Call for Papers: AAG 2007

Call for Papers: Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, San Francisco, April 17-21, 2007.

The Environmental Perception and Behavioral Geography Specialty Group would like to make a general call for papers for the Annual AAG Meeting in San Francisco CA, April 17th ? 21st. We are soliciting calls for sessions, organized sessions, and individual papers that fit within our mission to advance the theoretical and applied interests of environmental perception and behavioral geography within the discipline of geography. We are open to both qualitative and quantitative research, taking a disaggregate approach to the study of human activity, culture, and society, on issues of human behavior, perception, attitudes, beliefs, memory, language, intentions, reasoning and problem-solving involving space and place. We are also very interested in co-sponsoring sessions with other specialty groups that would integrate with our focus.

The final deadline for sessions and papers to be submitted is October 26th, so please send your titles, abstracts, organized sessions, or questions and other inquiries to Dave Lemberg at lemberg@wmich.edu by October 20th at the latest (earlier would help). Students, please apply for the EPBG 2007 Saarinen Paper Competition and 2007 Travel Grants.

2007 Student Travel Grants

The Environmental Perception and Behavioral Geography Specialty Group offers a maximum of five Travel Grants of $130 to qualified student applicants. Preference for the awarding of a Travel Grant will be: 1) any student who competes in the Saarinen Paper competition; 2) any student presenting a paper in either environmental perception or behavioral geography at the annual meeting who is not competing in the Saarinen Paper competition. Awardees must be in attendance at the Environmental Perception and Behavioral Geography Specialty Group business meeting at the 2007 AAG meeting.

To apply for a Travel Grant, download an application form here.

Send completed application form and manuscript to:

Dan Montello, Geography Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-4060

For questions contact Dan Montello via telephone (805 893-8536) or e-mail (montello@geog.ucsb.edu)

2007 Saarinen Student Paper Announcement

The Environmental Perception and Behavioral Geography Specialty Group announces the 2007 Saarinen Student Paper Competition. The EP&BGSG will award a $200 prize for the best student paper, illustrated paper, or poster (graduate or undergraduate) presented in either environmental perception or behavioral geography at the 2007 AAG meeting in San Francisco.

Entrants in the Saarinen Student Paper Competition must also submit a maximum 25-page version of their work. Papers must be based upon original research done as an undergraduate or graduate student and must be written entirely by the applicant. Awardees must be in attendance at the Environmental Perception and Behavioral Geography Specialty Group business meeting at the 2007 AAG meeting.

All submissions will be judged on written clarity, methodological soundness, contribution to the field of EP&BG, and their presentation at the meeting. The Academic Directors of the EP&BGSG will judge all entries. The deadline for receiving your Saarinen Competition application form and your paper submission is Friday, February 23, 2007.

To apply for the Saarinen Student Paper Competition, fill out an application form available here.

Send completed application form and manuscript to:

Dan Montello, Geography Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-4060

For questions contact Dan Montello via telephone (805 893-8536) or e-mail (montello@geog.ucsb.edu)

Saarinen Student Paper Award Winner Announced

The Environmental Perception & Behavioral Geography Specialty Group (EPBG SG) is pleased to announce that Martin Swobodzinski, San Diego State University Ph.D. Candidate, is the 2006 recipient of the Saarinen Student Paper Award ($200). His paper was entitled “Route Calculation Constraints for an Indoor Navigation Service for the Blind.” Swobodzinski and Tatyana Schoenberg, SUNY at Buffalo Ph.D. Candidate, were the recipients of the EPBG SG travel grants ($130 each). Congratulations to Martin and Tatyana!

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION AND PAPERS

Workshop on the Cognitive Approach to Modeling Environments (CAME) http://www.sfbtr8.uni-bremen.de/CAME
http://www.geo.unizh.ch/gia/came

to be held with
4th International Conference on Geographic Information Science (GIScience 2006) September 20-23, 2006 Muenster, Germany http://www.giscience.org


Workshop date: September 20, 2006


Workshop topics and aim:
Spatial characteristics of an environment determine human behavior in and conceptualization of this environment. The workshop addresses how this interaction between environment and human behavior can be adequately represented and captured in (computational) models of space.

The aim of the workshop is to bring together researchers working on the incorporation of environmental characteristics into models of space, thereby building on findings from cognitive psychology and related fields. It will stimulate and foster discussion on the topic and identify future research questions.

Topics include:
A. Environmental characteristics:
* What are the environmental characteristics we need to address?
* How can we classify them (taxonomies, ontologies)?
* Do the "traditional" GIS models (vector, raster, networks) suffice
to capture the essence of those characteristics? Or should we
develop specific models from scratch?

B. Modeling environmental characteristics:
* How do we model specific types of environments (indoor/outdoor,
vista/environmental/geographical, loosely/fully structured)?
* Can we identify common elements and structures in these models?
* How can we identify salient environmental characteristics that
influence human behavior (structural/functional complexity,
landmarks, symmetries)?

C. Applications in communication and design:
* How can we identify and emphasize the information most relevant
for a particular environment?
* How can real-world applications, like LBS, benefit?
* How can we exploit our theoretical models when designing new
environments like a building or a neighborhood?


Important dates:
May, 15: deadline for paper submissions
July, 1: notification of acceptance
Sept., 20: workshop day at GIScience


Call for papers:
Please submit short papers in PDF format by e-mail to the workshop organizers. Length of papers should be no more than 4 pages or 2000 words.
Submitted papers will be reviewed by the program committee. Accepted papers will be chosen for presentation and publication as report of the Transregional Collaborative Research Center SFB/TR 8 Spatial Cognition.


Further information can be found here:
http://www.sfbtr8.uni-bremen.de/CAME
http://www.geo.unizh.ch/gia/came

Organizers:
Kai-Florian Richter
Universitaet Bremen
richter@sfbtr8.uni-bremen.de

Urs Jacob Ruetschi
Universitaet Zuerich
uruetsch@geo.unizh.ch

Two Tenure Track Positions

Hattiesburg Mississippi 39406. The University of Southern Mississippi Department of Geography and Geology invites applications for two full-time, tenure-track assistant professors commencing August 2006.

Position 1. The department seeks a geographer with interests in Human-Environmental Geography. A broad range of subspecialties is welcome; however, our goal is to build strength in coastal studies. The appointment will work closely with our Gulf Park campus in Long Beach, Miss. The undergraduate degree program at Gulf Park is one of the fastest growing majors on that campus. We seek a well-qualified and ambitious scholar who can continue to develop the program, as well as work closely with the geography faculty on the Hattiesburg campus.

Position 2. The department seeks a GIScience specialist with strengths in Quantitative Methods. The candidate will be expected to support the department’s growing strength in coastal science and/or urban economic geography. The candidate will be situated on the Hattiesburg campus.

Minimum qualifications for both positions are a doctorate in geography at the time of appointment and evidence of ability to teach effectively and to conduct quality research in the area of their specialization.

The Geography Program offers a bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate. in geography. The Department of Geography and Geology is a member of the School of Ocean and Earth Science, which includes: Marine Science, Coastal Science, the Gulf Coast Geospatial Center, Geography and Geology. The Geography faculty have a strong focus upon international research/field programs in Jamaica, Cuba, France, Great Britain, Andean South America and Central America, as well as the U.S. South. Please see our Web site for more details on this position and our department at http://www.usm.edu/geo/

Applications should include a personal statement of background and experience relevant to the position, especially research and teaching experience, a dated curriculum vitae, and names and addresses (including e-mail) of three referees. The review of applications will commence on February 24, 2006, and continue until a candidate is appointed. All materials should be sent to Dr. Clifton Dixon, Chair, Department of Geography and Geology, Box 5051, The University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS 39406-5051. E-mail: c.dixon@usm.edu, voice: 601.266.4729, Fax: 601.266.6219. The University of Southern Mississippi is an equal opportunity employer; diversity is highly valued. Minorities and women are encouraged to apply. Visit the Southern Miss Web site at http://www.usm.edu.

AA/EOE/ADAI

Our Future???

This post is coming to you due to the growing concern about the specialty group. As of mid-January, 2006, the specialty group consists of 169 student members and 102 non-student members (271 total). This is a great showing on paper; however, participation in the specialty group is very low. Over the past several years less than 5% of the membership has attended the business meeting at the national meeting. We have had very few students enter the paper competition or apply for the travel grants. Specialty group-sponsored sessions at the national meeting have also dwindled to only one or two in the recent past (2005 AAG – 0 sessions; 2006 AAG – 2 sessions). The lack of participation will certainly cause a problem when my term as chair ends (2006) and the current vice-chair, who would typically move into the chair position, steps down (2006). At present, there appears to be no one willing to step into these roles.

We, as a specialty group, need to decide if we should continue or fold. If continuation is the overwhelming favorite people need to step up to the plate and participate by organizing specialty group-sponsored sessions, encouraging students to submit their work for the paper competition and apply for the travel grants, and becoming officers.

So what does all of this mean? We need to generate some discussion of whether or not to continue the specialty group. In late February, we (the current board) will call for a vote so that the outcome will be known prior to the Chicago AAG meeting. If the membership votes to continue the specialty group but no one volunteers to step onto the board either before or during the business meeting (Thursday, March 9, 11:50am-12:50pm) we will send a recommendation to the AAG that this specialty group fold.

Lisa M. DeChano, PhD
President
Environmental Perception & Behavioral Geography Specialty Group

Job Opening

OUTREACH NOTICE
Social Scientist/Team Leader
GS- 13 -14

At the Pacific Northwest Research Station, Seattle Washington

The USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest (PNW) Research Station intends to advertise a permanent position for a Research Social Scientist / Research Geographer. The scientist is social science team leader with the Rural-Urban Wildland Interactions (RUWI) Team of the Human and Natural Resource Interactions (HNRI) Program located in Seattle, Washington. The position reports to the Program Manager for the HNRI Program. The position will be a GS 13 or 14 depending on scholarly accomplishments. The salary range is $77,636 to $119,263.

The major responsibilities of this position are to develop and implement a social science research program in the Pacific Northwest that demonstrates scholarly effort and meets the needs of the Forest Service for applied social science in support of planning and management activities. The RUWI Team focuses on two key problem areas: 1) identify and evaluate alternative institutional structures and processes that support effective, responsive and efficient resource management and 2) expand our understanding of community and natural resource interactions at multiple scales. Potential research in support of these two areas varies in scope and complexity and involves a variety of social science disciplines. Among the contributions of recent or ongoing research are assessments of the adaptability of communities to social and economic change, analysis of the impacts of land management activities on social and economic conditions, description of the trends in and determinants of recreation and tourism activities, analysis of implications of population dynamics for forest and recreation management, and analysis of agency institutional capacity for using new knowledge in recreation management. There is an expectation that his/her personnel research focus will include recreation and recreation management with emphasis on public lands. Implementation of a successful program of work involves developing collaborative relations with University and other research institutions and coordination among federal land management, regulatory and research agencies, tribal governments, and state and local governments and agencies.

In addition to developing a personal program of scholarly work, this individual is expected to provide technical RD&A leadership to team of researchers. Administrative responsibilities include formal supervision of members of a research team, accountability for management of appropriated funds and cooperative relationships, and contributions to management of the research program. The team leader is responsible for designing a coordinated research effort that is responsive to the complex resource situation in the Pacific Northwest. Often the breadth and complexity of the issues require integrated approaches and may involve collaboration with scientists within the Program, in other Programs, at other Stations, with academics and practitioners.

The PNW Research Station is seeking candidates who can demonstrate a strong scholarly background as well as a familiarity with both resource issues in the Pacific Northwest and National Forest Management. Candidates must also have strong skills in planning, organizing, coordinating, and implementing a program of work that includes scientists and technical specialists not necessarily under their direct supervision. Candidates must also have a demonstrated ability to work on complex and controversial issues.

Interested applicants, or those desiring further information, should complete the attached Outreach Notice Form by March 15, 2006. If interested, please contact Richard Haynes, Program Manager, Human and Natural Resource Interactions Program, at internet e-mail rhaynes@fs.fed.us; or write to USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Attention: Richard Haynes, Box 3890, Portland, Oregon 97208, or call (503) 808-2002. For more information about the position contact either Richard Haynes or Linda Kruger, Acting Team Leader (907-586-8811 extension 240 or internet email lkruger@fs.fed.us)

ABOUT THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST RESEARCH STATION:

The PNW Research Station is one of seven research units in the USDA Forest Service. The USDA Forest Service’s Research and Development program conducts the most extensive and productive program of integrated forestry research in the world. The mission of the PNW Research Station is to generate and communicate scientific knowledge that helps people understand and make informed choices about people, natural resources and the environment. The PNW Research Station has primary responsibility for Forest Service research in Alaska, Washington, and Oregon, but also has active research in several other places in the United States and the world. The scientific information produced by the PNW Research Station has application on public, private, and tribal lands.

The PNW Research Station has an average annual budget of 50 million dollars, with about 530 employees located at 9 labs and 1 Wood Utilization Center in Alaska, Oregon and Washington. The Station headquarters is in Portland, Oregon. The Station has 10 active experimental forests, watersheds and ranges located mostly within national forests in the three states, plus 20 research natural areas. Much of the Station’s research is conducted on lands managed by its many partners, including federal, state, and private lands.

OUTREACH NOTICE FORM

Team Leader, Social Science Research
PACIFIC NORTHWEST RESEARCH STATION
USDA FOREST SERVICE


If you are interested in this position and want to receive a copy of the Vacancy Announcement, please complete this form and send via e-mail to mahamilton@fs.fed.us. If you are not a current Forest Service employee or do not have access to e-mail please complete the form and mail to: Margaret Hamilton, PNW Research Station, and Box 3980, Portland, OR 97208. You may also FAX the form to the PNW Research Station at FAX #503-808-2033, attention Margaret Hamilton. Please respond no later than March 15, 2006. The position will be advertised on the OPM USAJobs website www.usajobs.opm.gov after the outreach is completed.


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