What's New Among Faculty
Prof. Christopher A. Williams was involved in a live radio broadcast of Locus Focus (KBOO-FM out of Portland, OR) where he discussed the current severe drought conditions being experienced throughout many parts of North America in the context of historic droughts, and the role that climate change is playing in the intensification of extreme weather events.
Prof. Alex Gardner led an international team of scientists that determined the global contribution of glaciers to sea level rise. The team used satellite data from the NASA’s Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) and Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) missions and field observations to show that glacier wastage accounted for 30% of the observed sea level rise between 2003 and 2009, an amount comparable the sea level contribution from the much larger ice sheets.
Prof. Alex Gardner was interviewed by Al Jazeera's Tarek Bazely and explains the findings of his recent research on global glacier contributions to sea level rise which was published in the prestigious journal Science on May 17th, 2013.
Prof. Jim Murphy was recently appointed to the Editorial Board of the journal Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers and in February 2013 he held a one-month Distinguished Visiting Fellowship at Queen Mary University, London (UK). In April 2013 he gave an invited presentation at Cornell University’s Institute for African Development as part of a Symposium titled: Growth, Poverty, and Inequality: Confronting the Challenges of a Better Life for all in Africa.
Prof. Kulakowski testified about his and his students’ research before a subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation of the Committee on Natural Resources of the United States House of Representatives in Washington D.C.
Prof. Kulakowski has been awarded $170,000 from the National Science Foundation for a project titled "Spruce Beetle and Wildfire Interactions Under Varying Climate in the Rockies"
Prof. Yuko Aoyama has been invited as one of nine social scientists nationwide to serve on the NSF panel on Interdisciplinary Behavioral and Social Science Research (IBSS). It is a competition conducted by the NSF Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences to promote and support interdisciplinary research by teams of investigators in the social and behavioral sciences.
Prof. Anthony Bebbington was invited by the School of Advancement at the University of London to speak about Mining and Development in the Andes: Alternative Strategies for Mining-Based Economies.
Prof. Anthony Bebbington has recently published a book with Instituto de Estudios Peruanos/Centro Peruano de Estudios Sociale (Lima, 2013), titled Industrias Extractivas, Conflicto Social y Dinamicas Institutionales en la Region Andina.
Publicity:
Entrevista en RPP TV:“The relationship between extractive industries and social conflict” - Interview on national news channel RPP
Entrevista con Javier Torres en La Mula:“Social conflicts can change the rules of the game” – Interview with La Mula
La Prensa:“The ‘Dog in the Manger syndrome’ and the lessons of social conflicts” – Interview with La Prensa
Prof. Chris Williams communicated elements of the recent paper on droughts in the American West as an Opinion piece in the NYTimes, during an interview with Tom Ashbrook on NPR’s On-Point, and in the NYTime’s Dot Earth Blog maintained by Andrew Revkin. This work also initiated a local TV news spotlight with New England Cable News.
The following two proposals submitted by Prof. Karen Frey have been recommended for funding: NSF Office of Polar Programs, Arctic Observing Network Program (2012 – 2017): $2,304,973- "Collaborative Research: The Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO) – A Change Detection Array in the Pacific Arctic Region" with J. Grebmeier (Lead PI, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory), K. Frey (PI, Clark University), R. Pickart (PI, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), L. Cooper (Chesapeake Biological Laboratory), and S. Moore (PI, NMML/NOAA), and NSF Office of Polar Programs, Arctic Natural Sciences Program (2012 – 2015): $943,326- "Collaborative Research: Investigating the Influence of Sea-Surface Variability on Ice Sheet Mass Balance and Outlet Glacier Behavior using Records from Disko Bugt, West Greenland" with S. Das (Lead PI, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), K. Frey (PI, Clark University), M. Evans (PI, Wheaton College), and B. Smith (PI, University of Washington).
Prof. Dominik Kulakowski was featured in an article titled "Fighting Western wildfires: Does Forest Service have enough air power?" in the Christian Science Monitor, which addressed the issues related to the recent wildfires across the West Coast.
Prof. Deb Martin has agreed to take on the newly established position of Special Features Editor for the publication Urban Geography. Her work in this role will include the evaluation of proposals and manuscripts for Special Features, and she will be pro-active in identifying themes for potential Special Features.
Prof. John Rogan (lead PI) and Prof. Deborah Martin (co-PI) were awarded a three-year, $329,992 "REU Site" grant from the US National Science Foundation entitled "Mapping Beetles, Trees, Neighborhoods, and Policies: A Multi-Scaled, Urban Ecological Assessment of the Asian Longhorned Beetle Invasion in New England (HERO), May 2012 – April 2015." The purpose of this research is to examine multiple dimensions of the Asian longhorn beetle infestation in Central Massachusetts, from mapping impacts to future projections and multi-scalar policy responses. It will help to unite diverse efforts and establish Clark as a principal player in addressing the ALB crisis in New England.
Prof. Colin Polsky has been appointed co-Convening Lead Author for the Land-Use and Land-Cover Change chapter of the National Climate Assessment (NCA). The NCA, commissioned by the Office of Science & Technology Policy in the White House, is the official U.S. statement about impacts and vulnerabilities associated with climate variability and change.
Prof. Yuko Aoyama (PI) has been awarded a $269,999 National Science Foundation grant for support of the project entitled "The Global Shift in R&D Alliances: Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) and the Quest for the Base-of-the-Pyramid (BOP) Markets." This award is effective August 1,2011 through November 30, 2013. Co-PI on this project is Prof. Balaji Parthasarathy, International Institute of Information Technology in Banglore, India. read more
Tony Bebbington, Director, has recently been awarded a fellowship on "Interdependent Inequalities in Latin America" from Free University of Berlin/Lateinamerika-Institut, for 2011-12.
Anthony Bebbington, Susan Hanson, Roger Kasperson, Robert Kates, and Billie Lee Turner II were honored by The National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C. on March 15th, 2011. Read more.
Prof. Gil Pontius co-authored "Comparison of Three Maps at Multiple Resolutions: A Case Study of Land Change Simulation in Cho Don District, Vietnam," an article published in the first 2011 edition of The Annals of the Association of American Geographers.
Tony Bebbington, Director has been appointed by the Minister of Economy of El Salvador to Chair a blue ribbon committee that will monitor a strategic environmental assessment metal mining in the country. The assessment will serve as the basis for determining national mining policy and the conditions under which the country will permit hard-rock mining in the future
Prof. Jody Emel has been awarded a Visiting Research Fellowship at the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN) in Kyoto, Japan. The institute is part of the Japanese National Institutes for the Humanities. Winning this competitive Fellowship is wonderful recognition of her work in resource geography, and when based at the RIHN she will be cooperating with their Resources Program. Jody will take up the Fellowship during the Fall 2011 Semester.
Prof. Christopher Williams has been funded by NASA The Science of Terra and Aqua as a Co-I on a 3-year, $866,082 project examining remotely sensed albedo trends related to land cover change and disturbances.
As of September 2010 Prof. Deb Martin has been appointed Book Review Editor of Urban Affairs Review. She was also appointed to the Editorial Boards of the Urban Affairs Review and Journal of Geography in Higher Education last year.
Prof. Karen Frey has been funded by the NASA Interdisciplinary Research in Earth Science Program for a proposal entitled "An interdisciplinary study of recent ice sheet melt, sea ice decline & enhanced ocean biological productivity along the Amundsen Coast, West Antarctica." Frey is a co-PI on the 3-year $707,112 grant, collaborating with Dr. Sarah Das at the Woods Hole Oceanograhic Institution and Dr. Matthew Evans at Wheaton College. This research is an interdisciplinary effort to understand the relationships between ocean and ice sheet conditions in the climatically sensitive region surrounding the Amundsen Sea sector of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. This sector is one of the most rapidly changing and least understood of all the polar regions, and alone is experiencing a mass loss of ice at rates comparable to the entire Greenland Ice Sheet. Frey's Ph.D. student Luke Trusel will travel to the West Antarctic Ice Sheet in December 2010 for a six-week field mission in support of this NASA project.
Prof. Chris Williams is co-author of a recent report in Nature, 13 October 2010, "Recent decline in the global land evapotranspiration trend due to limited moisture supply". The study reveals that global water evaporation from land and plants has been weakening over the last decade, as the soil dries up in many southern regions. More information
Prof. Tony Bebbington has received $200,000 from the Ford Foundation for two linked projects on extractive industries and social conflict in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. Conducted in conjunction with the Peruvian Center for Social Studies, the Center for Regional Studies and Development of Tarija and other partner centers, the projects ask whether socio-environmental conflict can induce institutional changes for improved governance of the mining, oil and gas sectors. The projects combine field research and a program of seminars to subject findings to public debate.
Prof. Chris Williams has been funded by the NASA Terrestrial Ecology Program for a proposal entitled "Impacts of Disturbance History and Climate on Carbon Fluxes from North American Forests". Williams is a Co-PI on the 3-year, $655,000 project, working with Dr. G. James Collatz and Dr. Jeffrey Masek of NASA's Biospheric Sciences Branch at the Goddard Space Flight Center. The research seeks to quantify carbon sequestration and release from forests across North America using a combination of remote sensing, field inventory data, and computer modeling.
Prof. Christopher Williams co-authored a report in Science, the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the "world's leading journal of original scientific research, global news, and commentary.": "Terrestrial gross primary production (GPP) is the largest global CO2 flux driving several ecosystem functions. We provide an observation-based estimate of this flux …" Science (AAAS) 7/5/2010 Terrestrial Gross Carbon Dioxide Uptake: Global Distribution and Covariation with Climate
Prof. Karen Frey has been funded by the NASA Ocean Biology and Biogeochemistry Program for a proposal entitled "Impacts of Sea Ice Decline and River Discharge Shifts on Biological Productivity in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas." Learn more.
Prof. Dominik Kulakowski is featured in The Durango Herald for testifying before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests. Learn more.
Prof. Ron Eastman was presented with the Distinguished Career Award from the Association of American Geographers Geographic Information Science and Systems Specialty Group (GISSG), during the 2010 Annual AAG Meeting (April 14-18) in Washington, D.C. Learn more.
Congratulations to Prof. Susan Hanson and Prof. Colin Polsky on their recent publication in the highly anticipated Understanding the Changing Planet: Strategic Directions for the Geographical Sciences from the National Research Council of the National Academies. Please go here for more information and here for a special offer.
Congratulations to Prof. Karen Frey as the lead PI she is being funded by the NASA Ocean Biology and Biogeochemistry Program for a proposal entitled "Impacts of Sea Ice Decline and River Discharge Shifts on Biological Productivity in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas." Frey is the lead PI on the grant, which totals $735,192 over the next four years. Co-investigators are Lee Cooper and Jackie Grebmeier from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. This research is part of a multi-year NASA shipborne project called ICESCAPE (Impacts of Climate change on the Eco-Systems and Chemistry of the Arctic Pacific Environment), which will take place on the US Coast Guard Cutter Healy icebreaker during June-July of 2010 and September 2011, as well as on the RV Xuelong Chinese icebreaker during summer 2012. Frey’s Ph.D. students Christie Wood and Luke Trusel will accompany her on the first six-week long cruise in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas this coming summer 2010. This research will help us understand how continued climate warming and sea ice decline will impact the biogeochemistry and ecology of the Pacific Arctic marine environment, integrating field-based observations, satellite remote sensing, and modeling. Tentative cruise track for the ship this summer
Congratulations to Prof. Ron Eastman who has won the 2010 AAG GISS-SG Robert T. Aangeenbrug Distinguished Career Award.
Prof. John Rogan was featured in Ice Havoc, an article in the Telegram & Gazette on last year's ice storm. He is also featured in The Landmark's article, Clark students study ice storm's effects on local forest.
Chris Williams has been invited to serve as an Associate Editor of "Biogeochemistry", a highly-ranked international journal publishing original papers on ecosystem carbon and nutrient cycles. With his new position, Prof. Williams has been asked to help raise the journal's profile with regards to plant and ecosystem carbon cycle science.
Dianne Rocheleau presented a keynote address at the University of the Andes in Bogota, Columbia in October 2009 as part of a conference to inaugurate the new master's program in Geography
As co-PI in a multi-institutional team,Colin Polsky was recently awarded a two-year, $298k grant from the US National Science Foundation's "ULTRA-ex" competition, for the proposal "Boston Metropolitan Area ULTRA: Exploring past, current and future socio-ecological dynamics in a founding city." The PI is Prof. Paige Warren, U. Mass.-Amherst.
Jim Murphy awarded a $230,000 research grant from the National Science Foundation's Geography and Spatial Sciences and Science, Technology, and Society programs. The project: The Role of Information-Communication Technologies in Enterprise Development and Industrial Change in Africa: Evidence from South Africa and Tanzania, (co PI Padraig Carmody of Trinity College Dublin, Ireland) National Science Foundation
Colin Polsky,
awarded $300,000 from NOAA for the project: Integrated Water and Land
Planning as Climate Adaptation Strategy: comparisons of Portland, Oregon
and Phoenix, Arizona (PI: Heejun Change (Portland State U.); co-PI’s: Pat Gober (ASU) and Colin Polsky).
Clark Labs is pleased to announce the creation of a blog devoted to the exploration of trends in the earth system as seen through the lens of the Earth Trends Modeler software, a new vertical application integrated with the IDRISI Taiga software, released in February. Dr. J. Ronald Eastman, Director of Clark Labs, will be the author of this blog. You can visit the System Trends blog at www.earthsystemtrends.org
Professor Karen Frey is featured in a four-part NOVA special talking about her climate-change research. Watch the series.
Colin Polsky and John Rogan received a 440K REU undergraduate training award.
Colin Polsky awarded an LTER grant ($20,000) to train students to use fine-scaled imagery of lawns for his work on suburbanization and water.
Colin Polsky awarded, in collaboration with colleagues at
the US Forest Service, Arizona State Univ., Florida International Univ., and
Indiana Univ., $20k from NSF's LTER program to host two conferences (one at
Clark U.) on the topic of methods for integrating social and ecological science
analyses of lawn management and associated consequences.
Colin Polsky & Gil Pontius receive $11,991 from the
National Science Foundation for additional support for their project entitled
CNH: Suburbanization, Water Use, Nitrogen Cycling, and Eutrophication in the
21st Century.
James Murphy has been appointed to the Editorial Board of The Professional Geographer.
Colin Polsky and Susan Hanson have been selected to serve on the NRC's new initiative, Directions for the Geographical Sciences in the Next Decade, a guiding influence in geography throughout Washington D.C. and the National Science Foundation.
Karen Frey, 2007, NSF/Arctic Natural Sciences Program grant on Impacts of Sea Ice Variability and Polynya Formation on Biological Productivity in the Northern Bering Sea.
Ron Eastman has been appointed as the Landry University Professor.
Karen Frey (CoPI) has been awarded an NSF grant ($59,411) for Collaborative Research. IPY: The Polaris Project: Rising Stars in the Arctic.
James Murphy has been awarded the 2007 Hodgkins Junior Faculty Award
Deborah Martin, Geog. & Reg. Sci. and Law & Soc. Sci.-NSF grant for Legalizing Community: Lawyers and Citizen Activism in Neighborhood Disputes.
Colin Polsky and Gil Pontius have been awarded a $20,000 supplement to their NSF LTER linked activities; these funds will supplement their new NSF award.
Ron Eastman has been awarded the 2007 UCGIS Research Award for the research contribution to GIScience embodied within the IDRISI software.
John Rogan has been named the 2007-08 Hayden Junior Faculty Fellow for excellence in teaching and scholarship.
Colin Polsky (PI) and Gil Pontius (Co-PI) have been awarded a CNH-NSF grant (54 months and $1,442,930) on Suburbanization, Water-Use, Nitrogen Cycling and Eutrophication in the 21st Century: Interactions, Feedbacks and Uncertainties in a Massachusetts Coastal Zone. The Clark project will work with the Marine Biological Laboratory (Woods Hole) and the University of New Hampshire. The project will fund both undergraduate and graduate students through the HERO program.
Yuko Aoyama has been appointed editor of Economic Geography, and to the editorial board of GeoJournal.