Geography Colloquium

GEOGRAPHY COLLOQUIUM SCHEDULE

Unless otherwise noted, each session will be Friday at 3 pm in the presentation room (Brooks 325).

Sept. 16 (Wednesday @ 3:30 pm) - Dr. Robert Smith, Geographic Consultant, U.S. Department of State (ret.)

 

Oct. 9 - Professional workshop I - Introduction to grant-writing and obtaining outside funding

 

Oct. 23 - Dr. Neil Smith, Professor, Department of Anthropology, City University of New York

 

Oct. 30 - Dr. Jamie Bedison, Post Doctoral Fellow, Department of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Pennsylvania

 

Nov. 6 - Linda Culp, Senior Research Analyst, San Diego Association of Governments

 

Nov. 20 - Student Summit - "Thinking like a Geographer"

 

 

REGIONAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE SEMINARS

RRI seminars are held at WVU's Mountainlair (Student Center) on the downtown campus. A light buffet lunch is served at noon, with presentation to follow from 12:30-1:30 pm.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Speaker: Harvey J. Miller, Professor & Chair
Department of Geography, University of Utah

Place: 325 Brooks Hall, Downtown Campus

Topic: To be announced


Thursday, October 15, 2009

Speaker: Gianfranco Piras, Postdoctoral Research Associate
GeoDa Center, Arizona State University

Place: Greenbrier Room, Mountainlair

Topic: The Journey to Safety: Conflict-Driven Migration Flows in Colombia

Abstract: While there is a growing econometrics literature on the modeling of conflict and the interactions with trade, there has been relatively little evidence modeling the interregional migration behavior of individuals internally displaced by conflicts. The current article models the flows of households forced to leave their residence because of violent conflicts in Colombia. Results shed light on the main determinants of what we call journey to safety. Violence appears to be one of the most relevant pushing effects together with the absence of institutions and the dissatisfaction with the provision of basic needs. Furthermore, for regions with extreme violence levels, individuals appear to be willing to relocate to more distant locations. On the destination side, most populated regions are more attractive as well as areas with a sufficient level of fulfillment of basic needs.