Report of the Eighty-Third Annual Meeting: San Diego, California October 14–16, 2021

Abstract

Report of the Eighty-Third Annual MeetingSan Diego, California October 14–16, 2021 Liz Ridder, Atsushi Nara, and Yolonda Youngs (bio) After a one-year meeting hiatus due to Covid-19, APCG members gleefully gathered, in-person and online, for the Eighty-Third Annual Meeting at San Diego State University (SDSU). Much to the organizers' relief, 149 people pre-registered for the meeting, with 66 online and 83 in-person attendees, plus several folks who registered in person. This year's meeting was unique for many reasons and was aptly themed "Geographies of Transition." Organizers Atsushi Nara, Liz Ridder, and Yolonda Youngs, each from a different California State University (CSU)—SDSU, CSU San Marcos, and CSU San Bernardino—banded together to bring a hybrid meeting format to APCG without losing long-standing APCG meeting traditions. This "experimental" year was part of a larger initiative organized by the AAG and its Climate Action Task Force as part of their Regions Connect: A Joint Climate Forward Initiative, which may lead to larger regional meetings in the future, to reduce carbon emissions of AAG events. As part of meeting registration, attendees could virtually attend the streaming and recorded sessions of the Applied Geography Conference and the AAG Regional Division meetings of the Southwest (SWAAG), East Lakes, West Lakes, New England-St. Lawrence Valley (NESTVAL), and Great Plains/Rocky Mountains. Concurrent paper and poster sessions took place Thursday and Friday in the Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union. Also known as the Union, the building opened in 2013, replacing the first CSU student union, the Aztec Center. The construction of the Union reused and recycled approximately eighty percent of the Aztec Center's materials, and the building is LEED Double Platinum Certified. The recent renaming of one of the meeting rooms created momentary confusion until a clever geographer updated the door sign to match the new name printed in the meeting program and campus maps. Once [End Page 163] meeting room locations were sorted, thirty-one in-person and seventeen virtual papers and eight posters were presented by authors from Arizona, California, Michigan, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Florida, Alabama, and Germany. On Thursday afternoon, Keynote Speaker Dr. Marilyn Raphael, Professor, UCLA, Director of the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, and Vice President of the AAG, presented "Antarctic Sea Ice—How Important Is It?" highlighting regional patterns of spatial, spectral, and temporal variability, including the timing of advance and retreat, and positive and negative growth trends of sea ice throughout the Antarctic. These patterns are likely related to Antarctica's geography and the influence of the ocean and atmosphere, which are expected to change as the atmosphere continues to change. Friday's Keynote Lecture by Dr. Park Williams continued discussions on "Geographies of Transition" and the impacts of climate change in his talk, "The effect of climate change on water, wildfire, and life across North America." This year's conference also featured two special sessions on Friday afternoon. Dr. Atsushi Nara organized and moderated a hybrid-mode interactive workshop to identify perceptions about the skills and knowledge to succeed in geocomputation-related careers. The project is an NSF-funded collaboration through an Encoding Geography Researcher-Practitioner Partnership (RPP) led by AAG, SDSU, San Diego Mesa Community College, Sweetwater High School Union District, Texas State University, and UC Riverside. Dr. Dan Arreola organized and moderated a discussion panel titled "Donald W. Meinig's Southwest at Half-Century, A Reflection and Appreciation." Former Meinig students and scholars of his work Bill Wyckoff, Craig Colten, Paul Starrs, and Richard Nostrand shared their perspectives on Meinig's influence on their interpretations of the Southwest and the formation of their geographical perspectives. Social events such as the Women's Network and Graduate Student lunches provided opportunities to celebrate students and connect with new colleagues and old friends. The Thursday-night reception on the Union's 3rd Floor Terrace included wonderful food and drink, supplemented [End Page 164] by a spectacular view and live music from the courtyard below. The highlights of Friday night's awards banquet were the numerous student awards for outstanding papers and posters and student travel scholarships, presenting Chris Lukinbeal with the Distinguished Service...