Change and growth
I write this column as State College begins the transition into winter. The days are getting shorter and colder, yet there is much to celebrate. The past year has been full of many events and opportunities, and I am pleased to report that our department continues to change and grow in exciting new areas.
First, four faculty members have joined our department this academic year. All will receive their own highlight in the next newsletter, but this column presents an opportunity to officially welcome them into our community.
Dr. Dani Aiello is an urban geographer with training in urban political economy and theories of critical race and post-colonial studies. Over the last decade, her work has focused on the geographies of housing inequality, especially eviction and rent-burden in North America. She is a member of The Right to Remain research collective, which is working to support tenant organizing and uncovering the history and present of struggles for dispossession in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
Dr. Belén Noroña works at the intersection of grassroots grounded research, decolonization, and transformative justice. She is currently collaborating with rural and Indigenous communities, particularly women in the Amazon rain forest, with particular attention to how social difference is spatialized in human bodies and territories. As her work demonstrates, this assists in shaping complex human-environmental landscapes and territories.
Dr. Victoria Nimmo is a physical geographer whose doctoral research focuses directly on plant trait expression and plant-soil interactions. She has developed and performed environmental science research from the ecosystem to the organismal scale in a range of environments including agricultural fields, greenhouses, boreal forests, and peatlands, and has utilized an array of methodological approaches in support of her research and teaching activities.
Our fourth new faculty member is joining us in January 2024. Dr. Zhenlong Li works in GIScience with a focus on geospatial big data, spatial computing, social media analytics, cyberGIS, and geospatial artificial intelligence (GeoAI). By synthesizing cutting-edge computing technologies, geospatial methods, and spatiotemporal principles, Dr. Li and his research lab aim to accelerate spatial information extraction and advance knowledge discovery to support domain applications such as disaster management, human dynamics, public health, and climate change.
While we celebrate these additions to our faculty, we also celebrate our two retirements. Dr. Bill Easterling, Professor and former Dean of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, retired after a lauded and highly-impactful career at Penn State. Our department and college owe much to his tireless leadership and dedication.
Also retiring is Dr. Todd Bacastow, who served as a Professor of Geography for geospatial intelligence in Penn State’s Dutton e-Education Institute. In addition to his expertise in geospatial technology policy, geospatial information technology governance, and critical infrastructure protection, he was integral in making our online geospatial education programs one of the best in the world.
As is detailed in this newsletter, the department is experiencing change and growth in our physical presence. Thanks to your generous donations, especially from the McCrory Fund, renovations of the second and third floor of Walker have begun. The entry way to the main office will have panels that convey the research diversity of our department. Additionally, new flooring will be installed with an emphasis on our local landscapes that will support our teaching mission. For those of you that fondly remember the topographic map, know that we have carefully removed it and plan an online auction for the pieces in Spring 2024. More details to follow!
There are so many other items to which I could mention; however, since I began with reflection, I should mention the department’s first external review. In April 2023, four leading geographers from outside institutions visited Happy Valley to provide an evaluation for the college and university. In preparation, we spent months conducting an thorough self-assessment with significant data gathering.
In short, the external review was extremely positive, which serves as a reflection of the health and vibrancy of Penn State Geography. I cannot thank you enough, all of you, for helping support our central mission of advancing outstanding research, world-class graduate training, and transformative undergraduate teaching.
As we prepare for the arrive of spring, it is fitting to look both backward and forward, to feel saddened by departures but also excited for new arrivals to our community. I am confident that we are changing and growing in ways that will be exciting to watch.
Sala Kahle (Stay well),
Brian King