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HOME | NEWS | BACKGROUND | PROJECTS | TEAM | LABORATORY |
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* What's new with our team?
IMMEDIATE: Exciting graduate student opportunities are available in the areas of urban studies and/or health geography for the 2007-2008 academic year. Funding is available. Contact Dr. Jason Gilliland for more information!
FEB 18 - JULY 30 2006: Jason and Mat launch a new interactive computer kiosk called OLD EAST explorer for the Museum London exhibit "The Old East: A Neighbourhood that Works". This exhibit highlights the work of students in the Public History MA Program at Western, under the supervision of Professors Bill Turkel and Alan MacEachren, in cooperation with regional curator Mike Baker. While at the Musuem, check out Jason and Mat's other computer kiosk exhibit called Mapping London: Layers of Time, which is now a permanent installation at Museum London!
MAY-JUNE 2006: Presenting thesis research at the Canadian Association of Geographers meeting in Thunder Bay are team members Mat Novak (May 29) and Kristian Larsen (June 1). On May 30, Jason Gilliland and William Turkel present work at the Canadian Historical Association meeting in Toronto.
* The primary objective of the Imag(in)ing London project is to build a multi-layered historical geographic information system for exploring social, economic and morphological dimensions of urban development. Through participation in the creation and utilization of the project, students learn very practical and highly marketable skills in GIS. The HGIS is already serving as the backbone for numerous undergraduate student projects and graduate student theses in a wide range of subjects (from Urban History to Public Health). Initial seed funding for the Imag(in)ing London project was generously provided by the University of Western Ontario Academic Development Fund. Recent projects have been funded by the London Community Foundation and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
* A few of our ongoing projects are described below. Contact Dr. Gilliland for information on other potential research topics for graduate study. FIRE AND URBAN MORPHOGENESIS The built environment of a city is extremely durable and long lasting; however, a single stray spark can radically alter the urban landscape. For his MA thesis research, Mat Novak is using sophisticated HGIS techniques to explore the impacts of fires on the built form and social fabric of London, Ontario (1915-1929).
THE IMPACT OF FLOODS ON THE URBAN FABRIC Founded at the forks of the Thames River, London, Ontario is a quintessential river city. Over the last century or so, the city has experienced a number of devastating floods. Gilliland and Novak are using HGIS to explore various dimensions of these floods, particularly the influence of the Great Floods of 1883 and 1937 on urban form and land use patterns in the city.
See our recent paper in Environmental History (Gilliland and Novak 2006) and the figures in colour.
ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES ON CHILDHOOD OBESITY This project uses a mixed methods approach to assess the influence of environmental factors on obesity-related behaviours in youth. (Funding provided by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, p.i. Gilliland, 2005-2007)
THE GEOGRAPHY OF URBAN FOOD SECURITY Recent research suggests that Emergency Food Programs are not easily accessible for the majority of people who need them. This project was funded by UWO-ADF and conducted by Maren Luciani (MA completed 2005).
Kristian Larsen is currently completing his Honour's BA thesis on the evolution of urban 'food deserts' in London, 1961-2005. In simplest terms, a food desert is an area with poor access to a supermarket.
ACCESSIBILITY, QUALITY AND USE OF PUBLIC PARKS Martin Holmes is exploring such issues for his MA thesis. During the summer of 2005, Martin and Trish surveyed every public park (n=235) in the urbanized area of London! Funding for this park study was provided by the London Community Foundation (p.i. Gilliland).
* Our team includes a variety of researchers from a various backgrounds.
DR. JASON GILLILAND (DIRECTOR) Jason is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography. See his webpage here.
DAVID ALDRED, B.Sc. David is an M.Sc. candidate in Geography working under the supervision of Dr. Jinfei Wang.
PAUL DYDULA Paul is an undergraduate student in Geography.
DR. MEIZI HE Meizi is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Human Ecology at Brescia University College and a researcher with the Middlesex-London Health Unit.
MARTIN HEALY, BA Martin is a graduate of the Department of Geography at Western and a Professor in the Urban Design Program at Fanshawe College.
DR. PAUL HESS Paul is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and Program in Planning at the University of Toronto.
MARTIN HOLMES, BA Martin is an MA candidate in the Department of Geography under the supervision of Dr. Gilliland.
DR. JEFF HOPKINS Jeff is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography.
DR. JENNIFER IRWIN Jen is an Assistant Professor in the Bachelor of Health Sciences program at Western.
KRISTIAN LARSEN Kristian is completing his Honours thesis in Geography under the supervision of Dr. Gilliland.
MATHEW NOVAK, BSc Mat is an MA candidate in the Department of Geography under the supervision of Dr. Gilliland.
DR. CHRIS SMART Chris is a Professor in the Department of Geography.
KATHY TANG, MSc Kathy is a GISc Analyst in the HEAL and Dept of Geography.
PATRICIA TUCKER, MSc Trish is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Health Sciences working under the supervision of Dr. Jennifer Irwin.
DR. WILLIAM TURKEL Bill is an Assistant Professor in History at Western. See his web site here.
DR. JINFEI WANG Jinfei is a Professor in the Department of Geography.
INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERS INCLUDE: Serge A. Sauer Map Library, Department of Geography, Western Archives and Research Collections Centre, Western Urban Design Program, Fanshawe College Planning and Development Department, City of London Geomatics Division, City of London Old East Village Business Improvement Area Mainstreet London
* Our 'home base' is the Human Environments Analysis Laboratory, or HEAL for short. The HEAL is a state-of-the-art computer lab dedicated to quantitative and qualitative research on the dynamics of social and physical landscapes from the scale of entire cities down to the level of individual buildings (or open spaces) and their inhabitants.
We specialize in urban applications of GIS.
Location: Social Science Centre, The University of Western Ontario
___________________________________________________ Design by Jason Gilliland © 2006 Contact: jgillila@uwo.ca, 519 661-2111 ext. 81239
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