Special Sessions
Opportunities exist for those interested in organizing special sessions at this year's regional meeting. Please make arrangements with the conference organizers. To participate in existing special sessions, presenters should contact the session organizers and, if approved, submit abstracts using the forthcoming online submission system.
Tips and Strategies in Writing Effective Proposals for the National Science Foundation (NSF)
Organized by Dr. Jacqueline Vadjunec (Program Officer, Geography and Spatial Sciences, National Science Foundation)
This outreach session is intended for faculty members, professional geographers, and graduate students who engage in geographic or spatial scientific research and who wish to learn how to prepare effective proposals for NSF. A Program Director from the Geography and Spatial Sciences (GSS) Program at the National Science Foundation (NSF) will discuss research grant opportunities at NSF and highlight ways to improve the quality and competitiveness of a proposal. The session will include details about the review process, including the intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. Ample time for Q&A will be provided.
Geographies of Place Attachment
Organized by Dr. Joshua Hagen (Northern State University) and Dr. Alexander Diener (University of Kansas)
This session encompasses a diverse range of case studies exploring the human propensity to feel connected to place and space. The notion of place attachment captures that proclivity nicely and its role in how people organize their surroundings while making sense of the world and our place in it. These geographies of place attachment can take many forms, ranging from banal acts of everyday life to spectacular assertions of authority.
South Asia and Small Developing Islands (SIDS)
Organized by Dr. Bimal Kanti Paul (Kansas State University) and Dr. S.A. Hasnath (Boston University)
This special session focuses on selected contemporary environmental and other emerging problems in South Asia and addresses how countries in the region have been trying to solve these problems on their own - without seeking external assistance. The session also focuses on an issue of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), which is widely seen as an important barrier for development and political instability of these countries.
Encroachment or Opportunity? Geography in a World of Environmental Studies, Global and International Studies, GIScience, Environmental Ccience and Sustainability Studies
Organized by Dr. Deborah Thomas (University of North Carolina at Charlotte) and Dr. Shannon O'Lear (University of Kansas)
With the creation and expansion of interdisciplinary programs, geography must position itself strategically. Departments and/or curriculum in sustainability, such as global studies, international studies, environmental science among others, run the risk of encroaching on geography majors and enrollments or can complement and augment geography degrees. This facilitated workshop will explore opportunities, strategies and challenges to this dilemma.
