BU Geography & Environment

News & Events

  • Remote Sensing of Vegetation Class Enjoys its Traditional Pesto Party - Following the completion of directional reflectance measurements of corn, switchgrass, and nasturtium canopies grown in the GE greenhouse atop the Stone Science Building, Professors Strahler and Woodcock led the class in preparation of an Italian-style lunch featuring linguini al pesto, made from greenhouse-grown basil plants. The meal also featured greenhouse-grown baby arugola and misticanza salads, along with cold platters of grilled vegetables, mozzarella, basil, and fresh tomato. Penne with ginger-garlic sauce provided a contrast to the pesto that blended Italian and Chinese influences. Greenhouse-grown green beans were also served. Desert was a tasting of three types of gelato with chocolate biscotti. The group of almost twenty students prepared the food in the Continuing Education Culinary Demonstration Facility. Photos will be coming soon!
  • The USGS Landsat Science Team met January 8-10 in Sioux Falls, SD to consider a variety of topics related to the Landsat Program. Of primary concern is the progress in the development of the sensor (OLI) being built by Ball Aerospace (for more information click here) for the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (for more information click here) The OLI sensor has significant differences from the current TM and ETM+ sensors on existing Landsat satellites. A second primary topic for the meeting concerns the availability of historical Landsat imagery. The USGS announced plans to move aggressively toward providing all past Landsat imagery in their archive on demand for no charge. This tremendous development promises to change the way the historical archive of Landsat imagery will be used to explore the recent history of the surface of Earth. A report was also given by USGS on efforts to find and recover Landsat images collected in the past that are not in the USGS archive. Additionally, the Science Team developed recommendations for the new National Land Imaging Program , or NLIP (for more information, click here)
  • Professor Adil Najam joins the faculty in Geography and Environment with a joint appointment in International Relations - for more details see the story in BU Today.
  • The Center for Transportation Studies, together with the Joint OECD/ECMT Transport Research Center, is hosting the Research Round Table on "Macro, Meso and Micro-Infrastructure Planning and Assessment Tools" on 25-26 October 2007 at BU. Professors Ian Sue Wing, William P. Anderson and T.R. Lakshmanan will present the results of ongoing research into The Broader Benefits of Infrastructure Investment. Click here for a link to the paper.
  • The BU Geography & Environment ranked third in the country for 2005 by a study published in Chronicle of Higher Education. Click here to read about other BU departments who were also highly ranked.
  • Three Geography & Environment Faculty proposals were selected in a recent NASA research competition.
  • Professor Woodcock selected to be team leader for the Landsat Science Team.
  • Earth Portal and Encyclopedia of Earth launched.
  • BU Environmental Analysis and Policy Alum founds Clean Air Lawn Care.
  • Professor T.R. Lakshmanan was featured in BU Today, in a story about the honorary degree he was recently awarded from his alma mater, Ohio State University. Click here to read Lakshmanan Receives Honorary Degree
  • Professor Robert Kaufmann was quoted in a BU Today story about what 2007 holds for the new Congress. Click here to read What the New Congress Could Bring (bottom of the article) for Kaufmann's thoughts on national security, the war on terrorism, and economic competitiveness.
  • Professor Robert Kaufmann was recently a guest on NPR's On Point radio show. Click here to listen to him on the show Deep Drilling for Oil.

  • BU Geography & Environment News and EventsProfessor Cutler Cleveland has recently launched The Encyclopedia of Earth, an ongoing project that aims to be the largest reliable information resource on the environment in history. It is completely free and kept constantly up-to-date. The project has already attracted a large group of distinguished editors and authors of the highest caliber, from renowned international institutions. For more information, visit The Encyclopedia of Earth.