Geography graduate student Jennifer Morris received the R.S. Tarr Award for the best
illustrated paper at the annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers
in Boston. The title of her paper was "Effects of Snow Impurities on the Spectral Albedo of Prairie Snowpacks".

A renowned geography professor, Dr. Sarah Bednarz, and an internationally acclaimed marketing professor, Dr. Leonard Berry, have been named 2008 winners of Texas A&M University’s Presidential Professor for Teaching Excellence Award. With stipends of  $25,000 each, these awards are believed to be the highest in monetary value of their type in the nation.

Students in the College of Geosciences earned three first place prizes, one second place prize, and three third place prizes, as well as several special awards in the 11^th Annual Student Research Week held March 24-28. Over 50 faculty and students from the College participated in Student Research Week which recognizes and celebrates student research at Texas A&M.

A recently published special issue of GeoJournal (70:1) features a forum on the scientific accuracy of former U.S. vice president Al Gore's Oscar-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth. Atmospheric Sciences Professor and State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon was one of four experts invited to submit an opinion piece, and Distinguished Professor Gerald North contributed a synthesis paper responding to the commentaries and discussing the current state of climate change science. Steven Quiring, assistant professor in the Department of Geography, was guest editor for the special issue and wrote the introduction titled “Science and Hollywood: a discussion of the scientific accuracy of An Inconvenient Truth.”

Dr. Charles Lafon, Associate Professor in the Department of Geography, College of Geosciences, has been honored by the University with a 2008 Distinguished Achievement Award for Teaching. The award recognizes, encourages, and rewards superior classroom teachers –individuals whose command of their respective discipline, teaching methodologies, and commitment exemplify the meaning of teacher in its highest sense.

A portion of Geography Ph.D. Candidate Kirk Stueve’s dissertation has been accepted for publication by the Journal of Vegetation Science. The article is titled “Post-fire tree establishment patterns at the alpine treeline ecotone: Mount Rainier National Park, Washington, USA”.