Geography Faculty Research

Department of Geography College of Liberal Arts 1250 Bellflower Boulevard California State University Long Beach, CA 90840-1101 USA

Invited Lectures and Field Trips

 

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2009

Mr. James Woods is giving the Los Angeles Geographical Society Annual Banquet keynote talk, on 4 December 2009. His presentation is entitled, "A photographic safari to Tanzania and Kenya."

Dr. Bipasha Baruah is giving an invited talk to the Los Angeles Geographical Society on 2 October 2009. Her talk is entitled, "Slumdogs and millionaires: Making sense of contemporary India."

Dr. Judith Tyner gave a talk entitled, "Bloody maps," to the Exchange Club, Long Beach Chapter, on 6 March 2009.

2008

Dr. Dmitrii Sidorov is giving a presentation to the Los Angeles Geographical Society series of monthly public lectures. The subject of his talk is "Moscow: A globalizing city?" Dr. Sidorov is the keynote speaker for the LAGS Annual Banquet.

Ms. Nelly Keita, Office of Human Resource Management, United Nations Secretariat, is giving a presentation for Geography Awareness Week and International Education Week, "Careers at the United Nations," on the 20th of November, from 3:30-5:30 p.m., in the USU Beach Auditorium.

Dr. Jacqueline Mills is giving a presentation, "GISci and extreme events: Recovery and resiliency in urban environments," on the 19th of November.

Mr. Greg McIntosh, Director of the California Map Society and Vice President for Southern California, will be speaking on maps on the 18th of November, from 9:30-10:30 a.m., in LA4-104.

Ms. Sharon C., multidisciplinary recruiter for the CIA, is giving a talk, "Careers in the CIA" on the 17th of November, from 5-6 p.m., in LA4-100.

Ms. Hyowon Ban is giving a talk, entitled "Visualization of urban concepts in two directions of thinking" on the 17th of November.

Mr. Shipeng Sun is presenting "Network analysis and its application to intraurban migration" on 14 November.

Dr. Dmitrii Sidorov gave a presentation of his research to the Geography Department Colloquium series on the 26th of September. His talk was entitled "Visualizing the former Cold War 'Other': Images of Eastern Europe in world regional geography textbooks in the United States."

In April, Dr. Dmitrii Sidorov gave a presentation to the Geography Department at Moscow State University. His talk was entitled "Visualizing the former Cold War 'Other': Images of Eastern Europe in world regional geography textbooks in the United States."

Dr. Judith Tyner gave a talk entitled, "The world in silk," to the Daughters of the American Revolution, Long Beach Chapter, in February 2008.

Dr. Bipasha Baruah gave an invited talk in February, 2008, to the University of California Irvine Department of Planning, Policy and Design and the Urban Water Research Center. She gave a seminar on Public-Private-NGO Partnerships for Water and Sanitation Service Provision in India. The seminar was attended by urban and regional planning faculty as well as master's and Ph.D. students. She also presented a paper on urban basic service provision that was recently published by Natural Resources Forum, a United Nations journal. She also shared her consulting experience in water and sanitation provision in South Asia with the group.

2007

Dr. Camille Holmgren gave an invited talk, "How past climates are reconstructed and what they can tell us about global warming," to the Buffalo State College Climate Change Speakers Series, in Buffalo, NY, during Fall 2007.

Dr. Chrys Rodrigue gave the first Geography Department Brown Bag Colloquium talk, ""Boldly going where no geographer has gone before: Taking Mars into the geography classroom," which described the Special Topics (GEOG 494) course she did in Spring 2007, "Mars: A Regional Areography."

Ms. Tori Wilson from the Peace Corps gave a presentation entitled, "Opportunities for Service Abroad in the Peace Corps," to the Jobs in Geography Colloquium and Geography Awareness Week, 13 November.

Dr. Gabriel Estrada (Chicano and Latino Studies) conducted a walking tour of the Puvungna Tongva site at CSULB as a special event for Dr. Deborah Thien's Geography 120 course and for Geography Awareness Week, 14 November.

Dr. Bipasha Baruah and Ms. Tina Matuchniak (English) showed and moderated discussion of the film, "The Namesake," for International Education Week and Geography Awareness Week, 14 November.

Dr. Chrys Rodrigue gave an invited talk on 9 November to the CSULB Chairs' Leadership Forum on "Mid-career faculty support: Institutional obstacles, culture and publicity, grant writing teams, and FAD report editing."

Dr. Judith Tyner gave a talk entitled, "The world in silk," to the Orange County Sampler Guild, in September 2007.

Dr. Chrys Rodrigue gave an invited talk on 7 September to the Los Angeles Geographic Society: "Boldly going where no geographer has gone before: The Martian classroom ."

Dr. Bipasha Baruah served as Visiting Professor at the Self-Employed Women's Association in Ahmedabad, India, during Summer 2007. Her visiting professorship was funded by the Ford Foundation and included documentation and socio-economic impact assessment of housing, water, and sanitation activities; capacity-building and training of staff; and publication of research proceedings.

Dr. Bipasha Baruah gave two lectures in summer 2007 to the CSULB Center for Faculty Development Freeman Institute, "Raising the Visibility of Asia in Teacher Preparation":

• "From Indus Valley to Independence: A historical geography of South Asia"
• "Ancient civilizations, youthful nations: Opportunities and challenges facing contemporary South Asia."

Dr. Ray Sumner gave an invited talk on 13 June to the OASIS Foundation in Lakewood. Her presentation addressed "Australia's native peoples." OASIS described the issues she addressed in the following statement: "Indigenous, or Aboriginal, people lived in isolation in Australia for more than 40,000 years, developing many distinctly different cultures and diverse languages over the continent. When British settlement began at Sydney Cove in 1788, it precipitated dramatic changes to native peoples. Now, many of these cultures are restoring their rights and traditions. Join Prof. Sumner as she takes us on a journey through the wild outback of Australia to meet these ancient peoples of Australia and their beautiful landscapes and cutures. (Dr. Sumner's lecture on Tasmania was extremely popular. Don't miss this return visit!)"

Dr. Bipasha Baruah presented "Training for change: Vocational training for low-income women in India," to the CSULB symposium, Eurasian Women and Self-Reliance: Religion and Education in the Contemporary World, 22 May 2007.

Dr. Camille Holmgren gave an invited talk on March 21st to the Department of Geology at California State University, Fullerton: "Old plants and new tools: Using ancient packrat middens and GIS to explore arid lands paleobiogeography and climatology in the USA-Mexico borderlands."

Dr. Judith Tyner gave an invited talk on March 21st to the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at CSULB, entitled "'Millie the Mapper' and women in cartography during WWII." This presentation was part of the OLLI open house and was co-sponsored by the CSULB Odyssey Project and Long Beach Reads One Book Week.

2006

Dr. Dmitrii Sidorov gave two talks to the Department of Geography at Moscow State University. The first, "Western urban geography and changing approaches," was given on 22 December. The second, delivered on 23 December, was entitled, "Twentieth Century Western urban utopias and dystopias."

Dr. Ray Sumner, Professor of Geography at Long Beach City College and Lecturer in Geography at CSULB is giving an invited talk, "Tasmania: A Wilderness Experience," to the Oasis Institute, which provides lectures and workshops for enriching the lives of senior citizens (4 December)

Dr. Deborah Thien gave one of three invited presentations at the Women and Health: Exploring the Margins seminar, entitled, "Fire and ice: Geographies of gender and emotion in the Shetland Isles, Scotland." The seminar was held at the Huntington Library, 18 November, and the moderator was Robyn Fishman, graduate student, Department of History.

Dr. Bipasha Baruah gave a guest presentation in Dr. Elaine Haglund's Fall 2006 Gobal Education Seminar (EDP 583) on "Urbanization in the developing world."

Dr. Amy Glasmeier, the E. Willard Miller Professor of Economic Geography at Pennsylvania State University, gave the keynote address for the CSULB Geography Awareness Week program on 16 November. Her presentation was entitled, "Mapping economic despair in Long Beach, California: Technical challenges and policy opportunities."

Dr. Thomas Blaschke, Professor of Geography and Geoinformatics at the University of Salzburg and the Director of iSPACE, of the Austrian Research Centers, and Fulbright Scholar at CSULB in Fall 2006, gave the GIS Day address at CSULB on 15 November. His presentation was entitled, "Google Earth puts geography on the desktop -- but what's behind it? Remote sensing in a nutshell."

Dr. Amy Glasmeier, the E. Willard Miller Professor of Economic Geography at Pennsylvania State University, gave the Jobs in Geography colloquium on 16 November. She spoke on "Activism and professionalism: Antipathy or accommodation."

Mr. Paul Renner, noted photographer, gave a presentation on the Geography Awareness Week national theme, "Africa." His presentation was entitled, "African photographic safaris," and in the audience were about thirty fourth graders from Lowell Elementary School, Belmont Shore.

Debrebrah West African Drum and Dance Ensemble performed and explained several rhythms, dances, and songs from such West African countries as Sémégal, Gambia, Guinea, Ghana, and Mali. Their Geography Awareness Week performance was showcased in the Student Union West Terrace and was open to the whole campus. In the audience were about fifty third and fourth graders from Lowell Elementary School, who were often asked to come up on stage and learn drumming rhythms and dance steps.

Mr. Paul Perret gave an invited talk for International Education Week in The Pointe at the Pyramid: "Men and masculinities in gender and development programs: A new way forward?,"

Dr. Bipasha Baruah showed and moderated discussions about the films, "Water," "Nalini by Day, Nancy by Night," and "Small Fortunes: Microcredit and the Future of Poverty" for International Education Week, Geography Awareness Week, the South Asia Subcommittee, and the Yadunandan India Studies Center (14-16 November)

Dr. Bipasha Baruah was invited to make a presentation at the University of Hawai'i's East-West Center: "Holding her ground: Women and urban land issues in India."

Dr. Bipasha Baruah gave a policy paper on "The re-entry of teenage parents into secondary schools in St. Vincent and the Grenadines," to the Gender Affairs Department and the Ministry of Finance, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, 5 July 2007.

Dr. Bipasha Baruah gave a presentation, "Addressing male underachievement in the Eastern Caribbean: An evaluation of the National Literacy Programme," to a seminar organized by the Adult and Continuing Education Unit, Ministry of Education, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, 27 June 2007.

Two CSULB Geography graduate students, Messrs. Michael Inman and César Espinosa, were invited to present a paper at the Los Angeles Geographical Society student research symposium on 5 May 2006: "An Assessment of Feature Extraction Techniques from High Resolution Satellite Imagery for the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach."

Dr. Bipasha Baruah, Department of Geography, University of Toronto, gave a talk on 23 February, entitled: "Gendered Realities: Exploring Property Ownership and Tenancy Relationships in Urban Contemporary India."

Dr. Holly Hapke, Department of Geography, East Carolina University, presented "Gender, Identity, and Household Livelihoods in the Fisheries Sector of Southern India" on 21 February.

Dr. Kathleen O'Reilly, Department of Geography, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, gave a presentation on 13 February, which addressed "Pani (water), Power, and Participation: Gender Strruggles instide Indian a Drinking Water Supply Project."

2005

Dr. Bipasha Baruah led a workshop on "Gender and economic policy planning and analysis," organized by the Ministry of Finance, St. Kitts and Nevis, 14-16 December 2005.

Dr. Harold Schefski (RGRLL), Dr. Dmitrii Sidorov (Geography), and Dr. Carol Itani (Biological Sciences) presented "Rediscovering Russia: Reflections on a CSULB Field Course, August 2005" on November 14th and hosted a discussion among particating students and those interested in such Study-Abroad experiences. Student participants presented a slide show of the photographs they took in this life-transforming field experience. This International Education Week event was accompanied by a week long photography exhibit of images taken by students, which was then judged by visitors to the exhibit.

Dr. Dmitrii Sidorov participated in the American/Russian Roundtable special events on "Russian stereotypes of Americans" and "American stereotypes of Russians," held on 24 October and hosted by the Center for International Education during the week-long visit to CSULB of a Russian delegation from Kursk.

Drs. Christopher T. Lee, Christine M. Rodrigue, and Richard J. Behl (Geological Sciences) conducted a field trip to Del Cerro Park in Rancho Palos Verdes on Monday, 25 July 2005, and then Dr. Suzanne P. Wechsler supervised lab analysis of field data collected. The trip was for the Alliance for Minority Participation (AMP) program students from Cerritos College and CSULB. The purpose of AMP is to support and encourage minority students interested in majoring in sciences, math, and engineering. The program prepares students for enrollment in precalculus and calculus, in order to give them the greatest flexibility in pursuing any scientific or technical field that attracts their interest without having to delay their graduations to backtrack through math late in their college careers. This particular trip focussed on the mathematical concepts of scale, slope, triangulation, and classification, using GPS, fire ecology, the biogeography of invasive species, and landslides to illustrate them. The field trip was an outgrowth of the Geoscience Diversity Enhancement Project, in which faculty from Geography, Geology, and Anthropology collaborated to foster interest in the various geosciences among community college and high school students, especially those from underrepresented groups in these fields.

Mr. Tom Frazier made a presentation to the Los Angeles Police Department, Law Enforcement and Private Security (LEAPS) 6th annual conference, on May 19th. It was entitled, "Thinking security: Theoretical approaches for securitizing geographic spaces."

Mr. James Woods served as an invited panelist for the Malibu Coastal Vision Guest Lecture Series, addressing proactive emergency preparedness for the Malibu area. The panel was held on the 11th of May and was reviewed in the Surfside News and Malibu Times.

Four CSULB Geography students were invited to re-present papers they gave at professional conferences or thesis defenses to the Los Angeles Geographical Society student research symposium on 6 May 2005:

• Ms. Alma Vargas will be presenting her thesis, "Implementing Modern Geographic Technology in the Trucking Industry: A Case Study"
• Ms. Wanjiru Njuguna will be presenting her thesis, "Water Perception and Consumption Patterns Among Latinos and Whites in Whittier, CA"
• Mr. Terry Lumati will dislay the poster, "The use of digital elevation models (DEMs) in managing natural habitats in the South Coast Wilderness" (originally presented at the Southern California Conference on Undergraduate Research)
• Ms. Denise Behrens will display the poster, "The Lost Constellations of European Celestial Cartography" (originally presented at the Association of American Geographers)

Five community college geography faculty spoke about "Preparing for Job Opportunities in the Community Colleges" at the "Jobs in Geography" colloquium on 4 May 2005. The panel included:

• Dr. Ray Sumner, Chair of the Social Sciences Department at Long Beach City College, Professor of Human Geography (and adjunct faculty here at CSULB)
• Dr. Robert Kreger, Professor of Geography, Cerritos College
• Ms. Irene Naesse, Professor of Geography, Orange Coast College
• Ms. Vicki Drake, Geography Instructor, Department of Earth Sciences, Santa Monica College
• Mr. Dan Walsh, Chair, Geography Program, Saddleback College

Four graduate students successfully defended their thesis proposals on 29 April 2005:

• Ms. Bridget Cooney, "The Impact of Policy upon Refugee Spatialities: Resettlement Policies and the Hmong of Southeast Asia"
• Ms. Wanjiru Ngujuna, "Water Perception and Consumption Patterns among Latinos and Whites in Whittier, CA"
• Ms. Lisa Wilkindon, "The Nature of Atascadero, 1915-2005"
• Ms. Jennifer Cochran, "Using GIS to Assess Non-Point Source Pollution in the Lake Barbara Watershed"

Dr. Norman Thrower, Professor Emeritus of Geography at UCLA spoke at CSULB on the topic, "Compass, Chart, and Course: Piri Reis in Context." The talk was held on 14 April 2005 in Dr. Judith Tyner's GEOG 381 (Maps and Civilization) course.

Mr. Robert Franklin, Geography alumnus and Principal Planner, City of Fountain Valley, gave a presentation on 20 April 2005 entitled, "Applied Geography: City and Regional Planning," to the "Jobs in Geography" colloquium.

Ms. Nancy Yoho, Geography alumna (and the 2005 Distinguished Alumna of the College of Liberal Arts) and Vice-President of Thomas Bros.-Rand-McNally, spoke about "The History of Thomas Bros. and Rand-McNally and Developing a Career in Cartography" at the "Jobs in Geography" colloquium on Tuesday, 19 April 2005

Drs. Suzanne P. Wechsler and Christopher T. Lee were invited to give a talk entitled, "Geography in Action," at Lakewood High School on 13 April 2005. This was a campus-wide two-hour long event in the high school's auditorium.

Ms. Lisa Pitts, graduate student, together with Mr. Gregory Les spoke to the Los Angeles Geographical Society in April 2005 about "Geographers of the Future: Teaching Geography and GIS to K-12 Students."

Mr. James Woods gave his outstanding multi-media presentation on the Sumatra earthquake and tsunami to a local parochial school in March.

Four graduate students successfully defended their thesis proposals on 11 March 2005

• Ms. Josi Jenneskens, "Bobcat habitat characterization in the North Irvine Ranch Land Reserve"
• Mr. Greg Bishop, "Development of a groundwater monitoring reporting and analysis system"
• Ms. Colette Simonds, "Exotic plant species pattern in selected areas of Kings Canyon and Sequoia national parks"
• Ms. Alma Vargas, "Implementing modern geographic technology in the trucking industry: A case study."

Dr. James Till Director of Compliance at the CSULB Office of University Research, was an invited guest speaker in Dr. Chrys Rodrigue's GEOG 696 course (Seminar in Geographical Research Methods). Dr. Till discussed the Institutional Review Board on this campus and how it handles research done by CSULB students and faculty that in any way deals with human subjects. The presentation was held on Wednesday, 30 March.

Drs. Chris Lee and Chrys Rodrigue trekked out to the CSU Desert Studies Center at Zzyzx (near Baker on I- 15) to talk about the Geoscience Diversity Enhancement Project and hear about a similar program at SDSU. While there, they bumped into past GDEP participants Drs. Stephen Koletty and Chuck Herzig, Prof. Don Hallinger, and Mr. Alejandro Tiburcio!

Mr. James Woods presented an overview of the Sumatra earthquake and tsunami from a physical geography standpoint. He showed videos of the tsunami in action and examined some of the physical changes that have occurred as a result. The talk, entitled, "The Sumatra Tsunami: An Overview," was held on Wednesday, 16 February 2005.

Ms. Julienne Gard, graduate student, spoke to the Los Angeles Geographical Society in February 2005 about "Medical Geography, Culture, and Tourism," focussing on the Native American sweat lodge health tourist phenomenon in California.

2004

Dr. Denis Cosgrove, the Alexander von Humboldt Professor of Geography at UCLA, delivered the National Geography Awareness Week keynote address on this year's thematic subfield, cultural geography. He presented "Culture and Landscape: The Representation of Southern California" on Tuesday, 16 November, to a packed Multicultural Center. Many thanks to him for this thoughtful and reminiscent reflection on the construction of the California suburb as one of America's iconic landscapes. Many thanks also to Dr. Jim Curtis for arranging this lecture.

Dr. David Hornbeck, Professor Emeritus of Geography at CSU Northridge and a consultant in applied geography and GIS, gave the GIS Day lecture on 17 November. He presented "The Imperial Valley: California's Next Urban Frontier?" Thanks to Dr. Chrys Rodrigue for arranging this address.

Mr. Joel Rojas, Director of Planning, Building and Code Enforcement, City of Rancho Palos Verdes, was the "Jobs in Geography" speaker for Geography Awareness Week. He discussed "Geography and Urban Planning Careers in Southern California" on 18 November. Thanks to Dr. Paul Laris for arranging this talk.

Mr. Noel Ludwig made a presentation on international water resource issues for International Education Week, which coïncided with Geography Awareness Week this year. His panel presentation was on 16 November in the Anatol Center in the East Library. The panel addressed "The Global Struggle Over Water Resources: Farm, Home and Environment." The Chair and Discussant was Namika Raby (Anthropology, who also teaches GEOG 319i), and the panelists were: Robert Friis (Health Science); Noel Ludwig (Geography); Ramses Toma (Family & Consumer Sciences).

Dr. Vincent Del Casino served on a panel entitled, "International Issues in HIV/AIDS," which was held on 17 November in the Anatol Center in the East Library, The panel consists of Dennis Fisher (Behavioral Research & Services/ Psychology); Vinnie Del Casino, (Geography): Kevin Malotte (Health Sciences); Carol Itatani (Biological Sciences); Carole Campbell (Sociology).

Dr. Christine Jocoy kicked off the first Brown Bag Talk on 12 November. The title of her talk was "Social and spatial contexts of corporate learning: A geographic perspective on regional economic development."

Dr. Vincent Del Casino presented "NGOs and the Reorganization of 'Community Development': Mediating the Flows of People Living with HIV and AIDS" to the Population Dynamics and Infectious Diseases in Asia Workshop, Asia MetaCentre, National University Singapore, October 2004.

Ms. Julienne Gard, graduate student in geography, gave an invited lecture, entitled "Lakewood as Levittown" to Dr. Ray Sumner's Urban Scene class in Fall 2004. Dr. Sumner reports that the talk was very informative and generated a lot of interest

Ms. Doreen Jeffrey and Ms. Leslie Edwards, undergraduate majors in geography, made an invited presentation of their Southern California Conference on Undergraduate Research paper, "Oakland Berkeley Firestorm 1991," to the Los Angeles Geographical Society on 7 May.

Ms. Julienne Gard, graduate student in geography, made an invited presentation of her Association of American Geographers talk, "Dengue Fever Among Australia's Aboriginals: Traditional versus Western Prevention and Response Methods," to the Los Angeles Geographical Society on 7 May.

Ms. Zoe Schumacher, undergraduate student in geography, made an invited presentation of her award-winning California Geographical Society poster, "Using Remote Sensing and GIS to Monitor the Marine Mammal Strandings along the California Bight," to the Los Angeles Geographical Society on 7 May.

Three students presented their thesis proposal defenses on 30 April 2004.

• Mr. Travis Brooks, "Processes that shape the distributional pattern of native perennial grasses (bunchgrass) in central Orange County, California"
• Ms. Seri McClendon, "Analysis of industrial ecology, cradle-to-cradle principles, and an alternative packaging delivery system (APDS)"
• Ms. Sarah Powers, "Vulnerability to toxic dust pollution in the Owens Valley, California."

Dr. James R. Curtis made an invited presentation, "The Evolving Barrio: From Alviso to East L.A. and Beyond," to the Department of Geography at San José State University on 11 March.

Dr. Judith A. Tyner made an invited presentation, "Bloody Maps," to the Barnes & Noble bookstore in Long Beach on 10 February.

Dr. James R. Curtis made an invited presentation, "Sense of Place in Contemporary Crime Thrillers." to the Arts and Humanities in the Environment Series, Center for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities, Iowa State University, 19 February

Dr. James R. Curtis made an invited presentation, "Latino Residential Landscapes" to Dr. Gerald García's history course at Iowa State University, 19 February

2003

Five graduate students gave presentations of their thesis proposals on 5 December 2003:

• Mr. Dan Hofer, "Application of GIS mapping to fire planning: Silverado Canyon, Orange County."
• Ms. Maribel Enriquez, "Health care accessibility and provisioning for homeless women in Long Beach, California."
• Ms. Sue Timm, "Ecological assessment and restoration in the Crystal Cove State Park area."
• Mr. Mike McDaniels, "Cultural persistence in land use patterns: Vestiges of Mexican land tenure system in contemporary Los Angeles and Orange counties."
• Mr. Mike Mercurio, "Defining a theme park archetype: A comparative analysis of Southern California theme parks."

Dr. Raju Das of Dundee University in Scotland gave a talk on differential development in eastern India: "Political economy, geography, and social capital: Putting social capital in its place." His talk was held on 3 December.

Mr. Chris Kahle, doctoral student at USC, gave a talk, "Green Dreams: How Geographic Imaginaries Reshape the Los Angeles River," on 20 October, as part of the 2003 National Geography Awareness Week program organized by Dr. Unna Lassiter and Messrs. Noel Ludwig and Norm Carter.

Dr. Carol Medlicott, recent Ph.D. from UCLA and a long-time FBI counterintelligence analyst, gave a talk on the geopolitics of the Korean Peninsula and the spatiality of surveillance and the two states on 19 November 2003.

Dr. Christopher Lee hosted a multimedia presentation of remote sensing and GIS on 19 October, as part of GIS Day and Geography Awareness Week. Thanks to Profs. Lassiter, Ludwig, and Carter for coördinating the 2003 program.

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 17 November 2003.

Mr. Tim Dufault, AIA, gave a talk, "Schools that Fit," on 17 October as part of the 2003 National Geography Awareness Week program organized by Dr. Unna Lassiter and Messrs. Noel Ludwig and Norm Carter.

Ms. María Rodríguez-Majcherek gave 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.

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.

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.

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 26 September.

Dr. Vincent Del Casino presented "Epidemiology, NGO Activism, and the Shifting Geographies of Community Health for People Living with HIV and AIDS in Northern Thailand" to the Department of Geography and Regional Science, University of Arizona in September 2003.

Ms. Sandra Gonzalez, Project Management Officer, Administration and Planning Bureau, Department of Public Works, City of Long Beach was part of a team which spoke in Dr. Rodrigue's Hazards class this May. She graciously agreed to lead a tour of the brand-new Long Beach Emergency Communications and Operations Center at Spring St. and Redondo Ave. for the class before the facility opens in September, and Mr. James Woods organized the Geography Department's visit. The tour was led by Ms. Gonzalez and Mr. Steve Mutch Project Manager with Simplus Management Corporation (which handled construction management for the building project) held on Thursday, June 4th, and in attendance were Ms. Doreen Jeffrey, Ms. Nadine Gano, Ms. Joy Turlo, Mr. Mark Jackman, Ms. Karen Werstivk, and Ms. Leeta Latham, as well as Mr. James Woods, Drs. Chrys Rodrigue, Judith Tyner, and Gerald Tyner and Mr. Mike Deeble. The tour of this state-of-the-art building illustrated the principles and possibilities of hazard-resistant design. You can read Mr. Woods' full report on the tour by clicking here.

Dr. Judith A. Tyner presented "Hidden Cartographers: Women in Cartography" to the Los Angeles Geographical Society on 4 April 2003.

Dr. Vincent Del Casino presented "'All the Men Are Dead': Epidemiologies, NGOs,and the Spaces of Outreach for People Living with HIV and AIDS in Thailand" to the Department of Geography, University of Southern California in April 2003.

Four graduate students presented their thesis proposal defense talks in the new Brown Bag Talk series on 4 April 2003:

• Ms. Samantha Antcliffe, "Native Plant Recovery of a Riparian Habitat within the Tijuana Estuary."
• Ms. Lisa Pitts, "GIS in High School."
• Mr. Brian Sims, "Accuracy Assessment of Viewshed Predictions in a GIS with High Spatial Resolution Digital Surface Models."
• Ms. Janet Troeger presented her work on "Monitoring Phenological Variability Using MODIS Imagery in the Mojave Desert, California."

Ms. Valerie Müller, graduate student in geography, made an invited presentation of her Association of American Geographers poster, "Satellites, Census, and the Quality of Life."to the Los Angeles Geographical Society in May.

Ms. Katharine McKinnon, Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Human Geography at the Australian National University, will present a guest lecture entitled, "Research(ing) Communities/Constructing Communities: Developers, NGOs, and the 'Hill Tribes' of Northern Thailand." The talk was held on 3 March. Thanks to Dr. Del Casino for arranging this visit!

Dr. David Porinchu, post-doctoral researcher at UCLA, spoke in Mr. Noel Ludwig's climatology class on 25 February. His research presentation was entitled, "Tracking Climate Variability Using Natural Archives."

Mr. Matthew Therrell, Ph.D. candidate in Environmental Dynamics at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, gave an invited research presentation in Dr. Judith Tyner's advanced cartography course on 19 February 2003. The title of his talk was "Tree Rings, Climate, and History in Mexico."

Dr. Paul Baker, Professor of Geology at Duke University, made an invited research presentation on 12 March 2003, on the subject of the "Paleoclimate of Tropical South America in the Late Quaternary."

Dr. Michael Kearney, Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Maryland, College Park, discussed "The Last 350 Years in Chesapeake Bay: The Implications of Historical Geography, Paleoenvironmental Analysis, and Remote Sensing for Historical Archaeology and Past and Future Changes in Bay Communities and Ecosystems." His invited research lecture was held in Dr. Suzanne Wechsler's GIS course on 10 March 2003.

2002

Mr. James Woods was an invited presenter at Rio Hondo's GIS Day on 20 November 2002. He made two presentations. The first was entitled, "Brushfire History in Southern California" and the second was about "GIS at CSU Long Beach."

Dr. Chrys Rodrigue traveled with Ms. Crisanne Hazen (of Science Education) to Orange Coast College on 18 November to talk to Mr. Erik Bender's geology course about the Geoscience Diversity Enhancement Project (G-DEP) and to recruit student interns for next summer's program. She also discussed the possibility of interning in the Geospatial Technology Research and Education Partnership (GT-REP. Later that day, she spoke in Ms. Irene Naesse's world regional geography course to recruit for G-DEP and GT-REP and to discuss careers in geography as a Geography Awareness Week activity there.

Dr. Vincent Del Casino spoke on "Epidemiologies, NGOs, and community health: Negotiating the shifting geographies of HIV/AIDS discourses in Northern Thailand," to the Department of Anthropology Seminar Series, Macquarie University, Australia, in October 2002.

Mr. Greg Armento, alumnus and currently CSULB Librarian, discussed "Careers in Cartographic and Geographic Information Services in Public and Academic Libraries," for the "Jobs in Geography" colloquium series. The talk was held on 9 October.

Dr. Vincent Del Casino presented a talk, entitled, "'All the men are dead': The gendered geographies of health and health care for people living with the HIV/AIDS in Thailand, first to the Gender, Sexuality and Culture Seminar Series, at the Gender Relations Center, The Australian National University, in September 2002, and again for the National Centre in HIV Social Research, New South Wales University, in December 2002.

Dr. Vincent Del Casino presented "Between the 'traditional' and the 'modern': investigating the overlapping (and competing?) spaces of AIDS-related health care in Thailand, to the Lunchtime Seminar Series, School of Geography and Environmental Science, Monash University, Australia, in September 2002.

Dr. Vincent Del Casino gave a guest talk "AIDS outreach and the politics of health: The geographies of NGO activism in Thailand," to the Institute of Postcolonial Studies, Melbourne, Australia, in September 2002.

Dr. Vincent Del Casino spoke on "Places of health (re)organized: interrogating the geographies of 'traditional Thai medicine.'" to the Human Geography Seminar Series, Department of Human Geography, The Australian National University, in September 2002.

Mr. Douglas Behrens served as a volunteer class leader for the CSULB Senior University again in summer of 2002. He donated his time to teach a course in California Geography and another in Astronomy.

Dr. Chrys Rodrigue gave a presentation on ethics in the earth sciences to the Geoscience Diversity Enhancement Program colloquium series. She was part of a panel with Dr. Roger Bauer (Professor Emeritus of Chemistry and first dean of the College of Natural Science and Mathematics) and Dr. Elizabeth Ambos (Professor of Geology and Acting Dean of Graduate Studies). Dr. Rodrigue's remarks focussed on the ethics of attribution and the protection of human subjects.

Drs. Chrys Rodrigue and Dan Francis of Geological Sciences gave a workshop on jobs in the geosciences to the G-DEP colloquium series.

Dr. Suzanne Wechsler gave a workshop on GPS and GIS to the Geoscience Diversity Enhancement Program participants.

Drs. Chrys Rodrigue gave a workshop on HTML and FTP for the G-DEP colloquium series.

Dr. Susan Mains gave a guest presentation on 27 February 2002. Her work focusses on contested borders and how various aspects of identity are shaped and constrained by the existence of the border and the agencies enforcing it or organizing around it.

Dr. Dmitrii Sidorov gave a guest presentation on 25 February 2002, concerning the resurrections of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. He traced the ties between national monumentalization (the cathedral historically in Russia, the Palace of the Soviets, the municipal pool, and the Ostankino TV Tower, and the virtually instant reincarnation of the cathedral amid mayoral election politics), the different meanings of monumental space in the history of Russia, and the civic-scale politics of Moscow.

Mr. Nate Currit gave a guest presentation on 20 February 2002, on environmental globalization, focussing on land use and land cover changes in the northern Sierra Madre of Chihuahua, Mexico, driven by maquiladoras. His theme was local environmental changes induced by global economic restructuring.

Dr. Paul Laris gave a guest presentation on 18 February 2002, on savanna and woodland firing practices in West Africa, examining their seasonal timing and the reasons people set fires. His work coupled the qualitative methods of one-on-one interviews of farmers, herders, and hunters in Mali with remote sensing imagery.

Ms. Joan Hackeling gave a guest presentation on 13 February 2002, entitled, "Mobilizing Place in a Socialist City: The Case of Rostock in the 1980s."

Dr. Robert Dull gave a talk on Monday, 11 February 2002, discussing the research he has done in El Salvador and Nicaragua, using palaeoenvironmental data to reconstruct the history of landscape alteration in Central America over the last 8,000 years.

Dr. Dmitrii Sidorov gave a talk to Oxford University, St. Anthony College, entitled, "Playing chess with churches: The Soviet (geo)politics of Orthodox property transfer."

2001

The Department was pleased to host Dr. Glen Norcliffe on 6 December 2000. He graciously agreed to make a presentation on his research on industrial restructuring and the cultural production industry of such importance to Southern California. His talk was entitled, "New Geographies of Cultural Production: The Case of the Comic Book Industry," and was given on 6 December in Prof. Doug Behrens's Geography of California class). This event was sponsored by the Department of Geography and the Geography Internship Program's "Jobs in Geography" colloquium series.

Drs. Terence Young and Chrys Rodrigue facilitated a discussion of the "Five Themes of Geography" among Ms. Jamie Vallianos-Healy's fourth graders at Tincher Preparatory School (on Atherton at Petaluma east of campus). This visit was part of Ms. Vallianos-Healy's National Geography Awareness Week program for her very well-prepared class. Check out the reports the kids did about what they learned -- they're in a blue folder on the front counter of the department office! Earlier in the week, the Tincher fourth graders visited CSULB to watch Prof. Noel Ludwig give a demonstration of the flume, which simulates thousands of years of river and floodplain development in minutes. A very good time was had by all!

Dr. Vincent Del Casino presented "Making Space for Organic Intellectuals: A Neo-Gramscian Analysis of Non-Governmental AIDS Activism in Thailandd" to the Department of Geography Colloquium Series, University of California, Los Angeles, in November 2001.

Dr. Vincent Del Casino gave a talk to the College of Education Brown Bag Series on 23 April 2001. The talk was entitled, "Social Protest, Spatial Praxis, and the Teaching of Radical Geography in World History." Dr. Del Casino reports that this talk is part of a larger paper that he is working on with Dr. Tim Keirn in the History Department, continuing the long tradition of interaction between the Geography and the History departments on this campus.

Dr. Yonni Schwartz gave a talk to Dr. Unna Lassiter's Geography 100 course on 18 April 2001. Dr. Schwartz is a traveler extraordinaire, who rode on a horse through South America for two years, has hiked in the Himalayas several times, and guided other adventurers through the Sinai Desert. For this presentation, he focussed on Nepal, with slides showing the adjustments made by the Nepalese people to their difficult living conditions, conditions that have barely improved in the last decade since democracy. He also discussed some of the negative impacts of tourism, such as massive deforestation and landslides set off by the need to provide wood fuel for small inns where most foreign trekkers overnight.

Dean Abrahamse invited Dr. Wechsler to address the Emeritus Faculty Luncheon, which is a series of colloquia given to retired faculty and faculty participating in the Faculty Early Retirement Program. The purpose of the luncheon series is "Informal conversation and a program where three new junior faculty discuss their research with time for discussion about their experiences at CSULB." Dr. Wechsler discussed what geographical information systems are, what they can do, and the work she does to improve GIS' rôle in predicting stream runoff and flood hazard. The Emeritus Faculty Luncheon was held on April 20th, 2001. It's a small world after all: Dr. Wechsler knows the other two speakers from other contexts. She was a classmate of Dr. Sherry Span (Psychology) back at Tufts University, and Dr. Sara Goering (Philosophy) is co-advisor with her of the CSULB Golden Key National Honor Society!

Dr. Ren Vasiliev was our visiting professor in Spring 2001. She is the chair of the Department of Geography at the State University of New York at Geneseo and is here to do her sabbatical research (on the historical derivation of place names in New York). She also normally lives here each summer! She is interested in maps and cartography, and she gave an invited guest lecture to the department on 17 April. The title of her presentation was "Maps in Art/Maps as Art." Her exciting and provocative devil's advocate argument that map-like art objects are in fact maps set off a lively exchange among the audience about what exactly qualifies a representation of the terrain as an authentic map. The debate brought out the different constructions of the "map" among the geographic and the artistic communities. This was such a well-attended talk that people were turned away at the door for lack of space.

Mr. James Woods gave a guest presentation on the 17th of April, 2001, concerning his award-winning atlas project, "Membership Analysis of the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific."

Mr. Kris Jones gave a talk to the Los Angeles Geographical Society on Friday, 6 April 2001, at Los Angeles City College (for future reference, LACC is at 855 N. Vermont Ave., Franklin Hall, right on Vermont, and the talks are always held in Room 101). The title of his talk was "Cuba 2000." The LAGS is a 48 year old public service organization, which promotes geography to the community in the form of free public lectures (with free cookies and beverages!), field trips, dinner talks, and a number of scholarships. For more information on this great organization, visit their web page at http://www.lageographic.com.

Dr. Chrys Rodrigue was one of a panel of eight hazards experts flown to St. Petersburg, Florida, in March 2001 by the Center for Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance. The panel reviewed 24 research proposals submitted for funding in order to recommend four or five that fit within the CDMHA budget. Dr. Rodrigue made presentations and moderated discussion on the strengths and weaknesses of three proposals.

Dr. Frank Gossette gave a talk to the International Brown Bag Lunch Discussion Series on Wednesday, 14 March 2001. His talk provided information about "Living in Salzburg, Austria." The International Brown Bag Lunches are hosted by the Center for International Education and the Phi Beta Delta International Honor Society.

Ms. Susanne Byrne-Dronkers, presently a graduate student in geography, gave a talk on "Careers in GIS" to the "Jobs in Geography" lecture series on Tuesday the 27th of February. The Jobs in Geography guest lecture series is sponsored by the Geography Department Internship Program, which is coördinated by Dr. Suzanne Wechsler.

Ms. Robin Lee is the Coördinator for Coöperative Education at the CSULB Career Development Center. On the 26th of February, she presented a talk, entitled, "How to Make the Most of Your Internship," to the Jobs in Geography lecture series organized by Dr. Suzanne Wechsler this semester.

Dr. Frank Gossette made a presentation on "Study and Teaching abroad as Part of the Liberal Arts Experience" to the College of Liberal Arts Faculty Retreat on February 9th, 2001. The theme for the heavily-attended all-day retreat this year was "Teaching and Learning in the Liberal Arts: Different Formats, Different Paths."

Dr. Dmitrii Sidorov presented "Anglo-Saxon geography today" to the Department of Geography, Moscow State University.

Dr. Dmitrii Sidorov gave a talk, entitled, "Highest, biggest, tallest architecture and power in Moscow, then and now," to two departments: the Geography Department and the Anthropology Department.

Dr. Dmitrii Sidorov gave a talk to GeoFest XX at the University of South Carolina, entitled, "Highest, biggest, tallest architecture and power in Moscow, then and now."

2000

Dr. Stan Trimble of UCLA was our guest for National Geography Awareness Week. The theme this year was conservation, and Dr. Trimble gave a guest lecture on this theme, focussing on "Human-Induced Soil Erosion and Sedimentation in the Upper Midwest." Many thanks to Dr. Suzanne Wechsler for organizing this talk.

Dr. Bryan Baker of Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) out in Redlands, was our featured speaker for GIS Day 2000, a part of National Geography Awareness Week. His lecture addressed "Can GIS Survive the Internet?" This talk was organized by Dr. Suzanne Wechsler.

Dr. Peter Black of Syracuse University visited our campus on Thursday, 9 November, on his way to give presentations in New Zealand, Australia, Nepal, and Ethiopia. Dr. Black is a world-known expert in watershed hydrology and related land resources. He is the author of numerous books including Watershed Hydrology and Soil and Water Conservation Policy. He made a dynamic, accessible, and engaging presentation on how watersheds function in Dr. Suzanne Wechsler's class on Thursday, November 9th.

Ms. Cecilia Padres, Environmental Project Manager for Geotek, Inc., of Vista, California, spoke about her career in environmental assessment to the Jobs in Geography lecture series in Fall 2000, being organized this semester by Dr. Suzanne Wechsler.

Dr. Stephen Pyne, an expert on wildfire in America and on the Grand Canyon and author of numerous books, gave the Phi Beta Kappa lecture on 2 October 2000. Dr. Pyne is an historian and professor in the Biology and Society Program at Arizona State University. His riveting talk was entitled, "Where Have All the Fires Gone? A Look at Why and How the American West Burns." The talk was co-sponsored by the Phi Beta Kappa Fellows and The Odyssey Project, hosted by Dean Dee Abrahamse, and was organized by Dr. Suzanne Wechsler and Mr. James Woods.

Dr. Jim Curtis conducted a field trip of the Long Beach area for new faculty at CSULB. Dr. Curtis has been offering this popular field trip for a few years now to help orient new faculty in all disciplines to the cultural and environmental riches of the area the campus serves. This year's trip was held on Saturday, 30 September..

Dr. Tyner gave an invited lecture to the Santa Clara Chapter of the Embroiderer's Guild of America, up in Saratoga, CA, on the 19th of July, 2000. Her talk was entitled, "The History of Embroidered Maps and Globes." Dr. Tyner described the Guild as an outgrowth of the British Guild, which was organized on this side of the "Pond" in 1958 and incorporated here in 1973. The different chapters have classes in skills and history (Dr. Tyner's thing). She is scheduled to co-teach a national workshop in October, 2001 (these workshops are so competitive they must be booked two years in advance).

Dr. Thrower made a guest lecture in Dr. Judith Tyner's History of Cartography course on 11 April 2000. Dr. Thrower is the author of Maps and Civilization: Cartography in Culture and Society, the premier book on the history of cartography.

Daniel R. Weir, Ph.D. Candidate, Geography and Anthropology Louisiana State University, gave a talk entitled, "The Virgin of Guadalupe, the Everyday World, and Death on the Highway: A Poetics of Place in Mexico," on May 2nd, 2000. The talk was given in conjunction with Jayne Howell's class, "Peoples of Mexico and Central America." Dr. Irisita Azary organized this talk (with funding provided by the College of Liberal Arts) and noted that Mr. Weir was her very first M.A. student, back when she was lecturing at San Diego State University,

Douglas Hurt, Ph.D. Candidate in Geography, University of Oklahoma, gave an invited talk, "The Shaping of a Creek (Muscogee) Nation Homeland in Indian Territory, 1828-1907," on 15 March 2000.

Owen Dwyer, Ph.D. Candidate in Geography, University of Kentucky, made an invited presentation, "Monuments and Memorials Dedicated to the Civil Rights Movement," on 20 March 2000.

Ralph Saunders, Ph.D. in Geography, University of Arizona, was invited to deliver "Community Policing and the (Other) New Urbanism" on 22 March 2000.

Vincent Del Casino, Ph.D. Candidate in Geography, University of Kentucky made an invited presentation, "Analyzing Need and Access: NGOs and the Geographies of Care for People Living with HIV/AIDS in Chiang Mai, Thailand," on 29 March 2000.

Dr. Dmitrii Sidorov gave a talk to GeoFest XVIII at the University of South Carolina: "Cathedrals and shopping malls: Changing cityscape of post-Soviet Moscow."

"The Hide You Save May Be Your Own" was the intriguing announcement of a presentation and public meeting organized by Geography Department graduate students Jim Covin, Ed Huefe, and Jan Olsen for 29 March 2000 at the Peck Park Community Center in San Pedro. Their presentation was entitled Emergency Preparedness in Pedro. It addressed whether San Pedro and the Harbor area are prepared for the inevitability of disaster. The three graduate students started a project on all local hazards, whether natural, technological, or human, to be found in the San Pedro area in Dr. Ben Wisner's seminar in hazards in 1999. Their project continued to grow and develop since then and they organized a community meeting at which to present their findings. Other speakers included representatives from the City of Los Angeles Emergency Preparedness Division, the Los Angeles Disaster Preparedness Unit, the CERT Program of the Los Angeles Fire Department, the Los Angeles Police Department's Harbor Division, the Los Angeles Fire Department's San Pedro Fire Station, and the American Red Cross. The meeting was sponsored by the San Pedro Organizing Committee and the South Bay Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. The Department is very proud that three of its graduate students worked so hard to exemplify the spirit of University service to the larger community.

My feeling is that, if all you learn at a university is what you learn in the formal classroom, then you have not received the best education possible. CSULB President Robert C. Maxson

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