August 2011 Archives

The Geography Department is excited to welcome Martin Swobodzinski to the Department! Martin has a two year appointment as Assistant Professor and he will be teaching GIS courses. Martin's general research interests are in geographic information science and behavioral geography. His current research investigates the factors that guide the decision making of individuals in public participation scenarios. Most importantly, his work examines the role of information and decision-support technology as a means to more meaningful participation, better decision-making outcomes, and greater satisfaction of the stakeholders involved in participatory transportation planning. In addition, he has a long standing interest in disability geographies and spatial cognition with an emphasis on computational aspects related to human orientation and navigation without sight.

Sophie Oldfield, president-elect of the Society of South African Geographers
and Eric Sheppard, vice president of the Association of American Geographers.

Go Minnesota!

Starting in Fall 2011, Lorena Muñoz will be joining Geography as a new Assistant Professor.
Lorena is an urban/cultural geographer whose research focuses on the intersections of place, space, gender, sexuality and race. Through qualitative frameworks she examines the production of Latina/o informal economic landscapes in trans-border spaces.

Starting in Fall 2011, Abigail Neely will be joining Geography as a new Assistant Professor. As an historical geographer trained in the nature-society tradition, Abby seeks to explain relationships between the material world (microbes, crops, and economies) and the way people understand that world (as mitigated through culture, knowledge, and experience).