Global Studies and Geography Students and Faculty Present Their Research at the Annual Meeting of the Middle States Division of the American Association of Geographers, October 26-27, 2018

This year, the annual meeting of the Middle States Division of the American Association of Geographers (MSDAAG) was held October 26th and 27th at Montclair State University in New Jersey. This event brings together geography faculty, students, and practitioners from colleges and universities in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Puerto Rico.

Eight students and two professors from our department attended the meeting where they were able to meet other scholars traveling from the “Middle States” as well as places as far away as Colorado, Jamaica, and Singapore. Additionally, they had the opportunity to present their geographical research through paper presentations, lightning talks and a poster competition. One of Hofstra’s poster competitors, Geography major Fatimah Mozawalla, received the Rob Mason People’s Choice Poster Award for her project on funding disparities between Long Island schools—congratulations to Fatimah! Additionally, Professors Craig Dalton and Kari Jensen presented their latest research during the paper sessions. Check out their research topics as well as the students’ subjects listed below.

Along with presenting their own projects, participants at this event were able to attend numerous panels and paper sessions, highlighting the broad nature of geography through a plethora of different topics, from GIS, spatial modeling, clean energy and transportation, to political, cultural, and social geographical matters such as the future of food.

Students were also able to test their knowledge through participating in a geography bowl. Hofstra’s team MVP was Lois Paquette, who was chosen as an alternate for the Middle States’ team that will be competing in the World Geography Bowl at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers in Washington, DC in April 2019.

A big thank you to the Provost Office at Hofstra University for supporting student attendance at conferences and for reimbursing the students’ financial costs! It is much appreciated.

Photographs from the event can be found on our Department Flickr Page

Paper Sessions

Dr. Craig Dalton (with Clancy Wilmott, Emma Frasier, and Jim Thatcher): Pokémon Go: Augmented Spaces of Spectacular Consumption, from the “Examining Geography through Pop Culture & Entertainment” paper session

Dr. Kari Jensen: Colorism among Bangladeshi People, with a Focus on Dark-skinned Women’s Experiences of Discrimination, from the “Social Geography” paper session

Lightning Talks

Julianna Cirafesi: Globalization and Health: A Qualitative Study of Immigrant Women’s Health and the Hispanic Paradox

Poster Presentations

Ligia Clara: Suicide, Culture, and Society: The Relationship in The Americas and Europe

Adriana Galarza: How Much Food is in Our Glyphosate?

Sarah Klush (and Julie R. Allison): Effects of Increases in Sedimentation and Turbidity through Time on Fish Communities in the Upper Mississippi River Systems

Fatimah Mozawalla: Separate but Equal? Analyzing School District Funding in Relation to Race on Long Island

Lois Paquette: Mapping the pre-WWI Ottoman Empire

Alishbah Saddiqui: Redefining Terrorism

Rachel Scarpino: Comparing Global Inequality: A Social and Economic Perspective