Vol. 11, Issue 2 • Fall 2012

physical nature/society gisciences human

GRAPHYGETREASURES of the Hamer Maps Librarypage 12

“Onward and upward,” denoting steady progress and improvement, resonates nicely with the trajectory of ongoing advancements and activities in the Penn State Department of Geography.

Most recently the department has been celebrating the successful promotions—with tenure—of Brian King and Alex Klippel. Excellent records of research, teaching, and service earned them the well-deserved recognition of their tenured associate professorships. A classy culmination of events occurred last on October 24 as Brian and Alex, along with their campus counterparts, were feted in the Hamer Maps Library and addressed by Penn State President and geographer Rod Erickson. Per this campus tradition, Brian and Alex each recommended a book for acquisition: the books are fitted with custom nameplates and become special additions to the library’s collection. You can read more on the department website about the books they chose.

One year ago we were celebrating in similar style the well-deserved advancements of Petra Tschakert and Melissa Wright. Petra was promoted with tenure to associate professor and Melissa advanced to the rank of professor. Both Petra and Melissa earned their promotions with stellar accomplishments and accolades for their research, teaching, and service, and they participated in last year’s version of the joyous occasion noted above. For all of us, the advancements of these faculty members—Petra, Melissa, Brian, Alex—are cherished milestones in the department’s “onward and upward” trajectory. You can read more on the department website about the books they chose.

Currently we’re welcoming much-anticipated new faculty members. Jennifer Balch and Chris Fowler joined the department as earth systems ecologist/biogeographer and economic geographer, respectively, from Yale (via UC Santa Barbara) and U. Washington. The department hosted a community-wide reception for Jennifer and Chris held at the campus Arboretum on September 7. The event coincided with the middle of a glorious fall day and clearly contributed to their auspicious starts at Penn State. You can learn more about Jennifer by reading her Q&A feature on page 8. A profile of Chris is planned for the spring newsletter.

These days “onward and upward” applies also to new

courses and curricula being taught as we unfold a variety of offerings at the undergraduate and graduate levels and also in the department’s dynamic online programs. Widespread excitement surrounds the upcoming launch of the new undergraduate course on “International Sustainability and Parks,” an innovative, introductory approach to vitally important environmental issues---the idea of the course grew out of last year’s departmental planning retreat. This year also marks the rolling out of our 5-year Ph.D program and the finalization of a new Geodesign option within the online MGIS program.

Excellence in research, teaching, and service are anchors of the department’s trajectory and the active dynamism of our pursuits.

Currently we’re putting the finishing touches on a list highighting faculty’s major research questions that will be guiding our current and future efforts. Please check out the department website and the upcoming key questions interface.

2

INSIDE

FROM THE DEPARTMENT HEAD

This newsletter is a publication of the Department of Geogra-phy in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences at Penn State.

Contact us at:Department of Geography302 Walker BuildingPenn State UniversityUniversity Park, PA 16802Phone: 814-865-3433Fax: 814-863-7943URL: www.geog.psu.eduE-mail: geography@psu.edu

Design/editor content: Angela RogersAdditional editors: Jodi Vender, Karl ZimmererU Ed. EMS 13-32

Cover photo: Sanborn Fire Map of Penn State and University Park Campus and State College, Pennsylvania, 1906. Courtesy Hamer Maps Library

This publication is available in alternative media. Penn State is committed to affirmative ac-tion, equal opportunity, and the diversity of its work force.

3 ... Upcoming Events4 ... Undergraduate Student Spotlight6 ... Community Updates7 ... Graduate News8 ... Q&A with Jennifer Balch

10 ... Purple Lizard Map Review11 ... Alumna Profile12 ... Cover Story: Treasures of the Hamer Maps LIbrary16 ... Philanthropy

Onward and upward with Penn State Geography

DEPARTMENT HIGHLIGHTS 3

Mmm...pancakesGraduate students prepare refreshments in room 319 Walker Build-ing for the October 5, 2012, Coffee Hour. (left) Jennifer Smith mixes the batter. (right rear) Peter Koby and (right front) Ryan Mullins flip the pancakes.

NOVEMBER 2012November 2• Coffee Hour: Burt Monroe • 19th Annual Conference on Criti-cal Geography in Chapel Hill, NC• PA Geographical Society and AAG Middle Atlantic Division Joint Meeting in Salisbury, Maryland• AAG Middle States Division Meeting in Shippensburg, Pennsyl-vania

November 9 • Coffee Hour: Kristi Gibson (B.S. ‘97, M.S. ‘02)

November 11–17• Geography Awareness WeekNovember 14 • National GIS Day

November 15• Penn State Day of Philanthropy

November 16• Coffee Hour: Ed Meibach

November 18–24• Thanksgiving Break

November 30• Coffee Hour: Brian Tomaszewski (Ph.D. ‘09)

DECEMBER 2012December 7• Coffee Hour: Roger Downs

December 14• Last day of fall semester classes

December 17• Graduate degree program applications due

December 22• Fall commencement

JANUARY 2013January 7• First day of spring semester classesJanuary 11• Coffee Hour: Cindy BrewerJanuary 21• Martin Luther King Day

January 18• Coffee Hour

January 25• Coffee Hour: Barbara Gray

FEBRUARY 2013February 1• Coffee Hour: Sara Fitsimmons

February 4• Spring newsletter content deadline

February 9• Geography Affiliate Program Group (APG) meeting and student networking session

MARCH 2013March 3–9• Spring Break

March 14–15• GEMS board meeting

Upcoming events (subject to change)March 15–16• EMEX

March 20–21• Spring Career Days

March 22• The Miller Lecture: Frank Davis

March 23• no)Boundaries Conference, keynote speaker: Michael Solern (M.S. ‘95)

APRIL 2013April 5• State Geographic Bee

April 9–13• AAG Annual Meeting in Los Angeles• Department of Geography Alumni and Friends Reception

April 19–20• Blue White Weekend

April 26• Departmental Recognition Reception at The Nittany Lion Inn

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT by Aimee Culbert

Stoked! about medical geography (and the College of EMS)

Everleigh Stokes was inspired when she read Mountains Beyond Mountains, a book about the life of Paul Farmer, a Boston doctor who started a hospital in an impoverished community in Haiti. There, he’s working on making the community healthy by providing some of the same immunizations that are available here in the United States, such as the tuberculosis vaccine.

“He’s [Doctor Farmer] made such an effort and a lot of progress helping that community. I hope to do something similar,” Stokes says.

Stokes, a sophomore hailing from Charlottesville, Virginia, got her first taste for geography and medicine while she was still in high school, taking dual enrollment geographic information systems (GIS) classes through James Madison University (JMU).

“I fell in love with the GIS technology during those classes because I realized it had such potential,” Stokes says. “Earlier in high school I was also fortunate enough to participate in two medical mission trips to Honduras through my church. From my experiences on those trips I realized I wanted to work in the fields of disease control and Third World medicine.”

The combination of medicine and geography is not as unusual as one might think. In fact, the Association of American Geographers has as a specialty group within the association devoted to Health and Medical Geography. However, Stokes’s passion sets her apart from many other young geographers.

“After those mission trips, as soon as I discovered the power of GIS, I became determined to combine those two passions,” Stokes says.

Now, she is doing so at Penn State through the Department of Geography, the place where she first read about Doctor Paul Farmer. She read

Mountains Beyond Mountains, a book recommended to her by her mother, for a class project related to sustainability and geography.

“I was so intrigued by Farmer’s story,” Stokes explains, “so last fall seemed like the perfect time to read that book.”

While Everleigh is working on completing her Bachelor of Science in Geography with specialization in GIS and a minor in bioethics and medical humanities, she remains involved in many other ways in the College of EMS, a result of her positive experiences with EMS faculty, staff, and students.

“EMS is a small college, but we have incredible mentors who truly make an effort to know me as an individual,” Stokes says. “People really care about you here.”

One way Stokes stays involved is by working as a teaching assistant for the GIS freshman seminar course, a course she said she “loved as a freshman,” and was “flattered when I was offered the job.” She is also a mentor for Total Orientation to Earth and Mineral Sciences (TOTEMS), the first-year student orientation program in the College of EMS, which she participated in as a new student.

“All of the mentors were so enthusiastic about EMS. They were all particularly involved in Student Council and THON, so they encouraged me to come to those meetings and get involved right away.”

In just her second year on the EMS Student Council, Stokes now serves as the Vice President.

“Officially, my role as Vice President is to coordinate our Student Council with the University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) and organize our participation in Homecoming, but I am also interested

4 UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT NEWS

Phot

o cr

edit:

Eve

rleig

h St

okes

in increasing the way the College of EMS works as a community,” Stokes explains. “I want to strengthen the relationships among students by making sure those with different majors and different backgrounds communicate and interact.”

In addition to her involvement in EMS Student Council, Stokes also had a unique experience last summer through the college’s CAUSE 470 course, a three-part GIScience course taught by Cindy Brewer. The first part, a classroom course, was held last spring. Stokes and her classmates learned about mapping technology and planned a trip around the world.

“We designed a trip around the world to explore different mapping agencies and research a topic of interest,” Stokes recalls. “We visited Germany, The United Arab Emirates, and Japan in summer 2012. This fall, I’ll complete the third part of the course and create a presentation for our own national mapping agency based on what I researched abroad.”

And if a trip around the world isn’t exciting enough, Stokes was also awarded the US Geospatial Intelligence Foundation Scholarship last summer, an honor that has provided the financial support to help pay for her education. She was selected based on her academic performance and career goals.

The future looks bright to Stokes. After graduation, she says would like to attend graduate school, and eventually become a medical geographer. “My goal is to work for an organization that’s helping to fight infectious disease and improve public health in developing countries,” she says.

Maybe someday, another geography student will read the book about the career of Everleigh Stokes, just as she read about Paul Farmer, and be inspired to go change the world. Again.

“I want to strengthen the relationships among students by making sure those with different majors and different backgrounds communicate and interact.”

5UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT NEWS

6 COMMUNITY UPDATES

UNDERGRADUATE

Brian Bates (B.S. ‘12) and M. Chelsea Gilliam won awards for their research posters at the April 2012 Undergraduate Research Exhibition Poster Session sponsored by the Office of Undergraduate Education and the Schreyer Honors College. Bates won third place in the Health and Life Sciences category for his poster on “The Honey Bees Next Door” which he also presented at the 2012 AAG Annual Meeting in New York City earlier this year. Gilliam received an Honorable Mention for her poster “Wall Paintings, Wealth and Status in Regio VI, Pompeii”

David Knoppers (B.S. ‘12) was selected as the student marshal for the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences during the Penn State University Park summer commencement on August 11, 2012. For the full story on the department website, use search term: Knoppers

Josie Farinelli was appointed to the 2012 Homecoming Court.

Everleigh Stokes was selected as one of 30 students in the second year class of University’s prestigious Presidential Leadership Academy (http://academy.psu.edu). Over the next three years, Everleigh will participate in a series of courses, field trips, and co-curricular programs designed to develop critical thinking, analysis, and decision making skills, as well as broaden perspectives on social and political issues.

GRADUATE

Russell Hedberg won a 2012 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship. Eleanor Andrews and Arielle Hesse

received Honorable Mentions in the competition.

Emma Gaalaas Mullaney was awarded a Pruitt Dissertation Fellowship from the Society for Women Geographers (SWG) for the 2012–2013 academic year.

Jennifer Titanski-Hooper received a Fulbright Fellowship to fund her dissertation research in Croatia.

Donna Bridges (MGIS) received the Lt. Michael Murphy Award. Bridges currently works at the Defense Intelligence Agency. The award is named in honor of Lt. Michael P. Murphy, Medal of Honor recipient and distinguished Penn State alumnus.

Jamie Shinn received a Fulbright Award and to fund her dissertation fieldwork in the Okavango Delta, Botswana.

Nate Amador spent five weeks spring 2012 outside of Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, as a field assistant looking at shrub growth, and doing his own side project of snow temperature profiles off Russell Glacier.

Jase Bernhardt and Jennifer Titanski-Hooper won 2012–2013 Centennial Travel Awards from the Earth and Minerals Sciences Graduate Student Council. The awards are offered to support travel for research or fieldwork of a graduate student enrolled in the College of Earth and Minerals Sciences.

Kayla Yurco received a Field Award from the AAG Cultural and Political Ecology Speciality Group for “Of Women and Cows: Transitioning Notions of Gender and Development for Pastorialists in Central Kenya’s Conservation Areas.”

Amanda Young spent summer 2012 in Japan conducting research on an East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute (EAPSI) Fellowship.

Chanda R. Turner received the Alfred P. Sloan Scholarship, a dissertation research scholarship for students in the STEM disciplines.

Several MGIS students gave presentations at the Esri International User Conference July 24, 2012 in San Diego as part of their captone MGIS projects:• Michael Rink [title not provided]• Vanessa Damato on “Cluster Analysis on Demographics in Human Trafficking Source Provinces, Cambodia”• Jeri Ledbetter on “Inventory, Assessment, and Stewardship of Springs Ecosystems through Geocollaboration”• William Dietze on “Using GIS to Measure Modern Development at Teotihuacan, Mexico”

Christoph Kinkeldey joined the department as a visiting Ph.D. student during the fall 2012 semester.

Andrei Israel was awarded a Christine Mirzayan Science & Technology Policy Graduate Fellowship at the National Academies for the fall 2012 semester.

Raechel A. Bianchetti, Nouman Hussain (MGIS), and Everleigh Stokes (undergraduate) won United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) scholarships for 2012–2013

Raechel A. Bianchetti received a NSF Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant 2012–2014 .

Eun-Kyeong Kim, Paulo Raposo, Christoph Kinkeldey, Sen Xu, and Jenny Smith attended the GIScience conference held in Columbus, Ohio, September 18–21.

Continued on next page

Welcome new fall 2012 graduate students M.S. candidates Ph.D. candidatesPeter Koby Catherine Airey Andrew MarshallNathan Frey Yooinn Hong Azita RanjbarRyan Mullins Li-San HungVincent Ricciardi Morteza KarimzadehAmoreena Thissell Eun-Kyeong KimAndrew Townsend Audrey Lumley-Sapanski

For new MGIS students, on the department website, use search term: MGIS 2012

Beginning in January 2013, the Department’s Online Geospatial Education programs will move from offering four 10-week terms per year to five 10-week terms per year. There will be two terms in the Fall, two in the Spring, and one each Summer. The Fall and Spring terms will partially overlap by 3 weeks.

Going forward, students in the Department’s online programs will have more options than ever to take courses and pursue a GIS/GeoInt Certificate or Degree. These changes to our semester schedule have multiple major benefits, including:

Master’s students will be eligible for Federal Financial Aid for the first time in our program’s history, and Master’s students can take 6 credits (to achieve half-time status required to receive Aid) in a given Fall or Spring semester with only a short 3-week period of time in which their two courses overlap.

It will now be possible to pick and choose among five opportunities a year to take courses – nobody is required to take overlapping classes, but for those who want to finish faster, it will be possible to finish a Certificate in just

9 months and a Master’s degree in just over 2 years. For those who want maximum flexibility, there will be a fifth time per year to take a

class and achieve a balanced work-life-education schedule. Students will have the ability to register online for

most courses, and payment plans that have been available to most Penn State students to defer and extend payments will be available for the first time to all of our online students.

More information on these important changes to our online program’s schedule is available on our Program Office website – www.pennstategis.com/newschedule/.

New schedule for online geospatial education begins January 2013

7GRADUATE STUDENT NEWS

Geography Community Updates from page 6

Elizabeth Crisfield passed her dissertation defense on Tuesday, October 23, 2012.

FACULTY AND STAFF

Anthony (M.S. ‘05, Ph.D. ‘08) and Brandi (M.S. ‘05) Robinson announced the birth of their baby girl geographer, Claire Theresa Robinson, on January 31, 2012.

Petra Tschakert was named Coordinating Lead Author on Chapter 13 (Livelihoods and Poverty), Working Group II, for the 5th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), due to be published in April 2014.

Brent Yarnal was elected as the 2012–13 Chair Elect of the University Faculty Senate. For the full story on the department website, use search term: Faculty Senate

R. Stockton Maxwell and his wife Megan announced the birth of their first child, Forrester Douglas Maxwell, on April 24, 2012. Maxwell has since left Penn State to become an assistant professor of Geospatial Science at Radford University.

Margaret (Meg) Winchester joined the Department of Geography

as a post-doc from Kampala, Uganda, where she had been working and studying part time since 2003. Her doctoral work in medical anthropology focused on the intersection of HIV and intimate

partner violence among Ugandan women. Since graduation, Winchester has been lecturing at Case Western

Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio and Makerere University in Kampala, as well as consulting with the Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) and the World Health Organization (WHO). She will be working with Brian King on an NSF-funded study of health and livelihood in South Africa.

Christopher Fowler joined the Department of Geography as an assistant professor. His research examines the outcomes of local planning and economic development policies and local spending decisions more broadly. He says he is motivated by a desire to better understand how

Continued on page 9

Q: How did you initially become interested in fire?

A: I think it is part of human nature to be attracted to and disturbed by fire. I first began thinking about the fire cycle and people’s relationship with fire while on a Fulbright in Venezuela. I had the opportunity to work with a researcher who was looking at the Pemon indigenous peoples’ fire management strategies in the Gran Sabana (an incredible landscape of savannas and forests with tabletop mountains that were featured in the movie “Up”). I distinctly remember seeing a little boy playing with fire by the side of the road. He was delicately sprinkling sparks from a burning stick every few feet, and I remember thinking, “Wow, where’s your mother, hasn’t she told you not to play with fire?” And then it dawned on me what a complex and intriguing relationship we humans have with fire. Here was this little boy implementing a dispersed and brilliant fire management strategy that has been honed over countless generations—which was to burn often and in a dispersed way to maintain a mosaic of burned and unburned patches. The effect is to create a series of firebreaks by reducing fuel availability and limiting the potential fire intensity. It really got me thinking.

Q: Why are wildfires a problem? Aren’t fires a naturally occurring part of the ecosystem?

A: Fire is indeed a natural part of almost all terrestrial ecosystems, and has been part of the Earth system for over 400 million years, concurrent with the evolution of land-based plants. As far as we know, Earth is the only planet with fire. Wildfires are a problem when fire exists where people don’t want it to be. Humans have an imperfect relationship with fire. We are dependent on combustion, and fire has been a part of our history, migrations, cultures, and even our evolution—one theory suggests that we have smaller mouths and digestive tracts than our closest ape relatives because we developed the ability to cook foods. We use fire as a tool and put

The burn bossIn this photo, Balch is using a drip torch to ignite one of the 50-hectare experimental plots, which required walking and setting fire along 10 km of trails in order to explore the effects of recurrent fire on Amazonian transitional forests. The research team continues to monitor the effects of the burns, which are designed to mimic wildfires that frequently escape into the Amazon’s understory from intentionally set fires associated with the Amazon’s expanding agricultural frontier (driven largely by cattle and soybean production). Photo credit: Jennifer Balch

Q&A with Jennifer BalchQ&A with Jennifer Balch

8 FACULTY AND STAFF NEWS

it in boxes—from our fireplaces to our cars. Our carbon economy is dependent on combustion. Yet, we are vulnerable to fire—we don’t completely control this tool. We experience this vulnerability over and over again when wildfires burn. Wildfire is the only natural disaster that we can easily and instantly instigate. Yet we cannot completely control an ecosystem’s ability to sustain fire, as plants will always be fuel for fire under the right conditions.

Q: What is one of the most interesting/surprising things you have learned about fire through your work to date?

A: Fire is as elemental as air or water. We live on a fire planet. We are a fire species. Yet, the study of fire has been really fragmented. We know quite a bit about the carbon cycle and the nitrogen cycle, but we need to know much, much more about the fire cycle and the drivers behind the diversity and distribution of fire on Earth. If you look at a place in the world where fire frequency is well outside its historical patterns—for example, the world’s tropical humid forests—and ask how much does changing fire contribute to climate change, that answer is really surprising. Intentional deforestation fires in the tropics contribute up to a fifth of the human-caused increase in carbon dioxide emissions, since pre-industrial times. Fire, and people’s use of fire, is inextricably linked to the climate system.

Q: How does this research translate into the real world? What are the implications for policy and/or practice?

A: Better understanding of fire will help us adapt to changing fire regimes, particularly where there are bigger fires, more frequent fires, or fires in places where we don’t normally see fires. We need to shift from thinking of fire as a disaster phenomena to thinking about what are the

sustainable fire regimes that we can tolerate and live with against the backdrop of changing climate.

Q: What are your future research plans?

A: We need to reassess the role of fire on Earth. My research aims to understand the patterns and processes that underlie disturbance and ecosystem recovery, particularly how shifting fire regimes are reconfiguring tropical forests, encouraging non-native grass invasion, and affecting the global climate. My current and future research addresses the following major unsolved questions: What is fire’s role in the Earth system? More specifically, how does fire contribute to global trends of climate warming and how does climate warming promote fire? A second question I am looking into is how fire regimes are altered by invasive species? Particularly, how is an invasive grass-fire cycle established and perpetuated? I am also researching how the recent unprecedented increase in human-initiated fires is altering tropical-forest dynamics, and how this increase in fire frequency is changing carbon cycles and the recovery trajectories. In addressing these questions, my research aims to explore global patterns of anthropogenic climate and land cover disruptions to help inform people about opportunities to curb and adapt to these changes.

“Humans have an imperfect relationship with fire. We are dependent on combustion, and fire has been a part of our history, migrations, cultures, and even our evolution. … Yet, we are vulnerable to fire—we don’t completely control this tool. We experience this vulnerability over and over again when wildfires burn.”

9FACULTY AND STAFF NEWS

different groups, particularly the poor, benefit (or fail to benefit) from local policy decisions. In pursuit of this broader goal, his published work has examined the impacts that economic models have on policy debate and the role these models play in shaping policy discourse within cities.

Frank Hardisty received an Amazon Web Services in Education Grant to support his first-of-its-kind cloud GIS teaching and cloud computing

research, placing Penn State among the first in the world to offer a course in Cloud and Server GIS. The development team for Geography 897C also includes instructors Sterling Quinn and Ryan Baxter. For the full story on the department website, use search term: Cloud GIS.

Robert Brooks was the lead speaker for a seminar for Congressional staff and federal agency personnel in Washington, D.C. in May 2012 regarding wetlands restoration and

the 2012 Farm Bill. His presentation, “Wetlands: Inspiring, Essential, Contentious,” provided a crash course in wetland science and conservation. The program was sponsored by the Consortium of Aquatic Science Societies and the Environmental Law Institute, and was held before the evening’s National Wetlands Awards Ceremony.

Continued on page 14

Geography Community Updates from page 7

10 ALUMNI NEWS

Run by Penn State Ge-ography alumnus Mike Hermann (B.S. ’95), Purple Lizard Maps is a State Col-lege map publisher that prides itself on high quality maps made with the benefit of familiarity with the area. All three maps listed on the company’s website (purplelizard.com) describe hiking trails local to the State College area. Scotia: Pennsylvania State Game-lands #176 is particularly interesting because it is a dual hiking/historic map, with the same landscape covered once on either side, but with different symbol sets suited to either map purpose.

Like other Purple Lizard maps, Scotia is carefully designed as a printed map, meant to be folded and car-ried rather than seen on a computer screen. Not only do the materials reflect this (the map is waterproof and tear-resistant plastic), but the symbology is carefully

tailored to this use case as well. Symbols are clear with good color contrast so they’re visible even in low light. Latitude and longitude ticks for GPS coordinates are given at the map border, but a graticule is cleverly left out, since the fold creases help a reader approximate a grid without the visual clutter of actually having one. Point symbols such as gates and parking lots are nicely graphically associated with line sym-bols like trails and roads, since the point features are most likely to be encoun-tered while following a path like a hiking trail. Contours are given along with a subtle hillshade.

Taking advantage of the southwest to northeast orientation of the local valley, the map uses its corners as places to host text boxes with interest-ing historical or contextual information. Mentions to State Game Lands adviso-

ries (e.g., about the need to wear bright orange cloth-ing in hunting grounds, etc.) are particularly useful. Historical photographs and explanations of the iron ore extraction operations in the area during the 19th and 20th Centuries make for great camp-side reading. A nice touch on the historical map is the “ghosting-in” of modern roadways in light violet.

This map was produced in partnership with Clear-Water Conservancy, and makes note of the Barrens to Bald Eagle Wildlife Cor-ridor the group has estab-lished in the northwest of the area mapped. Also pro-vided with the hiking map is a short discussion of the ecological importance of the barrens, noting how it provides important habitat to birds and amphibians, as well as acts as a groundwa-ter recharge area.

Altogether, the map makes for a great naviga-

tional guide or historical document, and provides thoughtful reflection on the natural and cultural significance of the area. And if you’re looking for even more adventure, you can always hike out to a spot where Hermann has placed one of his signature – and playfully mysterious – purple lizard symbols.

—Paulo Raposo is a Ph.D. candidate, focusing on cartog-raphy in the Department of Geography at Penn State.

MAP REVIEW by Paulo Raposo

Dual-purpose, practical, playful

The Department of Geography now has an officially recognized Affiliate Program Group (APG) of the Penn State Alumni Association (www.alumni.psu.edu/groups/apg), chartered by the Graduates of Earth and Mineral Sciences (GEMS) alumni society.

The group held an organizational meeting in conjunction with the college’s Arts Fest breakfast in July, attended by Grady Meehan (M.S. ’70), Anne Messner (B.S. ’89), Joel Sobel (B.S. ’69), Jodi Vender, and Karl Zimmerer. The group determined that the APG’s initial focus will be organizing formal

leadership, as well as networking with and mentoring students.

Do we want a catchy name? As of now, the group’s official name is Department of Geography Affiliate Program Group. We’re open to suggestions on more creative titles—for example, the Meteo APG is “MAPS–Meteorology Alumni of Penn State.” Submit your group name suggestions to alumni@geog.psu.edu. There will be a prize for the winning entry!

How can you get involved? If you’d like to serve on the APG board, help organize events, mentor a student, provide feedback to the department,

or otherwise share your expertise, email alumni@geog.psu.edu or call Jodi at 814-863-5730 and let us know how you’d like to be involved!

Our next event will take place on Saturday, February 9, 2013 in Walker Building. Following a lunch and business meeting, we’ll hold a career networking session for students and alumni. Details will be posted at www.geog.psu.edu/alumni/apg.

If you’d like to participate, please indicate your interest at www.geog.psu.edu/alumni/feb9apgmtg

Hope to see you in February, if not sooner!

New APG meeting and student networking event by Jodi Vender

Rewarding workDaley with her work, a National Geographic map which won Honorable Mention in the Reference Map category at the 39th Annual CaGIS Map Design Competition. Photo crecit: Rosemary Daley.

11ALUMNI NEWS

Rosemary Daley (B.S. ’06) works as a senior GIS cartographer with National Geographic. Even though she says “I never imagined that I’d be so fortunate to start my career at such a distinguished organization,”she is grateful for the challenges, opportunities for creativity, and talented colleagues she works with every day.

“I have to give my parents, and specifically my father, a lot of credit for fueling the geographer inside of me since youth,” Daley says. She vividly remembers a wall outside her bedroom in her childhoood home in West Kingston, Rhode Island covered with about 12 USGS topographic quads showing the southern part of the state. “I have many memories of standing there with my parents retracing the hike, drive, or kayak trip we had just taken, which really helped me build a strong internal map and compass. When I had to order a quad of my home-town for Geog 121, I knew exactly what that map would look like. And it hung over my bed throughout the rest of my

college career, reminding me not only where I was from but also how geography played at part in where I was going.”

“Making maps is clearly one of the most recognizable forms of geography, but I didn’t begin my college career with solely cartography in mind. I was engrossed in all aspects of geography, so I decided it would serve me best to learn as much about each concentration as I could,” Daley recalls. “Taking Cindy Brewer’s advanced cartography course is when I truly fell in love with the art. I still remember many of her instructions and employ them today.”

As senior GIS cartographer, Daley’s job is basically twofold, she explains. She works with the GIS team to manage, update, and maintain the National Geographic Cartographic Databases and Place Names Gazetteer, and acts as the GIS cartographer

for all of the various print and digital map projects. “My tasks vary from gathering and preparing the raw GIS data, to generating raster imagery, to applying edits to the data and much, much, more,” Daley explains. “I also act as a liaison to the Society at large. We’re always looking for ways that we can use GIS in more than just map-making! I feel lucky that no two days are alike and the various projects that pop up keep me on my toes.”

It’s a unique job with “no real guidebook” Daley says, which she found challenging at the start of her career there. “Many of my colleagues have been working at National Geographic for many years, so it was hard not to be intimidated by their knowledge and talent at the start,” Daley says. “But I slowly realized that I could bring a new spin to the many cartographic methods that had been honed here over the years and I’m really enjoying helping to usher in some new techniques and software to keep our maps and worfklow fresh.”

“After being in the working world for over six years (which I can’t believe) I still don’t know what I want to do ‘when I grow up’. But I am really enjoying what I do right now and I know I will be able to apply the things I have learned to whatever or wherever the path leads me in the future.”

PROFILE

“I know I will be able to apply the things I have learned to whatever or wherever the path leads me in the future.”

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map showing downtown State College in 1906.

12 COVER STORY

of the Hamer Maps Libraryby Angela Rogers

Treasures

“Maps are still one of the only concrete records of what a place looks like at any given time....”

The Donald W. Hamer Maps Library re-opened in fall 2009, in a new location in the basement of the Central Pattee Library, a long way from its beginnings in 1947 when Ruby Miller started the map collection in the Department of Geography. Marcy Bidney has been the head map librarian for five years and oversaw the most recent move and transformation of the maps library.

Bidney has both bachelor of arts and master of arts degrees in geography from Rowan University and Temple University and a master of science in library and information science from Drexel University. “I had no idea 20 years ago that I would become a map librarian. My mom worked in a library but I did not know what a librarian did. It never crossed my mind to work in a library,” Bidney recalls. But that changed when she worked for a summer at the Kensington Welfare Rights Union, a Philadelphia-based advocacy group for the poor and homeless. After volunteers went on a road trip to document human rights violations, Bidney took the locations of those violations and created a map. “Through that work, I became much more passionate about access to information and power. It was quite transformational to me.”

When Bidney took over, the head map librarian position had been vacant for some time. “I would say that the maps library at that time was underused, hard to find, and not user-friendly,” she says. “It was a place where nobody came – unless they were lost.”

Now, it is easy to find. More than relocation, the move also provided opportunities to modernize the collection and to re-envision the purpose of the maps library. More than two years in the making, Bidney says, “the move consumed all of my work life to make it exactly how I wanted it to be.”

“We went through the entire collection of 450,000 print maps. We went through every drawer and found triplicates or quadruplicates. In the past, four copies was smart to have, but now four copies (unless it’s a Pennsylvania map) are not necessary,” Bidney explains. Another aspect of the transformation was to digitize special parts of the collection. Paper copies of digital

assets are kept for researchers who want to see the actual document.

Cleaning out the drawers makes the remaining maps easier to find and use. The extra

copies are sent to other libraries in need of them. Map librarians use a listserv to offer their extra copies or ask for what they’re missing. “It’s how we build our collections, for free, in addition to what we purchase,” Bidney says.

In addition to the print and digital maps, globes, atlases, reference books, and gazetteers, the maps library offers a variety of services.

• scanning and printing services (up to 42 inches wide)• creating custom cartography• lending handheld GPS devices These services are free for Penn State students, faculty,

and staff. Outside patrons are charged a fee. The maps library website offers a suite of online

resources as well: • the digital map drawer• links to other map resources such as the USGS quads

in PDF format and other university map collections• Simply Map, a web-based mapping and data analysis

softwareGeographers are still the heaviest users—but the map

library serves all disciplines. “The influx of a variety of other disciplines speaks to the growing importance of geospatial information. We are here as a resource for print maps, digital maps, geospatial data, historical and current. If we don’t have it, we can help you get it,” Bidney says. That’s true most of the time, but not always.

One of the most unusual requests Bidney has received was from an engineer working with Engineers without Borders, a non-profit, humanitarian organization that partners with developing communities worldwide to improve their quality of life through the implementation of sustainable engineering projects http://www.engr.psu.edu/ewb/

“He needed aerial photos of Freetown, Sierra Leone with a specific level of detail,” she recalls. Bidney contacted other libraries and searched and researched. They did not exist.

“International data, particularly for Africa, is notoriously hard to find,” she acknowledges. “There is an ongoing need for cartography of these areas. I can send people to Google Maps for the most recent ‘map,’ but the bigger issue is that when these places change, there’s no record of what was before – no one is keeping

Continued on page 14

ResourcesWebsite: www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/maps.html

Blog: http://mapslibrarypsu.wordpress.com/

13COVER STORY

A glimpse into the pastAlumna Valerie Sebestyen (B.S. ’96) works in the Hamer Maps Library. This is one of her favorites in the collection. This map shows steamer routes and world leaders at the time.

TREASURES from page 13

a free public record of these maps and aerial imagery. That worries me. I don’t know what to do. Maps are still one of the only concrete records of what a place looks like at any given time and it is important for us to save them to be able to have a historical record of that change.”

That’s why a special treasure in the maps library is the collection of the Sanborn Pennsylvania Fire Insurance Maps. The Sanborn maps themselves are large-scale lithographed street plans at a scale of 50 feet to one inch (1:600) on 21-inch by 25-inch sheets of paper.

“The Sanborn Company produced maps to inform fire insurance salesman of liabilities,” Bidney notes. “It is one of the only collections of maps that exist that show change in towns over time, with details on

building use, construction materials, windows, street names, water mains, fire hydrants, outhouses, stables, and more. It is a rich source of information over a period of 100 years.”

“It is absolutely incredible that we have a collection that is about 95 percent complete. The missing 5 percent is in the Library of Congress. It is one of the most heavily used collections. It is fragile and unique.”

Editor’s note: Since the writing of this story, Marcy Bidney has left Penn State to become the Curator at the American Geographical Society Library at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

14 COVER STORY

Send us your news, updates, article ideas, photos, and feedback. We want to hear from you.

Geography@psu.edu

Alan MacEachren, as part of a multi-department team of Penn State researchers, was awarded an Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) grant from the National Science Foundation. The project, Big Data Social Science: An Integrative Education and Research Program in Social Data Analytics, brings together researchers to create a new training program in social data analytics.

In an article published on the first day of summer, Andrew Carleton was interviewed about the short-term and long-term risks of urban heart islands. “[U]rban areas are becoming places where increasing numbers of people are moving to. The areas are getting bigger, creating an urban heat island effect,” he told CBS Houston. “The buildings and streets trap heat, which contributes to heat waves in urban areas. Mortality rates could particularly increase in [those] areas.”

A number of Penn Staters, including several geographers (Andrew Carleton, William Easterling, Alan Taylor, Brent Yarnal) are contributing to the National Climate Assessment (NCA) 2013 Report, to be published next year by the United States Global Change Research Program (USGCRA). For the full story on the department website, use search term: NCA 2013.

Lorraine Dowler, Crista Livecchi, and Erica Smithwick received Gladys Snyder Education Grants. The purpose of Gladys Snyder Grant is to promote undergraduate instruction and student learning in the college. For the full story on the department website, use search term: Gladys Snyder.

Promotions in academic rank announced, effective July 1, 2012To associate professor:Brian H. King, geography, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences Alexander Klippel, geography, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.

Continued on page 15

UPDATES from page 7

15COMMUNITY UPDATES

In an article published on Wired Science (July 2012), Erica Smithwick was interviewed about the ecosystem changes that could result from the exceptionally large and hot wildfires in the western United States this summer.

Stephen Matthews was named an associate editor for Demographic Research, published by the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany.

Stephen Matthews accepted the position of chair of the dual-title, Intercollege Graduate Degree Program (IGDP) in demography, beginning July 1, 2013.

Erica Smithwick welcomed her new baby, Jasper William Smithwick, 8 lbs. 7.5 oz., 20 in., born on Friday, August 17, 2012.

Petra Tschakert’s project “Anticipatory Learning for Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience” (ALCCAR) was recently featured in the August issue of International Innovation in a Q&A format. The article is titled, “Planning for uncertainty”

Denice H. Wardrop gave the talk “Catalyzing Reinvention: A Path Forward for Sustainability,” At the October 27 Huddle with the Faculty lecture series.

Karen Schuckman and Mike Renslow discuss the importance of LIDAR and the National Elevation Dataset (NED) in the USGS video “Elevation.” See it here: http://gallery.usgs.gov/videos/567

Andrew Carleton was interviewed by AccuWeather.com about

melting Arctic sea ice and climate change.

Robert Brooks’s photos are part of a current exhibit called “Black & White and Shades of Gray” on display at the Gallery at The Gamble Mill in Bellefonte. The show runs until January 12, 2013.

ALUMNI

Fred Boyer (B.S. ’62) and his wife Judy Boyer and Grady Meehan (M.S. ’70) and his wife Pat Meehan attended the Alumni Reunion Luncheon at The Nittany Lion Inn on June 1, honoring the classes of 1962 and 1967.

Rodney White (M.S. ’67) died peacefully at St. Michael’s hospital July 5, 2012 after a very short illness.

Joel R. Burcat (B.S. ‘76) announced the publication of the seventh edition of Pennsylvania Environmental Law and Practice, a project for which he has been co-editor since its inception. Burcat is currently a partner with the law firm of Saul Ewing LLP, in Harrisburg. He currently chairs the form’s oil and gas practice group. In addition to writing many articles and speaking on a variety of environmental and natural resources topics, he has recently branched out and is now writing fiction (in his spare time).

Joseph L. Scarpaci (M.S. ‘78) was appointed the interim chair of the Marketing and Management Department, Gary E. West College of Business, at West Liberty

University, West Liberty, West Virginia.

Richard H. Schein (M.S. ‘83), a professor of geography at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky, will be spending 2012–2013 as Fulbright Bicentennial Chair of American Studies at the University of Helsinki (and his wife, Susan Roberts— no Penn State connection, but she is a geographer—will be a Fulbright scholar at University of Turku in Finland during the same time).

Mark Bonta (B.A. ‘90) was the September 21 Coffee Hour speaker.

Andrew C. Comrie (Ph.D. ’92), the graduate college dean and associate vice president for research at the University of Arizona, was named the senior vice president for academic affairs and provost.

Benjamin J. DeAngelo (B.S. ‘92) married Julia Gray this fall in Washington, D.C. He’s a senior analyst for climate change science and policy for the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Atmospheric Programs. He was the technical lead for EPA’s greenhouse gas endangerment finding under the Clean Air Act. He’s also co-chairing the Arctic Council Task Force on Short-Lived Climate Forcers that’s

charged with delivering recommendations on black carbon and methane emission reduction measures for ministers of the eight Arctic nations.

GeoDecisions President Brendan J. Wesdock (B.S.’95) was appointed to the Board of Directors of The Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Sciences Alumni Advisory Council (GEMS).

Rachel Headley (Ph.D. ’03) was invited to present to more than 10,000 people at the July 2012 Esri User Conference in San Diego.

Richard Murphy Jr. (B.S. ‘04) accepted a new position at the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) as capital program coordinator in the Office of Capital Programs in August of 2011. Richard and his wife Katie welcomed their daughter, Abigail Scarlett, into the world in September 2011.

Vanessa Glynn-Linaris (MGIS ’07) and her teammates received the Special Achievement in GIS Award for the MapSAR Tool at the July 2012 Esri User Conference.

Emma (Prince) Hartsock (B.S. ‘09) and husband Trevor have just taken a job with Boeing and will be working in Butterworth, Malaysia.

Benjamin J. DeAngelo and Julia Gray

Emma and Trevor Hartsock

The Pennsylvania State UniversityDepartment of Geography302 Walker BuildingUniversity Park, PA 16802-5011

WE ARE ... GRATEFUL FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

(left to right) Gwen McCauley, Fred Gockley, and Marianne Gockley with Jeff Gockley Memorial Award recipient Kevin Sparks at the spring 2012 De-partment of Geography Recognition Reception. The Jeff Gockley Memorial Award honors and recognizes outstanding achievement by a rising senior undergraduate student majoring in geography with the GIScience option. The award has been made possible by the generous donation of Marianne and Fred Gockley.

Be a part of the November 15 Penn State Day of Philanthropy

If you would like to donate to the department, please email jvender@psu.edu or development@ems.psu.edu. or visit: visit www.givenow.psu.edu. When giving online, please be sure to include the code AD322 to the right of the description.

Thank you for your gener-ous support!

Every gift received is im-portant. The cumulative effect of many gifts makes a significant impact on the quality of education we can provide to our students. The Department of Geog-raphy appreciates and rec-ognizes our supporters for their caring commitment.