Category: Uncategorized

The New York Times has created a great information graphic showing the medal winners for each of the modern-era summer Olympics. It is a simple cartogram with proportional circles representing the number of medals each country earned. The color scheme and design are simple and effective. As you scroll across the timeline, you can see…

The Palmer short term drought index shows a large swath of extreme drought conditions in the Central United States.

GIS software maker ESRI has created a fabulous series of story maps showing how class and geography intersected to influence a person’s odds of surviving the sinking of the Titanic. First class passengers had a 38% survival rate and were largely from the United States, in particular, New York City. On the other hand, a…

Macalester College Geography Professor William Moseley recently published an opinion piece in the New York Times on corn and drought in the Midwest. Read it here.

To serve in a country’s Congress or Parliament, does one need to reside in that country? Increasingly, some countries are saying no and allowing those in the diaspora–those living abroad–to run for election. On August 16, when the new President of the Dominican Republic,  Danilo Medila, begins his term, there will also be seven new…

Rachel Oien ’13, a Gustavus environmental studies and geology student, is working on a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates in Costa Rica. Rachel’s work is physically demanding, involving rappelling down steep slopes and augering soil samples from the forest floor. Student researchers can take satisfaction in knowing that their efforts are important. The…

Melissa Wygant, a recent geography graduate, presented her research at the Natural Hazards Conference in Boulder, Colorado. She presented a poster entitled, “Spatial Distribution of Tornadoes within Tornado Alley” which was a class project for GEG-240: Introduction to Geographic Information Systems. Her analysis showed a northward shift in the density of tornadoes and more frequent…

In 2012, 97,700 students took the College Board’s Advanced Placement exam in Human Geography. The Human Geography course has grown by leaps and bounds and is energizing a new generation of geography students and teachers. The AP course includes population geography, migration, political geography, agriculture, economic geography, urban geography, and cultural geography. The essays from…

Congratulations, Class of 2012! We’ll miss you!

Dr. Bob Douglas, Professor of Geography, was honored Wednesday for his many years of service to the Geography Department and Gustavus Adolphus College. Professor Emeritus Milt Brostrom (’49) gave the following tribute. BOB DOUGLAS OLD  GEOGRAPHERS  NEVER  DIE–THEY  JUST  LOSE  THEIR  BEARINGS And Bob Douglas still has his bearing–he’s a Hoosier, thru and thru. Bob…