Call for Papers: AAG 08

Weather and Society*Integrated Studies (WAS *IS) Session

Co-sponsored by the Climate Specialty Group, and the Environmental Perception and Behavioral Geography Specialty Group

Organizers: Jennifer Cox (City University of New York Graduate Center) and Carlie Lawson (Natural Hazards Consulting)

WAS*IS engages in identifying and pursuing research opportunities in addition to improving or facilitating the ongoing relationships among practitioners, researchers, and stakeholders in meteorology and the social sciences. This panel session seeks theoretical, empirical, or practical applications that demonstrate the integration of weather research and societal impacts.

This includes, but is not limited to:

• Quantitative or qualitative methodologies for improving understanding, communication, and use of weather and climate information,
• Communicating uncertainty and forecasts,
• Intersections of warnings, response and emergency management,
• Research in mitigation, preparedness, and sustainability,
• Role of technology for modeling or mapping hazards and vulnerability.

We invite papers exploring new approaches to study weather, climate, and society.

Please submit your abstract (250 words or less) and PIN to one of the organizers, Jennifer Cox (jennrcox@gmail.com) or Carlie Lawson ( naturalhazard@gmail.com) by November 27, 2007.

WAS* IS Climatology and Hazards of Severe Weather Session

Co-sponsored by the Climate Specialty Group, and Hazards Specialty Group

Organizer: Walker Ashley (Meteorology Program, Department of Geography, Northern Illinois University)

Severe weather poses a significant threat to societies around the world. Improving the forecasts and warnings of these events is a result of advancements in analysis and forecasting techniques, technologies, dissemination methods, and the new scientific understanding that develops from basic and applied research such as descriptive or synoptic climatologies. This paper session will explore the climatology and hazards of tornadoes, hail, high winds, lightning, floods, and/or severe winter-weather phenomenon. Contributors are encouraged to provide descriptive or synoptic climatologies of severe weather phenomena, assess past hazards or illustrate the future risks and potential vulnerabilities of societies to severe weather events, and/or present novel techniques in overcoming issues related to severe weather reporting procedures.

Please submit your abstract (250 words or less) and PIN to the organizer, Walker Ashley (washley@niu.edu) by November 27, 2007.

If you have any questions about the sessions, please contact the organizers.

Abstract instructions are available from the AAG website at:
http://www.aag.org/annualmeetings/2008/papers.htm#abstracts

AAG 08 Call for Papers: Indigenous Peoples

Call for Papers: GEOGRAPHY AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES (various sessions; individual papers welcome) Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting April 15-19 2008, Boston Massachusetts:

The Indigenous Peoples Specialty Group (IPSG) invites scholars working on issues that involve Indigenous peoples, across all regions and specializations within Geography, to participate in IPSG-sponsored sessions. Indigenous-Geography issues operate on the forefront of Postcolonial Theory, Cultural Studies, and Critical Theory, as well as addressing issues of human rights, protected areas, environmental management, borders and mobility, and much, much more.

If your work intersects with Indigenous issues, consider participating in one of our sessions, or if you have a session that pertains to indigenous people and their issues, please let us know that we may look into (co-)sponsorship. Every year, the IPSG sponsors a range of sessions, some of which are conceptualized from the start, and some which come together out of the diverse interests expressed by potential participants.

Please view the IPSG website for full information on these and forthcoming sessions.
http://www.pacificworlds.com/ipsg/meetings.html:

--New Stories for Old Places: Theorizing the Philosophy and Politics of Place for Indigenous Geographies --Indigenous Peoples and Protected Areas: Conservation Through Self-Determination --Indigenous Geography and Education: Negotiating pedagogy in the classroom and the discipline.
--Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples
--Indigenous Tourism
--The U.N. Adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Strategies for the Future of Human Rights --Geography’s “Colonial Present” and Postcolonial Scholarship Additional proposals an individual papers are welcome.

If you are interested in participating in a particular session, you can contact the session organizer directly. Otherwise, interested persons, including session organizers and discussants, should contact Doug Herman at The National Museum of the American Indian:
hermand@si.edu.

Abstracts and materials must be received in time to submit before the 31 October 2007 deadline.


Dr. Douglas Herman
Senior Geographer
National Museum of the American Indian
Smithsonian Institution
4th St. & Independence Ave., SW
Washington, DC 20560

AAG 08 Call for Papers: Katrina

AAG 2008: Call for Paper/Abstracts

"In the Shadow of a Storm: Geographies of Katrina and Post-Katrina New Orleans"

Organizers: Scott Bell, Brown University and University of Saskatchewan; Xun Shi, Geography, Dartmouth University

These sessions will focus on hurricane Katrina and its aftermath in New Orleans. We anticipate these sessions will attract physical and human geographers and span a variety of approaches to geographic inquiry.
Furthermore, we hope to attract non-geographers working on topics related to Katrina and New Orleans. The potential topics covered by sessions and submissions might include Social and Environmental Justice, participatory mapping, governance and community involvement, hazard mitigation/perception, soil mapping, hydrology, historical development, development geography, among many others (see a longer list below). The breadth of the topics is sure to make these sessions a rich opportunity for geographers and researchers of all backgrounds to come together to better understand the storm and its impact on New Orleans. The organizers are willing to develop themed Katrina/New Orleans sessions if there is enough interest; feel free to contact us with ideas.
Submissions will be grouped in an effort to bring common themes together in single sessions.

Please send notes of interest to xun.shi@dartmouth.edu and scott_bell@brown.edu. We will eventually need an abstract PIN in order add presenters to these sessions.

The Association of American Geographers Annual meeting will be held from April 15th through 19th in Boston, MA. Additional information and conference registration/abstract submission can be found at www.aag.org

Other potential topics: demographic dynamics, social and environmental justice, land use and land cover changes, environmental conservation, environmental health, urban planning and management, hydrological modeling, emergency response, historical development, gentrification, governance and community involvement, participatory mapping, and the applications of spatial information technologies (GIS, remote sensing, and GPS) in all these issues
**********************************************************
Scott Bell
Assistant Professor, Population Studies Training Center Brown University
303 Maxcy Hall
Providence, RI 02912
scott.bell@brown.edu
ph. 401 863-1064 fax 401 863-3213

also

Associate Professor
Geography, University of Saskatchewan
scott.bell@usask.ca
**********************************************************

AAG 08 Call for Papers: Cognitive Issues in Geographic Information Visualization

Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers Boston, MA, April 15-19, 2008

Call for Participation

Session: Cognitive Issues in Geographic Information Visualization

Organizers: Sara Irina Fabrikant (University of Zurich) and Amy Lobben (University of Oregon)

Specialty Group Sponsors: Cartography, GIS, and Environmental Perception & Behavioral Geography

Content

We invite papers within the interdisciplinary research area of geographic information visualization and cognition. Specifically of interest are theoretical and empirical contributions exploring the human-geovisualization display interface. This includes (but is not limited to):

~ geovisualization design research (2D/3D, animated/virtual/ immersive, static/interactive/mobile, etc.) ~ the application of cognitive theories and methods to understanding
geovisualization displays & geovis tool use ~ the application of geovisualization displays & tools to understanding spatial cognition ~ reasoning, inference & decision making with geovisualization displays & tools ~ human-geovisualization interaction research


Participants

In addition to geographers, GIScientists, and cartographers, we are also looking for speakers from a broad range of disciplines, including but not limited to psychology, cognitive science, education, HCI, etc.


To be included in this session, please:

1. Register and submit your abstract online following the AAG Guidelines (http://www.aag.org/annualmeetings/).

2. Email your presenter identification number (PIN), paper title, and abstract to both of the session organizers by October 26, 2007.


Contact Information

Sara Irina Fabrikant (University of Zurich)
Email: sara@geo.uzh.ch, http://www.geo.unizh.ch/gia/aboutus/homepages/
sara/

Amy Lobben (University of Oregon)
Email: lobben@uoregon.edu, http://geography.uoregon.edu/department/
faculty-staff/faculty/lobben/index.html

AAG 08 Call for Papers: Consumerism

Call for Papers: 2008 AAG Meeting, Boston, MA, April 15-19

The Geography of Consumerism

Organized by Galen Martin (University of Oregon)

Advertising and non-conventional product promotion increasingly penetrates into formerly non-commercial spaces. In clothing that promotes the brand names or in proposals to advertise in space, we are witnessing the nearly ubiquitous presence of consumerist promotions on larger scales. Nature, culture and public spaces are increasingly commodified, packaged, and sold.

At the same time, levels of consumption remain grossly uneven between and within countries. While capitalism suggests unencumbered growth in production and consumption, finite natural resources imply limits to growth. The enticing message of consumerism far outstrips the ability of the global economy to deliver affordable goods, even basic goods, while ignoring the environmental implications of increased levels of consumption. Attempts to address these issues on the part of affluent consumers are often criticized as superficial fixes that fail to address fundamental inequities and false assumptions.

We seek contributions, theoretical and demonstrative, that address the spatial or environmental aspects of consumerism, advertising and citizen responses. Topics may include:

"Green" consumerism
Citizen responses to commercialism
Siting and resistance to big box stores
China as the new consumer
Commodity chain studies
Product life-cycle analysis
Bottled water
Commodification and commercialization of public space Voluntary simplicity Non-conventional product promotion Commidification of culture and nature "Buy local" movements Fair trade movements Carbon bonds

Abstracts of no more than 250 words should be sent to Galen Martin (gmartin@uoregon.edu) by Oct 15.

AAG 2008 Call for Papers: Everyday Spaces

Exploring the Place of Space in Environments for Human Activities and Experiences.

Organized by Molly Boeka Cannon and Doug Amedeo, Geography, University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

We envision this 2008 AAG session to be one which would entertain papers examining the role of space as an inextricable component with other fundamental dimensions in the structuring of everyday environments for activities and experiences. Some of the topics which may fit under this theme, for example, include the importance of space in the conduct of activities and the having of experiences, why space matters in apprehending the nature of environments for activities and experiences, the role of space as a structuring-dimension in everyday environments, the role of space in scale effects on alternative versions of activity spaces, comprehending human activities and experiences in non-spatial settings, how space influences the conceptual and structural coherence of stimuli constituting activity environments, and the like. We are seeking papers that show distinctive and, perhaps, innovative ways of exploring these spatial issues in either an applied or theoretical way. Any perspective is, of course, welcome ranging from cognitive to more experiential positions, as long as one's principle focus is about space as a dimension of ordinary, everyday, environments for human activities and experiences.


Please send comments and or submissions to Molly Boeka Cannon at mcannon3@bigred.unl.edu

Call for Papers: Subversive Cartographies...

Call for Papers, AAG Meeting Boston April 15-19, 2008

Subversive Cartographies for Social Change

Chris Perkins, University of Manchester

Jörn Seemann, Louisiana State University

To be subversive, is to wish to overthrow, destroy or undermine the principles of established orders. As such subversive cartographies offer alternative representations to established social and political norms. Maps are no longer cast as mirrors of reality, instead they are increasingly conceived as diverse ways of thinking, perceiving and representing space and place which express values, worldviews and emotions. Maps are no longer part of an elite discourse: they can empower, mystify, and enchant. More critical assessements of mapping increasingly explore subversive contexts strongly associated with innovative methodological approaches, with mapping seen as an explicitly situated form of knowledge. This shift has been strongly facilitated by the increasing popularity of new media, burgeoning technological change and newly developing mapping spaces (eg OpenStreetMap, WorldMapper and EmotionMap). So subversive mapping has an agency (Corner 1999), which can be enacted outside existing cartographic conventions. It has escaped from the grasp of cartographers: everybody is mapping nowadays.

This session focuses upon these subversive elements in contemporary cartographic practice and theory. We invite critical contributions from researchers concerned with the subversive potential of mapping, working in the fields of cartography, cultural, social, political, historical and social geography, ethnic and indigenous geography, qualitative approaches and allied areas. We are keen to have contributions from practitioners enacting change and making new maps, in artistic practice, protest movements, participatory development, and community activism. The aim is dialogue between academics and practitioners and with exploring how mapping research can challenge conventions and become more relevant to more people.

POSSIBLE THEMES:

* New approaches and methods in subversive cartography. What qualitative and ethnographic approaches are most appropriate for which mapping circumstances?

* Institutional forms and agency: how do links and flows facilitate subversive mappings?

* The cultural significance of subversive mapping practices.

* The implications and consequences of technological shifts for subversive mapping. How does Web 2.0 change the oppositional mapping world?

* Subversive cartographies created through personal mappings.

* What is the role of mapping aesthetics and artistic practice in creating subversive cartographies ?

* Can subversive cartographies really work as countermapping to enact political changes?

Proposed papers in the form of a title and short abstract (250 words maximum) should be submitted to Chris Perkins (c.perkins@manchester.ac.uk) or Jörn Seemann (jseema4@lsu.edu) by 30^th September 2007. Further details on the paper requirements and registration for the AAG meeting are at http://aag.org/annualmeetings/2008/index.htm .

2008 AAG 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 2008 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)

2008 AAG Call for Papers

Call for Papers: Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting,
Boston, April 15-19, 2008.

The Environmental Perception and Behavioral Geography Specialty Group would like to make a general call for papers for the Annual AAG Meeting in Boston, MA, April 15th-19th, 2008. 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. Since I have an idea for my own paper this year, I'd like to start by proposing a session on wayfinding.

The final deadline for sessions and papers to be submitted is October 31st, 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 2008 Saarinen Paper Competition and 2008 Travel Grants.

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.


NAME:

EMAIL ADDRESS:

MAILING ADDRESS:




TELEPHONE NUMBER:

AGENCY EMPLOYED WITH:


ORGANIZATIONAL UNIT AND POSITION LOCATION:


CURRENT SERIES AND GRADE:


CURRENT POSITION TITLE:


TYPE OF CURRENT APPOINTMENT:
Permanent: Term: VRA: PWD:
Other:

AAG Grants and Awards Reminder

This is from the AAG and was originally sent to our Specialty Group President:

As you know, each year, the AAG offers numerous grants and awards to geographers. The list that follows serves to remind you and your colleagues about the opportunities available for recognition or grant support. Unless otherwise noted, all deadlines are December 31, 2005. Please consult full descriptions posted on the AAG website at www.aag.org/grantsawards/index.cfm.

Meredith F. Burrill Award

To stimulate and reward talented individuals and groups who have completed work of exceptional

merit and quality that lies at or near the intersection of basic research and practical applications or local, national, or international policy implications.

www.aag.org/Grantsawards/burrill.htm

George and Viola Hoffman Award

To support student research toward a master's thesis or doctoral dissertation on a geographical subject in Eastern Europe.

www.aag.org/Grantsawards/Hoffmanfund.html

Glenda Laws Award

To recognize outstanding contributions to geographic research on social issues.

www.aag.org/Grantsawards/glendalawsaward.htm

Anne U. White Fund

To support field research conducted by a member of the AAG jointly with her or his spouse, regardless of any formal training in geography.

www.aag.org/Grantsawards/Annewhitefund.html

AAG Research Grants for 2006

To support direct expenses of research or fieldwork that address questions of major import to the discipline (excluding master's or doctoral dissertation research).

www.aag.org/Grantsawards/Generalresearch.html

AAG Dissertation Research Grants for 2006

To support direct expenses of master's or doctoral dissertation research to eligible individuals.

www.aag.org/Grantsawards/Dissertationresearch.html

AAG International Geographic Information Fund

To support full-time students who are currently registered in an undergraduate or graduate degree program within the United States, and who are working in any area of spatial analysis or geographic information science or systems, through Student Travel Grants, Graduate Research Awards, and Student Paper Awards.

www.aag.org/Grantsawards/IGIF.cfm.

AAG Meridian Book Award for the Outstanding Scholarly Work in Geography 2005

To recognize geographer authors or co-authors who have published a book in calendar year 2005 that makes an unusually important contribution to advancing the science and art of geography.

www.aag.org/Grantsawards/meridian_book_award.cfm

AAG Globe Book Award for Public Understanding of Geography 2005

To recognize geographer authors or co-authors who have published a book in calendar year 2005 that conveys most powerfully the nature and importance of geography to the nonacademic world.

www.aag.org/Grantsawards/globe.cfm

AAG John Brinckerhoff Jackson Prize for 2005

To encourage and reward American geographers who write books about the United States that convey the insights of professional geography in language that is interesting and attractive to a lay audience.

www.aag.org/Grantsawards/Jacksonprize.html

Anderson Medal

To recognize distinguished contributions to the profession of geography in one or more areas of industry, government, literature, education, research, service to the profession, or public service.

NOTE: Deadline is December 1, 2005.

http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/~jjd1571/ or http://www.aag.org/Grantsawards/anderson_medal.cfm

Dr. Patricia Solis
Director of Research and Outreach
Association of American Geographers
1710 Sixteenth Street NW
Washington, DC 20009-3198
Telephone 202-234-1450 ext. 32
Direct Line 202-558-7491
Fax 202-234-2744
psolis@aag.org

CLEANER Social Science Committee

Dear EPBG Specialty Group Members,

The National Science Foundation is currently planning the establishment of large-scale environmental observatory network infrastructure. Many of you may be familiar with NEON (National Ecological Observatory Network; http://www.neoninc.org/), CUAHSI (Consortium of Universities for Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Incorporated; http://www.cuahsi.org/), and CLEANER (Collaborative Large-Scale Engineering Analysis Network for Environmental Research; http://cleaner.ncsa.uiuc.edu/).

CLEANER is the observatory network with the clearest connections to human environments, especially in urban/suburban areas. The CLEANER Program Office has established a Social Science Committee tasked with integrating social science perspectives and needs into observatory network planning.

The committee members cannot possibly represent all of the viewpoints and perspectives in social science. Your answers to the following questions will provide valuable insight to the planning process and ultimately improve the chances for successful integration of social science into these observatory networks. Please also keep in mind that while we are focusing on social science for these questions, but any thoughts you might have on these or other questions are welcome.

1. Thinking of your colleagues in the engineering disciplines, when
you hear about their research, what additional pieces of data do you wish they would collect to make their results more relevant to you and your research?
2. Paying for communal data infrastructure is a challenge in current
funding structures. Of the community data clearinghouses such as the ICPSR (Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research; www.icpsr.umich.edu), which are your favorites, and why?
3. If you were developing a communal data collection network for your
particular research field, what would you spend money on and why?
Remember, all costs must be for capital investments. Funding student salaries and other consumable research costs is not possible using this pot of money.

Please send any thoughts/comments/questions you might have to Dan Bain (djbain@usgs.gov). Thanks in advance for you time and attention.

Finally, I apologize for cross-posting. However, I am casting a wide net and most of us belong to several specialty groups. Therefore, there will be some redundancy. In addition, if you do reply to your respective list-serv, please copy me, as I may not be a regular subscriber.

Thanks much,
Dan Bain

Daniel J. Bain
Water Resources Division
US Geological Survey
MS 420, 345 Middlefield Rd
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Phone 650 329 4460
Fax 650 329 4538

Chair Position: Western Michigan University

Western Michigan University seeks a Chair of its Department of Geography, beginning July 1, 2006 pending budgetary approval. Candidates should qualify for appointment at senior academic rank. A Ph.D. is required, preferably in Geography. Candidates are expected to manifest teaching and research excellence, including a record of publication recognized nationally-internationally as well as a record of managing significant externally-funded research. Candidates should have a research program that complements departmental strengths. The successful candidate is expected to provide visionary, entrepreneurial leadership, oversee development of faculty and research programs, participate in graduate and undergraduate teaching/learning, and maintain a productive research program.

The Department of Geography has 13 full-time faculty, 5 part-time faculty, and 15 graduate assistantships. It offers Bachelors and Masters degree programs concentrating in Geography, Environmental & Resource Management, Geographic Information Science, Tourism, Community Development & Planning, and Teaching of Geography, with approximately 35 master’s students and 140 majors. Departmental information is available at www.wmich.edu/geography. The Department is housed in recently renovated facilities with seven extensively computerized laboratories equipped with 100 workstations for instruction and research.

Western Michigan University is a diverse student-centered research institution with 26,000 students, is listed among the nation’s top 100 universities (U.S. News & World Report), has excellent library holdings, and is recognized for its excellent computing environment. Kalamazoo forms the center of a medium-sized cosmopolitan metropolitan region of about 250,000 located midway between Detroit and Chicago, 40 miles from Lake Michigan.

Western Michigan University, a Carnegie Classification Research Extensive Institution is an Equal Opportunity /Affirmative Action Employer and encourages applications from women, minorities, and other underrepresented groups. Please submit a letter of application, a statement of research and teaching philosophy, a statement regarding vision for the department and leadership style, vita, graduate transcripts, and names and letters of recommendation from at least three references to: Dr. David Lemberg, Search Committee Chair, Department of Geography, 1903 W. Michigan Avenue, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5424. Email: lemberg@wmich.edu. Phone: (269) 387-3408. Review of applications will begin December 5, 2005, and continue until the position is filled.