Isaac Rivera receives the AAG Digital Geographies Outstanding Dissertation Award

Anonymous — Fri, 17 May 2024 18:00:58 +0000

Isaac Rivera receives the AAG Digital Geographies Outstanding Dissertation Award Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/17/2024 - 12:00

Incoming Geography faculty member, Isaac Rivera has received the Outstanding Dissertation award from the Digital Geographies Specialty Group of the American Association of Geographers. His dissertation is entitled: "Mapping the Terms of Freedom & the Ongoing Refusal of Settler Imaginaries".

Abstract: Originating in Denver, Colorado in 1907 and exported as a national holiday in 1934, Columbus Day enacts the logic and institutionalization of conquest. Yet despite the seemingly totalizing imaginary of ongoing settler colonialism, Indigenous peoples continue to resist erasure. Mapping the Terms of Freedom & The Ongoing Refusal of Settler Imaginaries, traces the making and unmaking of settler imaginaries in Denver and the ways in which the city��s Indigenous communities choose to represent their stories of resistance to the world. I connect the way institutions of knowledge maintain settler imaginaries in place through the entanglement of visual and digital knowledge practices in settler colonialism. Using ethnographic, archival, and participatory research methods, I trace self-determined Indigenous representations of strength through the community curated (Re)Mapping Native Denver art exhibit that maps Indigenous geographies and dismantles the logics implicated in the settler imaginary. Held at Denver University (DU) in 2021, the (Re)Mapping Native Art Exhibit stood as a site of public facing education, demonstrating the liberatory power of retelling geo-history on the terms of Indigenous peoples.

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8 in 10 lizards could be at risk due to deforestation

Anonymous — Fri, 17 May 2024 17:46:04 +0000

8 in 10 lizards could be at risk due to deforestation Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/17/2024 - 11:46

Yvonne Ye

In Colorado, people flock to the Rocky Mountains when the summer heat gets unbearable. Animals seek shelter too when temperatures become extreme, and forests serve as critical sanctuaries for small tree-dwelling animals like lizards.

In a new study published March 5 in the journal Nature Climate Change, scientists from ��Ƶ Boulder and Tel Aviv University in Israel revealed that deforestation combined with climate change could negatively impact 84% of North America��s lizards by the end of the century. Nearly one in five could face population decline.

Unlike mammals that can maintain their body temperatures in a variety of ways��sweating when it gets too hot and relying on warm fur when it gets too cold��cold-blooded animals such as lizards have limited strategies to thermoregulate. Tree-climbing lizards move around tree trunks to bask in the sun for warmth. When the ground gets too hot, they climb higher or move into the shade.

��What's really interesting about lizards is that they just need to be able to move a short distance around the tree trunk to get to a very different climate and habitat environment,�� said Keith Musselman, an assistant professor in the Department of Geography and ��Ƶ Boulder��s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. ��These microhabitats are particularly important when we think about how we modify our natural environment and make conservation decisions.��

Using computer simulations, the team showed that global warming can actually benefit lizards living in colder regions or at higher latitudes in North America. Warmer weather increases the animals�� activity time, meaning they have more time to look for food or mates during the day. However, deforestation would largely reverse these positive effects by reducing opportunities for shade in hotter climates that help them cool down.

The team simulated lizard models for different climate regions across North America. They found that tree loss could decrease lizards�� activity time by an average of 34% by the end of the century. Without trees, the animals would have to hide under rocks or in caves to avoid overheating. The impact would be especially prominent for species that already live in warmer regions, where future summers will become too warm for activity on the ground.

The team estimated that deforestation would accelerate population declines for 18% of lizards in North America.

��Our work provides new insights into the mechanisms by which deforestation may cause population declines in the face of climate change,�� said Ofir Levy, a zoologist and Musselman��s collaborator at Tel Aviv University. ��The decline in lizards can lead to a cascading effect as they are an important part of almost every ecological system.��

Despite international pledges to halt deforestation, tree clearing continues to happen globally. From 2001 to 2022, about 459 million hectares, or 12%, of global tree cover disappeared.

��Deforestation is a worldwide problem, and our conclusions can help decision-makers on other continents in designing conservation and habitat restoration programs that consider climate change,�� said Omer Zlotnick, the paper��s first author and a Ph.D. student at Tel Aviv University.

Lizard populations are already at risk because of climate change. In one study, scientists estimated that 54% of lizard populations in Mexico would go extinct by 2080 because of their inability to adapt to the rapidly warming planet.

Deforestation would further exacerbate the threat by taking away these animals�� refuges.

��Here in the Rocky Mountains, elevation provides an escape for animals that can travel longer distances, including us humans. On those summer days when it hits 100 degrees, many of us will go into the mountains. But small animals like lizards can��t travel far. They heavily depend on the refuge provided by the local landscape, including tree trunks,�� said Musselman. ��The study highlighted the importance of understanding which elements in the environment can serve as refuges for other organisms on this planet.��

This work was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Israel Science Foundation, the National Natural Science Foundation of China and National Geographic.

Reprinted from ��Ƶ Boulder Today, article by Yvaine Ye (March 4th, 2024)

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David Kimmett: Generations of Geography: Reflecting on a Legacy of Learning at ��Ƶ GEOG

Anonymous — Wed, 15 May 2024 19:35:01 +0000

David Kimmett: Generations of Geography: Reflecting on a Legacy of Learning at ��Ƶ GEOG Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 05/15/2024 - 13:35

My time wandering the halls and climbing the central staircase of Guggenheim really was a long time ago �C Class of 1994?!? Heck, that��s pre-internet! However, it doesn��t feel like a galaxy far, far away��I learned so much about so many things in such a short-but-immensely influential epoch during my years at ��Ƶ��and indubitably the best knowledge stemmed from The Best Building On Campus, The Simon Guggenheim Bvilding!? No doubt this present-day tangibility with my time at ��Ƶ can partially be attributed to wandering through campus on occasion, as I both live and work nearby. However, the core reality is that my education at the University and in particular the pedagogy that sifted into my noggin during those Geography baccalaureate years represented a sea change in my understanding of the world and how to make one��s way through life with a more conscientious approach.? The multiple sparks of imparted knowledge stoked internal fires of curiosity, and if you walk over to the ��trophy case�� by the Geography Office, you can see some bloke with my name on the Albert W. Smith Scholarship for 1993-1994.

Since that time, I��ve been a high school social sciences teacher in Denver Public Schools; an AmeriCorps volunteer for a year in southern Georgia; a GIS analyst in Fremont County, Colorado; and following a Master of Urban & Regional Planning (greatest degree acronym of all-time: MURP) degree from ��Ƶ-Denver, fell into my current career a few years back as the manager of planning at Boulder��s JUWI Inc., a utility-scale solar energy facility development, engineering, and construction firm. Best job of all: dad to two kids, one who graduated from our wonderful archrival CSU with a zoology degree last weekend and the other��give it a minute! My wife and I have raised our kids mostly in the lovely burg of Longmont, along with a few chickens and goats.

Many a professor influenced my years in GEOG, though perhaps no one more than Brock Brown, who happened to provide an intro to the University during an orientation session for College of Arts & Sciences incoming Freshman in Chem 140, where among other things he spoke about The Big Picture Of Human Decision Making, focusing on America��s prolific focus on growing a plant that can��t be consumed �C Kentucky bluegrass lawns �C and the repercussions of that decision. That single orientation session cemented my already smoldering passion for All Things Geography into a flame that burns brightly today. Which brings me to��

A MOST IMPORTANT SIDEBAR:? my 18-year old son Quinn Kimmett is an incoming Freshman this Fall at ��Ƶ and��drumroll��his major?? GEOGRAPHY!? I promise I didn��t force this upon him��must be something genetic or in the water!? I��m soooooo so so excited for him to enter the wide world that the ��Ƶ Geography Department will open for him.

A special thanks to Morteza Karimzadeh who asked if I could write something for this newsletter! AND a well-earned KUDOS to all of the professors in GEOG who are crafting the next generation of critical thinkers, helping to establish a foothold of hope in a tumultuous world!

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Message From the Chair Spring 2024

Anonymous — Tue, 14 May 2024 21:28:45 +0000

Message From the Chair Spring 2024 Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 05/14/2024 - 15:28

This semester we welcomed Dr. Bharat Rastogi to our faculty as a new Assistant Professor. Dr. Rastogi��s research focuses on examining the role of CO2 emissions on climate change and impacts on a variety of territorial ecosystems. We had a busy semester that included three job searches for new faculty and transitioning Isaac Rivera��s Chancellor��s Postdoctoral Fellowship for Faculty Diversity to a tenure track Assistant Professor position in our department. Dr. Rivera, featured in this newsletter, will join the Department of Geography as a new faculty member in August 2024. Additional new hires, include Katherine Siegel, who will join the Department of Geography in fall 2024, focusing on environmental data science, and Dr. Federico Andrade-Rivas, a health geographer focusing on global environmental health and human well-being, and will join our faculty in the fall of the 2025 academic year. We are also in the process of hiring a new Assistant Professor in Physical Geography.

This semester we also hosted two groups of first year ��Ƶ undergraduate students involved in the Miramontes Program at ��Ƶ-Boulder through their Science Bound program. One group was interested in learning more about Physical Geography and GIS, and the other group was interested in Human Geography and Environment-Society relations. We hope to continue these types of outreach programs in the future to grow our undergraduate majors.

Our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee initiated several new programs this semester. The first program, which we will continue, incorporate holiday traditions from different cultures that are celebrated by some of our faculty, staff, and students. In February we celebrated Lunar New Year, featured in this newsletter, and in April we celebrated Nowruz, a Persian New Year celebration. These events offered the opportunity for faculty, students, and staff to learn about these holidays and participate in hands-on-activities such as dumpling making for Lunar New Year, and egg decorating for Nowruz.

The DEI committee organized a two-day inclusive pedagogy workshop that was facilitated by Hidden Stem Consulting. This workshop provided an overview of inclusive practices for all aspects of teaching, and practical hands-on activities for faculty to implement in their courses. In addition to this program, we implemented a tutoring program for undergraduate students, provided by graduate students, Alek Berg, Taylor Johaneman, and Nic Tarasewicz, and George Charisoulis.

This June 8-9, 2024, we are hosting an Alumni and Friends of Geography Celebration that will include an open house in Guggenheim, Cocktail Party followed by Dinner at Chautauqua on Saturday, and then a field-visit to the Mountain Research Station on Sunday.

In closing, I would like to congratulate all of the students who graduated this semester. We are proud of you and wish you all the best in your future pursuits.

Warm Regards,
Jennifer Fluri

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Abdalati Visits Washington, D.C. to Advocate for Funding Science

Anonymous — Fri, 10 May 2024 17:23:52 +0000

Abdalati Visits Washington, D.C. to Advocate for Funding Science Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/10/2024 - 11:23

On April 10, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) Director and Geography Professor Waleed Abdalati, along with Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) Director Dan Baker met with staff members of Colorado congressional delegation to discuss the impacts of science reductions in the President��s 2025 budget request to the interests of the State of Colorado, its educational institutions, and businesses. They met with staff from the offices of Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper and Congressmen Neguse and Pettersen. While the primary focus was on risks to Earth and Space Science at NOAA and NASA, the impacts of the broader reductions were discussed as well. During that same visit to Washington DC, Abdalati, along with several directors from other NOAA-funded cooperative institutes met with staff from the House Science Committee to also discuss the implications of federal budget challenges on the interests of the institutes, our universities, and the nation.

Picture: From the visit. Waleed Abdalati (left) and Dan Baker (right). The photo was taken by Heather Ben�� in ��Ƶ Government Relations

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Keith Musselman Briefs U.S. Congress on Advancing Community-based Research and Knowledge Co-Production in the Arctic

Anonymous — Fri, 10 May 2024 17:19:20 +0000

Keith Musselman Briefs U.S. Congress on Advancing Community-based Research and Knowledge Co-Production in the Arctic Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/10/2024 - 11:19

Keith Musselman was on Capitol Hill on March 5th, 2024 where he contributed to a Congressional Briefing hosted by the Senate Arctic Caucus Co-Chairs (Senators Lisa Murkowski (AK) and Angus King (ME)) and the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. I contributed to the briefing with ��Ƶ��s Dr. Twila Moon (NSIDC/CIRES) and others (see below). The title of our briefing was ��Advancing community-based research and knowledge co-production in the Arctic��.

As the Arctic experiences rapid and significant environmental changes, there is a need for federally-funded research to be conducted differently �C in closer coordination with Arctic communities, and increasingly led by Arctic community members and Indigenous Peoples. The Navigating the New Arctic (NNA) Initiative is the largest federal investment in Arctic research that has incorporated a focus on co-production of Arctic science and the applicability of research projects to addressing the challenges facing Arctic residents as the climate changes. This briefing highlighted how a co-productive approach to Arctic research has been applied in NNA research projects investigating river health, fishery management and education, and permafrost thaw.

Panelists:

Dr. Jessica Black, TAMAMTA, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Dr. Keith Musselman, Institute of Arctic & Alpine Research, University of Colorado Boulder

Dr. Howard Epstein, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia

Dr. Nikoosh Carlo, CNC North Consulting and NNA Community Office

Moderated by: Dr. Twila Moon, NNA Community Office and National Snow & Ice Data Center, University of Colorado Boulder

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Geography Hosted its First Dumpling Making Party

Anonymous — Fri, 10 May 2024 17:02:55 +0000

Geography Hosted its First Dumpling Making Party Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/10/2024 - 11:02

Xiaoling Chen

On February 9, 2024, the Department of Geography held a Dumpling Making Party to celebrate two cultural events: the Chinese Spring Festival (�� ch��nji��) and Tibetan New Year (Losar). Both cultures follow their own calendars for festivals and holidays. This year, these two holidays coincided with February 10 marking the first day of their respective new years. Geography faculty, staff, and students, along with their families and friends, participated in the party.

We were getting ready to make dumplings.

We were having fun!

And it was the first time that many of us made dumplings��

Many thanks to our fellows and friends for their help with the party, including bringing their steamers, wrapping the red envelopes, chopping vegetables, setting up the table, and cooking and serving the dumplings. Special thanks to Hauqingjia (Palchengyal) from the Department of Religious Studies; Aleksander Berg, Drolma Gadou, Annika Hirmke, Shruthi Jagadeesh, Alaric Akhil Kothapally, Michele Lissoni, Taneesha Mohan, Briana Prado, Nic Tarasewicz, Neda Shaban and Gabriella Subia Smith from the Geography department.

Special thanks also to Karen Weingarten, Gabriela Sales, and Brandon Brown for putting together the lovely, festive d��cor at the Guggenheim Building, and to Sean Dunn for coordinating the food purchase.

After the party, participants were gifted a red envelope (�� h��ngb��o) containing one brand-new Chinese one-dollar bill (Ԫ yu��n, approximately $0.14 USD). This bill is known as ��ѹ��Ǯ y��su��qi��n,�� literally meaning money to suppress a demon named ��Su��.�� During the Chinese Spring Festival, it is a tradition to gift red envelops to friends and family. According to the Chinese legend, Su�� terrorized children while they slept on Spring Festival Eve. The red envelope is believed to dispel this demon, symbolizing good wishes and prosperity for the new year ahead. Karen kindly added a lucky node (ͬ�Ľ� t��ngx��nji��) to each envelope to double up the good luck and prosperity people brought to their homes.

This event was part of a departmental effort, spearheaded by department Chair Jennifer Fluri, to recognize diverse groups and cultures on our ��Ƶ campus, promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Losar Tashi Delek to our Tibetan friends, and �� (X��nni��n Ku��il��) to our Chinese communities

Organizer and editor

Xiaoling Chen, Research Assistant and Ph.D. Candidate in Geography

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Brandon Brown Defends Honors Thesis Visualizing Renewable Potential in Colorado

Anonymous — Fri, 10 May 2024 16:47:31 +0000

Brandon Brown Defends Honors Thesis Visualizing Renewable Potential in Colorado Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/10/2024 - 10:47

I am Brandon Brown, an undergraduate dual major at ��Ƶ-Boulder, with an independent focus on applied GIS for sustainable development planning. Geography��s interdisciplinary nature sets it apart from other majors due to the flexibility with which a student can dual major, minor, or pursue a certificate. I transferred from Colorado Mountain College in Fall 2022 with a major in Environmental Studies, swiftly adding a Geography dual major after taking Intro to Mapping. GIS generates insights into spatial relationships, societal patterns, and geographic boundaries. The limits of applied cartography for analytics are the limits of human imagination. Ask where!

Geography offers academic experiences for students in environmental science, social sciences, and cartographic practices. Sarah Schlosser coordinates the GIS certificate which will familiarize students with RStudio, Python, and ArcGIS Pro for mapping platforms. Professor Taneesha Mohan coordinates internships for the department while teaching courses on methods and skills for socially conscious research. Professors John Adler and Rachel Isaacs teaches remote sensing and mapping climate change, both giving students the opportunity to implement remotely sensed imagery into their map products. Professor Stefan Leyk organizes the GIS Track of the Geography major with a heavy emphasis on spatial analysis, modeling, and programming. Studying Geography taught GIS methods I apply in my Honors thesis for clean energy site selection with an environmental justice lens.

The goal of my Honors thesis is to illustrate wind and solar energy potential in the state of Colorado, with the possibility of remediating contaminated environments on EPA REPower sites within Energy Communities. It is important to consider land ownership, indigenous sovereignty, economic policy at state and federal levels, solar and wind resourcing data, and potential environmental impacts. Qualifying advanced energy projects focus on commercial viability, greenhouse gas impacts, domestic labor/manufacturing, and community engagement.

A federal interagency working group has created the Energy Community initiative, geographic identification of areas for reinvestment as power sources are decarbonized. The EPA has designated contaminated sites with potential remediation efforts of renewable development called REPower sites. The Tribal Government territories of the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain are officially recognized Southwestern Colorado. Solar and wind data is provided by NREL��s archived RE-Atlas. By further honing in on EPA REPower sites within Energy Communities we can affordably remediate contaminated lands while decarbonizing power sources with qualifying advanced energy projects. My research uses multivariate criteria analysis of ethical, economic, policy, and environmental data to make recommendations for the initiative.

Recently passed, the Colorado Clean Energy Plan is a policy mandating Xcel Energy to reduce statewide energy-based carbon emissions 80% by 2030 as compared to 2005 levels. Greenfielding is a term I use to describe geographic areas which contain both the highest wind potentials and the highest solar potentials in their region. Below you will find a map of Colorado I made taking each criteria into account. I successfully defended my Honors thesis on April 8!

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Using spatial data science to improve infectious disease forecasting

Anonymous — Fri, 10 May 2024 16:40:15 +0000

Using spatial data science to improve infectious disease forecasting Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/10/2024 - 10:40

My name is Zhongying Wang. I am currently a third-year PhD student at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where I have had the privilege of immersing myself in the vibrant academic environment of the Geography department. Through advanced coursework, including specialized classes like spatial machine learning and applied deep learning, I have acquired expertise in cutting-edge techniques crucial for my research. Under the mentorship of Dr. Morteza Karimzadeh at the GeoHAI Lab, I've explored areas such as infectious disease forecasting and air pollution downscaling, leveraging my interdisciplinary background to tackle pressing environmental and public health challenges effectively.

My research over the past two years has been focused on improving COVID-19 hospitalization forecasting, a critical component of pandemic response and preparedness. Building upon previous work in COVID-19 case forecasting, I have led the development of predictive models specifically tailored to anticipate hospitalization rates, aiming to better prepare for the virus's impact on healthcare systems. Using data-driven methodologies, particularly deep learning techniques, we have designed a novel Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) framework to forecast daily incident hospitalizations at the state level across the U.S. What sets our work apart is the incorporation of a unique spatiotemporal features, built on data from Facebook's social connectedness dataset. This innovative feature acts as a proxy for population mobility and interaction across state lines, enabling us to effectively capture transmission dynamics across various spatial and temporal scales in our predictive models.

Our involvement in the COVID-19 Forecast Hub, a collaborative initiative, was aimed at putting our research into practice. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) used forecasts submitted to the Forecast Hub, serving as a vital resource for public health authorities and policymakers, furnishing them with essential insights for informed decision-making. Importantly, our model's superior performance during the submission period from February 27, 2022, to June 10, 2023 as evaluated by external researchers at the Forecast Hub, highlights the innovative nature of our models and spatial considerations, in enhancing predictive accuracy for complex public health challenges. By leveraging advanced AI techniques and integrating insights from social media data, our models enrich this collaborative effort by providing actionable insights into hospitalization trends, thereby facilitating targeted interventions to mitigate the spread of the virus and alleviate its impact on communities.

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Does fire beget fire? Nathan Korinek investigates the relationship between fires and previously burned areas in western US forests

Anonymous — Fri, 10 May 2024 16:37:56 +0000

Does fire beget fire? Nathan Korinek investigates the relationship between fires and previously burned areas in western US forests Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/10/2024 - 10:37

My name is Nathan Korinek, and I am finishing my final year as a master��s student in the Geography department. I��ve been working with the Geography department and ��Ƶ��s Earth Lab since 2017. I went from an undergraduate to a research assistant and am now receiving my masters. During my time, I have been working with my amazing advisor, Dr. Jennifer Balch, under an NSF grant focused on compound disturbances (i.e. insect kill, fires, and droughts) in Western US forests. Compound disturbances can have drastic impacts on landscapes and ecosystems, threatening ecosystem changes such as forests dying off or the removal of a species from an ecosystem altogether.

My work for the last few months has studied the effects of compound fires in an area by looking at what happens when a fire burns an area that had been previously burned. Specifically, I was interested in what happens to the fire severity of these reburned areas. Fire severity is a measure for how much change a fire caused in the landscape, ecosystem, and vegetation of a burned area. To quantify this, I used the Composite Burn Index (CBI), which is an on the ground measure of burn severity. CBI data is not widely available and difficult to obtain, so I used a modeled CBI dataset for the Western US developed by Tyler McIntosh at Earth Lab. I combined this with other data sources from FIRED fire boundaries, ERA5 weather data, and more in order to get a complete picture of these reburn events. I found that fires burning in previously burned areas have a lower average severity than fires burning in areas that had not been previously burned.

My thesis work is one small piece of the puzzle when looking at compound disturbances in western US forests. In my time at Earth Lab, I have also contributed to this grant in other ways outside of my thesis. This includes visualizing different disturbances in our study region of the western US, flying drones over burn scars in Colorado in order to help quantify vegetation regrowth, going out into the field and identifying individual plants to label the drone data by plant type, and more. My time at Earth Lab and the Geography department has been filled with amazing colleagues and research opportunities, making it an incredible experience overall. I look forward to continuing my work with Earth Lab this summer!

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Newsletter

Isaac Rivera receives the AAG Digital Geographies Outstanding Dissertation Award

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8 in 10 lizards could be at risk due to deforestation

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David Kimmett: Generations of Geography: Reflecting on a Legacy of Learning at ��������Ƶ GEOG

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Message From the Chair Spring 2024

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Abdalati Visits Washington, D.C. to Advocate for Funding Science

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Keith Musselman Briefs U.S. Congress on Advancing Community-based Research and Knowledge Co-Production in the Arctic

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Geography Hosted its First Dumpling Making Party

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Brandon Brown Defends Honors Thesis Visualizing Renewable Potential in Colorado

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Using spatial data science to improve infectious disease forecasting

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Does fire beget fire? Nathan Korinek investigates the relationship between fires and previously burned areas in western US forests

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David Kimmett: Generations of Geography: Reflecting on a Legacy of Learning at ��Ƶ GEOG