The Western States Caucus of the National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) cordially invites you to join the second annual community Roundtable discussion on Thursday, April 25th from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. PDT. Anyone interested in this is welcome to join the event; it is not limited to NSGIC members.
Building on the concept of using a Common Operating Picture to uncover hidden spatial relationships to common problems, the discussion will pivot to examine related research in higher education. Learn from researchers on how to use location-based information to examine impacts from variable climate conditions on humans, co-located ecosystems, and the built environment. The discussion will also explore best practices on how to effectively communicate and visualize research findings to citizens to support critical decision making.
A long list of federal agencies, state leaders, and non-governmental organizations are among the list of invited guests. Please feel free to extend this invitation to others in your network if you cannot attend or that you think would benefit from attending this informative session.
2024 NSGIC Western States Caucus Virtual Roundtable Registration
To learn more about the Western States Caucus, visit the website https://nsgic.org/initiatives/western-states-caucus/
The Western States Caucus is excited to share a detailed agenda for the second annual Roundtable event on April 25th.
Dr. Jill Trepanier from Louisiana State University will serve as our keynote speaker. She will speak to her research on extreme weather behavior and using GIS to help understand its impacts to humans and our built environment. In the second hour, we will have two speakers share details about their ongoing research efforts.
Dr. Jeff Hamerlinck from the University of Wyoming will explain their research on climate transitions in three Wyoming watersheds and how to best translate that research to build capacity and resilience among Wyoming’s citizens.
Dr. Benjamin Stanley from Arizona State University will delve into the Ten Across initiative, which is taking a unique approach to research diverse communities along the I-10 corridor that are at high risk from climate disasters and the production of geographically-based narratives and visualizations to help the public understand sustainability and resilience issues along this transportation network.
In the third hour we will break out in virtual rooms to have small group discussions to reflect on what’s been shared and how it informs how the GIS community can effectively communicate risks from the multitude of extreme weather and climate events to better inform the public and enable them to make better decisions for themselves.
Abstracts:
Dr. Jill Trepanier
Extreme hurricane behavior, sea level rise, extreme rainfall, prolonged extreme temperatures, and unexpected freeze events are a few of the known threats related to Earth’s changing climate. These threats do not influence people or places the same way, and geographic information systems can be used to understand patterns in these threats across space and time. As a hurricane climatologist and geographer, it is my responsibility to help identify these patterns and relay information to those who might use it to make informed decisions. This responsibility presently encompasses five different projects with four different stakeholders: 1) Native American tribes and their cultural sites and fisheries, 2) the Institute of Museum Library Sciences and all U.S. galleries, libraries, archives, and museums, 3) South Louisiana farmers and their small farms, and 4) middle and high school Environmental Science teachers and the students and schools. Each of these projects is discussed with the expected implications of each. The GIS work is highlighted, and best practices for establishing relationships between scientist and stakeholder is emphasized.
Dr. Jeff Hamerlinck – WyACT
Wyoming Anticipating Climate Transitions: integrating geospatial data and tools to understand risk, consider future scenarios and build adaptive capacity
An interdisciplinary team at the University of Wyoming recently received a five-year, $22 million National Science Foundation funded grant focused on Wyoming’s Snake River, Green River, and Wind River basins aimed at establishing new research capabilities and infrastructure that improve predictive understanding of the coupled human-environment impacts of climate change on water availability in the central Rocky Mountain region of the United States. The mission of the WyACT Project – “Wyoming Anticipating Climate Transitions” – is to: (1) implement a transdisciplinary framework of co-production of knowledge that directly involves Wyoming communities, sovereign tribes and government; (2) improve representation of socioeconomic, ecological, and hydrological interactions in integrated models that predict responses to climate change induced reductions in water availability and associated disturbances; and (3) enhance the economic development of Wyoming by leveraging investments in cyberinfrastructure, workforce development and statewide, regional and national partnerships. This presentation will provide an overview of the role of geospatial technologies in pursuing these objectives.
Dr. Benjamin Stanley – Ten Across
America’s 2,400-mile Interstate 10 highway, which connects many of the fastest growing, diverse, and disaster-vulnerable communities, most acutely represents the frontline of our shared future and provides a living observatory for understanding the present and envisioning more sustainable and inclusive futures. The Ten Across initiative at Arizona State University has built a network of government, media, business, and academic leaders in I-10 cities alongside a media operation and academic curriculum, all with a focus on visually immersive, geographically-themed narratives that use curated spatial data visualizations to engage a wide audience and highlight pressing resilience and sustainability problems.