Geography & Environmental Sustainability Faculty & Staff

Degrees

• Ph.D. Louisiana State University
• M.A. University of Wyoming
• B.A. Oklahoma State University

Courses Taught

• GEOG 1000 Introductory Geography
• GEOG 2010 Economic Geography
• GEOG 2030 Cultural Geography
• GEOG 3004 Biogeography
• GEOG/ ENSS 3068 U.S. Environmental History
• GEOG 3106 Principles of GIS
• GEOG 3226 Airborne Remote Sensing Systems
• GEOG/SOC 3750 Disaster, Risk, and Society
• ENSS 4098 Environmental Sustainability Senior Seminar

Bio and Background

A native of southwest Oklahoma, I earned my BA in Liberal Studies, concentrated in English and Political Science, from Oklahoma State University in May 2009. I once again became a Cowboy during my Master’s education, earning my MA in Geography from the University of Wyoming in May 2014. I then earned my Ph.D. in Geography and Anthropology from Louisiana State University (Geaux Tigahs!) in May 2020. I joined the faculty at SUNY Oneonta in Fall 2021, where you can most often find me kiki-ing in the GIS lab.

Research Interests

My current research focuses on the cultural geographies of hazards (specifically how storytelling and memory can aid adaptation across communities and can be used as a framework for equitable hazards and climate change research), qualitative geospatial analyses of humans’ every day relationships with the environment, communicating the impacts of climate change over time, and exploring issues of environmental justice and climate change impacts related to atmospheric hazards (extreme precipitation) and geologic hazards (sinkhole formation caused by both natural and human impacts). I always aim to approach my research intersectionally while examining how to circumvent and reconstruct current systems of power.

Selected Publications

Articles

Allen, A. 2020. Memory, risk, and regional identity: Assessing the socio-cultural impacts of tornadoes in Oklahoma, USA. Journal of Integrated Disaster Risk Management. 10 (2) DOI:10.5595/001c.18136

Hobbies and Interests

Outside of work you can find me trying new restaurants, going to museums, and spending time with my dog, Toby, and my cat, Wormy. I also love reality television and live music (Taylor’s version).

Bio and Background

“My name is Ben, but all of my students call me “Dixon”, and I like that.
I lived on the Great Plains for a number of years, and I have seen a tornado up close.
Ever since age 18, I wanted to become a college professor, and I have been teaching college since 1993.
I have been a professor here at SUNY University of Oneonta since 2001, and I love animals, especially dogs.
Thank you for reading this. Graciously yours, DIXON.”

Degrees

• B.A. (in Geography) from Shippensburg University
• M.A. (in Geography) from the University of Kansas
• Ph.D. (in Geography) from the University of Oklahoma

Courses Taught

• GEOG 1000 Introduction to Geography
• GEOG 2025 Population Geography and the Environment
• GEOG 2060 Geography of USA and Canada
• GEOG 3606 Cartographic Principles

Research and Teaching Interests

• Asteroid Impact Craters on Earth,
• TREX Fossil Sites,
• The Gettysburg Battlefield,
• Yellowstone Supervolcano,
• Our National Parks,
• Sequoia Trees,
• Elephants, Giraffe, Polar Bears, & Pandas.
• Biogeography,
• Early Human fossils,
• Tornadoes,
• Castles,
• Our Ocean floors,
• Plate Tectonics,
• Antarctica,
• the Great Plains,
• the Rocky Mountains,
• the Adirondacks & New England,
• and Maps.

Selected Publications

Articles

“Furthering Their Own Demise: How Kansa Indian Death Customs Accelerated Their Depopulation.” Journal of Ethnohistory. 54.3 (Summer 2007) pp. 473-508.
“KAW (Kanza) Indians.” Encyclopedia of the Great Plains, David Wishart, Editor. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004.) Pp. 579-580.
“The Gettysburg Battlefield, One Century Ago.” Adams County History Vol. 6 (2000) pp. 1-53.

Book

Learning the Battle of Gettysburg: A Guide to the Official Records (144pp. Gettysburg, Pa.: Thomas Publications, 2007).

Hobbies and Interests

• I love to eat healthy, exercise, and learn every day.
• Playing with my dog!!!
• Shopping (I can do it every day!)
• Driving (I love it so much, I can drive 5-8 hours a day, every day!)
• Exploring the Adirondacks and New England.
• Spending time in Gettysburg (the most beautiful town in America).
• I love to trying new restaurants, especially Diners, Donut shops, Pizza places, and Ice Cream stands.
• I will drive up to 4 hours just to try a new restaurant.
• Reading (every night before I go to bed), especially really old newspapers from the 1800s.

Education:
B.S. SUNY Oneonta
M.S. Oregon State University
PhD. Rutgers University

Courses taught

Bio and Background

Dr. Mills was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and spent the first 40 years of his life in the Upper Midwest. He spent much of his early life on Minnesota lakes and on the upper Mississippi River. Some of his notable experiences as a youth and young adult include a cross-country trip on a boxcar, working for the US Forest Service in Idaho, and playing saxophone in Luke Warm and His Hot Drips. He moved to Oneonta in 1998 to join the faculty at SUNY Oneonta. He has had the opportunity to travel extensively in Asia, including Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, China, Japan, Korea, and India.

Degree(s)

• BS Natural Resource Planning from University of Wisconsin – Madison
• MA and PhD in Geography – University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Courses Taught

• GEOG 1000 – Introductory Geography
• GEOG 2030 – Geography of Culture and Environment
• GEOG 2074 – Geography of Asia
• GEOG 3122 – Religion, Spirit, and Environment
• GEOG 3203 – Geography of Southeast Asia
• GEOG 3213 – Geography of China, Japan, and Korea
• ENSS 3098 – Interdisciplinary Junior Seminar

Research Interests

• Culture and environment
• Sacred space and spiritual landscapes
• Pilgrimage
• Green Burial Practices

Recent Book Publication

Pilgrimage Pathways for the United States: Creating Pilgrimage Routes to Enrich Lives, Enhance Community, and Restore Ecosystems – North Atlantic Books, 2021

Hobbies and Interests

Travel, constructing rock walls, and carving wooden spoons.

Bio and Background

A Michigan native, I attended MSU as an undergraduate in the Department of Zoology. In 2010 I earned a minor in Conservation Biology at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and developed an interest in the human dimensions of wildlife conservation. Intrigued by the more applied approach to understanding human-wildlife interactions, I made the transition to the Fisheries and Wildlife Department for the completion of my Masters Degree. I recently graduated from the Department of Geography at the University of Nevada, Reno where I studied the biogeography of nonmigratory and neotropical migratory birds. I have worked with mammals, reptiles, and birds, but the country, people, and ecosystems of Nicaragua unite my diverse taxonomic interests.

I am a biogeographer with interests in spatial ecological modeling, GIS, UAS, and Motus wildlife tracking technologies. My current research focuses on distribution modeling and applied habitat mapping for threatened birds, as well as UAS applications in wildlife conservation. I am broadly interested in applied biogeographic research that engages undergraduate students and community members in the scientific process and collaborative conservation initiatives. Furthermore, I am an enthusiastic instructor with dedicated training in inclusive, experiential, and student-centered learning in higher education.

Degree(s)

• BS Zoology, Michigan State University 2012
• Minor: Applied Conservation, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute
• Specialization: Environmental Studies
• MS Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University 2017
• PhD Geography, University of Nevada, Reno 2023

Courses Taught

• GEOG 1000
• GEOG 3106
• GEOG 3001
• ENSS 3098
• (GEOG 3004, 3116, 3226, and 4106 are expected in the future)

Research and Teaching Interest

• Conservation Biogeography
• Species Distribution Modeling
• UAV Applications to Wildlife Management
• GIS and Spatial Analysis

Selected Publications

Articles

• Mitchell C.I., D.A. Friend, L.T. Phillips*, E.A. Hunter and others. 2021. ‘Unscrambling’ the drivers of egg production in Agassiz’s desert tortoise: climate and individual attributes predict reproductive output. Endangered Species Research 44:217-230. *First position shared by first three authors
• Burnett, K., M.N. Zipple, L.T. Phillips, P. Panwar, L.P. Mcguire, and W.A. Boyle. 2019. Nocturnal reductions in body temperature in high-elevation Neotropical birds. Tropical Ecology, 60(4):581-586.
• Phillips, L.T, S. Zlotnik, M.N. Zipple, K. Burnett, and T. Doan. 2017. Prevalence of saurian malaria in Anolis lizards of La Selva, Costa Rica. Herpetological Review 48(4):770-771

Hobbies and Interests

Skiing, Gardening, Outdoor Recreation, DIY projects, Cats, Learning the names of every organism around me 🙂.

Degrees

• Ph.D. Louisiana State University
• M.A. Louisiana State University
• B.A. Louisiana State University

Courses Taught

• ENSS 1010 Environmental Sustainability
• ENSS/GEOG 2100 Environmental Issues
• ENSS 3050 Environmental Monitoring
• GEOG 2039 Digital Earth
• GEOG 2303 Geography of Latin America
• GEOG 3206 Remote Sensing

Bio and Background

Jacob was born in Columbia, South Carolina and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He obtained all three of his degrees from Louisiana State University, finishing his PhD in December 2021. After a short stint at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Jacob joined the Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability in Fall 2022.

Research Interests

I am a paleoclimatologist and archaeologist who specializes in human-environment interactions. I have conducted research in the US Southeast and Southwest and Peru. My work primarily uses the chemistry of mollusks (clams, mussels, snails, oysters, etc.) to reconstruct past climates and environments. I am also interested in issues related to modern ecosystem management and environmental issues, especially those caused by anthropogenic climate change.

Selected Publications

Articles

Warner, Jacob P., Kristine L. DeLong, David Chicoine, Kaustubh Thirumalai, and C. Fred T. Andrus. "Investigating the influence of temperature and seawater δ18O on Donax obesulus (Reeve, 1854) shell δ18O." Chemical Geology 588 (2022): 120638. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2021.120638

Warner, Jacob, and Aleksa K. Alaica. "Contextualizing the influence of climate and culture on bivalve populations: Donax obesulus malacology from the north coast of Peru." The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology (2021): 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/15564894.2021.1991055

Book Chapters

Chicoine, David, and Jacob Warner. Chapter 9: "Gathering Salinar houses: Platforms-as-assemblages in ancient coastal Peru." In “From House Societies to States”. Moreno Garcia, Juan Carlos, editor. (2022). Oxbow Books.

Hobbies and Interests

I enjoy the outdoors, spending time with my pets, and cooking. My wife and I enjoy exploring museums, historic sites, and new restaurants together. I also enjoy exercising, watching sports, and playing video games.

Professor Emeritus

Degrees

• B.A. Geography, Russian Studies, Indiana University 1961
• M.A. Urban Geography, Indiana University 1962
• Post Masters Work, Indiana University 1963
• Advanced Graduate Work in Urban Geography, University of Cincinnati 1963-1966

Professional Accomplishments

National Science Foundation Fellowship
NASA Earth Resources Laboratory 1978-1979

National Council for Geographic Education
Recipient: Distinguished Teaching Award, College-University Level 1984

President of the Middle States Division of the
American Association of Geographers (AAG) 1993

State University of New York at Oneonta
Department Chair 1983-2008

Courses Taught

• GEOG 1000 - Introductory Geography 3 s.h.
• GEOG 2060 - Geography of the United States and Canada 3 s.h.
• GEOG 3043 - Quantitative Geographic and Planning Models 3 s.h.
• GEOG 3106 - Geographic Information Systems: Principles and Methods 3 s.h.
• GEOG 3612 - Geography of Urban Environments 3 s.h.
• GEOG 3606 - Cartographic Principles 3 s.h.
• GEOG 4106 - Geographic Information Systems: Advanced Methods 3 s.h.

Research Interests

I am currently involved in research related to urban heat islands, history of aerial photograph and satellite imagery (remote sensing), and environmental disasters.

Publications

To see my publication record, do a Google search on Earth From Afar Paul Baumann.

Other Interests

Genealogical research and living in the mountains of Southern Colorado.

Description

Diane Carlton, AICP, is an avid environmental planner who has a special interest in land preservation as a building block for sustainability. Diane is the former Planning Director for Otsego County and has worked as an environmental planner for Westchester and Sullivan counties as well as for the town of Naugatuck, CT. She was also the Director of Public Affairs and Education for the central New York Region of the Department of Environmental Conservation. She holds an MPA from the University of Delaware in Environmental Planning as well as a B.A. in History and Environmental Studies from SUNY Geneseo. She is the Secretary/Treasurer of the Chenango Land Trust. She has also served on the Board of Assessment Review for the town of Otego and was on the Board of Directors for Upstate New York Chapter of the American Planning Association. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, gardening, genealogy, knitting and reading.

Courses taught

Environmental Science, Environmental Planning, Introduction to Geography

Publications

Westchester County Permit Guide, Data Book for Otsego County, The Otsego County Subdivision Handbook, The Otsego County Site Plan Handbook, The Otsego County Planning and Zoning Handbook, the Otsego County SEQRA Handbook, the Otsego County Cell Tower Handbook, the Otsego County Highway Map, State Lands in Central New York, Mapping Forests in the Upper Susquehanna River Watershed.

Non-Published Reports

Otsego Town Zoning Ordinance, Otego Zoning Ordinance, Cherry Valley Comprehensive Plan, Maryland Zoning Ordinance, Maryland Subdivision Regulations, Edmeston Zoning Ordinance, Gilbertsville Zoning Ordinance, Otego Subdivision Regulations, Laurens Zoning Ordinance, Decatur Zoning Ordinance, Maryland Comprehensive Plan, Cherry Valley Subdivision Regulations, Personnel Study of the Otsego County Public Defender's Office, Personnel Study of the Otsego County Community Services Department, Otsego County Board Launch Study, Otsego County Annual Building Permits and Growth Report, Meadows Review Committee Recommendations for s Nursing Home Facility in Otsego County, Otsego County Automobile Study, Otsego County Solid Waste RFP for Consultant Services, Otsego County Sheriff's Department Manpower Study, Otsego County Land Evaluation and Site Assessment Study (LESA), Otsego County Census Redistricting Study, Otsego County RFP for Transportation Services.

Education:

Courses taught