WHAT’S INSIDE

2 From the Chair department of STUDENT PROFILES 4 Tony Liu 7 Adeyemi Olatunde 10 Maia Call 10 Pavithra Vasudevan 11 Lily Herbert

GEOGRAPHY ALUMNI PROFILES 2 Dr. E. Joan Miller SPRING 2016 3 Dr. William E. Easterling, III 8 David Crawford

FACULTY PROFILES 6 Erika Wise 8 Charles E. Konrad

NEWS & HIGHLIGHTS 5 Faculty & External Grants 7 Undergraduate 7 Graduate Student External Grants

This newsletter is produced by the Information Committee, which consists of faculty members Banu Gökarıksel (Co-Chair and Editor), Jun Liang (Co-Chair), Steve Birdsall, Christian Lentz, and graduate student Chris Jones.

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Profit Non department of department Liu, studying abroad at the National and spreads in Africa. This newsletter for their FROM University of Singapore; Lily Herbert, highlights two PhD students, Pavithra financial focusing her studies on the former Vasuvedan and Maia Call. Pavithra’s support. We Soviet Union, and Adeyemi Olatunde, project focuses on environmental depend on alumni the CHAIR striving to make cities sustainable using justice in Warren County, North and friends like geographic information systems meth- Carolina. Maia’s research is further you to help meet our ever-increasing ods. The ways we teach at UNC are afield, focusing on relationships be- needs. Your gift to the Department Arriving in Chapel Hill 10 changing with innovative classrooms tween environmental degradation and of Geography can help us meet many and teaching methods that engage stu- household livelihoods in rural Uganda. years ago, I’ve grown to love the goals. Online giving is easy and secure: dents through technology and experi- And we feature three of our alumni log onto geography.unc.edu/make-a- university, the community, and ential learning, described in the feature in this newsletter: David Crawford, a gift-to-geography/ for information our beautiful campus. on Professor Erika Wise. Professor 2012 graduate from our joint degree and links. You can use the envelope Chip Konrad’s work as Director of the program with the National University attached to this newsletter as well. I’m pleased to bring to you this first NOAA Southeast Regional Climate of Singapore who received a Master’s Please feel free to email or call me to annual newsletter highlighting the Center, housed in our department, is degree in International Development talk about our programs. And if you impressive work of undergraduate also featured. This center provides a and worked with the United Nations are ever in Chapel Hill, please visit us. and graduate students and faculty, valuable service to the public and pres- on refugee issues; Dr. Bill Easterling, as well as reports on three alumni. I ents opportunities for our students to currently Dean at Pennsylvania State hope you will also visit our website contribute to climate science. University and co-recipient of a Nobel regularly (geography.unc.edu) for Peace Prize; and Dr. Joan Miller, a Our graduate students are studying updates on the exciting work of our generous alumna from the depart- such diverse topics as climate impacts students and faculty. ment’s earliest years. on human migration, the political ecol- Michael Emch This newsletter highlights three ex- ogy of oil extraction in South America, The Department of Geography is Professor and Chair, ceptional undergraduate majors: Tony and how drug resistant malaria forms grateful to its alumni and friends UNC-CH Department of Geography

that freedom to develop my hypothesis.” DR. E. JOAN MILLER Miller and Eyre kept in touch, and he encouraged Leaving a legacy of love for Chapel Hill her in the 1960s to ask ISU for the promotion and By Mary Moorefield tenure she deserved, citing her published works. “He gave me enough courage to stand up,” she said. “It was because he was so You might leave Chapel Hill, but clubs,’ where we just sit on the stone accomplishments included many understanding: in fact, he was a flying Dr. E. Joan Miller can attest that wall and chat and take life slowly.” publications, notably two articles buttress that supported me.” about the Ozark Mountains in Born in England, Miller, now 93, is an Chapel Hill never leaves you. the Annals of the Association of Eyre also prompted her to give back to Y emerita professor of geography with the University and the College of Arts Miller spent two years at UNC American Geographers. “These came Illinois State University in Normal, and Sciences. With deep appreciation of completing her Ph.D. in geography from the Ph.D. dissertation at UNC, Ill. She retired as a tenured full- her experience, she has designated part in 1965 and developed a deep love for completed in 1965,” Miller said. professor after a 31-year-career and of her estate to Carolina for geography the school and the town that she still teaching 9,000 students. She travelled Miller touts the acceptance and scholarships to be used in ways that carries. extensively and did field work in the influence of Carolina’s first chair benefit the students most. “My two years in Chapel Hill were the U.S. and Europe. Her professional of the department of geography, Dr. Michael Emch, professor and chair of happiest time of my life, truly,” she Doug Eyre as a driving force in her geography, admires Miller’s contribution said. “Everybody was so welcoming, career and devotion to the University. MY TWO YEARS IN CHAPEL to the University. encouraging and happy … and slower. His acceptance of her hypothesis that You had time to sit and talk to people. HILL WERE THE HAPPIEST folklore material of the Ozarks can be “Dr. Miller devoted all of her life to It was a different culture, a different TIME OF MY LIFE, TRULY. used as historical evidence allowed geographic education,” he said. “Her way of life.” She fondly recalled this —Dr. E. Joan Miller Miller to pursue her research. “He life is an inspiration to all geography culture as being one of “‘stone wall took an interest. He let me have all educators.”

2 Scholar & co-recipient of Nobel Peace Prize WILLIAM E. EASTERLING By Dr. Steve Birdsall, Geography faculty

Those of us who remember Dr. William (Bill) E. Easterling from the days when he was in the Department of Geography pursuing one of his degrees at Carolina GEOGRAPHY IS A T(B.A. 1976, M.A. 1980, Ph.D. 1984) are not surprised at the array of professional DISCIPLINE THAT LETS achievements and recognitions he has accrued. But the scope and scale of ONE PEEL BACK ALL THE accomplishments were not something we could anticipate. ASSUMPTIONS OF CURRENT THINKING AND ANTICIPATE With more than 100 scholarly as Dean of the College of Earth and WHAT IS AHEAD. publications, as many lectures at the Mineral Sciences in 2007. Before —Dr. William Easterling national level including testimony and arriving at Penn State, among other briefings in front of U.S. House and positions he was Interim Director U.S. Senate committees, plus three of the National Institute for Global dozen presentations at international Environmental Change, Director of will find familiar. Initially a history Robinson, received a large multi-year venues, Bill has also been the Principal the Great Plains Regional Center major as an undergraduate, he says grant and began looking for a research Investigator or co-PI on more than two for Global Environmental Change, he discovered geography when he assistant, Bill’s facility with statistics dozen research grants. And that is only a Fellow in the Climate Resources happened to take a course taught by and quantitative reasoning made him a the beginning! Program at Resources for the Future, John Florin. After another course natural choice. and held several staff research with Florin and then more from other This series of serendipitous A faculty member at The Pennsylvania positions at the National Academy faculty in the department, he was interactions at UNC led Bill into State University since 1997, he served of Sciences/National Research soon a double major in history and a field in which his scholarly and as Director of the Penn State Institutes Council. Even setting aside his geography. “I began to realize that interpersonal talents could flourish. As of Energy and the Environment from scholarly activities, several features geography was the perfect discipline he put it recently, “Geography allows us 2001 to 2007 before his appointment of this series of responsibilities stand to bring together complex human to study human aspirations and human out. Bill is adept at leadership and and environmental interactions. activities as they relate to the scientific management. He makes the groups Being fluent in the languages of many study of the environment. Geography with which he works function better. disciplines dealing with humans OVER 100 SCHOLARLY is a discipline that lets one peel back all 100 He was Coordinating Lead Author on and the environment has proven to PUBLICATIONS the assumptions of current thinking two IPCC Assessment Reports, the be especially useful and important.” and anticipate what is ahead.” A MORE THAN 136 NATIONAL AND second one addressing food security His path into climate science was 136 serious scholar committed to work on INTERNATIONAL PRESENTATIONS and climate change and earning him a not direct, apparently. He worked some of the biggest questions facing share of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. with Barry Moriarty on his Master’s 24 PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR FOR thesis which dealt with aspects of the earth’s future, the Department of MORE THAN TWO DOZEN GRANTS Easterling’s path toward becoming industrial location. But when the Geography is proud to claim him as one a geographer was one that many department’s climatologist, Peter of its alumni.

3 Q AMONG OTHER UNIVERSITIES Q AMONG OTHER MAJORS AT YOU APPLIED TO, WHY DID UNC, WHY DID YOU CHOOSE YOU CHOOSE UNC-CH? GEOGRAPHY? TONY LIU I chose UNC-CH for the There are so many reasons to choose strong sense of community Geography at UNC. I love the depart- and place I experienced when ment and the faculty; each professor From Utah to Singapore visiting during high school. has gone out of their way to challenge Its location within North Carolina and support the students, and I have and the South pushes us to challenge learned a tremendous amount from A distinguished student and geography major from Utah, Tony ourselves and improve outcomes each course. Geography’s inter-dis- Liu’s undergraduate experiences reach far beyond Carolina Hall, for society. I love meeting people ciplinary nature prevents students throughout North Carolina and from getting complacent in one from DJ-ing with WXYC 89.3 to interning in California with A hearing about their local communi- specific focus and helps catalyze a the solar energy company Sungevity. He is now studying abroad ties, stories, and experiences; it adds realization that learning is broad and at the National University of Singapore where he is a presti- another element to the educational deep, not limited to a singular realm. environment. Also, the people are Finally, what is more relevant than gious Philips Ambassador. In the following interview, edited for kind and many are driven by the Geography, as we humans can only length, Liu reflects on why he chose to study here, what he has pursuit of intellectual ideas, values, exist on this planet? From spatial learned, and where it takes him. and a commitment to learning over analysis to reflecting on space and extrinsic motivations. place and scale, geography provides a powerful toolbox to understand the By Dr. Christian Lentz, Geography Faculty world and critically reflect upon our experiences within it.

GEOGRAPHY MAJOR TONY LIU AT THE NATIONAL MOSQUE OF MALAYSIA IN KUALA LUMPUR.

4 Q WHAT DO YOU BRING TO GIS have a variety of job prospects GEOGRAPHY AT UNC? HOW HAS whether they be governmental, busi- News & STUDYING GEOGRAPHY HERE ness, or academic. Finally, I believe INFLUENCED YOU? studying geography catalyzes a sense Highlights of empathy and humanism—a neces- DEPT. I bring my identities and experienc- sary ability to learn about the modern es to the program and a willingness world from a variety of perspectives. to engage in dialogue and healthy SHARE YOUR NEWS! Please visit geography.unc.edu for more news and dissent to the classroom. Studying IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE Q profiles of geography faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate geography has influenced me not only YOU’D LIKE TO TELL US students and send us an email at [email protected] to share your news. by teaching the structures and forces ABOUT YOURSELF AND that inform our existences, but also by YOUR EXPERIENCES AS A refining my critical thinking and con- GEOGRAPHER? tributing to my capacity to learn in a rapidly changing 21st century world. Studying Geography at UNC-CH is general tantamount to embarking on an ad- WHERE DOES A UNC GEOGRAPHY venture of self-reflection and growth Q MAJOR TAKE YOU, NOW AND IN that makes university education Geography building renamed CAROLINA HALL by the UNC Board THE FUTURE? meaningful. It has been one of the of Trustees in 2015—“a move that trustees said was necessary to few defining elements of my time at correct the “error” that University trustees made in 1920 when Studying geography at UNC opens a UNC-CH, and I could not be more they recognized William L. Saunders’ leadership in the Ku Klux variety of doors. It expands critical grateful for the field of study, the de- Klan as a qualification for naming a building in his honor.” thinking and the capacity to learn. In partment, and most importantly, the READ MORE unc.edu/spotlight/trustees-adopt-comprehensive- terms of skills, students focusing on people within the discipline. approach-to-curating-and-teaching-campus-history

faculty GENERAL

ERIKA WISE served as a member of the Association of American Geographer’s delegation to to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21) taking place in Paris, France, during the first two weeks of December 2015.

LARRY BAND was elected a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). This honor is given to individual AGU members who have made exceptional scientific contributions and attained acknowledged eminence in the fields of earth and space sciences.

ELIZABETH OLSON was awarded Student Undergraduate Teaching Award (SUTA) in 2015. SUTAwere established in 1989 by a student referendum. SUTA is funded entirely by student fees to provide monetary awards to exemplary professors and teaching assistants. The final selection of winners is made by the SUTASA committee, which is composed entirely of members of the undergraduate student body.

Our faculty and students PUBLISH BOOKS AND PAPERS in the top academic journals, which you can learn about here: geography.unc.edu/research/faculty-and-student-publications. If you would like a copy of any of these papers then please contact the department and we will send copies to you.

5 Department News & Highlights, continued… ERIKA EXTERNAL GRANTS

Our students have incredible opportunities because our talented WISE faculty are successful at obtaining competitive external funds to conduct interesting research projects. Undergraduate and graduate students are actively involved in all of these federally funded projects. Many more not listed here are funded by UNC- DR. ERIKA WISE TEACHING HER COURSE “BLUE PLANET” IN THE INTERACTIVE CLASSROOM. CH and private external funding sources as well. to consider the science of issues—cli- SARA SMITH Education-Driven Urban Migration, Himalayan Innovation mate change, for example—about which Youth, and Future Aspirations in India, National Science many would have some knowledge and Foundation. in teaching differing views in a setting that allowed safe encounters with the material and MICHAEL EMCH Finding Safe Drinking Water for Banglasdeh: each other. Tube Wells, Storage, and Diarrhea, National Science By Dr. Steve Birdsall, Geography Faculty Foundation; Spatio-temporal Patterns of Drug Resistant As someone who studies hydrocli- Malaria in Democratic Republic of Congo, National Science mate--the linked water and atmospher- Foundation. Students in the large introductory physical geography class swiveled in ic systems—Wise is keenly aware of the connectivity among Earth systems. ELIZABETH HAVICE Tracking Mobile Marine Species: Spatial their seats to watch Dr. Wise as she Data, Visualization, and the Science-Policy Interface, walked among their tables, microphone Because this connectivity is a primary S theme of the class, she incorporates National Science Foundation. and computer tablet in hand. She was introducing the complexities of ocean certain areas of her research that take CLARK GRAY Economic Well-being in the Aftermath of the currents and their impact on coastlines, the students beyond the textbook ma- Indian Ocean Tsunami, National Institutes of Health; Soil and she challenged the students to use terial to include case studies on El Nino Degradation and Household Well-being in Rural Uganda, the science they just learned to address and paleoclimates. These topics are not National Science Foundation; Measuring Resilience to a recent legal dispute between North only important for the class content, but Seasonal Hunger, National Institutes of Health; Climate Carolina beachfront landowners and students find them compelling. Population Health and Well being over Time, National State regulations affecting beach main- Institutes of Health. tenance. Small group discussions took BANU GÖKARIKSEL The Role of Religion in Public Life in place at each table leading to a range of THERE’S NO DOUBT THAT Turkey Today, National Science Foundation. decisions regarding beach erosion and nourishment. Each group’s decision STUDENTS ARE MORE LARRY BAND Restoration, Redevelopment, Revitalization was projected on the room’s walls where ENGAGED IN THE CLASS AND and Nitrogen in a Coastal Watershed, National Science the entire class could see, leading to a ATTENDANCE IS BETTER. Foundation; Designing Robust & Adaptive Water wide-ranging discussion by the entire —Dr. Erika Wise Management Strategies in Regions Transitioning from class. The flexible seating and comput- Abundance to Scarcity, National Science Foundation; er-assisted projections were possible CyberSEES: Type 2: A New Framework for Crowd-Sourced in this large class because the recently Green Infrastructure Design; Increasing Diversity and Students appear to enjoy the style and renovated interactive lecture hall had Enhancing Academia (IDEA): Leveraging Resources to flow of the room as well as the variety been designed for flexibility, small group Increase Participation of Underrepresented Minority of pertinent topics and applications. Students in Geosciences, National Science Foundation. discussions, and engaged learning. Increased active engagement during When she arrived at UNC, Wise decided the class period is apparent, with more GABRIELA VALDIVIA Crude Entanglements: Native to make adjustments to the way she feeling free to ask and answer ques- Amazonian and Afro-Ecuadorian Experiences with a Post- would be teaching the department’s tions and with greater interaction with Neoliberal Oil Complex, National Science Foundation. foundational course in physical geogra- those around them during the small group activities. Wise also indicated ERIKA WISE Multi-Site Paleo-Reconstruction of Missouri phy. She began a process of integrating her appreciation of the options she had River Streamflows from Tree Ring Data, National Science into her lectures the problem-based, in the new lecture hall compared to Foundation; Detection of long-term variability in storm hands-on learning representative of tracks using seasonally resolved tree-ring isotope records: field research and laboratory learning. more traditional seating arrangements. Implications for hydroclimatic change in the U.S. Pacific Through a series of teaching innova- “There is no doubt that students are Northwest, National Science Foundation. tions now possible in the new interac- more engaged in the class and atten- tive lecture hall, she is bringing students dance is better.”

6 CONGHE SONG, The Effects of China’s Grain for Green ADEYEMI Reforestation Program on the Dynamics of Coupled Natural-Human Systems in Rural China, National Science Foundation. OLATUNDE CHARLES KONRAD, Southeast Regional Climate Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). By Katharine Mather, Geography Major undergraduate While international migration is a subject of study in many geography classes at UNC, few students can speak from such personal Wexperience as Adeyemi Olatunde. Having spent the first half of his TAYLOR NELSEN, a geography major, won the first place in the map competition on our annual GIS Day. Nelsen’s maps life in Lagos, Nigeria, Olatunde moved to London at age 11. When the were about food deserts of Newport News, Virginia. opportunity to study in the US emerged, Olatunde seized it. READ MORE geography.unc.edu/files/2015/11/nelsen_map1.jpg

Geography major CARRIE HAMILTON received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experience for Undergraduates award in May 2015. The award supported Carrie’s summer research in Ecuador, where she is conducting an independent project, under the supervision of Dr. Valdivia, on “Oil Drilling and Industry in Kichwa Lagos London Carolina Communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon.”

Geography major and Morehead-Cain scholar JAMES ELSMOOR researched and reported on Kiribati’s move to purchase land in Fiji as a climate change adaptation strategy as part of his larger senior thesis on small island states. After researching the purchase, visiting the land and Having applied to study geography in the UK (where applicants must apply to interviewing local inhabitants, he reports on the complexity study a specific subject), he “decided to keep doing geography since I enjoyed it but of climate change politics. His findings, which have been I was very excited to explore different topics.” His initial plan was only to minor in published in the Development Policy Centre blog and picked geography at UNC. But after taking an urban geography class, Olatunde knew “that up by Radio New Zealand, reveal that the land purchase has geography was meant to be my major and cities were meant to be my interest.” brought attention to the plight of small island states and Despite coming from a country where “geography is a common topic and their citizens that stand to be greatly impacted by rising sea is far from unusual,“ the relatively small size of the geography department levels and warming ocean temperatures. offers Olatunde opportunity to connect with professors and classmates and to “bring an international viewpoint” into conversations that open “a much better understanding of how people interact with their world.” For Olatunde, these conversations are increasingly centered on cities, where his international graduate background is especially relevant.

While an interest in cities could find a variety of focuses within geography, Olatunde is most excited about developing a more analytical approach he PAVITHRA VASUDEVAN (Searching in Aluminum’s Shadows: discovered while taking an introductory GIS course. He hopes to bring these Black Geographies, and Industrial Toxicity in North newfound research and analytical skills into other social science fields. “This is Carolina), MAGGIE SUGG (Climate-Health Vulnerability: what makes geography impactful, the flexibility that it gives you mixed with the Identifying Climate Thresholds for Heat-Related Illness), right amount of specialization is vital to the way I want to lead my life.” In summer and MABEL GERGAN (Young lives, Indigeneity and Technocracy 2016, these skills will come in handy when Olatunde will work with Habitat for in the Eastern Himalayas) were awarded National Science Humanity in Atlanta. Afterwards, and into the future, it is this type of experience Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Olatunde hopes to replicate: working in diverse communities while using his grants. CHRISTOPHER NEUBERT, CHRIS JONES, and SARA SCHMITT “expertise to support sustainable growth, which can occur through multiple received competitive fellowships from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program. avenues such as health, education, or transportation.”

For now, Olatunde looks forward to finishing his geography major though, he admits, geography may be competing for time with his newly discovered passion: varsity fencing. On guard!

7 CHARLES E. KONRAD Serving the region By Dr. Banu Gökarıksel, Geography faculty through the Climate Center

When a storm approaches the Southeastern Even though there is a lot of Konrad has long been interested in a United States, phones start ringing at the South- information out there on these topics, variety of things. As an undergraduate, what he does as a geographer is to he indulged interests in meteorology, eastW Regional Climate Center (SERCC) at UNC-CH. provide a context for making sense geology, and maps by majoring in Amidst the thunder’s rumbling, geography faculty member Dr. of weather events and understanding several different fields. As he put Charles (Chip) E. Konrad faces a storm of questions: “What do the controversial topic of climate it, he was already a geographer but change. Always a geographer, simply did not know it yet. Towards you think is going to happen?” “Are storms becoming more fre- Konrad’s position as SERCC’s the end of his masters degree he quent?” “Is this flooding normal?” As director of SERCC, Konrad director has given him a “second life” came to realize that geography explains that one of SERCC’s missions is to answer questions that complements his first one as brought together all of his interests— scholar and teacher. from environmental science and from the public about weather and climate. geophysics to atmospheric sciences

For David Crawford, traveling has long been a part of life. DAVID CRAWFORD FAsked where he calls home, Crawford’s first response is UNC-Chapel Hill —National University of Singapore dual “that is a hard question for me” degree in Geography launches an internationally focused life before listing several places. Unsurprisingly, his path By Katharine Mather, Geography Major from UNC-CH to his current home in Brooklyn has been a diverse set of locations and experiences. Crawford, upon applying for college, was looking for a university that featured a strong geography program, a wide-ranging study abroad program, and flexibility. Chapel Hill met all these criteria. Crawford’s first international experience came from living in Singapore as part of completing the dual degree program in geography from UNC-CH and the National University of Singapore (the program requires spending a minimum of one year studying in DAVID CRAWFORD WHO GRADUATED IN 2012 WITH A UNC-CHAPEL HILL AND NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE JOINT DEGREE IN GEOGRAPHY AT SARAJEVO, BOSNIA.

8 and climatology. Now he sees Service guide SERCC’s overall differently. One project in North geography’s importance extending direction. The center does many Carolina assesses geographical beyond the study of complex things from conducting climate variations in people’s vulnerability to weather events and climate-related research and providing regional heat and how these variations play phenomena to encompass insights climate data to fielding questions out across different demographic into what people are thinking and developing web-based tools that and socioeconomic groups. Such and worrying about as well as translate raw climate data into useful information has real and immediate encouraging them to take action on applications. In his role as SERCC’s applicability: given a heat wave, for important matters. director, Konrad interacts with all example, the analysis can be used to manner of people, such as politicians, predict where and how many people As director of one of six regional community groups, journalists, and will have go to the emergency room. climate centers in the U.S. researchers. He took part in the Far beyond weather alone, the project (established in 1989), Konrad National Climate Assessment of aids in providing public health oversees SERCC’s mission to provide 2012 and his 2014 analysis of tornado services when and where needed and timely, high quality, and pertinent vulnerability attracted the attention stands to influence policy directly. climate data and information to of journalists nation-wide. This is why Konrad describes his public and private users in the tenure as SERCC’s director as his region. Based at UNC-CH, SERCC Among Konrad’s many research “second life.” As a scholar and teacher, serves Alabama, Florida, Georgia, interests, one area of particular he values the fast-paced learning at North Carolina, South Carolina, passion concerns how climate SERCC. Just as importantly, as an Virginia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. affects public health. This includes outreach specialist, he appreciates Virgin Islands. The National Centers analyzing the effects of extreme the opportunity SERCC provides for Environmental Information heat and precipitation, which vary for generating data and information and the National Environmental geographically but also impact that directly serves the people of the Satellite, Data, and Information various economic sectors and groups region and the U.S.

my eyes in ways words cannot that studied engineering or business.” THIS EXPERIENCE do justice,” states Crawford. The Such clients include the UN, US project culminated in an academic a UN agency on government, and leading electronics OPENED MY EYES IN journal article published in 2014 and evaluating refugee and IT companies. WAYS WORDS CANNOT jointly written with the department’s camp access to Crawford’s current goals include “to own Dr. Nina Martin who supervised the Internet and broadband DO JUSTICE. better understand humanitarian his research and honors thesis. services.” Drawing on his GIS skills and international experience has technologies and how humanitarian In the meantime, allowed him to work well with organizations can better operate and Singapore). His highlight of the Crawford completed diverse and global teams. leverage technological innovations program was his senior honors an internship in Now living in New York via to meet the demands and challenges thesis that spanned into a two-year Hungary before Washington DC, Crawford of globalization” and to travel. Since research project. Focusing on Dhaka, gaining a masters works in management entering UNC, he has travelled to Bangladesh, the project centered degree in International consulting at the firm Accenture. over 45 different countries and last on migrant-led NGOs and how Development from the University of Here, Crawford has been able to year alone flew 60,000 miles- not organizations can better operate to Manchester in the United Kingdom put his geography skills to unique that we’re keeping score! serve migrant communities. “This (that’s now five countries if you’ve use. “I believe my Geography experience opened been counting!). One of Crawford’s background has allowed me to most exciting work experiences understand my clients and their MY GEOGRAPHY since graduation problems in a more holistic way as BACKGROUND was “working with compared to my peers HAS ALLOWED ME TO UNDERSTAND MY CLIENTS IN A MORE HOLISTIC WAY AS COMPARED TO MY PEERS.

9 MAIA CALL By Chris Jones, Graduate Student

Geography’s breadth and depth captured Maia Call when she was as an undergraduate at UNC Chapel Hill. Taking Ggraduate level courses encouraged her to explore her research interests even further. Now a graduate student at UNC, Call is a population-environment geographer who examines relationships between environmental factors, social determinants, and rural livelihoods in the Global South. PAVITHRA VASUDEVAN Engaged scholarship and participatory research on environmental justice

GEOGRAPHY GRADUATE STUDENT MAIA CALL CONDUCTING FIELD RESEARCH IN RURAL UGANDA.

Her research fits into larger When not in class or in front of her By Chris Jones, Graduate Student debates around climate change computer, Call enjoys a range of and environmental degradation, professional, exercise, and service particularly in the global south where activities. She attends conferences projections forecast the largest changes and workshops in order to learn Pavithra Vasudevan became interested in environmental and and impacts due to climate change. about intellectual communities social injustice when she learned about the caste system and beyond the university and to build Her dissertation project unearths the disparity in human value as a child in India. relationships and collaborations. P the relationship between soil quality Running, yoga, and gardening and livelihood decision making in rejuvenate her and help her “This notion, that human beings geography due to its long history Uganda. Her project draws on earlier focus. Maia serves as a Science can be valued so differently of integrating ecological sciences work on child poverty, climate change, Olympiad mentor for local middle that some are literally forced with socio-political critique. Her and migration in Bangladesh and on school students. She is also the to scavenge amidst waste and projects have been funded by a communal grazing, forest cover, and graduate liaison for undergraduate come to be considered waste National Science Foundation social capital in Uganda. Her goal is research, a role where she helps themselves, profoundly disturbed Doctoral Dissertation Research to understand the local population’s younger students pursue research me then and drives my work Improvement Grant, the Pruitt ability to adapt to change and then opportunities. She volunteers today.” After completing her Dissertation Fellowship from the use this information to influence at Table NC, an organization undergraduate degree, she Society of Women Geographers, sustainable development in the given dedicated to providing healthy worked in New York for 7 years a Community Engagement locale. By combining sophisticated food to hungry local children. as a professional dancer and a Fellowship from the Carolina modeling methods, large scale Through it all, Call’s commitment youth worker developing school Center for Public Service, and a longitudinal data, and remotely sensed to geography has only grown: after empowerment programs and seed grant from the UNC-Chapel environmental data, her research graduation, she plans on becoming curricula for high school girls. Hill Graduate Certificate in promises not only to advance scholarly a professional researcher at an When she returned to graduate Participatory Research. inquiry but also to generate solutions to institute or university where she school to pursue a MA and pressing problems. Vasudevan’s research focuses on hopes to train the next generation PhD in order to be able to teach how race and waste are closely of geographers. at the college level, she chose

10 Exploring the LILY world and finding herself: Spatial HERBERT Links between Home and the By Katharine Mather, Geography Major former USSR

“I had no idea there was a of geography for giving her “a solid PAVITHRA VASUDEVAN, A GRADUATE STUDENT, RECORDING A COMMEMORATIVE GATHERING IN WARREN foundation in world history, politics, COUNTY, NC. ‘THE BIRTHPLACE OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE.’ department of geography and economics.” This foundation has Iwhen I started at UNC” says enabled Herbert to connect the local senior Lily Herbert. Like to the global, the individualistic to the associated in capitalism. She uses systematic, both of which help her find research methods that involve many geography majors, the world in herself. the collaboration of affected THIS NOTION, THAT Herbert happened upon the communities in order to tell a HUMAN BEINGS CAN BE major when she took her Key to Herbert’s experience is more complete and compelling geographic approaches to power story of environmental VALUED SO DIFFERENTLY first geography course, a and “how physical space influences injustice and racism. One of THAT SOME ARE LITERALLY first-year seminar on space, its distribution and exercise.” her primary research methods FORCED TO SCAVENGE identity, and power in the Understanding power from the is called “critical/performance perspective of geography has made AMIDST WASTE AND Middle East taught by Dr. Engaged scholarship and participatory ethnography” that understands COME TO BE CONSIDERED her, in her own words, “ more aware research as a rich sensory Banu Gökarıksel. “Courses of how the world works and has given WASTE THEMSELVES, encounter between people in geography at UNC me the tools to comprehend and rooted in dialogue. Her current PROFOUNDLY DISTURBED define my place in it.” This knowledge incorporated an element of dissertation research uses ME THEN AND DRIVES has allowed Herbert to connect her collaborative ethnographic MY WORK TODAY. spatial analysis that I found background with her experiences in methods and archival research. In missing in other globally the former Soviet Union as she is able this work she is documenting the to “understand the power dynamics focused social science history of Badin, North Carolina, that shape everyday situations in the a segregated company town Black communities have had in courses I took,” adds Herbert. US, Russia, and Central Asia.” While for Alcoa workers in aluminum the rural South that are often she was born and raised in Raleigh, she production since 1915. This is destroyed by contamination, and Now a global studies and geography sees her home connected to the other a site of ongoing contestation made invisible in mainstream double major, Herbert has used side of the world. These connections over environmental and human environmentalism.” When she geography to compliment and have enabled her “to build relationships toxicity. showed the film at the North expand what she learns in other with people of other cultures and Carolina Environmental Justice learn from them while simultaneously During her Masters research, she courses. The way geography looks at Summit in 2013, she found that realizing more about myself and my produced a film in collaboration the intersection of systems, whether Rev. Kearney’s vision of a future own background and culture.” with Rev. William Kearney that they are political or economic, has of well-being rather than waste narrates the environmental been the most eye-opening element resonated profoundly with the history of Warren County as an of geography for Herbert, whose audience, composed primarily autobiography. interests (and travels) now focus of communities from across on the former Soviet Union and North Carolina struggling against international education. Herbert THIS WORK CAN BE FOUND AT environmental racism, and credits the systematic approach VIMEO.COM/115070233 inspired others to tell their stories as well. Therefore, she sees this type of methodology “not only According to Vasudevan, “the making research relevant to the film tells the story not only of larger public, but allowing for how Warren County was dumped richer intellectual production that on, but of the complex and rich extends beyond academic walls.” environmental relations that

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