50 Years Young for Geography and Regional Development
Photo: Geographer Paul Robbins doing fieldwork with colleagues in India.
NEW FACES
The past several years have seen a number of new faculty in GRD, including:
• Keiron Bailey is working with colleagues on the $3.5 billion Louisville to Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges project. They gathered data from hundreds of participants in public meetings, which was used to create multidimensional models of community preferences.
• Carl Bauer is recognized for his books on water privatization in Latin America, particularly Chile. The country is on the leading edge of a trend in which water is changed from a human right to a commodity like any other, and this shift in thinking has profound implications for water law and social justice.
• Sandy Dall’erba studies regional economic growth patterns in Europe, especially among the EU countries. He is focusing on different growth policies; in particular, what causes policies to work in some places and not in others, and how can they be more effectively developed and applied.
• Sarah Moore examines the “politics of garbage” in Oaxaca, Mexico, as part of a broader research program on urban ecology. She shows how garbage is the beginning of an entirely new commodity chain with its own peculiar path marked by recycling, reuse and disposal.
• Paul Robbins, a political ecologist, has examined chemical use on suburban lawns in the United States, elk management in Montana, forest product collection in New England, wolf conservation in India, and mosquito management in Arizona — all with the goal of understanding how institutions “think” about nature.
• Christopher Scott, who comes to the University with extensive field experience in Mexico and India, has been recently examining “water stressors” along the U.S.-Mexico border region. He is finding that rapid urban expansion, coupled with climate variability, drives water scarcity and quality deterioration in unique ways.
• Daoqin Tong specializes in spatial statistics and methods of spatial optimization. Her current research examines algorithms for optimizing the placement of cell phone towers and emergency response warnings, with applications to any number of other geographic problems in two dimensions.
• Wim van Leeuwen uses RangeView, a web-based geospatial decision support tool, to analyze and understand post-wildfire erosion, vegetation dynamics, and ecosystem recovery for arid and semi-arid regions around the world.
• Connie Woodhouse is a tree-ring expert whose work has been in the news repeatedly since her arrival last year. She and her colleagues have worked to reconstruct 1600 years of streamflow records on the Colorado River. The research is important to western water managers planning for prolonged drought.
SPOTLIGHT: Scholarships for Geography and Regional Development Students
Local businesses and organizations have stepped up to provide internships and scholarships for geography, regional development and planning students. Below are a few of these scholarships:
George H. Amos Scholarship
This $2,500 scholarship is for a student with an interest in urban growth and development issues who wants to pursue a career in real estate. The scholarship has been awarded to UA students for more than 20 years. The award is in honor of George H. Amos, Sr., who served Tucson Realty & Trust Company for over 60 years, and was funded by donations from Albert W. Gibson, former president of Tucson Realty & Trust Company, and George H. Amos, Jr., former president and chairman of the company.
Selected students participate in an internship at Tucson Realty & Trust Company. The most promising intern receives the scholarship.
George “Hank” Amos, III, current CEO of Tucson Realty & Trust and former president of the Arizona Board of Regents, is pleased that his company can support the UA through internships and the scholarship in his grandfather’s name.
“I’ve always been a big proponent of higher education,” says Amos. “It’s important to have a college degree, but I understand that it’s difficult today with the cost of education getting higher. We are glad of anything we can do, even in a small way, to alleviate some of that burden.”
Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR) Scholarship
This $1,000 scholarship is awarded on a merit basis to students interested in pursuing careers in land development, real estate and the planning of sustainable cities. With more than 2,800 members in 20 countries, SIOR is the world’s leading association of commercial and industrial real estate professionals.
Urban Land Institute (ULI) Scholarship
This $1,000 scholarship is intended to help students seeking careers in the responsible use of land and enhancing and protecting natural and social environments. ULI’s nonpartisan research and education has made it one of the world’s most respected and quoted organizations in urban planning, land use and development.
For more information, contact Lori Harwood at 520-626-3846 • Editor