (Millikan High School). Also part of the GDEP team were graduate students Messrs. Aziz Bakkoury and Brian Sims. Three posters related to these two projects were presented at an on-campus GDEP research symposium.

GDEP Charmlee Park Project Written up in the Malibu Surfside News

The GDEP Charmlee Project was the subject of a newspaper article in the Malibu Surfside News. You can read it by clicking here.

Dr. Curtis Invited to Iowa State

Dr. James Curtis has just been invited to serve in February 2004 as a distinguished visiting scholar in the Iowa State Center for Excellence in Arts and Humanities, in response to his novel, Shangó, a mystery story set in the context of Afro-Caribbean religious expression in South Florida urban landscapes. The Center's programming gathers artists, creative writers, and scholars who address in their work the question of our place in the world. Dr. Curtis has been invited to address the issue of what it means to live and work and write and create with a deep sense of place and how this affects the world around us. Another theme is exploring the rôle that the arts and humanities can play in understanding sustainability issues and what "nature" means to artists, historians, philosophers, scientists, and fiction writers. Dr. Curtis will be joining a lineup of prominent artists and scholars that includes Annie Proulx, another fiction writer; Ned Kuhn, an environmental sculptor; Lucy Lippard, artist and critic; John W. Roberts, African-American folklorist; Winona LaDuke, activist and writer; Osha Gray Davidson, non-fiction writer; and Scott Slovic, writer and critic. Congratulations!

Places OnLine

Dr. Unna Lassiter has been appointed the Places OnLine coördinator for Europe by the Association of American Geographers. Places OnLine is a project sponsored by the AAG to provide access to the very best sources of web-based information about various places in the world. Check this out! http://www.placesonline.org/. Thanks, Unna!

Dr. Del Casino's Work Is Discussed in a New Review of Medical Geography

Dr. Vincent Del Casino was delighted to find his work discussed in an important new review of medical geography. The reference is Hester Parr (2003), Medical Geography: Care and Caring," Progress in Human Geography 27, 2: 212-221. Dr. Del Casino's work is cited on p. 213 and extensively discussed on pp. 216-218. Congratulations on earning such prominence in an important review article!

Dr. Del Casino's New Book Is out!

Dr. Vincent Del Casino and his collaborator, Dr. Stephen Hanna (Mary Washington College) have just published a new book they edited, entitled, Mapping Tourism. They have an article in it, too: "Introduction: Tourism Spaces, Mapped Representations, and the Practices of Identity." You can get a copy here. Way to GO!!!

Prof. Woods Has a Letter in GIS Monitor

Mr. James Woods has a letter to the editor published in the current issue of GIS Monitor. The letter, cautioning readers about the artificial impression of accuracy created by copying line features on maps drawn from a small scale map onto a large scale map. It can be read at here, just below the "lawn map of the United States." Thanks!

Drs. Dmitrii Sidorov's and Chrys Rodrigue's Research Discussed in New Books

Dr. Sidorov's research on urban spatial restructuring in response to Czarist, Soviet, and post-Soviet ideologies is discussed in a book by Edward E. Roslof, entitled, Red Priests: Renovating Russian Orthodoxy and Revolution, 1905-1946 (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2002).

The work of Dr. Rodrigue and her collaborator, Dr. Eugenie Rovai (Chair of Geography and Planning at CSU Chico) on the Northridge earthquake is discussed in Keith Smith's Environmental Hazards: Assessing Risk and Reducing Disaster, 3rd ed. (London and New York: Routledge, 2001).

Dr. Lassiter Has Yet Another Publication out

Dr. Unna Lassiter, together with Dr. Jennifer Wolch of USC, have the lead article in the current issue of The California Geographer. The article is entitled, "Sociocultural aspects of Attitudes toward Marine Animals: A Focus Group Analysis."

Dr. Sidorov's Research Discussed in New Textbook

Dr. Dmitrii Sidorov, while going through a new textbook that he'd like to use in his World Regional Geography course, was delighted to find two of his photographs of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow shown in the book -- and his research discussed in a section on cultural revival in the nations of the former Soviet Union. The reference is: Lydia Mihelic Pulsipher and Alex A. Pulsipher, 2002, World Regional Geography: Global Patterns, Local Lives, 2nd ed. (New York: W.H. Freeman & Co.): 260. Cool!

The RESAC Featured in Inside CSULB

The activities of the NASA Regional Earth Science Applications Center housed in the Department and directed by Dr. Christopher Lee was the focus of an article in Inside CSULB, entitled, "Bushes into Brushfire." You can read it by clicking here and scrolling to page 3. Thank you to Drs. Lee and Wechsler and graduate student, Mr. Brian Sims for bringing such positive campus-wide attention to the Department!

Internship Web Page

Dr. Suzanne Wechsler would like to remind students and faculty to visit the Geography Internship web page, which has been redesigned and is being updated very frequently. There is always a list of new jobs available to students and the current speaker coming up in the "Jobs in Geography" lecture series.

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Jobs

Thomas Brothers

Dr. Tyner reports that Thomas Bros. has a number of jobs, noting that the company offers excellent benefits. Several CSULB students and alumni work there and are quite happy and enthusiastic about their jobs. Dr. Tyner has some applications. She can be reached at jztyner@csulb.edu, (562) 985-5332, or in LA4-103E.

Part-Time Lecturing at CSULB

The Department of Geography at CSULB may have part-time lectureships available for Spring 2004, though the State fiscal crisis may impact the number of courses the Department has to offer. For more information on the positions and the application process, please click here.

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Lectures and Field Trips

Ms. Christine Jocoy

Ms. Christine Jocoy, ABD from Pennsylvania State University, spoke on "Contrasts in Learning: Models of Organizational Learning and the Implications for Geographic Theory and Regional Policy," on Monday, 17 November 2003.

Jobs in Geography: Planning

Ms. María Rodríguez-Majcherek will give a talk on "From Geography to Planning," based on her experiences as a CSULB alumna working as a Regional Planning Assistant in the Countywide Studies Section of the Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning. The talk was held on Monday, 27 October. Thanks to Dr. Suzanne Wechsler for organizing this opportunity for students to learn about the planning profession.

Jobs in Geography: GIS in Municipal Government

Mr. Joe Mangiameli, GIS Manager for the City of Huntington Beach, will gave a talk on "GIS at the City of Huntington Beach." The talk was held on Tuesday, 21 October. Thanks to Dr. Suzanne Wechsler for organizing this opportunity for students to learn about how GIS is used in a municipal government office.

Careers in the Geosciences

The Geoscience Diversity Enhancement Project is a collaboration among the departments of Geography, Geological Sciences, and Anthropology, which hosted an informative panel on careers in the geospatial technologies, geology, and geoarchæology on 14 October 2003. Dr. Christopher Lee represented geography, Dr. Gregory Holk represented geology, and Dr. Daniel Larson represented archæology. Discussion afterwards drew out the many parallels in the three fields for the most effective preparation for careers in them. GIS and remote sensing were mentioned as valuable skills in all three, as were effective writing and presentation skills, and the value of internships was emphasized.

Public Talk about the Mapping Charmlee Park GDEP Project

Drs. Chrys Rodrigue and Chris Lee, and graduate student Brian Sims made a public presentation about the NSF-funded Geoscience Diversity Enhancement Project on mapping Charmlee Park in the western Santa Monica Mountains. The talk was held at Malibu Bluffs Park on Friday 26 September.

GDEP Field Work in the Santa Monica Mountains and USC

Drs. Chrys Rodrigue, Chris Lee, and Tere Ramírez (Geological Sciences) and Messrs. Brian Sims and Aziz Bakkoury have a Geosciences Diversity Enhancement Project going on this summer, in which their combined GDEP teams are field mapping Charmlee Park out in western Malibu, in order to create maps for the City of Malibu that show the trails, major vegetation associations, and geological features of the park. They are also out in the field collecting digital orthophoto quadrangle (DOQ) rectification points in the Topanga Creek Watershed and throughout the Santa Monica Mountains. The team is also assisting graduate student, Brian Sims, who has a project going on at USC on the use of remotely sensed imagery and digital elevation models to predict viewsheds (what you can see from a particular point in space and time). To learn more about GDEP and these projects, click here. The Charmlee Park project will be the subject of a public lecture in Malibu on Friday the 26th of September at 7:30 (venue still pending).

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Changes among the Faculty

Chair and Summer Advising

Dr. Chrys Rodrigue is department chair for 2003-04. Her office is in LA4-105, and she can be reached at (562) 985-4895 and rodrigue@csulb.edu. She will be available for limited graduate and undergraduate advising during the summer of 2003. Please e-mail her before coming by, as her summer schedule is changeable from one week to the next. You can also ask Ms. Lisa Mikhail to arrange for a meeting at (562) 985-8432 or -4977.

New Faculty Member!

Dr. David Porinchu begins teaching this fall. He earned his Ph.D. from UCLA in 2002 and specializes in palæoclimatology, or the reconstruction of past climates and environments. He has mainly specialized in the interpretation of lake sediments as records of past environmental conditions, and his study area is the eastern Sierra Nevada. He is also moving into the area of dendroclimatology, which entails the analysis of cores removed from trees. He'll be gone in the spring to take up a postdoctoral fellowship in Canada to work in dendroclimatology. His office is in LA4-101W, and he can also be reached at (562) 985-9356 and porinchu@geog.ucla.edu.

Graduate Advisor

Dr. Christopher Lee will be the graduate advisor in 2003-04. His office is in LA4-205, and he can also be reached at (562) 985-2358 and clee@csulb.edu.

Undergraduate Advisor

Dr. Frank Gossette is the undergraduate advisor. His office is in LA5-359, and he can also be reached at (562) 985-7808 and gossette@csulb.edu. He holds office hours by appointment.

Internship and Extension GIS Certificate Program Director

Dr. Suzanne Wechsler is the Director of the Internship Program and the GIS/Cartography Certificate Program run through University College Extension Services. Her office is in LA4-206E, and she can also be reached at (562) 985-2356 and wechsler@csulb.edu.

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Upcoming Conferences and Calls for Papers (by month of conference)

September 2003

The Association of Pacific Coast Geographers

The APCG is scheduled to meet at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon, from the 17th to the 20th of September 2003. The call for papers, registration form, and local information are available at http://geog.pdx.edu/APCG/index.htm. Deadline for abstract submission is 1 July. There are several competitions for student papers and posters. Entrants need to submit an abstract by 1 July and must also submit an extended abstract (4-6 pages) by 15 August.

October 2003

North American Cartographic Information Society

NACIS is meeting in Jacksonville, Florida, from the 8th through the 12th of October. The call for papers is available by clicking here.

November 2003

  30th International Symposium on Remote Sensing of Environment

ISRSE will meet in Honolulu from the 10th-14th of November. Interested contributors can submit abstracts online, no later than 31 March 2003 by clicking here.

December 2003

American Geophysical Union

The AGU will meet from December 8th through 12th in Moscone Center in San Francisco. The deadline for submitting session proposals is 20 May, the deadline for electronic submission of abstracts is 14 September at 14:00 UT, and the deadline for registration is 10 November. To learn more, click here.

March 2004

Association of American Geographers

The AAG will meet from March 14th through 19th, 2004, in Philadelphia. The deadline for submitting abstracts for spoken papers and illustrated papers is 9 October; for posters, it's 30 October. To view the call for papers, please click here.

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Have Any News Items You Want to Share?

This news page is for everyone in the Department -- students, faculty, staff, and alumni. If you would like to tell folks about your accomplishments or notify us of something you think we'd like to know about, please contact Dr. Rodrigue (rodrigue@csulb.edu) or LA4 206D and she'll get your news up here.

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