Department News

A deadly fire in China’s Xinjiang region last month triggered outcry against the nation’s stringent COVID policies, resulting in mass protests unseen in the country since 1989. Youqin Huang, a professor in University at Albany’s Department of Geography, Planning, and Sustainability, explains the significance of these protests.

Come to join us celebrating GIS Day on campus at the Lecture Center Concourse East (and Lecture Center 12) located right underneath the Performing Arts Building, organized by the Department of Geography and Planning together with CURCE (Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Engagement). What is GIS? It is Geographic Information Science which helps us make better decisions for the society and environment.

Faculty Youqin Huang and Rui Li published another paper “COVID-19 pandemic and minority health disparities in New York City: A spatial and temporal perspective” in the journal Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science.

A nationally recognized endeavor by Girls Inc. that provides hands-on opportunities in STEM, the Capital Region Girls Inc. Eureka! program has 57 girls from a number of different schools attending UAlbany this summer to learn about atmospheric and environmental sciences, mathematics and statistics, physics, psychology, women’s studies, geography, planning, and sustainability, chemistry, ChoreoPhysics and biology.

Congratulations to the three Geography and Planning students who won awards in 2022: Derek Crossman - American Planning Association (APA) Outstanding Planning Student Award, Amanda Diaz - Paul D. Marr Memorial Award for Excellence in Planning, Madison Hrysko - David Mark Prize in Geography: Graduate Award.

The award honors UAlbany people and programs that have made outstanding contributions to addressing a significant societal need and enhancing public well-being through publicly engaged research, teaching, creative activity and/or public service, and in collaboration with community partners.

Congratulations to Master of Regional Planning (MRP) student Samuel Hass who has been awarded third place for his submission to the American Planning Association's (APA) 2022 Transportation Planning Division Student Paper Competition. Hass's paper was entitled, "All-Aboard to Mexico: The Potential for Passenger Rail."

The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently released its Sixth Assessment Report, described as the most up-to-date assessment of the global climate system and climate change. The news is not good. According to Dr. Andrei Lapenas, the projections and data outlined in the report echo climate predictions made in the early 70’s by a Soviet climatologist named Mikhail Budyko. Dr. Lapenas is a climate scientist and Professor of Geography and Planning at the University at Albany. He was an author of the first IPCC report in 1990, and was also a mentee of Mikhail Budyko.