Dr. Kristine DeLong, Assistant Professor in Geography and Anthropology at LSU, has published a paper in the November issue of Nature Climate Change. This report summarizes the findings of a 350-year long temperature reconstruction from massive corals offshore of the southwest Pacific island of New Caledonia. A central finding of this report is extension of the newly discovered South Pacific Decadal Oscillation, which influences precipitation in the western tropical Pacific islands including Taiwan, back to 1649 AD. Please read more here or on the PAST Lab website.

Rebecca "Becky" Hood, an anthropology undergraduate in the department of Geography and Anthropology, won first place at the LSU Undergraduate Research Conference 2012 for oral presentations in the Social Sciences. Read more >>

Dr. Linda Cummings (second from left) from Palaeoresearch visited the Department and provided a fascinating talk on climate modeling. Faculty including David Chicoine (left), Rebecca Saunders (third from left), Kritine DeLong (fourth from left), and Patrick Hesp (right) met at Tsunami to overview the Mississippi and watch the sunset.

Andrew Sluyter has been awarded a fellowship by the American Council of Learned Societies, or ACLS, for the upcoming academic year. The ACLS is a private nonprofit association of 70 scholarly organizations founded in 1919. The funding for this prestigious fellowship comes from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. For more information, click here.

Geography graduate student Ryan Orgera was recently selected as a finalist for the prestigious Presidential Management Fellowship. The process which began in September 2011 with over 9,000 applicants has recently ended with 600 finalists. Ryan, one of only six students from the State of Louisiana, applied through the LSU Graduate School. Once nominated he was invited to participate in a multi-hour online assessment. A month later, 1,200 semifinalists were invited to in-person assessments in cities around the country. Ryan went to Atlanta for an hour-long interview where his skills as an analytical thinker, leader, and ability to serve as a public servant were tested. Now a finalist, he has been invited to a PMF job fair in Washington, D.C. where only PMF finalists are in attendance. The Fellowship gives Federal agencies (including all three Federal Branches) the ability to direct-hire PMFs. Once employed, the then Fellows undergo rigorous training appropriate to their positions; this is in the form of rotations and classroom work. The Fellowship lasts for two years.

The Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) Program was established by Executive Order in 1977 to attract to the Federal service outstanding men and women from a variety of academic disciplines and career paths, who have a clear interest in, and commitment to, excellence in the leadership and management of public policies and programs. By drawing graduate students from diverse social and cultural backgrounds, the PMF Program provides a continuing source of trained men and women to meet the future challenges of public service. (Source: the PMF website).

Dr Patrick Hesp, RJ Russell Professor in Geography and Anthropology at LSU, Dr Graziela da Silva, assistant professor in Geology and Geophysics at LSU, Amanda Evans, PhD candidate in Geography and Anthropology at LSU, and colleagues Matt Keith (Tesla Offshore) and Dr Mead Allsion (UTexas) have been awarded the ‘2011 Secretary’s Partners in Conservation Award’ by the US Department of the Interior for “Archaeological Analysis of Submerged Sites, Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf”, a study initiated and lead by Keith and Evans. Only 17 awards were given across the nation. The award recognizes organizations and individuals who partner with others to conserve and restore our land, help wildlife thrive, address water issues, and forge solutions to complex natural resource challenges.

Patrick Hesp, R.J. Russell Professor in Geography and Anthropology in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at LSU, along with colleagues for the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in Porto Alegre, southern Brazil, has been awarded a $R1.2million grant from PETROBRAS (Brazil) to study the evolution and structure of coastal barriers in southern Brazil. The award will provide funding for Hesp to spend time in southern Brazil conducting a detailed drilling, ground penetrating radar and dating program of two coastal barriers near the border with Uruguay. These locations are important because they are believed to be ‘modern’ equivalents of ancient barrier systems located underwater on the continental shelf of southern Brazil, and which have significant oil reserves.

Patrick Hesp, R.J. Russell Professor in Geography and Anthropology in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, has been awarded a Visiting professorship to the Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale, Laboratoire d'Océanologie et de Géosciences, in Dunkerque, France for part of the 2012 summer. This is the second visiting position Dr Hesp has had at the Laboratoire. He will continue the research he began on his first visit two years ago, studying dune dynamics and coastal erosion issues with colleagues Dr’s Mylene Ruz and Arnaud Hequette.

Geography and Anthropology’s float and dorky dancing professors hit the Southdowns Mardi Gras parade once more! View them on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRiRdGjBApA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EIXxtGTbrY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaSE_ZKaHds&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIwGpuqTGxk

LSU Receives $1.35 Million to Develop the Coastal Hazards Collaboratory in the Northern Gulf Coast. MORE

Dr. Michael Leitner, Associate Professor in Geography and Anthropology, is part of a research team, who was recently awarded a US$ 2.1 million (€ 1.6 million) grant from the Austrian Science Fund (similar to NSF) to establish a Doctoral College in Geographic Information (GI) Science at the University of Salzburg, Austria. The initial funding period of four years will primarily be used to provide full scholarships to a total of 22 students to undertake doctoral studies at the University of Salzburg. The research team consists of nine professors from geography, geology, economics, and computer science. The Doctoral College, which is similar to the NSF-funded IGERT Program, establishes three interconnected and interdisciplinary research clusters, including (1) Representation and Data Models, (2) Time and Process, and (3) Spatialization, Media, and Society. As part of the third cluster, Dr. Leitner’s research focus is in GIScience and spatial crime analysis. While the initial funding period is for four years, the possibility of receiving funding for a total of twelve years exists. The Doctoral College also provides full funding for a bilateral exchange between LSU and the University of Salzburg’s GIScience doctoral students for one semester.