• Recent Publications
• Recent Grant Awards

• Smith, H.A. and O. J. Furuseth, 2006: Latinos in the New South: Transformations of Place, Ashgate Publishing, Burlington, VT.
  
  Over the past decade, Latinos have emerged as one of the fastest-growing ethnic populations in the American South. In a region where culture and class relations have for hundreds of years been constructed along black-white divides, and experience absorbing culturally or linguistically foreign immigrants has been limited, today a ‘New South’ is taking shape.
  
  This book presents a contemporary and multi-disciplinary examination of the impacts and responses to Latino immigration across the Southeastern United States. The rapid and large-scale movement of Latinos into the region has challenged old precepts and forced Southerners to confront the impacts of globalization and transnationalism in their daily lives. Drawing on theoretical perspectives as well as empirical research, this text provides insights into the Latino experience in both urban and rural locales.
• McAuliffe, J.R., E. P. Hamerlynck, and M. C. Eppes, 2007: Landscape dynamics fostering the development and persistence of long-lived creosote bush (Larrea tridentate) clones in the Mojave Desert. Journal of Arid Environments, 69, 96-126.
  
  Creosote (Larrea tridentate) is one of the most widespread desert shrubs in the American Southwest. It is also one of the longest-lived, with a single bush, ‘the King Clone’ thought to be almost 10,000 years in age. Paradoxically, very old creosote bushes are virtually absent from the oldest and most-stable portions of the landscape in which they grow. Our research demonstrated that the longevity of creosote bushes is attributable to an environment that is characterized by episodic burial of the base of the creosotes with a thin package of sediment. Episodic deposition inhibits strongly developed soils from forming and thus keeps the hydrology of the surface such that the creosotes can continue to get the water that they need in an inhospitable desert environment even after thousands of years.
• Hippensteel, S.P.: Using Foraminifera to Teach Paleoenvironmental Interpretation and Geoarchaeology: A Case Study from Folly Island, South Carolina: Journal of Geoscience Education, 54, 526-531
  
  Microfossils, and especially foraminifera, are a valuable tool for paleoenvironmental interpretations in coastal regions. Despite their utility, teaching of applied micropaleontology in undergraduate courses is limited by the difficulty of identification of some taxa. Students in the University of North Carolina Charlotte’s Coastal Processes and Environments course were required to differentiate downcore paleoenvironments from back-barrier marshes near Charleston, South Carolina. Although lithology was useful for interpreting paleoenvironments, sediments, combined with a simplified approach to microfossil identification, proved most useful for determining depositional environments. Students used Civil War maps and global positioning satellite technology to locate an 1860’s tidal inlet. Gauge-auger cores and foraminiferal analysis were used to stratigraphically confirm this strategically important inlet.
• Gordon, E. and R. K. Meentemeyer, 2006: Effects of dam operation and land use on stream channel morphology and riparian vegetation. Geomorphology, 82, 412-429.
  
  Dams are well known for influencing channel and vegetation dynamics downstream, but little work has focused on distinguishing effects of land use and channel responses to the impoundment. This student-faculty research used remote sensing in conjunction with stream gauge analyses to examine the interacting effects of a dam and land use on downstream changes in channel morphology and riparian vegetation along an agricultural stream system.
• Rodman, L. and R. K. Meentemeyer, 2006: Geographical analysis of optimal wind turbine placement in northern California. Energy Policy, 34, 2137-2149
  
  The development of new wind energy projects requires significant consideration of land use issues. In this student-faculty research project, a GIS-based analytic framework was developed to evaluate and forecast site suitability for wind generated power based on meteorological, environmental, and socio-political constraints.
• Perkins, R.M., and W.-N. Xiang, 2006: Building a Geographic Info-Structure for Sustainable Development Planning on A Small Island Developing State. Landscape and Urban Planning, 78, 353-361.
  
  Yap, a member of the Federated States of Micronesia, exemplifies many small island developing states in its effort to develop an informational infrastructure. This paper describes the early steps of on-going work by Yapese scientists, governmental agencies, and non-governmental organizations, and Queens University of Charlotte to start a successful GIS program. Early application of Yap's GIS has resulted in a dramatic reduction in area of an invasive grass (Imperata cylindrica) and increased knowledge and use of GIS by Yapese decision-makers.
• Le Roux, P. J., S. B. Shirey, E. H. Hauri, M. R. Perfit, and J. F. Bender: The effects of variable sources, processes, and contaminants on the composition of northern EPR MORB (8-10°N and 12 -14°N): Evidence from volatiles (H2O, CO2, S) and halogens (F, Cl). Earth and Planetary Science Letter, 251, 209-231.
  
  This study shows that by examining the trace element and gas contents in basalt glasses recovered from a major spreading center plate boundary (i.e. oceanic ridge), inferences can be made as to the eruption rate, depth/ source of basaltic melts, magma storage time(s), magma chamber size and volumes of eruptions along the East Pacific Rise. There is also strong supporting evidence that variations in spreading rates do affect the volatile chemistries of lavas erupted both on and off axis. The implication for this observation is that faster spreading ridges have very different magmatic plumbing systems and volcanic eruption styles then slower spreading ridge segments. This study is one of the first to produce extremely high quality volatile and trace element data from the same samples.
• Wang, Q. 2006. Linking Home to Work: Ethnic Labor Market Concentration in the San Francisco CMSA. Urban Geography 27(1): 72-92.
  
  Using data from 5% Public Used Microdata Samples in 2000, this case study of the San Francisco Bay Area reveals that the robust growth of the new economy is dramatically segmenting the geography of employment and thereby the spatial division of labor in each ethnic group. Living arrangements, such as central-city residence and living in coethnic-concentrated-PUMAs, increase the chances of niche employment for most racial/ethnic groups, even after controlling for human capital and certain local context factors. However, there is a "substitution" effect between personal socioeconomic status and location factors.
• Graves, W. and Woody, C. (2006). Risk, Finance and North Carolina’s Post-Industrial Future. Southeastern Geographer. 46 (2), 245-258.
  
  While innovation is generally seen as the engine of modern economic development, geographers have paid scant attention to the role of finance as an element of the innovation infrastructure. This study explores the availability of venture capital (a type of finance vital to the creation of modern firms) in North Carolina. The data reveal that North Carolina receives below average amounts of venture capital investment despite its remarkable success in creating human capital and transferring research from universities into firms (best exemplified by the Research Triangle Park). The scarcity of venture capital has forced the state to continue to rely on branch-plant facilities for economic development, a situation that compounds the capital shortage by extracting locally earned profits from the state’s economy.
• Graves, W. (2006) Discounting Northern Capital: Financing the World’s Largest Retailer from the Periphery. In Wal*Mart World: The World’s Biggest Corporation in the Global Economy, edited by Stanley D. Brunn. New York: Routledge. 47-54.
  
  Wal*Mart's entrepreneurial role in economic development within the south is evaluated. The degree to which Wal*Mart has realigned global capital markets and drawn substantial amounts of equity capital into the primary focus of this work. Attention is also given to the methods Wal*Mart used to overcome traditional cultural barriers which separated Wall Street from the Southern US. Ultimately it is shown that Wal*Mart's entrepreneurial success has substantially contributed to the integration of the Southern US into the core of the global economy.
• Westbrook, C, K.J. Devito and C.J. Allan. 2007 Soil N Cycling in Harvested and Pristine Boreal Forests and Peatlands. Forest Ecology and Management. 234: 227-237.
  
  The Boreal Shield forest in Canada is one of the most extensive pristine forests remaining in the world and is being intensely harvested. We studied the spatial variability of organic and inorganic nitrogen cycling processes in three Boreal Shield watersheds in northwestern Ontario for two years before and one year following clearcutting. The net release rates of inorganic nitrogen from decaying forest litter were similar among upland conifer, upland deciduous and peatland plots. The production of nitrate nitrogen (nitrification) was not found to be important at this site. The transplanting of of forest floor/peat and mineral soil cores from the uncut into the cut stands and visa versa indicated that changes in environmental conditions in the clearcut plots influenced the release rates of mineral nitrogen (ammonium ) by 50-fold and the production of nitrate nitrogen by 9-fold in the peatland cores but no difference was found for uplands. Net inorganic nitrogen cycling rates measured the first year following clearcutting were within the natural range of variability, which is consistent with previous studies in northern coniferous and aspen forests. In contrast to previous studies, no difference in soil dissolved organic nitrogen mobilization rates were found between uncut and recently clearcut stands. The study provides important information to forest managers regarding the availability of nitrogen, a key plant nutrient during the period immediately following clearcutting in northern boreal forest.
• Etherton, B. J., and P. Santos, 2006: Sensitivity of WRF Forecasts to Initial and Boundary Conditions. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 87, 1495-1496.
  
  Numerical weather prediction consists of providing the initial state of the atmosphere to a computer model, and letting that model integrate the equations of motion forward in time. The quality of the initial conditions can strongly impact the forecasts of small scale weather features, such as the sea breeze. In this paper, we explore the sensitivity of forecasts from the WRF model of the weather in Florida to initial conditions, and conclude that forecasts initialized using high resolution initial conditions resulted in better forecasts of precipitation.
• Tyrrell, W.W. Jr., Smith, A.H., Diemer, J.A., and G. L. Bell: Operational wireline log-defined Cisuralian (Leonardian-Wolfcampian) boundaries in northern Delaware Basin area, New Mexico and west Texas, in Hinterlong, G., Cox, D., and Cox, K., (eds.), Resource Plays in the Permian Basin: Resource to Reserves: West Texas Geological Society, Midland, Texas, Publication #06-117, 121-145.
  
  This publication is the product of an ongoing, collaborative project to apply sequence stratigraphy to surface outcrops and subsurface well logs in oil-bearing Middle Permian strata of New Mexico and west Texas.
• Diemer, J.A., Tyrrell, W.W., Jr., Bell, G.L., Jr., and Griffing, D.H., 2006, The bentonite-bearing Manzanita Limestone Member, Cherry Canyon Formation, exposed in Patterson Hills road cut, Culberson County, Texas: in Raatz, W., (ed.), New Mexico Geological Society Field Trip Guide, Socorro, New Mexico, 75-77.
  
  This publication is the product of an ongoing, collaborative project to apply sequence stratigraphy to surface outcrops and subsurface well logs in oil-bearing Middle Permian strata of New Mexico and west Texas.

Top

• The investigation of the geomorphology of semiarid and arid terrains in the United States and Mexico
  MARTHA EPPES
  Gladys W. Cole Memorial Research Award
• 2007 North Carolina Geographical Society Educator of the Year
  TYREL MOORE
  North Carolina Geographical Society
• Anti-Gang Funding for Project Safe Neighborhoods
  LAURIE GARO
  NC Governors Crime Commission
• Spatial Modeling of a Biological Invasion: Landscape-level establishment and spread of Phytophthora ramorum in California
  ROSS MEENTEMEYER
  CSU Agriculture Research Initiative
• Hoops and Hope (Project Safe Neighborhoods)
  LAURIE GARO
  NC Governors Crime Commission
• Collaborative Research: Evaluating Student Learning in Geoscience Curricula that Employ Conceptests Using Electronic Student Response Systems
  JAKE ARMOUR
  NSF
• SUDDEN CAPITAL: Integrated Modeling and Simulation Capability
  WEI-NING XIANG
  DOD/Defense Intelligence Agency
• Contributions to Charlotte’s Urban Streets Design Guidelines: Mobility and Safety
  JEAN-CLAUDE THILL
  Charlotte (City of) Dept of Transportation
• Surficial Geology and Geomorphology of the Southeastern San Juan Mountains, Colorado
  MARTHA EPPES
  USGS
• Improved Site-specific Temperature Forecasts Using High-resolution Mesoscale Weather Models
  BRIAN ETHERTON
  Duke Energy Corp
• Commercialized Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Technology Application
  SHEN-EN CHEN, SEOK-WON LEE, BILL RIBARSKY, WILLIAM TOLONE, PAUL SMITH, EDD HAUSER and DAVID WEGGEL
  DOT/Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
• Escape Lake Riparian Buffer Investigation
  CRAIG ALLAN and ANDY BOBYARCHICK
  Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
• Investigation of Thermally Induced Cracks in Rock
  MARTHA EPPES and KIMBERLY WARREN
  NSF
• Wilmore Walk Porous Pavement Monitoring Study
  CRAIG ALLAN
  Charlotte (City of)
• Collaborative Research: Impact of Externally and Internally Modulated Convection on Tropical Cyclone Evolution
  MATTHEW EASTIN
  NSF
• Sudden Capital Initial Operating Capability Phase I
  WEI-NING XIANG
  DOD/Defense Intelligence Agency
• Creation of a PBRN to Study Healthcare Delivery to a Transitioning Community
  HEATHER A. SMITH
  DHHS/NIH
• Spatial Modeling of a Biological Invasion: Landscape-level establishment and spread of Phytophthora ramorum in California
  ROSS MEENTEMEYER
  CSU Agriculture Research Initiative
• Phytophthora ramorum and sudden oak death: feedback between a generalist pathogen, hosts and hetrogeneous environments at multiple spatial and temporal scales
  ROSS MEENTEMEYER
  NSF
• Evaluation of Manufactured Stormwater Best Management Practices
  CRAIG ALLAN
  NC Dept of Transportation
• Mapping Red Wolf Habitat in North Carolina with Satellite Remote Sensing: An Improved Supervised Classification Method Using Multiple Spatial Resolution Images
  JOHN CHADWICK
  NASA
• Evaluation of Nutrient Loading Rates and Effectiveness of Roadside Vegetative Connectivity for Managing Runoff from Secondary Roads
  CRAIG ALLAN
  NC Dept of Transportation
• Anti-Gang Funding- Project Safe Neighborhoods
  LAURIE GARO
  NC Governors Crime Commission
• Use and verification of high resolution Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model output as NWP guidance for fire weather prediction
  BRIAN ETHERTON
  UCAR/COMET
• Investigation of Radon Source Material in the Piedmont, Cleveland County, NC
  JOHN DIEMER, ANDY BOBYARCHICK and MARTHA EPPES
  NC Dept of Environment Health & Natural Resources
• Internship with Terraine, Inc.
  JOHN BENDER
  TERRAINE Inc
• Placement of Detection Loops on High Speed Approaches to Traffic Signals
  EDD HAUSER
  NC State University (Institute for Trans Res & Ed)
• 2006-07 Escape Lake Hydrogeological Forestry Study
  CRAIG ALLAN, JOHN DIEMER and ANDY BOBYARCHICK
  Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
• Highway Safety Improvement Policy Analysis
  EDD HAUSER
  AAA Carolinas
• Wilmore Walk Porous Pavement Monitoring Study
  CRAIG ALLAN
  Charlotte (City of) Storm Water Services
• Collaborative Research: Impact of Externally and Internally Modulated Convection on Tropical Cyclone Evolution
  MATTHEW EASTIN
  NSF
• Internship with the Town of Matthews Planning Department
  TYREL MOORE
  Matthews (Town of)
• GIS Analysis of Bald Eagle Tracks
  PAUL SMITH and ROSS MEENTEMEYER
  Carolina Raptor Center
• Hoops and Hope (Project Safe Neighborhoods)
  LAURIE GARO
  NC Governors Crime Commission
• Business Impact of Charlotte Congestion
  DAVID HARTGEN
  Piedmont Public Policy Institute
• MUMPO Travel Demand Model Data Updates to 2005
  PAUL SMITH
  Charlotte (City of) Dept of Transportation
• Wesley Chapel: Master Plan
  KEN CHILTON
  Wesley Chapel (Village of)
• Modeling the Impacts of Urban Growth on Natural and Rural Lands in the Greater Charlotte Area (1973 – 2030)
  ROSS MEENTEMEYER
  Catawba Lands Conservancy

Top

Archives