LSU Department of Geography & Anthropology
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Archaeology Laboratory
The Archaeology Lab, located in E214 Howe-Russell Geoscience Complex, is shared
by two research programs in archaeology at LSU. These include Maya archaeology,
under the guidance of Dr. Heather McKillop, and historical archaeology, under
the guidance of Dr. Paul Farnsworth. Students and faculty work closely with
the Southeastern Archaeology Program, under the guidance of Dr. Rebecca Saunders,
in the Museum of Natural Sciences (16 Gym Armory Building). Graduate and undergraduate
students work on faculty projects as well as their own projects.
The Archaeology Lab, which consists of a complex of several rooms, offers an
impressive array of opportunities for research and analysis. Artifactual material
from Belize (Maya), California, Canada, Louisiana, and elsewhere is often under
study by faculty and students. Facilities include a "wet-lab" for processing
artifacts and laboratory equipment for study of artifacts (balances, microscopes,
computers, microfilm and microfiche readers, and drafting tables, for example).
Field equipment for faculty and graduate student use is available for surveying
and excavation. Often, simultaneous field projects are carried out in Louisiana
and beyond.
Biogeography and Quaternary
Paleoecology Laboratory
Biogeography at LSU is distinguished by its orientation toward Quaternary paleoenvironmental
studies. We are among the few geography departments in this country that have
the capability and expertise to do pollen studies—a powerful tool in the
study of vegetation dynamics, climatic change, and human environment interactions.
The Biogeography Laboratory and Quaternary Paleoecology Laboratory jointly occupy
1,000 square feet in E106 Howe-Russell Geoscience Complex. The Biogeography
Laboratory is equipped with a dissecting microscope and three research-grade
optical microscopes (two Nikon-Optiphot and one Olympus-BHS) for pollen counting,
one of which is mounted with a Microflex HFX-II camera system for photomicrography.
The lab maintains a large modern pollen reference collection consisting of over
3,500 tropical and temperate pollen taxa from North America, South America,
and East Asia. It also houses a large library collection of palynological literature
and reprints including Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, Pollen et Spores,
Grana, and Grana Palynologica. There is also a growing collection of Chinese
books and periodicals on Quaternary studies, palynology, biogeography, and physical
geography.
The Quaternary Paleoecology Laboratory is equipped with four fume hoods for
processing pollen and sediment samples. Other lab and field equipment includes
an oven, furnace, a clinical centrifuge, an electronic balance, a refrigerator,
an increment borer, a piston lake sediment corer and 30m of extension rods,
an Acker diamond core drill for hard-rock drilling, a Russian peat corer, sonar,
an Ekman's dredge, three rubber boats, and an outboard motor.
Computer programs are available for the plotting of pollen diagrams and other
mapping and GIS functions. A desktop computer is interfaced with the Intergraph
System in the CADGIS Lab and University mainframe for data storage, handling,
and display.
Cartographic Information
Center
The Cartographic Information Center is located in room 313 Howe-Russell Geoscience
Complex. With a collection of more than 500,000 cartographic items, the CIC
ranks first among map libraries in U.S. academic departments and tenth among
all American map collections. As a depository for U.S. government maps, the
collection increases at a rate of about 6,000 maps per year.
Holdings in the map library include: USGS Topographic Series (coverage for the
entire U.S. at various scales); U.S. Army Topographic Command Maps; NOAA Nautical
Charts of the U.S. and foreign waters; Aeronautical Charts (world coverage);
Aerial Photos of Louisiana and parts of Eastern U.S.; historic maps of Louisiana;
miscellaneous maps from foreign governments, commercial map companies, etc.
(world coverage with emphasis on Latin America); wall maps for teaching; and
a collection of atlases, transparencies, gazetteers, and globes.
The primary mission of the Cartographic Information Center is to support instruction
and research in the Department of Geography and Anthropology, in particular,
and the University community in general. Researchers on dissertations, theses,
and grants constitute the largest group of users. Recent research projects include
Louisiana coastal erosion, environmental and ecological studies, hydrological
surveys, flood control projects, and archaeological excavations.
The CIC also provides maps for field trips, supplies wall maps for use in classes,
maintains a collection of maps on reserve for classes with map-related assignments,
and provides appropriate assistance to students whose map-reading skills need
improvement.
The collection is open to the general public. Private sector patrons include
consulting engineers, coastal environmental agencies, soil testing engineers,
petroleum companies, architects, attorneys, and many others. Among state and
local governmental patrons are the Attorney General's Office, State Lands, Department
of Environmental Quality, Historic Preservation, East Baton Rouge District Attorney's
Office, and others. CIC patrons also include backpackers, genealogists, civil
war and local historians, fortune-hunters, puzzle-workers, and tourists. As
a depository of government maps, our commitment is service to the public.
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Computer-Aided Design
and Geographical Information Systems (CADGIS) Research Laboratory
The CADGIS Lab, a jointly operated facility of the Department of Geography and
Anthropology and the College of Design, supports instruction and research in
computer mapping, architecture, and engineering. Mapping applications encompass
computer cartography, geographic information systems, and remote sensing.
The lab complex, located in 215 College of Design, has a varied complement of
hardware and software. In the four separate labs, students are able to use over
60 regularly upgraded desktop computers. Both negative film and flatbed scanners
also are available. The computers host software such as AutoCAD, Photoshop,
Reality Studio, Dreamweaver, Erdas Imagine, and Office 2000.
Capable of creating and storing digital data for graphic and nongraphic databases,
CADGIS also functions as a repository for digital maps, images, and databases.
These data constitute the beginnings of the foundation for an atlas of Louisiana
and a statewide geographic information system. As part of its work in this area,
CADGIS has a major role in the Louisiana Coastal GIS Network: a USGS-funded
project to help Louisiana organize and disseminate coastal information.
Cartographic Section
The Cartographic Section (430 Howe-Russell Geoscience Complex) provides cartographic
drafting and design services for the faculty of the Department of Geography
and Anthropology. These services include drafting illustrations for publication
and preparation of color slides for lectures and conference presentations. The
section provides complete darkroom facilities for the reproduction of departmental
graphics. The section is staffed by a cartographic manager, a research associate,
and a photo technician. The excellence of the Cartographic Section has been
recognized nationally and internationally.
The section also provides advice to graduate students in the preparation of
maps and other graphics for research papers, theses, and dissertations. With
the permission of the chairman, students presenting their research at professional
conferences may have their graphics prepared by the section at a reduced fee.
Computer Mapping Sciences (CMS) Laboratory
Established in 1988, the CMS Laboratory provides a variety of computing facilities
for instruction and research in computer cartography, remote sensing, geographic
information systems, and spatial analysis.
Through support from faculty research and equipment grants, the CMS Lab has
gone through several generations and continued to upgrade its computing facilities.
The CMS Lab currently operates 12 Windows-based computers, one black/white laser
printer, one color laser printer, a scanner, a large-format plotter, a large-format
scanner, and a large-format digitizer. A data projector, a laptop computer,
and a conference phone are also available for short-term loan to faculty and
students. A variety of software for GIS, image processing, expert system, statistics,
mathematics, database management, programming, and graphic presentation is installed.
Some of the software currently available includes the ESRI products, the Intergraph
Geomedia products, Erdas/Imagine, Surfer, SPSS, SAS, S-Plus, SpaceStat, Visual
C++, Fortran, Microsoft Office, Matlab, Mathematica, and Qnet. A server housed
in the lab links all the computers at the CMS, Spatial, Global, and Remote Sensing
laboratories.
In addition to software and hardware, the CMS Lab created a number of specialized
digital boundary files in different software formats. These include the 1982
China County Boundary Files and the Historical United States County (HUSCO)
Boundary Files, both of which are distributed by the department’s Geoscience
Publications. A number of U.S. Census boundary files are also available for
use.
The CMS Lab is accessible to faculty and graduate students in the Department
of Geography and Anthropology for research and graduate instruction. Together,
the CMS Lab, the Global Lab, the Spatial Lab, and the CADGIS Lab (a lab jointly
operated by the Department of Geography and Anthropology and the College of
Design) offer a range of computing facilities that ranks among the nation's
best GIS, mapping, and remote sensing laboratories.
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FACES Laboratory
The FACES (Forensic Anthropology and Computer Enhancement Services) Laboratory
of the Department of Geography and Anthropology, located in the small building
adjacent to the Howe-Russell Geoscience Complex, provides services to state
and parish law enforcement agencies. The forensic anthropologist is concerned
with the personal identification of badly decomposed human bodies and skeletal
remains. Our experience best applies when more traditional criteria such as
facial appearance, fingerprints, tattoos, and scars from previous injuries or
operations are of limited value because of poor soft tissue preservation.
Data recovery is based upon intensive osteological, morphologic, and radiographic
examination of the skeleton and dentition. The dental examination is frequently
completed in conjunction with a forensic odontologist.
Other services provided by our facility include:
1. Consultation with state and public personnel in matters concerning evidence
used in the personal identification of human remains.
2. Assistance with crime scene analysis involving the investigation of the locality
for human skeletal remains (e.g., burned structures and burial sites), and the
recovery of such remains.
3. Presentation of lectures and seminars to a variety of civic and law enforcement
personnel on forensic anthropology and its associated techniques and methodologies.
4. Repository for unidentified human remains submitted for forensic analysis
until positive identification is achieved.
This work is done in conjunction with crime laboratories in the states of Louisiana,
Mississippi, and Texas. Our laboratories include two large analysis labs, x-ray
facilities and equipment (including water, gas, and air fume hood, X-ray machine,
film processor, and immersion table), and miscellaneous equipment for statistical
analysis of skeletal elements.
The Forensic Anthropology Laboratory offers a vital and unique public service
to the community, state, and region. In addition, the National Center for Missing
and Exploited Children has designated LSU as a Model Age Progression Site. Mary
Manhein is director of this facility. Using sophisticated computer software,
researchers and students create age progression on missing children and adults
and conduct other educational and research projects.
The Fred B. Kniffen
Cultural Resources Laboratory
The Fred B. Kniffen Cultural Resources Laboratory (E212 Howe-Russell Geoscience
Complex) furthers inquiry into the development of historic landscapes—particularly
those of the Gulf South. The lab thus carries forward the scholarship initiated
by Professor Fred Kniffen in the 1930s—scholarship that combined keen
interests in the interpretation of historic landscapes, material culture, and
folk culture through the perspectives of cultural geography and anthropology.
Varied courses draw upon the laboratory's facilities. These include, among others,
vernacular architecture, material culture, and the study of folklore. These
are field-oriented courses that enable students to participate in fieldwork
and interpretation of the folk cultural legacy of Louisiana and the South. Course
projects include the construction of scale models and museum dioramas.
To aid in the interpretation of Louisianian and Southern cultures, the Cultural
Resources Lab functions as a repository for information on the culture history
of the area. Its resources include cultural surveys, a library of books and
reports on Louisiana and its material culture, examples of historic American
building surveys, and resources for dating historic buildings.
Students and faculty participate in research and writing of professional reports
on various aspects of the culture and culture history of the state and region.
Research projects are often funded by federal and state agencies. Recent projects
include surveys of historic plantation buildings, environmental and cultural
impact statements, and reports on the culture and history of Louisiana's ethnic
communities. Summer jobs are often available to students with appropriate training.
The lab also edits a publication series interpreting cultures of the Gulf South.
Geoscience Publications
Geoscience Publications (236 Howe-Russell Geoscience Complex) communicates the
scholarly advances of department faculty, students, and symposia. Among its
various publications is the prestigious monograph series Geoscience and Man.
The series currently includes more than 39 volumes, representative of which
are Atchafalaya Swamp Life; Grasslands Ecology; Man and Cultural Heritage;
Traces in Prehistory; Coastal Resources; Historical Archaeology of the Eastern
United States; Place: Experience and Symbol; The American South; Tojolabal Maya;
Cultural Diffusion and Landscapes; The Poverty Point Culture; The Uneven Landscape:
Geographic Studies in Post-reform China; Person, Place, and Thing: Interpretative
and Empirical Essays in Cultural Geography; Culture, Form, and Place: Essays
in Cultural and Historical Geography; Latin American Geography; and The
Coastal Zone.
Geoscience Publications also houses the journal Historical Geography;
the Journal of Mayan Linguistics; and the monograph series of the Fred
B. Kniffen Cultural Resources Laboratory, which includes Louisiana's Remarkable
French Vernacular Architecture, Historic Louisiana Nails, Historical Maps of
Louisiana: An Annotated Bibliography, and Plantations by the River.
In addition, it distributes digitized maps—the China County Boundary File
and the Historical United States (HUSCO) County Boundary Files—as well
as publishes occasional papers authored by departmental faculty, such as New
Orleans Weather, 1961-1980 and An Atlas of Louisiana Surnames of French
and Spanish Origin.
The Global Laboratory
Originally named as the Computer Mapping Science Annex, also affectionately
called “Room 253” because of its location in Room 253 of the old
wing of the Howe-Russell Geoscience Complex, the Global Laboratory was established
in 1998, ten years after the establishment of the CMS Laboratory. Renamed to
its present name in 2004, the Global Laboratory is designed to serve as a teaching
laboratory for smaller classes and seminars. With support from faculty grants
and university funds, the laboratory currently has 12 Windows-based workstations,
2 other computers linked to a digitizer, a scanner, and a printer, all linked
by the Windows server located in the CMS Laboratory. As in the CMS Laboratory,
the Global Laboratory can access main GIS and remote sensing and statistics
software through the network. The facility is open during office hours to graduate
and undergraduate students in the Department of Geography and Anthropology and/or
students enrolled in classes offered by the department and related curricula.
Louisiana Office of State Climatology
The Louisiana Office of State Climatology (LOSC) (E328 Howe-Russell Geoscience
Complex) is responsible for maintaining the climatic records of the state in
paper copy and as computer data sets. Climatic data are mainly from the first-order
and cooperative station networks of the National Weather Service (NWS) and the
National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), with some data sets extending back 100
years to about 1890. The office accesses specialized data sets; an important
example is the daily observations from the 12-station automated agroclimatic
network of the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station operated from the LSU
Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering. LOSC also maintains a
collection of daily weather maps, reports, and reprints on selected topics in
climatology.
LOSC receives realtime weather and climate data (hourly observations) for Louisiana
and other nearby places on the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) Weather Wire and selected weather maps for the U.S. and the entire northern
hemisphere by satellite receiver from the NWS Forecast Office just outside of
Washington, D.C. The staff publishes a monthly climatic newsletter, Louisiana
Monthly Climate Review, which describes the status of Louisiana's climate in
traditional as well as in synoptic and water-budget terms; the newsletter is
distributed to more than 600 interested agencies, companies, and individuals
in the United States, with about three-quarters of the subscribers in Louisiana.
The office provides climatic information and data in response to requests by
mail, over the phone, and at the office. Routine data are normally free to members
of the LSU community and local, state, and federal agencies, but modest fees
are charged for the general public and for non-routine requests and interpretations.
Remote Sensing Laboratory
Historic black-and-white aerial photographs of Louisiana, stored in the department's
map library, are complemented by over 100,000 NASA color and color infrared
aerial photographs located in the department's Remote Sensing Laboratory (E221
Howe-Russell Geoscience Complex). Landsat MSS and TM data and SEASAT and SIR-A
radar imagery are available for Louisiana, as well as for selected worldwide
locations. Landsat MSS, both in digital and image formats, are available for
most areas in Louisiana with a concentration of coverage in southern Louisiana.
Landsat TM digital data are available for coastal Louisiana. Synthetic Aperture
Radar (SAR) digital data of the entire state of Louisiana are available on CCTs
and CD-ROMs. Over 150,000 square miles of SEASAT and SIR-A radar coverage of
portions of Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America are also filed
in the Remote Sensing Lab.
Light tables, stereoscopes, digitizing tables, optical enlargers, and polar
planimeters are some of the equipment available for image analysis and mensuration.
ERDAS, LANDSAT, and PCIPS software packages are used in processing and analysis
of digital multispectral and radar data and all installed on PCs dedicated to
image processing. A portable Trimble Pathfinder Global Positioning System provides
the capability for determining latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates in the
field.
Southern Regional Climate
Center
The Southern Regional Climate Center (SRCC) is a federally funded facility (the
NOAA) organized together with the LOSC within the Department of Geography and
Anthropology. The SRCC is responsible for climatic data, informational services,
and applied research for a six-state region including Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas,
Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. The SRCC is closely affiliated with the
state climatologists (SCs) in each of the states and with the Climatic Analysis
Center (CAC) of the National Weather Service (NWS), located in Washington, D.C.,
and the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) in Asheville, North Carolina. By
means of a satellite-data system, the staff is able to monitor regional climatic
variability and some of its impacts on a day-to-day basis. The SRCC also maintains
computerized climatic data sets that span as much as 100 years.
The Spatial Laboratory
As part of the long-term strategic planning process, the Spatial Laboratory
was established in 2004 to provide state-of-the art computing facilities for
teaching larger sections of undergraduate or graduate technology-oriented classes.
Made possible with a grant from the LSU Center for Computation and Technology,
the Spatial Laboratory, housed in Room 260 Howe-Russell Geoscience Complex,
has 27 Windows workstations for students, a laser printer, and a multi-media
console for instructors. Equipped with a central computer, dual screens, dual
data/video projectors, a videocassette recorder, a document camera, and microphones,
the multi-media console allows instructors to project online graphics and information
while displaying other documents via the camera. The computers are linked with
the server at the CMS Laboratory and are served with a suite of GIS, remote
sensing, and statistical software including ESRI products, Erdas/Imagine, SPSS,
Geomedia, and Microsoft Office. The Spatial Laboratory also is open to graduate
and undergraduate students in the Department of Geography and Anthropology and/or
students enrolled in classes offered by the department and related curricula.
The World Health Organization Collaborating Center
for Remote Sensing and GIS for Public Health (WHOCC)
The World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Remote Sensing and GIS
for Public Health (WHOCC) at LSU is dedicated to the application and advancement
of geographic information science (GISc) and geographic technologies for public
health and disease modeling. The LSU WHOCC research focuses both on applied
methodologies to solve epidemiological problems and innovative spatial and statistical
techniques for understanding disease ecology. Additionally, the WHOCC provides
field and logistical support for several collaborations in applied ecology and
conservation medicine. The WHOCC is actively involved in projects with several
public health, research, academic, and government institutions to cooperatively
work on a multitude of medical geography, spatial epidemiology, disease ecology,
and natural resource issues.
The WHOCC is housed in the
Department of Geography and Anthropology at Louisiana State University. Currently
the WHOCC has two laboratories:
1) The Research
Lab is located in E109 Howe-Russell Geoscience Complex and currently has five
PCs. The lab is equipped with the latest GIS software and computing hardware
for increased functionality and productivity. The LSU WHOCC personnel are proficient
in multiple GIS platforms including the ESRI ArcGIS suite, Erdas Imagine, and
Geomedia Professional. Additionally, the LSU WHOCC is a Geomedia Research Laboratory
in conjunction with the LSU CADGIS Laboratory.
2) The PDA-GIS
and Telemetry Lab is located adjacent to the Research Lab in E113 Howe-Russell
Geoscience Complex. The lab is set up to design and support the field logistics
for ongoing WHOCC projects. The PDA-GIS lab provides PDA and telemetry resources
and technical support to the Department of Geography and Anthropology, the Coastal
Fisheries Institute, and the International Aquatic and Terrestrial Conservation
Medicine and Biotelemetrics Research Laboratory at the LSU School of Veterinary
Medicine.
Department of Geography & Anthropology
Louisiana State University
227 Howe-Russell Geoscience Complex
Baton Rouge, LA 70803-4105
Phone: (225) 578-5942
Fax: (225) 578-4420
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