Geography Commons^™

Exploring Ballast Water As A Vector For The Spread Of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease, Kathleen Beadling

Masters Theses

Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) has led to high mortality rates of reef-building coral species throughout the greater Caribbean region since it was first documented off the coast of Miami in 2014. The pathogen is currently unknown, but it is suspected that ballast water discharge is a vector of disease transmission. As a step towards better understanding SCTLD transmission, this study aimed to identify locations of ballast water exchange that coincide with outbreaks of the disease. Spatial and temporal patterns of SCTLD outbreaks and ballast water exchanges conducted within 50 nautical miles of coastlines were explored using Density-Based Spatial …

Bridging Climatology And Energy: Understanding Michigan’S Wind Speeds For A Sustainable Future, Carson Evans

Masters Theses

This study investigates Michigan wind speeds by combining climatology with wind energy, identifying wind drivers and applying them to wind farm infrastructure. Using eXtreme Gradient BOOSTing (XGBoost), this thesis develops a highly accurate predictive model for wind speeds. Coupled with Shapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) analysis, it is found that proximity to the nearest Great Lake is the ultimate influencer of wind speeds, followed by local environmental variables and finally remote climate phenomena. Other analyses find wind speeds are greatest near the Great Lakes and during fall and winter, while inland summer wind speeds were lowest. Wind energy infrastructure is assessed …

Flood Risk Assessment In Humanitarian Contexts: A Remote Sensing And Gis Methodology Applied To Nyarugusu Refugee Camp, Tanzania, Carolyne Vincent Mbirika

Theses

Flooding is a global challenge, with effects mostly experienced in developing countries due to insufficient data for effective flood risk assessment and management. Refugee settlements are particularly vulnerable to flooding due to their remote locations, high population density, and temporary shelters, necessitating flood susceptibility mapping to effectively mitigate risks and minimize damage prior to flooding events. This study assessed flood susceptibility in the Nyarugusu refugee camp, Tanzania, through Multi-criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) and Analytical Hierarchy Process using remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) approaches. The flood susceptibility map that resulted from this process categorizes flood-prone areas into three classes: …

Climate And Crop Modeling For New England Agricultural Climate Change Adaptation, Madeline K. Wolfe

Geography Undergraduate Senior Theses

As climate change brings increased temperatures and precipitation variability to New England, it is imperative to understand the ways that farmers make decisions about agricultural climate change adaptation for their corn farms. Dairy farming is the largest agricultural industry in New England, with corn being a primary crop to feed these cattle. This project seeks to understand how climate modeling and crop modeling are and are not useful for these corn farm decisions, and contributes research about what types of information are useful and available to farmers making adaptation decisions. Crop modeling over New England reveals that corn farming in …

Suspended Agency And The Habitus Of Waiting In A Migrant Shelter In Tijuana, Liam K. Ogden Iii

Senior Theses

This thesis explores idea of suspended agency and the development of a habitus of waiting within a women and children’s migrant shelter in Tijuana, Mexico. Relying on ten days of participant observation and an interview with a shelter director, I examine the lived experiences of residents, workers, and myself as a researcher navigating humanitarian space. Shelters are designed to be short term spaces, but migrants are often forced into long-term, uncertain stays due to restrictive border policies and structural barriers, resulting in a social stasis defined by boredom, anxiety, and monotony within the shelter. Drawing on Bourdieu’s concept of habitus …

Enhancing Remote Sensing Imagery Temporal Resolution Using Starfm Data Fusion Approach For Improved Land Surface Monitoring, Ahmadreza Pourghodrat

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

High-resolution remote sensing imagery plays a critical role in various domains, such as farm-level agricultural operations, environmental monitoring, and natural resource management. However, data with high spatial resolution typically have low temporal resolution, and those with high temporal resolution often lack spatial detail. For example, Landsat 8 and 9 satellites deliver high spatial resolution images with a 30-meter pixel size but suffer from low temporal resolution, with a 16-day revisit cycle. In contrast, satellites like MODIS and VIIRS provide daily images but with a much coarser spatial resolution (375 meters or more), reducing spatial details. Additionally, there is a lack …

College Of Natural Sciences Newsletter, Spring 2025, College Of Natural Sciences

College of Natural Sciences Newsletters and Reports

Page 1 Dean's Message from Dr. Sen Subramanian
Page 2 Student Spotlights
Page 3 Kaushik honored, Three-Minute Thesis, & Ice Cores revealed
Page 4 Alumni Spotlight
Page 5 Day of Scholars
Page 6 Cyanide research, Record Research Expenditures, Adhikari awarded Miller Research Award
Page 8 Hanson Receives NSF Grant
Page 9 Snow Lab Research Team
Page 10 Faculty Awards
Page 11 Drone Day
Page 13 Khalaf Awarded Presidential Award

The Role Of Affordable Housing In Enhancing Tenants' Economic Stability In Connecticut: A Focus On Income, Employment, And Housing Stability, Osaid Zubi

Dissertations

This study examined the role of affordable housing in promoting economic stability among low- and moderate-income households in Connecticut. Focusing on income security, employment opportunities, and housing retention, this research highlighted the significance of affordable housing as a means to alleviate financial strain, support job retention, and foster community resilience. Utilizing a phenomenological approach, the study gathered insights from tenants, policymakers, and developers through conducting interviews and a focus group. Connecticut was chosen as the study site due to its high cost of living and affordable housing shortage, exacerbated by its proximity to New York City. Findings underscore the economic …

Forests And Cycles Of Agrarian Sustenance: Time-To-Event Analysis Of Ecosystem Provisioning Services And Seasonal Food Insecurity, Kamaldeen Mohammed, Daniel Kpienbaareh

Faculty Publications - Geography, Geology, and the Environment

In Savanna ecosystems, cycles of sustenance include periods of food abundance and deficits. In rain-fed agricultural systems, forests are a vital food source that helps households close this cycle. This paper uses cross-sectional data to explore the association between provisioning ecosystem services and timing to food insecurity in forest fringe communities (N = 500). The time to food insecurity analysis revealed a significant difference in the onset of food insecurity among households with varying levels of access to forest provisioning services. Households with access to more than four forest products experienced a slower timing to seasonal insecurity. In contrast, …

Reflections On Preparing Regional Chapters For Nca5, Abby Frazier, Allyza R. Lustig, Michael Chang, Emile H. Elias, Renee A. Mcpherson, Victoria W. Keener, Zena N. Grecni, Henry P. Huntington, Ellen L. Mecray, Kimberly M. Wood, Kathie D. Dello, Patricia Chardón-Maldonado

Geography

Regional chapters in the National Climate Assessment (NCA) report provide a comprehensive synthesis of how climate change is impacting United States regions and are extensively used to support climate change decision-making by local communities and policymakers. The regional chapter author teams are tasked with assessing the climate trends, risks, and responses across a range of sectors and across a vast and diverse geography, while making content locally relevant. Regional chapters have evolved in many ways since the third NCA (NCA3), often shifting from focusing on climate stressors and hazards to addressing more diverse human-centric impacts (e.g., human health), inequities, and …

Best Practices For Applying And Interpreting The Total Operating Characteristic, Tanner Honnef, Robert Gilmore Pontius

Geography

The Total Operating Characteristic (TOC) is an improvement on the quantitative method called the Relative Operating Characteristic (ROC), both of which plot the association between a binary variable and a rank variable. TOC curves reveal the sizes of the four entries in the confusion matrix at each threshold, which make TOC curves more easily interpretable than ROC curves. The TOC has become popular, especially to assess the fit of simulation models to predict land change. However, the literature has shown variation in how authors apply and interpret the TOC, creating some misleading conclusions. Our manuscript lists best practices when applying …

Could It Be Cold War? How Sino-American Tensions Are Unfolding In The South Pacific., Peter R. Caldwell

Senior Theses

This thesis assesses the impacts of geopolitical competition between the United States and China, focusing on the South Pacific as a primary theatre for this great power contest, and investigating the uses of foreign aid by regional powers to effect both the geopolitical alignment and domestic policies of the developing states of the South Pacific. This paper finds that foreign aid to these South Pacific States is geopolitically motivated, and induces greater attention from competing regional powers, furthering the ongoing competition. This paper first provides an overview of the evolving political situation in Kiribati, a Pacific Island Country which has …

Moderating Effect Of Fantasy Football Participation And Location On Team Identification And Nfl Fandom, Devon Hudson

Masters Theses

This study explores how fantasy football participation in varying geographic proximities to NFL teams has altered traditional fan allegiances (i.e. team loyalty or fandom) as an alternate consumer product for the game of football. After utilizing survey data to quantify concepts of fandom and team identification amongst respondents, respondent groups were sorted into various groups based on both fantasy participation and location relevant to NFL teams. A series of hypotheses describing relationships between proximity, fantasy football participation, and fan perceptions are analyzed using a series of statistical tests. No statistical significance was found when comparing strength of team identification amongst …

Between Borders And Belief: Perspectives Of Aid Workers On Religion In A Migrant Shelter In Mexico, Kendall O. Roy

Senior Theses

This thesis seeks to understand the significance of religion in the Central American migration context through the eyes of humanitarian aid workers. It is based on interviews that I conducted in May of 2024 with staff members at a migrant shelter in Mexico, analysis of prior scholarship, and building upon an understanding of relevant religious history in Latin America. I will delve into trends that the aid workers observed in areas such as religious practices and beliefs of migrants, shelter functions that addressed and nurtured spiritual well-being, and the influence of the Church as an institution on humanitarian aid work. …

Woven By Culture: A Comparative Study Of Traditional Dress Across Regions And The Societal Forces Behind Fashion, James T. Granger

Senior Theses

This study attempts to examine how societal influences that different countries have obtained from years past affect their traditional fashion. By sketching 200 traditional female dresses from every sovereign country in the world, I have taken the time to analyze and create depictions of their sociological and stylistic choices. I have chosen to examine the countries of Cambodia, Republic of Congo, Croatia, Cuba, Finland, Iran, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Panama, and Tonga as they all represent different regions of the globe. Breaking down each of their dresses into their specific garments and accessories is essential to better understand the culture and the …

Development Of Al Ain Flash Flood Risk Maps\ Utilizing High-Resolution And Accurate Remote Sensing Data, Khaled Khamis Al Arfati

Dissertations

Al Ain City has undergone significant land use transformations from 1992 to 2022, marked by a population increase of over 50% and extensive development activities. This period has seen the construction of new residential areas, infrastructure, and commercial establishments, as well as enhancements to green spaces. An analysis of the Digital Terrain Model (DTM) revealed an 83% alteration in the terrain due to urbanization and shifting sand dunes, with most elevation changes under 5 meters.

The primary aim of this dissertation is to develop accurate flash flood risk maps for

Al Ain using high-resolution remote sensing data. This research highlights …

The Insurgent Smart City: How A Social Movement Created An Alternative Imaginary Of The Smart City, Andrew Stokols

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Urban scholars have critiqued smart cities for their association with neoliberal governance, narrow focus on quantifiable aspects of urban systems, and failure to incorporate citizens’ needs or aspirations. The “smart city” remains a contested concept and as such is subject to reappropriation. Here, I analyze the case of an urban social movement, the 2019–2020 Hong Kong Anti-ELAB protests, as an alternative, “insurgent smart city.” Following from an earlier network analysis of Telegram channels used during the protests, I show how the communications system underpinning much of the protest action simultaneously enabled coordination while also remaining open to grassroots decision-making and …

Geo-Ai For Wetland Classification And Evolutionary Analysis, Lirong Yin

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Wetlands, as a crucial component of the Earth's ecosystem, play a vital role in maintaining ecological balance and preserving biodiversity. However, wetlands are currently facing severe challenges, as both natural and human-induced factors are contributing to their global degradation. Gaining a deep understanding of the species composition and biodiversity within wetland-covered areas and accurately analyzing their changing trends not only helps assess the current and future state of wetlands but also provides strong support for the formulation of scientifically sound wetland conservation strategies. In recent years, the rapid development of geospatial intelligence and remote sensing technologies has brought new opportunities …

Advancing Methods For Comparative Urban Research: A City-Centric Protocol And Longitudinal Dataset For Us Metropolitan Statistical Areas, Jason R. Jurjevich, Katie Meehan, Nicholas M. J. W. Chun, Greg Schrock

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Comparative urban research in the USA has an unacknowledged data and methodological problem at the metropolitan scale, rooted in geographic and definitional boundary changes of urban areas across time. In this article, we introduce a new spatial dataset, decision criteria, and methodological protocol for longitudinal and comparative research with US metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs)—known as ‘metros’—in a way that centers a ‘city-centric’ approach to comparison while significantly reducing spatial error and bias. First, we review gaps and limitations of existing approaches and identify three major but previously unacknowledged sources of error, including a new source of bias we call ‘spanning …

Cover And Forewords, Robert M. Ward

The Geographical Bulletin

Cover and Forewords