UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Association of American Geographers (AAG) held its annual meeting April 8 to 12 in Tampa, Fla. More than 95 students, faculty and staff from Penn State joined fellow geographers, GIS specialists, environmental scientists, and other leaders for the latest in research and applications in geography, sustainability and GIScience.
“The conference went very well. I found that attending sessions by both Penn State professors and researchers from other schools was very rewarding. It gave me an opportunity to compare research methods and learn about different projects that are being conducted throughout the country and abroad,” said Benjamin Levine, undergraduate student in geography.
The annual AAG conference features more than 4,500 presentations, posters, workshops, and field trips by leading scholars, experts and researchers. The Penn State group was an integral part of the conference and participation included oral and poster and presentations, including a plenary lecture, session chairs, session organizers, panelists and volunteers.
The Department of Geography in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences was well represented at the conference with more than 84 faculty, postdoctoral scholars, graduate and undergraduate students, researchers and staff attending.
Doctoral candidate Arielle Hesse presented the paper “General Understanding of Risk: Gendered Landscapes of Work in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Industry.” Advised by Brian King, associate professor of geography, and by Melissa Wright, professor of geography and women's studies, Hesse discussed the occupational health issues related to the extraction of natural gas in the Marcellus Shale region.
“I am looking at proposed federal regulation aimed at reducing workers' exposure to crystalline silica during the hydraulic fracturing process and the workers' perceptions of those risks. Looking at some of the testimony that was offered at these hearings, I examined the rhetoric used to contest increased regulation by framing workers as critical to the geopolitical security of the U.S.,” said Hesse.
Richard Hinton, a graduate student studying geographic information systems (GIS), presented the paper “Open Source Geospatial Technologies for Vulnerability Assessment and Disaster Risk Reduction.” Advised by Anthony Robinson, lead faculty for online geospatial education, John A. Dutton e-Education Institute, Hinton’s paper discussed how people can form a picture of a community’s vulnerability to earthquakes using free software tools online.