Author: averslui

On January 12, 2010, a massive earthquake struck near Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. The death and destruction from the earthquake are beyond comprehension. My friend Joseph writes from Port-au-Prince, “We are still here. Our house is gone but we are here. There is no food or water. We’re in the street with our children, but we’re…

I lived in Port-au-Prince for a number of years, and continue to do research in Haiti. Many of my friends are victims of the earthquake. Please consider giving to help Haiti’s recovery from the earthquake. Many organizations are sending assistance to Haiti. The two organizations I worked with in Haiti are accepting donations for the…

Have you ever noticed that where there is a Noodles restaurant, there is almost always a Chipotle restaurant close by? Is this a coincidence, or a planned tactic for these two restaurant chains in Minnesota? Students Aubrey Austin and Amy Gosewisch were very intrigued by this question and wanted to explore it using GIS. The…

In natural systems, precipitation falling on land make take several paths. It may infiltrate the ground, perhaps eventually recharging groundwater aquifers. It may evaporate. It may enter the soil and be used by plants. And in cases of heavy rainfall or quick snowmelt, it may travel overland as runoff to the nearest lake, stream, river…

Red Wing is one of Minnesota’s premier tourist destinations. It is nestled in the bluffs along the Mississippi River and attracts nature enthusiasts who hike the bluffs and bike the trails, history buffs who appreciate the town’s commitment to historic preservation, and everyone in between. The Red Wing Visitor and Convention Bureau receives requests daily…

On a cold December day, the GIS class braved the snow and cold to go geocaching in Seven Mile Creek Park. The students used GPS devices to navigate to hidden “caches.” Navigate is a fancy way to say we bushwacked up and slipped down some very steep slopes. . .sometimes to find the cache right…

Over the past summer, Gustavus Geography major Whitney Westley worked at the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Whitney was a GIS intern working to create spatial databases and maps on invasive plant species in Minnesota like purple loosestrife and common tansy. She also got to work on several other projects. “I got to do a…

Students in GEG-105 visit St Anthony Falls Laboratory in Minneapolis. The lab, affiliated with the University of Minnesota, studies the movement of water and sediments using scale models and numerical modeling. The lab itself is built into the limestone formation that creates the falls, and the lab uses water that flows directly from the Mississippi…

Today is GIS day–Geographic Information Science/Systems/Studies day, that is. The Geography Club is hosting GIS demos in the Campus Center. Stop by and check it out! Don’t worry, that bearded guy only looks crazy. . .

Geography Professor Bob Douglas has long been a proponent of service-learning. His World Regional Geography students participate in tutoring for English-language learners who have immigrated to Minnesota from around the world. Prof. Douglas was featured in this Gustavian Weekly article. “You don’t have to go to Africa to study Somali culture or Sudanese culture or…