World Campus graduate, reservist wins award for geospatial intelligence
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — When Lauren Maloney trained in military intelligence with the U.S. Air Force, she was impressed by how much information could be conveyed by geospatial intelligence, which uses images and data to analyze activity in specific locations.
“We typically write reports and use a lot of words to convey a message. With GEOINT you can convey it with images, and the message is so much clearer,” said Maloney, who graduated this year with a master of professional studies in homeland security, geospatial intelligence option, offered online by the Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Sciences and Penn State World Campus. “I fell in love with the whole idea.”
Purple Lizard geographer’s mission to aid outdoor discovery
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — It took a global pandemic to convince many of something Mike Hermann has long known: We are surrounded by some amazing outdoor attractions.
Hermann, founder of the adventure map company Purple Lizard and a 1995 Penn State geography alumnus, said he founded the company after attending the University and realizing how little people knew about the area that surrounds them. Since 1997, he’s parlayed his love of geography and outdoor landscapes into his business venture.
Strengthening connections in a physically distanced world
The coronavirus pandemic may leave faculty, students and colleagues physically distanced, but Jennifer Baka sees the situation as a means for reconnecting.
“The pandemic has given us a chance to reconnect with students in new ways and to help them through a time of transition,” said Baka, assistant professor of geography and associate of the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute. “That’s been a priority.”
Geographers bring expertise on geospatial data, modeling to COVID-19 research
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. — Penn State geographers are taking part in a variety of projects in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Helen Greatrex, Anthony Robinson and Erica Smithwick are among those receiving grants from the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences COVID-19 multi-institute seed grant fund for projects related to social sciences and predictive modeling. Todd Bacastow is convening focus groups within the geospatial intelligence community. Alumni Siddharth Pandey and Rachel Passmore are supporting state and federal responses.
Challenge met: Geography department transitions to remote teaching and learning
Within days of the University's shift to remote learning, faculty, instructors and teaching assistants in the Department of Geography moved 35 resident instruction courses into remote delivery mode to teach 1,947 students.
Geography’s GEMS board representatives strengthen connections to alumni
The Department of Geography has three representatives serving on the Graduates of the Earth and Mineral Sciences (GEMS) board this year: Emily Starin Connor who earned a bachelor of science in 2012 and now works as an associate with CleanCapital; Susan Lechtanski, who earned a bachelor of science in 1997 and now works as a project manager for Penn State Auxiliary and Business Services; and Wendy Zeller Zigaitis, who earned a bachelor of science in 1999 and is currently a doctoral student.
Online dashboard enables COVID-19 tracking by Pennsylvania county
Residents of Pennsylvania can monitor the spread of COVID-19 across the commonwealth with an online dashboard created by researchers at Penn State. The dashboard, which has been available since March 12, provides a map of the state with the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases represented by county.
Updated daily, the dashboard also presents graphics that help to visualize this spread, including ways to look for a “flattening of the curve” that would indicate that our efforts to slow the spread of the virus are working.
Proposals being accepted for ecology research funding
The Ecology Institute announced a call for proposals for its Flower Grant program. The funds aim to support ecology research focused across the institute’s five core themes: resilience and adaptation; provision of ecosystem goods and services; ecology at the interface; rapid evolutionary change; and ecological foundations.
Students keep learning communities alive virtually
The halls and classrooms of Walker Building are empty and silent but undergraduate and graduate students in the Department of Geography are finding ways to connect and support each other during remote learning. The students are holding virtual meetings to provide both academic and social support.
The GIS coalition held a virtual meeting on Friday, March 27, using Zoom, and the graduate students have organized several virtual spaces: Monday afternoon Zoom Coffee Break, Zoom Wednesday Club and the Bad Latitudes Chat Channel on Microsoft Teams.
First-generation student pursues passion for geography
First-generation college student Sara Maholland is not afraid to take a leap into the unknown.
“I used to be afraid, but now I ask, ‘What’s the worst that can happen?’, and usually it’s that someone says ‘no,’” she explains.
The native of Morgantown, Pennsylvania, with a population of fewer than 1,500, has made several leaps into the unknown to arrive where she is today, as a junior geography major in Penn State's College of Earth and Mineral Sciences on the path toward a career in natural disaster management. The Penn State Office for Summer Session’s Student Transitional Experience Program, or STEP, has played an instrumental role in Maholland’s journey.
“STEP was amazing,” she says. “The program provided terrific opportunities to network with other students, get ahead in my coursework and just become comfortable on campus.”