Dr. Tim Warner, a professor within the Geography Program, was bestowed the 2006 Association of American Geographers Remote Sensing Specialty Group Outstanding Contribution Award during the annual meeting held in Chicago this March. This is an annual award given to recognize individuals making significant contributions to the field of remote sensing.
Catalin Demian, a Master's student in the Geography Program, won the Water Resources Specialty Group Graduate Student Poster Competition at the Association of American Geographers (AAG) annual meeting held in March at Chicago.
Dr. Brent McCusker and Dr. Joseph Hodge (History) were awarded an Eberley College ARTS grant in March to research historical land use change in Limpopo, South Africa using Geographic Information Systems. McCusker and Hodge will travel to South Africa in May and June to conduct in-depth field research and will spend July and August collecting archival material. The grant focuses on how knowledge about land use change has been recycled through colonial, apartheid and liberation governments in South Africa.
Franklin Graham, Ph.D. candidate in Geography, was awarded an NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award in May. His research examines the coping strategies of nomadic pastoralists to both short-term (droughts) and long-term (wage labour) changes in Niger. He anticipates leaving for Niger in September and conducting field research over 18 months. Franklin is advised by Dr. McCusker.
Dr. Brent McCusker was awarded an Eberley College Outstanding Teacher Award for the academic year 2005-2006. The award was made by a interdepartmental committee based on his student evaluations. He teaches World Regions (GEOG 102), Georgaphy of Africa (GEOG 243), and Geography of the Middle East (GEOG 244) and Development Geography (GEOG 615) with the philosophy that learning is a process that is facilitated by meaningful and engaging interaction and continuous improvement.