Associate Professor
Department of Geography and Environmental Studies | California State University, Northridge
I partner with local and international community, non-governmental, and government organizations by integrating research, teaching, and service. This is through service learning courses and community-based research.
Community trainings have included use of methods such as GPS data collection, questionnaire survey development, and geographic information system software tutorials. Current community partnership focuses on applying drip irrigation techniques to traditional tropical food crops.
Community engagement activities follow a spectrum and always depend on community partners' capacities and interests. Sometimes, this means following a community partner's lead as they develop research objectives and set the parameters of research projects. Other times, my research team takes on more of the burden to form questions and analyze data on a partner's behalf.
My students used the ArcGIS Online StoryMap platform to create an interactive report that assembled data analysis and a GIS demonstration. Our partner, World Vision Vanuatu, was interested in improving their GIS skillset and asked for a demonstration of what GIS could do for them. Analysis of some of their data was done in ArcGIS desktop software and visualized in ArcGIS Online. GIS tutorials were also provided using the free and open-source QGIS software, and tutorial videos were added to the StoryMap.
View here: https://arcg.is/1Pq9K5
The Hango Hango Community Association in Port Vila, Vanuatu, aimed to promote backyard gardening in the capital city as a result of disaster evacuations of Ambae Islanders in 2017 and 2018. Students in two of my courses assisted this project in 2019. Students in my Field Studies course traveled to Port Vila, where they worked with representative from Hango Hango to select garden locations using GIS software and evacuation data, and then built 12 garden sites. Students in my Geography of Oceania course took the project data and created the interactive virtual tour of the project, which was presented to Hango Hango members for their outreach use purposes.
View here: https://arcg.is/1njHfy
Pacoima Beautiful, and environmental justice organization in the San Fernando Valley of California, runs an "environmental toxics tour" with stakeholders to view environmental hazards affecting the community. Students in my Field Studies course conducted fieldwork to create a virtual version of this tour. This was done by compiling interviews, photography, and environmental data in ArcGIS Online.
Listed newest to oldest
| Course | Project | Partner |
|---|---|---|
| Field Studies | Coffee farmer livelihood data analysis and GIS training | World Vision, Vanuatu |
| Field Studies | Rainwater cistern survey and seedling nursery construction | (Cancelled due to COVID-19) Walaha Junior Secondary School, Vanuatu |
| Oceania | Resilience and Recovery in Christchurch, New Zealand | Life in Vacant Spaces, Christchurch, New Zealand |
| Independent Study | Youth water resources research with Mobile GPS data collection and StoryMaps | Pacoima Beautiful |
| Mixed Methods | Training youth in questionnaire survey methods | Pacoima Beautiful |
| Mixed Methods/Field Studies | Vanuatu Backyard Gardening for Disaster Resilience | Hango Hango Community Association, Vanuatu |
| Field Studies | Virtual Tours in ArcGIS Online | Pacoima Beautiful |
| Field Studies | Virtual Tour of Three Community Gardens | Monterey Road Eco-Community Gardens, Glendale California |
| Urban Geography | Strategies for Successful Urban Garden Programs | CSUN Institute for Sustainability |
| Oceania | Ambae Island Volcanic Eruption and Livelihood Impacts Outreach | Port Vila Ambae Disaster Committee |
| Oceania | Outreach for Climate Change Knowledge Survey | Coastal Resources Management, Northern Mariana Islands |