Student Research Competition: Graduate Student Affinity Group

Pre-Application Due: December 20, 2009
Full Proposal Due: February 5, 2010

The award winner will be contacted shortly before the upcoming AAG Annual Meeting in Washington DC and will be announced at the GSAG business meeting.

Applications are now being accepted for the Research Award Competition of the Graduate Student Affinity Group (GSAG) of the AAG.

The awards are $500.00 to support M.A. or Ph.D. research. Proposals are accepted for research to be conducted anytime through January 2011

Graduate students working on any aspect of geographical research (social or physical sciences, qualitative or quantitative methods) are encouraged to apply. Proposals will be evaluated based on the clarity of research proposal, including specification of research problem, context, and methods, as well as the intended use of the award.

The award winner will be contacted shortly before the upcoming AAG Annual Meeting in Washington DC and will be announced at the GSAG business meeting.

***

Only fully completed applications will be considered. Applicants must provide a short pre-application (due December 20, 2009), and a full proposal (due February 5, 2010).

Applicants (1) must be enrolled in a Masters or Ph.D. graduate degree program in geography or related discipline, and (2) must be a current member of the GSAG.

The recipient of the funds will use them towards the completion of a graduate research project (as part of a Master’s or Ph.D. thesis or dissertation), and will be required to submit a brief summary of their research project and use of the award for the GSAG newsletter. In the event research supported through the award is published in a scholarly journal, an acknowledgment of GSAG financial support would be appreciated. Note that funds provided by GSAG cannot be used for travel to conferences and must be applied toward the completion of all or part of your research project.

***

We are requesting that all applicants submit a short pre-application form by December 20, 2009 (5:00 pm EST) to Nicholas Crane at crane.61[at]osu.edu, or Chris Riley at riley.212[at]osu.edu. This ensures that we have time to contact appropriate reviewers for the submissions.

The pre-application will include:

1. Your name, contact information, and affiliation
2. The names of your primary research advisor and committee members (if known)
3. A brief bio (emphasizing your area of interest/specialization, current research, and intended use for the award) of no more than 250 words.

***

After submitting a pre-application, applicants will have until February 5, 2010 to submit a full award proposal to Nicholas Crane at crane.61[at]osu.edu, or Chris Riley at riley.212[at]osu.edu.

In two pages or less – single spaced, 1 inch margins, no smaller than 12 point font of Times New Roman, Garamond, or similar – proposal will include:

1. Project title
2. Project description (topic, objectives, situation in relevant literature, theoretical framework, background information, etc)
3. Research methods (“methodology,” or how you intend to address your research questions)
4. Budget justification (how you will use the funds towards the completion of your research project – travel expenses, purchase of software or other necessary equipment, laboratory fees, etc.)

Allowable beyond the two pages of text:

1. Works cited
2. An additional page of figures

***

Please submit the pre-application and full proposal in a Word or PDF document by the deadlines indicated above. No late or incomplete submissions will be accepted. Based upon the quality of proposals and available resources the GSAG reserves the right to 1) offer more than one award or 2) no award.

Please direct questions to Nicholas Crane at crane.61[at]osu.edu or Chris Riley at riley.212[at]osu.edu. Also, feel free to distribute this announcement to your department, your colleagues, and any pertinent research listservs.

Student Paper Competition: Graduate Student Affinity Group

Abstracts Due: December 20, 2009
Full Papers Due: February 5, 2010

The Graduate Student Affinity Group (GSAG) is pleased to announce the 2010 GSAG Student Paper Competition. The competition seeks to promote the dissemination of graduate student research through written and oral presentations. Papers are invited from current students on any topic and specialty area within geography. Submissions must be presented by the author as part of the upcoming AAG Annual Meeting in Washington DC. We do not require that they are part of a session sponsored by the GSAG.

Students interested in participating should submit their abstract (of 250 words or less) to the GSAG by December 20, 2009, and an electronic copy of their paper, in full, including figures and references, by February 5, 2010. No late or incomplete submissions will be accepted.

Submissions should be sent to Phil Birnie at birnie.1[at]osu.edu. For more details, please contact Phil Birnie, Student Paper Competition Chair, at birnie.1[at]osu.edu or Nicholas Crane, GSAG Chair, at crane.61[at]osu.edu.

Award Amounts: There are three awards available in this competition.1 1st place will receive $200; 2nd place will receive $100; 3rd place will receive $75

Details of the paper competition:
Paper submissions must:

• Conform to Annals of the AAG Style Sheet
• Be a research paper (review and concept papers will not be judged)
• Be limited to 4000 words not including figures or references. (Papers of more than 4000 words will not be considered)
• Be based upon original research for which the graduate student is the lead author

Eligibility:
This competition is open to all graduate students presenting original research of which they are lead author. Papers must be presented at AAG. Students must be fully registered for the conference and members of the GSAG at the time of submission (dues are currently $2).

Winner Expectations:
We encourage students to publish winning manuscripts in academic journals. If a winning manuscript appears in print, an acknowledgement of financial support from the GSAG would be appreciated. Winners will be announced during the GSAG’s annual business meeting at the AAG Annual Meeting.

Deadline for AAG Abstracts Extended

Scrambling to get your AAG abstract in by the end of the day? Well, it's your lucky day. You can extend your procrastination another two weeks.

Abstracts are now due on Wednesday November 18th.

Here's a procrastination video by Johnny Kelly. Of course, if you watch it... you are procrastinating.

Planning to attend the conference? Leave a comment below to let us know!

Student Paper Competition: Cartography Specialty Group

Cartography Specialty Group
Student Competitions
________________________________________

2010 Cartography Specialty Group
Honors Student Paper Competition

Call for Abstracts

The Cartography Specialty Group (CSG) of the Association of American Geographers is pleased to announce the 2010 Honors Student Paper Competition to be presented at the AAG Annual Meeting in Washington DC (April 14-18, 2010). The purpose of this competition is to promote written scholarship and high quality presentation by students in the field of cartography and geovisualization.

We invite students to submit full papers to the competition and present those papers at a special session of the 2010 AAG.

Eligibility:
The competition is open to students at all academic levels. A student must be currently enrolled in an accredited two or four year institution. Applicants must also be a current member of the AAG Cartography Specialty Group (CSG). Any paper authored and presented by a student is eligible for the competition, provided the paper has not already been published or presented somewhere else.

Guidelines for Applications:
To be considered for participation in the CSG paper competition, an extended abstract of approximately 250 words that describes an ongoing or complete research investigation must be submitted electronically as an attachment (Microsoft Word) to Sarah Battersby at battersb@mailbox.sc.edu. An abstract submission must be in Microsoft Word format, with 12-point Times New Roman font, one inch margins with left justification (ragged right), and single-spaced lines. Applicants must clearly indicate that they wish to be considered for the CSG Student Paper Competition.

Applicants must register for the 2010 AAG Annual Meeting before submitting an abstract to the CSG student paper competition. Please submit an AAG participant number which is issued when successfully registering for the AAG meeting with your abstract. For detailed instructions on how to acquire a participant number for the annual meeting, see the AAG web page (http://aag.org/annualmeetings/2010/registration.htm).

The abstract and participant code are due to Sarah Battersby (battersb@mailbox.sc.edu) by October 21, 2009.

Judging:
Abstracts and written papers will be judged by the CSG Awards Committee on several criteria: potential contribution to the field of cartography and geovisualization, originality, appropriate use of methodology, scholarship, organization, and written composition. The oral presentation of papers will be judged on professional delivery, organization, clarity, and appropriate use of graphics. Judging will take into account the academic level of the applicants.

Finalist:
Finalists will be notified of the acceptance of their abstract via e-mail no later than October 27, 2009. Each finalist will be asked to submit a full paper of approximately 6,000 words to be considered for presentation at the 2010 AAG Annual Meeting. The deadline for submission of full papers is March 24, 2010.

Paper Submission:
We especially encourage papers on theoretical, conceptual, and methodological developments in cartography and geovisualization rather than on particular mapping applications. Papers must be written entirely by the applicant. Students who are selected as finalists will be placed in a special session at the annual meeting. The only exception is a student who is also selected as a Nystrom Dissertation Award finalist, in which case, he or she may present in the Nystrom paper session instead.

Papers, including the related bibliography and associated tables and figures, must be submitted in the format used by the Cartography and Geographic Information Society
(for details see
http://www.cartogis.org/publications/document.2006-09-05.7116381016).
A cover page should include the student author's name, academic affiliation, faculty advisor for the paper, mailing address, phone number, and e-mail address. The second page should include only the title of the paper and the abstract. The content of the paper should begin on the third page.

The final written paper should be submitted electronically via e-mail to Sarah Battersby (battersb@mailbox.sc.edu) as a Microsoft Word document attachment (12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins with left justification, and double spaced). The content of the paper, including text, references, figures and tables, is limited to about 20 pages in length and should not exceed 6,000 words.

Awards:
Up to five competition finalists will be selected by the CSG Awards Committee on the basis of the quality of their abstracts. Each finalist will be awarded a full student registration to attend the 2010 AAG Annual Meeting in Washington DC. The first place winner will receive a $100 cash prize.

The awards committee reserves the right not to offer such prizes if the papers are not a professional quality. The award will be decided on the basis of the written paper and the oral presentation. The results of the competition will be published in the AAG Newsletter and on the specialty group's web page.

Contact Info:
Sarah Battersby
Department of Geography
University of South Carolina
709 Bull Street, Callcott Building
Columbia, SC 29208
Phone: 803-777-5729
E-mail: battersb@mailbox.sc.edu

Student Paper Competition: Applied Geography Specialty Group

CALL FOR PAPERS
STUDENT PAPER COMPETITION
Association of American Geographers (AAG)
Applied Geography Specialty Group
The 2010 Meeting of the AAG, April 14-18 2010, Washington, DC

The Applied Geography Specialty Group is sponsoring a student paper competition this year. The paper and its research should utilize geographic methods, techniques, or analysis applied in service to a real world client, while the subject-matter focus of the paper is open. One prize ($500) will be awarded to the best paper. The student papers can range from a class project or term paper to one that has been given at any professional meeting in the 12 months preceding (and including) the Washington, DC AAG conference.

Participants are required to register and present in the AGSG Interactive Short Paper (ISP) Student Session at the April 14-18, 2010 AAG Annual Meeting.

New this year, the Applied Geography Conference Board will award the student paper winner with a free conference registration to attend the 33rd Annual Applied Geography Conference in October, 2010 and an invitation to submit the winning paper for review and possible publishing in the Annals from that conference.

The deadline for the submission of abstracts for the Applied Geography Specialty Group student paper competition is: October 28, 2009. To submit an abstract to the AGSG you must first register for the meeting. Registration for the 2010 meeting is now open. Please review AAG guidelines for abstract submission.

Send an abstract of no more than 250 words as an email attachment and your personal identification number (received from the AAG after applying online at www.aag.org), along with a 100 word maximum statement identifying the applied geography components of their paper to Dr. Dawna Cerney at dlcerney@ysu.edu

Written papers (8,000 word maximum) are due on March 1, 2010.

The prize will be awarded based on the written papers and not on the presentations, and the winner will be announced at the conclusion of the interactive session. If any participants would like informal feedback on their presentation, please advise Dr. Cerney in advance.

Both Master’s and Ph.D. students are welcome in the competition. One prize will be awarded in the amount of $500. All authors will be recognized for their participation.

Looking for a session?

This is one of a group of sessions that the Coupled Humans and Natural Systems Network (CHANS-Net) is organizing at AAG—Jack Liu and Bill McConnell at Michigan State are spearheading CHANS-Net (http://www.chans-net.org/).

For those interested in participating, you must register for the meeting and submit an abstract on the AAG website (www.aag.org), then send your abstract ID to the organizers so they can add you to the session. If they get enough papers, they will run a couple of sessions and perhaps a panel discussion.

________________________________________

Coupled and decoupled Human and Natural Systems (CHANS) in Urban Environments.

This session seeks a broad array of papers that specifically examine complex interactions and feedbacks among human and natural systems in urban areas. Example human systems can include, but are in no way limited to, urban morphology, urban growth, journey-to-work, mobility, policy development, urban hierarchies, etc. Example natural systems can include, but are in no way limited to, the water cycle, fire, climate change, natural disasters, ecosystem services, etc. Selected works will build on the conceptual framework prepared by Liu et al. (2007), which identifies major features of complex systems, such as: reciprocal effects and feedback loops; non-linearity and thresholds; surprises; legacy effects and time lags; resilience; and heterogeneity.

Organizers:

Claire Jantz (cajant@ship.edu) and Scott Drzyzga (sadrzy@ship.edu)

Shippensburg University.

Liu J et al. (2007) Complexity of Coupled Human and Natural Systems. Science 317: 1513-1516."

AAG 2010. Planning Underway!

Has it been a year already? Not quite, but planning for AAG is already underway. Abstracts are due on October 28th, and the conference will be held in Washington DC.

The dates are Wednesday April 14th through Sunday April 18th.
Are you planning to attend? Leave a comment below to let us know!

Find information here: www.aag.org

Pictures from the party & raffle prize winners!

Wednesday evening was the big event at the Peppermill Fireside Lounge in Las Vegas. Here's a photo stream of pictures Keith and I took. I will be updating soon with photos from anyone else that sends them to me. If the slide show doesn't appear below, try clicking HERE.

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

To top off our fundraising, we put together a raffle of 8 mystery items.

The first winner was Chris Wosniok, visiting scholar from the University of Muenster. He is Martin Raubal's masters student. He won a XL 2006 gray Dept. of Geography t-shirt compliments of Theta Nu Chapter of Gamma Theta Upsilon (International Geographical Honors Society). Unfortunately I wasn't able to snap a photo of him at the party, but he was kind enough to email me this one:


Next up: Edward Pultar won a swag iPhone case compliments of Dom Sagolla. Dom is most well known for his Twitter contribution, DollarApp, & iPhoneDevCamp.

Next up: Keith Clarke won a vintage TV Guide from 1973 with a spatial theme to go along with the '70's theme of our party, compliments of me and my super Internet search skills. Can you tell which projection they used for the cover map?













Next up: Ryan Perroy won a 1 year student license for ArcGIS Desktop and all associated extensions, along with an ESRI pen and sticker compliments of Angie Lee from ESRI.

Next up: Nate Royal won a VerySpatial t-shirt compliments of the VerySpatial hosts that just happened to drop by our party right as Nate was tearing into his prize.













Next up: Xinyue Ye, joint SDSU/UCSB doctoral student, won a XL 2007 blue Dept. of Geography t-shirt compliments of Theta Nu Chapter of Gamma Theta Upsilon (International Geographical Honors Society). Notice how well it matches the shirt he has on!

Next up: Karl Grossner also won a vintage TV Guide from 1973 with a spatial theme to compliment the theme of our party, compliments of me and my super Internet search skills.













And Finally: Sarah Battersby won the Waldo Tobler "mystery disks". As the story goes, I was in Dylan Parenti's office a few weeks ago and he had a few 5.25 inch floppy disks on his desk. He mentioned that they were from Reg Gollege who speculated that they contained something from Waldo. In keeping with the 70's theme of our event in Vegas, I had to have those disks as a raffle prize because 5.25 inch disks were invented in 1976 (according to wikipedia anyway). Luckily Dylan was able to retrieve a copy of the content from the disks, and Waldo agreed to allow me to raffle them off. The following message is from Dylan:

The 5.25" floppys contain a modeling program called proScal. Evidently, Waldo borrowed it from Reg back in '88. The program still exists as a DOS command line executable program, so I downloaded that and put it on an enclosed 3.5" floppy disk as well, spanning 21 years of that program. A print-out description is attached to all of it. It's a bit of a stretch to have that as a "Waldo Tobler vintage geography item", but I'll let you make that call as to raffle it off or not!

Overall, it was a great night and as promised, "unforgettable". I want to thank everyone that made this event a success. Special thank to the Peppermill Fireside Lounge staff for taking such great care of us. Feel free to leave comments on this post, particularly if you missed the party and want to leave a message here for all the alumni and faculty from our department. Additionally, if you took photos and want to add them to the slide show above, please email them to me. My email address is up on the right in the sidebar.

Thanks again!
Indy

Planning is in full swing...

Hello geographers and friends of the UCSB Geography Department!

I'm happy to report that planning is in full swing for a special gathering to commemorate all of our achievements this year. We'll be celebrating in Las Vegas on Wednesday March 25th from 5:30 to 8:30 at the "sure to be unforgettable" Peppermill Fireside Lounge.


This truly unique venue is located in the parking lot adjacent to the Riviera Hotel. This year's event will have a 70's theme: Polyester expected, but not required.

Due to the budget crunch, we're exploring creative ideas to generate the funds we need to successfully pull off this event. If you've noticed the nifty donate button in the sidebar to the right; feel free to click and submit a few dollars to our cause. You'll also find us conducting bake sales and auctions. We'll be auctioning a hike with Mike Goodchild to the highest bidder among other things we've managed to collect. More information below....

Introducing "Hike with Mike" auction winner Marlowe Durousseau

Mike Goodchild and I met up with Marlowe Durousseau at UCSB early Saturday morning to depart on a hike up to the top of Tangerine Falls in Santa Barbara. I was prepared to provide a parking pass, take a few photos, and then head off to Camino Cielo for a litter removal hike, but got invited to tag along for the bargain basement price of "free".

Marlowe won the auction with a winning bid of $21, yet doubled his donation in support of the Geography Department and our efforts to bring everyone together at AAG this month.

Marlowe has quite an interesting background. He was a transfer student from Santa Monica College where his interests were in meteorology. He came to UCSB to play football (Div III non-scholarship) in '89, and chose the Geography Department for his studies. Unfortunately, he had a knee injury in the off season and had to take time off from school to recover. Interestingly, knee injuries among current geography students are quite common. Just ask Micah, Brett, and Nate who have incorporated surgeries, braces, and physical therapy into their daily lives.

Supporting yourself through school in an expensive city without any financial aid is never an easy task, but Marlowe was resourceful and determined to finish his degree. He took courses part time and worked several jobs on top of an internship with the City of Santa Barbara to make ends meet. Campus jobs included working at Central Stores, the (haunted) Faculty Club, campus event staffing, and with the Phelps Hall night cleaning crew.

Many of these jobs seem like a far cry from the typical work study program jobs most undergrads engage in today, but Marlowe passed up jobs at the UCen in exchange for university employee positions offering partial tuition remission benefits.

Marlowe also worked as a bouncer at many local haunts and recounts the heyday of Isla Vista when Embarcadero Hall was home to The Graduate night club, serving up 4 for 1 priced 32oz drinks which dropped in price as the night wore on. The Graduate was replaced by The Anaconda which hosted concerts several times a week; taking advantage of big names traveling between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Of course, this was all long after the building was home to the Bank of America that was burned down in the 1970 riots.

Marlowe's UCSB days were filled with adventures living in Santa Rosa, San Miguel and perfecting the sport of couch surfing in Isla Vista long before Edward Pultar's couch surfing GIS research interests.

He certainly remembers his professors. He took the History of Cartography with Waldo Tobler, Meteorology with Joel Michaelson, GIS with Mike Goodchild and Keith Clarke after his first GIS course at Santa Barbara City college during a hiatus from UCSB, and various other course with Sara Fabrikant, Dan Montello, and Jack Estes to name a few.

Marlowe's GIS internship with the City of Santa Barbara resulted in a full time position after he graduated. He has opportunities to interact with multiple departments utilizing GIS at the city and at the county. He also interacts with the Channel Islands Regional Geographic Information Systems (CIRGIS), including other UCSB Geography alumni Paul Van Zuyle and Steve Palladino. Marlowe has an extensive background in GIS and expects to complete the requirements for the GISP certification this year.

With several departments at the city working with GIS, internships for students are a real possibility. There are even opportunities for community members to get involved. The transportation department utilizes GIS to manage graffiti. The Adopt A Block program partners city staff and residents interested in committing to keep one block clear of graffitti and litter for a year. All supplies are provided by the "Looking Good Santa Barbara" environmental services program.

We all extend our sincere gratitude to UCSB Geography alumnus Marlowe Durousseau, class of 2003, for his generous donation. Congratulations on your success!

Spatial thinkers across campus...

The Association of American Geographers annual meeting goes beyond attracting presenters from geography departments and certainly beyond just those of the American persuasion. The conference attracts international scholars from all over the world, and additionally from many parts of our campus.

While perusing our calendar of UCSB presenters, you may notice that we have added presenters from Crustal Studies, Psychology, Black Studies, and Art History.

First in the mix is G. Burch Fisher, scheduled to present on Tuesday morning. He'll be presenting his work on sediments, large woody debris, and cosmogenic Beryllium-7. On target to complete his Ph.D. in 2011, you’ll find quite of bit of interesting reading on Burch’s website: http://www.crustal.ucsb.edu/~burch/index.html

Next up you'll find Dr. Mary Hegarty scheduled to present on Wednesday morning. Mary is a professor in the Psychology Department and director of the Spatial Thinking Lab located on the 2nd floor of the main psychology building. To find the lab, Drew Dara-Abrams will gladly provide you with the location of a preferred stairwell and cardinal directions. Mary is also one of the executive committee members of the Center for Spatial Studies (spatial@ucsb) directed by Mike Goodchild and Don Janelle. Mary’s talk at AAG addresses the effects extraneous cartographic information on maps has on a map reader’s response time for various tasks.

On Thursday morning, Clyde Woods from Black Studies will be the discussant for a session addressing regional differences in racial subjectivity. Talks in this session explore the experiences of U.S. Latinos and Latinas in North Carolina, Missouri, Mid-Century Southern California, and southern U.S. cities and towns.

He's also a panelist in session that reflects upon Neil Smith's 1984 publication Uneven Development – Nature, Capital, and the Production of Space.

From the publisher:

In Uneven Development, a classic in its field, Neil Smith offers the first full theory of uneven geographical development, entwining theories of space and nature with a critique of capitalist development. Featuring pathbreaking analyses of the production of nature and the politics of scale, Smith anticipated many of the uneven contours that now mark neoliberal globalization. This third edition features an afterword updating the analysis for the present day.

Clyde has a background in urban and regional planning and his research focuses on the regional organization of poverty, power, race, and culture in the United States.

http://www.blackstudies.ucsb.edu/people/woods.html


You can find Swati Chattopadhyay presenting on Thursday evening. She is a professor in the History of Art and Architecture department. Her research interests include modern architecture, the cultural landscape of British colonialism, and Post-colonial and critical theory. Swati’s talk at AAG focuses on the changing landscape of Calcutta during Durga Puja; a Hindu festival celebrated all over India.

Swati’s book Representing Calcutta – Modernity, Nationalism and the Colonial Uncanny “is a spatial history of the colonial city, and addresses the questions of modernity that haunts our perception of Calcutta.” – publisher Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.

Follow this link to find out more about Swati's work: UCSB History of Art and Architecture

We look forward to seeing you on campus and in Las Vegas this year at the Association of American Geographers Annual meeting!

UCSB Geography to be well represented at the AAG Awards Luncheon...

If you are able to attend the AAG Awards Luncheon scheduled for Friday March 27th, you will have an opportunity to applaud two of our very own scholars: Dr. Don Janelle, and Dr. Reg Gollege.

Dr. Janelle will be receiving the Ronald F. Abler Honors for Distinguished Service. You can find Dr. Janelle in Phelps 3512 most days busily writing papers, proposals, and orchestrating various events and activities associated with the Center for Spatial Studies (spatial@ucsb) and the Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science (CSISS). Looking for an interesting array of research specializations? Follow the link to visit Dr. Janelle's website: http://www.spatial.ucsb.edu/janelle/

Dr. Gollege will be receiving the Enhancing Diversity Award. From the AAG website, "the AAG Enhancing Diversity Award honors those geographers who have pioneered efforts towards or actively participated in efforts towards enhancing a more diverse discipline over the course of several years." Dr. Gollege has a long history of supporting and mentoring underrepresented students, and he continues to promote diversity today. You can find Dr. Gollege in Ellison 3616A. Interested in Dr. Gollege's most recent publications? Follow the link to see his list: http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/people/faculty/reg-golledge.html

Tickets for the AAG Awards Luncheon run $55 a person, or $495 a table. These high prices for high honors definitely inspired us to put on our own event. For those who won't be staying in Vegas until Friday, student attendees on a tight budget, and just everyone else ready for a blast; clear your Wednesday night schedule (March 25th) to attend our very own AAG UCSB Geography Event at the Peppermill Fireside Lounge. Food and drinks will be at the ready for you to toast our award winning scholars!

Bake Sale Today at the Arbor!

Come on down to the Arbor today between 10:00am and 2:00pm to secure yourself a tasty treat! Several volunteers from the geography department will be selling an array of baked goods to raise funds for our special event next month at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting in Las Vegas.


If sugar is not on your approved list of acceptable consumables, there will also be an opportunity for you to come down and get your photo taken in the Cookie Monster Jacket. Check back to see these photos later today!

The bake sale was a great success! We had students and faculty from all over campus stop by to support our efforts. Special thanks to Edward Pultar, Nate Isbell, Sean Haney, and their juggling crew for coming by to divert the crowd right to our table!


We also had several donations just to get a photo taken in the Cookie Monster Jacket!

The Cookie Monster ensemble can now return home to the closet where it keeps my skeletons warm....

We still have quite a few hand decorated sugar cookies. You may just find us out at The Arbor again tomorrow. Tremendous thanks to all of our fabulous bakers who donated treats for the sale, and all of the volunteers that worked the table today.

Not much gets by the news crew of the Geography Department. Guylene Gadal and Bill Norrington were two of the first on the scene taking photos which ended up on the department website. Follow the link to read their story and ours: UCSB Department of Geography News.

Auction Announcement: Hike to Tangerine Falls with Mike Goodchild.

Due to the recent rains, Santa Barbara front country hikes have been spectacular. In an effort to generate funds for our UCSB Geography 2009 AAG event, we are auctioning a hike with Dr. Mike Goodchild.


Link: Tangerine Falls

Dr. Goodchild has graciously agreed to take the highest bidders on a special hike up to Tangerine Falls.

Details:
Hike Date: Saturday March 14th
Time: Leaving campus at 7:00am
Destination: Tangerine Falls.
Auction ends Friday March 13th, at 3:00pm.


If you are interested in bidding on this hike, please leave a comment for this post with your bid amount and email address. Bidding starts at $5.00, bids will be accepted in a minimum of $1.00 increments. Again, the auction closes on Friday March 13th at 3:00pm, and the winning bidder will be contacted via email.

During a visit to his class, the following photograph was taken. Here you can see Dr. Goodchild raising his right hand while giving the oath not to leave anyone behind in the wilderness during the aforementioned hike.

Let the bidding begin!

Thanks for the overwhelming interest. I'm doing my best to keep up with your email requests for more information about this hike. Here are the answers to the FAQs:

1. The winning bidders can pay with any form of payment. Credit or debit can be paid via our donation button located near the top left of this blog. Paypal hosts that account. Check, cash (paper or coin collection) will be collected right before the hike at UCSB.
2. Yes, more than one bidder can win. Dr. Goodchild graciously makes this provision to keep this opportunity in reach for some of his students taking his course this quarter.
3. You can subscribe to the the comments. You'll get an email any time someone posts.
   

Thanks to all for making this fundraiser a success!

Pre-AAG Field Trip offered by Dr John Cloud

Dr Cloud writes:

And by the way, for anyone from UCSB who gets to the AAG early, with time and inclination for something besides Boulder Dam and death valley, I'll be leading an AAG fieldtrip, the oasis Tour:

Friday, March 20
2. The Oasis Tour

Friday, March 20, 9:00am – Saturday, March 21, 5:30pm
Organizers/Leaders: John Cloud, NOAA Central Library
Trip Capacity: 24
Cost/person: $125 (includes transportation, accommodations, dinner, breakfast, lunch, entrance fees)


Few places are as compelling as those with abundant water in a desert. This tour will make a 2-day, 300 mile circle tour of historic oases in Nevada and California, staying overnight at the legendary Zzyzx, the desert study center. We'll leave Las Vegas in mini-vans, driving to Tecopa Hot Springs oasis, for a soak and lunch in a desert bistro.

Then, we travel on to the nearby historic China Ranch date palm plantation. We'll then travel on to Zzyzx, arriving in time for a catered dinner on the Boulevard of Dreams, and a walk by the restoring wetlands. Travelers will stay overnight at the Zzyzx Desert Studies Center, in historic bungalow rooms, double occupancy, on beds furnished with sleeping bag liners sufficient for the spring temperatures. Zzyzx accommodations include catered dinner, breakfast, and bag lunch. The next morning, we'll visit a 19th century railroad oasis, the historic Kelso Depot. We'll eat our catered lunches at a vista point in the botanical oasis of the New York Mountains. We'll then return to Las Vegas refreshed, with a nuanced perspective on water in the desert.

I haven't met Dr Cloud, but I certainly look forward to seeing him at this year's UCSB Geography 70's theme AAG Event at the Peppermill Fireside Lounge. He's already out checking Las Vegas thrift stores for leisure suits. He also attached the following image to his RSVP so that I can easily recognize him in Vegas:


John Cloud, a graduate of our department, completed his Ph.D. in the summer of 2000.

CaGIS is looking for volunteers...

Keith Clarke found this great opportunity:

Dear Cartography and Geographic Information Society (CaGIS) member –

CaGIS will be sponsoring an exhibit booth at the annual conference of the Association of American Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, from March 23-27, 2009. If you are planning to attend AAG this year, the officers and board of direction of CaGIS would appreciate your help in staffing the CaGIS booth for limited periods of time during the conference. This is an excellent opportunity to discuss the activities of CaGIS with other AAG attendees and with other current (and prospective) CaGIS members. If you are not currently planning to attend the AAG meeting, but live in the Las Vegas area or will be visiting the Las Vegas area during the conference, a complimentary conference registration will be provided to you if you volunteer to help to staff the CaGIS booth at AAG. This registration ($390/$435 for nonmember full registration before/after February 10) will enable you to experience a conference of a kindred geospatial information and technology organization, to provide a valuable service to CaGIS, and to help provide information about CaGIS to AAG conference attendees. There are a very limited number of AAG exhibit staff complimentary registrations available to CaGIS, so please contact Alan Mikuni, CaGIS President, before Friday March 6 if you are interested. Alan can be reached at amikuni@usgs.gov or 650-329-4250. Thank you in advance for your consideration.

Sincerely, the Officers and Board of Direction of CaGIS