Spring colloquium on Feb. 2, 2023

January 30, 2023

Spring colloquium on Feb. 2, 2023

UrbanPop: A Spatial Microsimulation Framework for Exploring Demographic Influences on Human Dynamics

Speaker: Joe Tuccillo, PhD, Geospatial Science and Human Security Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

DATE: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2023 | TIME: 4:05-5:20 PM

AUDITORIUM: NURSING EDUCATION BUILDING (NEB) 302 (OPEN TO THE PUBLIC)

Abstract: Human dynamics models, which address how people live, move, and interact, are critical to promote effective and equitable public service delivery, develop policy interventions, and provide responses to natural and technological hazards at the neighborhood and community scales. The UrbanPop spatial microsimulation framework developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) supports human dynamics modeling by generating high-fidelity representations of individual demographics during the nighttime and daytime using synthetic populations derived from public-use American Community Survey (ACS) data.

In this talk, Dr. Tuccillo will provide a survey of research highlights from various applications of UrbanPop, including estimating social vulnerability, understanding healthcare access among underserved populations during the COVID-19 pandemic, and assessing environmental justice issues related to urban extreme heat events. Additionally, Dr. Tuccillo will discuss efforts to develop Likeness, a new Python software stack for UrbanPop designed to increase the framework’s reproducibility for a variety of research aims, as well as expand modeling capabilities to real-world transportation networks and building occupancy characteristics.

Colloquium Flyer (PDF)

Eaves Named AAG 2023 Fellow

January 14, 2023

Eaves Named AAG 2023 Fellow

LaToya Eaves, assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Sustainability, was named a 2023 Fellow of the American Association of Geographers (AAG). Eaves is one of 16 geographers in a variety of practice areas recognized for their contributions to geographic research, advancement of practice, and careers devoted to strengthening the field of geography, including teaching and mentoring. The honorary title of AAG Fellow is conferred for life.

Her research interest is at the intersections of race, gender, diaspora, critical geography and queer studies. Eaves explores the geographic imaginaries of Blackness, gender, and queerness by bringing critical approaches to the social transformation of places, the nuances of region, and lived experiences under rights-based progress narratives.

Her research has been published in Geoforum, Dialogues in Human Geography, Gender, Place & Culture, The Professional Geographer, and Journal of Geography in Higher Education, among other journals and edited volumes.

She has received numerous accolades within geography, including but not limited to the UT Department of Geography’s Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award, Academic Advancement Award by the Tennessee LGBT+ College Conference, the Ronald F. Abler Distinguished Service Honors by the AAG, and the Enhancing Diversity Award by the AAG.

AAG Fellows serve the AAG as an august body to address, contribute to, and at times create initiatives to advance the discipline. Fellows also advise AAG on strategic directions and challenges, and mentor early- and mid-career faculty. The Fellows will be formally recognized in March at the AAG 2023 annual meeting.

Contributions to the Field of Geography

Eaves has established a record of transformative research, dynamic teaching, and dedicated mentoring in the field of geography. Her contributions to the fields of Black Geographies, Black feminism, queer geographies, and the US South are particularly noteworthy. Eaves’s rigorous and accessible scholarship pushes geography as a discipline to engage with the importance of Black geographic thought and practices in the production of space and place. Her scholarship provides accessible entry points for students to engage with Black Geographies, and she has contributed foundational texts for scholars doing work within Black Geographies literature.

One of the founders of the Black Geographies Specialty Group, Eaves’s organization and caring mentorship has transformed the discipline of geography and provided a space and academic home for Black scholars and scholars of Black Geographies. She is a generous and caring mentor as well. Her reputation within the geography community broadly and within the Black Geographies community specifically speaks to her generous mentorship of students and junior scholars, much of which is invisible, uncompensated, and unrecognized work in institutional settings. She has been committed to recognizing and honoring senior Black scholars, organizing panels, special issues of journals, and award applications to assure that these senior scholars are recognized for their foundational contributions.

Beyond the subfield of Black Geographies, Eaves has served the AAG in the roles of national councilor, treasurer and chair of the Finance Committee. She also contributed to the AAG Harassment Free Task Force and the AAG Task Force on Diversifying the Curriculum in Geography, and she co-chaired the AAG New Orleans Featured Theme Committee. She has served as an editor for Dialogues in Human Geography and on numerous editorial boards.

Background information republished from the AAG website.

Geography at the Fall 2022 Commencement Ceremony

December 18, 2022

Geography at the Fall 2022 Commencement Ceremony

On December 16, our geography faculty and students attended the Fall 2022 Commencement Ceremony. Congratulations to Dr. Shaundra Cunningham and Dr. Heather Davis for their graduation! Below are some photos taken at the Commencement Ceremony.

Dr. Shaundra Cunningham hooded by her advisor Dr. Madhuri Sharma.

Dr. Shaundra Cunningham with her advisor Dr. Madhuri Sharma.

Dr. Shaundra Cunningham with her dad Rev. Cunningham.

Dr. Heather Davis with her advisor Solange Muñoz.

Student Spotlights – 2022

November 14, 2022

Student Spotlights – 2022

Megan Porter is a senior at UT where she is pursuing degrees in geography and sustainability. Her studies and research focus on climate change and human—environment relationships, specifically as it applies to vulnerability and community resilience building to natural hazards.

Megan is a first-generation college student whose journey to UT was first made possible by the outreach of the UT Math and Science Center Upward Bound program, which provides academic development and summer research opportunities for socio-economically disadvantaged students. Within her first semester, Megan declared her major as a geography student while in the introductory course on weather and climate change. Having always been interested in severe weather hazards, the course illuminated the possibilities for making this a life-long passion and career.

She soon began working with Kelsey Ellis, assistant professor of geography, on a VORTEX-SE project where she first began to learn of the unique climatology and societal risks that nocturnal tornadoes pose in the Southeast. Supported and continually challenged by her peers and professors, Megan began to thrive in an academic environment where she could utilize diverse toolsets and perspectives to address community vulnerabilities. In April 2020, Megan was accepted into the NOAA Ernest F. Hollings program, a prestigious two-year scholarship and internship program.

“The opportunity empowered me to continue studying community risks to climate change and building community resilience through outreach and data-driven citizen science,” Megan said.

She now is making plans to obtain a Master of Science and become further involved in hazard-preparedness outreach and community resilience building at multiple scales within the Southeast. Megan has served for two years as the Alliance of Geographers and Sustainers co-president where she works alongside peer, Maya Rao, to plan undergraduate social and service events within the department and community.

Megan is proud to be an East Tennessean and Volunteer. Her journey exemplifies the importance of promoting educating and academic development to those historically absent from pathways to higher education and research. She is especially thankful to the faculty, staff, and friends she’s made within the geography department who supported her and paved the way for what opportunities lie ahead.

Luke Blentlinger is a Master’s candidate in the UT Department of Geography. He will finish his MS in spring 2022 and will then start his PhD. Luke grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and initially aspired to major in Spanish at UT so that he could become a high school Spanish teacher. After starting his undergraduate degree at UT, however, Luke excelled in physical geography courses and never looked back. He still maintained his love for Spanish through a minor.

Like most undergraduates, Luke had not been previously exposed to research in geography, and he found the diversity of research topics and methods fascinating. Luke participated in undergraduate research with Professor Sally Horn and graduate students, which led him on his path to graduate school. Luke’s concentrations are climate and environmental change, biogeography, and human impacts on landscapes.

“I examine environmental change in tropical environments over the past several thousand years using evidence preserved in lake sediments and soils,” Luke said. “During my time at IT, I’ve had the opportunity to participate in collaborative research projects, travel to Costa Rica for my research, present at professional conferences, and gain experience teaching as a teaching assistant for undergraduate courses.”

In 2020, Luke received a graduate research fellowship from the National Science Foundation, which allows him to spend most of his time on his MS research and other projects.

In summer and fall 2021, Luke participated in a project, headed by Sally Horn, focusing on charcoal preserved in soils in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Over several months, Luke and other graduate students hiked more than 80 miles and collected hundreds of pounds of soil samples. Luke’s PhD project will use lake sediments to study climate, vegetation, fire, and study human-environment interactions near archaeological sites in Veracruz, Mexico.

Faculty Updates – 2022

November 14, 2022

Faculty Updates – 2022

Melissa Hinten was promoted to senior lecturer in recognition of her outstanding leadership in sustainability and teaching reputation. Through her leadership the department was able to incorporate the sustainability program, and Hinten has successfully worked to build up the program and to mentor and advise Sustainability majors and minors. In addition to the many courses she teaches and her responsibilities as director of sustainability, she has developed a study abroad program in Frieberg, Germany. Finally, Hinten is an exceptional teacher and colleague who looks out for her students and is committed to helping make the department a great place to work. We are lucky to have her in our ranks.

Sally Horn exploring a lake in Costa Rica — Sally Horn

Sally Horn received the Karl and Elisabeth Butzer Award for Lifetime Achievement in the study of Paleoenvironmental Change at the April 2021 meeting of the American Association of Geographers. Presented by the Paleoenvironmental Specialty Group, this award is named after the late Karl Butzer, a geographer who specialized in the study of sedimentary and archaeological evidence of past environments, and his wife and research partner, Elisabeth Butzer, whose continuing research focuses on archival evidence of environmental change. Professor Horn received the award in recognition of her efforts, along with dozens of collaborators and graduate and undergraduate students at the University of Tennessee and elsewhere, to document the long-term environmental history of the circum-Caribbean region, South America, and the southeastern US based on lake sediments and other natural archives.

Shih-Lung Shaw has been elected President-Elect of the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS), which is a non-profit organization that creates and supports communities of practice for GIScience research, education, and policy endeavors in higher education and with allied institutions. It is the professional hub for the academic GIS community in the United States, with partnerships extending this capacity abroad. It will be a three-year service andShaw will serve as president-elect, president, and past president of UCGIS. We thank Professor Shaw for his service and leadership in GIS. Shaw has also published a new book: Mapping COVID-19 in Space and Time: Understanding the Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of a Global Pandemic, co-edited by Daniel Sui.

Kelsey Ellis received a grant from the UT Institute for a Secure & Sustainable Environment (ISSE). Her project is titled “Beat the heat: Building adaptive capacity of vulnerable populations in Knox County to combined stressors from climate change and urban heat.“ Her collaborators on the project include Jennifer First (Social Work) and Kristing Kintziger (Public Health).

LaToya Eaves received an award from the National Science Foundation for her proposal on “The Role of Museums in the Landscape of Minority Representation.” Eaves is the primary investigator on this project, which brings excellent recognition to her, to the department, and to UT. This is a massive research project involving five institutions.

Qiusheng Wu is recognized as a world leader in developing and promoting open source geospatial tools with a special emphasis on geemap and Google Earth Engine. In addition to his on-campus instruction, Dr. Wu posts instructional materials and videos online, recently reaching more than 11,000 subscribers with more than 14,500 watch hours on YouTube.

Tran, Kim Honored with Sustainability Science Award

November 14, 2022

Tran, Kim Honored with Sustainability Science Award

Professor Liem Tran and Associate Professor Hyun Kim are part of a team who received the Ecological Society of America Sustainability Science Award for their paper “US cities can manage national hydrology and biodiversity using local infrastructure policy,” published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America in 2017.

The Sustainability Science Award recognizes the authors of the scholarly work that makes the greatest contribution to the emerging science of ecosystem and regional sustainability through the integration of ecological and social sciences.

The interdisciplinary team used spatially referenced data from cities and surrounding rural areas to show how local and regional policy choices can affect hydrologic system integrity and biodiversity conservation. Their work highlights ways to make better choices about land use, water management, and electricity production, and it promotes integrated planning and decision-making for greater sustainability of cities and the water- and energy-sheds that support them. This research demonstrates a novel approach to integrating ecosystem and social sciences, embodying the mission of ESA’s Sustainability Science Award. Read the full article online.

“This year’s award recipients have shown remarkable leadership and creativity,” said Kathleen Weathers, ESA president. “On behalf of the Ecological Society of America, I congratulate the award winners and thank them for their significant contributions to building both ecological knowledge and the community of ecologists.”

ESA will present the 2021 awards during a ceremony at the Society’s upcoming Virtual Annual Meeting, which will take place August 2 to August 6, 2021. Read more about winners of the 2021 ESA awards.

New Department Members – 2022

November 14, 2022

New Department Members – 2022

Alexis Andershock, career coach with the Division of Student Success, provides support to undergraduate and graduate students within geography and sustainability to achieve their professional goals. Alexis meets one-on-one with students to review resumes and cover letters, find relevant internship opportunities, explore potential career paths, and guide students through the graduate school application process. Alexis has also been instrumental in many of the department’s recent career focused events such as the UT Department of Geography and Sustainability Virtual Career Mingle and organizing in-person and virtual guest speakers.

Tommy Brown, academic advisor with the College of Arts and Sciences, provides academic support for undergraduate students within geography and sustainability. Tommy meets one-on-one with students to review their course of study, find suitable classes, and help students graduate on schedule. Tommy is also involved with many departmental outreach events such as the Big Orange Welcome.

Olusola Festus, lecturer specializing in geographic information systems (GIS) in urban terrestrial wetland landscapes and public health, joined the department in fall 2021. Festus is currently teaching several introductory and intermediate GIS courses with large positive feedback from students.

Mayra Román-Rivera, lecturer specializing in coastal geomorphology and remote sensing, also joined the department in fall 2021. She is a physical geographer specializing in coastal geomorphology of post-storm recovery, and she gave a department seminar on this research in fall 2021. She is currently teaching a suite of climate change, natural disaster and human dimensions, and GIS courses with excellent feedback.

Professor Emerita Carol Harden Receives AAG Lifetime Achievement Award

November 14, 2022

Professor Emerita Carol Harden Receives AAG Lifetime Achievement Award

Carol Harden, the 2021 recipient of the AAG’s Lifetime Achievement Honors, is the quintessential field scientist, professional association leader, and effective science communicator. She has been at the forefront of advancing geography’s role in the natural sciences, whether in the AAG, National Research Council, National Geographic Society, or National Science Foundation. Over a half-century career, Harden has established herself as one of the leading figures in contemporary physical geography and environmental science. More broadly, she has had a tremendous influence across our entire discipline, owing to the many roles she has played at the University of Tennessee, AAG, National Research Council, and National Geographic Society, and as editor of Physical Geography.

Since the 1980s, Harden has done fieldwork in the Andes, including a year on a Fulbright to Ecuador. Her commitment to international fieldwork and diversity in geography and other field disciplines and her encyclopedic knowledge of physical geography allows her to evaluate critically, and advocate for support of, fieldwork, especially by diverse scholars from around the world. In addition to her Latin American research, she has generated a substantial body of research in the U.S., mainly in Appalachia, on soil erosion, watershed hydrology, water quality, and human impacts.

Harden is currently the Chair of the Geographical Sciences Committee and a Member of the Board on Earth Sciences and Resources, both for the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM). She was recently a member of the prestigious and influential Committee on Research and Exploration of the National Geographic Society. She has also served as a member and Chair of the Nominations Committee, Geology, and Geology Section, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Harden was a member (2017) and then Chair (2016-2020) of the Geographical Sciences Committee (GSC-NASEM). In 2010-2012, Harden served first as Vice President and then as President of the American Association of Geographers.

She is a compassionate listener and a fair-minded leader. Harden is a mentor with an impact on cultivating new and early-career disciplinary leaders. She does this with a clear vision of geography’s role in science, higher education, and society, allowing her to see and realize new opportunities and build new initiatives. A strong sense of collegiality and caring has allowed her to engage in constructive and productive dialog across several disciplinary divides. For these qualities and achievements, the AAG recognizes Carol Harden as the 2021 recipient of the AAG Lifetime Achievement Honors.

Tran, Alderman Honored by College

November 14, 2022

Tran, Alderman Honored by College

Liem Tran, professor of geography, received a Faculty Academic Outreach Research Award from the College of Arts and Sciences. The award recognizes extraordinary contributions of faculty to the public that occur as an outgrowth of academic pursuits and are related to the university’s academic mission. It recognizes faculty whose research and creative activities advance knowledge through the pursuit of their scholarly interests while simultaneously addressing community problems and issues and benefiting the scholar, the discipline, the university, and society.

Tran conducts research built on creating strategic collaborative networks with government agencies, major research labs, and other community stakeholders and leveraging innovative geospatial analysis. A number of Tran’s measures and spatial models are widely used by the EPA across the US. Recently, he has collaborated with the EPA to develop the EnviroAtlas, an interactive web-based platform used by states, communities, and citizens that provides geospatial data, easy-to-use tools, and other resources related to ecosystem services, their chemical and nonchemical stressors, and human health. Tran has used his expertise in geospatial analysis to develop a series transmission models posted on the Tennessee State Data Center’s COVID-19 dashboard that estimates coronavirus reproduction rates and hotspots in the state.

Tran is also actively involved in meaningful public communication of science. For example, he has interacted with the media to explain the metrics to measure the spread of COVID-19 and authored a policy brief in partnership with the Baker Center to educate the public on COVID-19 modeling and forecasts. Well before engaging in important research outreach to COVID-19, Tran had begun focusing on state of the art geospatial technologies, including Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and web-based applications, to combat the opioid crisis.

“The award is very important not only to myself, but also to my students and colleagues who have been working diligently alongside me in various research outreach activities,” Tran said. “It shows the commitment of faculty and students in the geography department to serve the great state of Tennessee and its people, especially during this difficult time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Derek Alderman, professor of geography, received the Lorayne W. Lester Award, which recognizes a faculty member or exempt staff member who has demonstrated outstanding service through research, outreach, and/or administrative, teaching, or advising services to the college, the state, our local community, or beyond.

Alderman joined the geography department in 2012 as head and worked hard to advertise and modernize the curriculum for undergraduates, which allowed the department to increase in size dramatically. During his five years as head, he also worked successfully to diversify the faculty and student population. During these years he was also elected president of the American Association of Geographers, after successfully serving as a chair of the association’s publications committee, the regional southeast councilor, and president of the southeast region.

Alderman’s research brings him many opportunities to inform the public about issues related to American Civil Rights movement and southern culture more broadly. Much of his work focuses on the histories, memory-work, commemorative activism, and place-making efforts of African Americans as they assert and claim civil rights, their right to belong with public spaces, and the power to remember the past and shape the American landscape on their own terms. In particular, his interests focus on critical place name studies and using cultural struggles over the naming and renaming of streets, schools, parks, and other public spaces as important lens for understanding the unresolved place of race, memory, and identity in America.

“I am grateful and humbled to receive the Lorayne Lester award from our college, which is filled with many inspiring servant-leaders,” Alderman said. “Since coming to UT in 2012, I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to work with others to grow and maintain departmental health, advocate for national professional organizations, and engage in public outreach and partnership building. Service, for me, is about being responsive to the needs and well-being of other people—to think and act beyond oneself. More than simply a category of annual evaluation, service is the lifeblood of the university and key to the ethics of care we owe to ourselves and wider communities.”

He is a devoted scholar-teacher who enjoys working and publishing with students, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He is also committed to conducting critical public scholarship that engages, informs, and helps the news media, government officials, community activists and organizations, and the broader citizenry. Most recently, Alderman has been involved in three major research efforts funded by NSF that involved researchers from universities across the country collecting and analyzing data related to the struggle for freedom from several different perspectives. He continues to serve beyond expectations by agreeing to step back into the role of interim head for geography this year when there was a last minute change within the unit leadership.

Engaging Undergraduate Students

November 14, 2022

Engaging Undergraduate Students

Our alumni continue to find exciting ways to keep engaged with current students. In the middle of the pandemic, a small group of alumni were looking for ways to support current and recently graduating students at a time when the economy was suffering, so they created an alumni group on LinkedIn to build connections between the two groups.

Founding members are Hannah Gunderman (’18), Adam Alsamadisi (’15, ’19), Kelly Baar (’19), and Morgan Steckler (’20). Join the group by searching for “UTK Geography Alum” on LinkedIn. (https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12468218/).

“When you go on a tour of UT, one phrase really hits home: Tennessee is a big campus with a small community feel. This could not be truer than as a student in the geography department, which serves as a home away from home. It offers opportunities in research, leadership, and networking. It encourages students to excel academically and gives students the resources to do so. It houses a safe space for students to study, create friendships, and host events. We felt like everything this department works so hard to create shouldn’t end at graduation so, we created the LinkedIn group. Originally, the group was to house a space for students to transition to alumni with the help of other graduates. Now, it is actively used as a way to recognize alumni accomplishments, provide support for recent graduates, and networking. As membership grows, we hope to continue to foster meaningful conversations amongst UT geography alumni.”

–Kelly Baar

In addition to the LinkedIn group, alumni connect with our students through a capstone course, Geography 499: Practicing Geography. More than 30 alumni volunteered to serve as mentors during the fall 2021 semester. The goal of the program was to connect students and alumni to help share professional experiences and advice while building meaningful connections.

“Being a mentor has been an invaluable experience,” said Kelly Baar, who graduated with a bachelor’s in geography in 2019. “I have thoroughly enjoyed giving back to a department that immensely shaped my experience as a student, and now continues to allow me to share my passion with likeminded people.”

Kelsey Roche will graduate this spring and is ready to explore her career options thanks to her experience with the program. Her mentor, Jeff Smith, is the regional business manager for Trimble Inc. and based in Florida.

“I was lucky enough to be paired with a mentor to help me navigate the intimidating job-hunting world,” Kelsey said. “I have gained so much appreciation for Jeff as he’s helped me define my strengths as a future employee, strengthen my resume, written me a recommendation, and offered the help of his professional friends along my journey of finding a job out of college. Jeff has given me endless amounts of advice about the real world that I plan on taking with me beyond my professional life. He has not only made me prepared, but excited for the job-hunting experience. I couldn’t imagine being as ready as I am to start exploring my life after college without the help of my mentor.”

Bennett Meeks, who graduated in 2021 with a bachelor’s in geography, enjoyed the opportunity to get to know an alum during the program and speaks to her on a regular basis.

“My mentor provides a wealth of knowledge,” Bennett said. “There is something special about getting advice from someone who has just gone through the same transitions as you – especially having it been so recently. The ability to speak with a friend in the professional field is also invaluable because I often get a lot of advice that is inferred and often overlooked, and I receive advice on the things that I have yet to do or have not done in my college experience and hear their perspective while learning from their ventures. As I started my new job this semester, my mentor was one of the first people to hear about it, and the advice she gave me was always spot on. I love the connection between my mentor and I, and I am really looking forward to doing the same for the next generation.”

If you are interested in being a mentor, contact Michael Camponovo, program coordinator, at mcampono@utk.edu.

Department News

Spring colloquium on Feb. 2, 2023

Eaves Named AAG 2023 Fellow

Contributions to the Field of Geography

Geography at the Fall 2022 Commencement Ceremony

Student Spotlights – 2022

Faculty Updates – 2022

Tran, Kim Honored with Sustainability Science Award

New Department Members – 2022

Professor Emerita Carol Harden Receives AAG Lifetime Achievement Award

Tran, Alderman Honored by College

Engaging Undergraduate Students

Geographers Engage With The World