Departmental Specialties
The faculty, with extensive world-wide experience (Latin America, the Caribbean, Southern and Eastern Asia, Europe, Africa, the American West, and the American South), is exceptionally qualified to direct graduate research in geography of the natural environment (especially biogeography, paleoclimatology, and geomorphology), spatial analysis (especially transportation geography, location analysis, and environmental modeling), and human geography (especially economic, urban, population, and cultural).
Biogeography
Biogeography is the study of the changing distributions of species
and groups of species in space and time, and the physical, biological,
and cultural factors that affect distribution patterns. Five faculty
members, Sally
Horn, Henri
Grissino-Mayer, Ken
Orvis, Liem
Tran, and Lydia Pulsipher, conduct research related to the biogeography of wild
and cultivated plant species, and related to vegetation patterns and
their controls over recent and long time scales. Biogeographical topics
that have engaged department faculty and their students include: fire
as an influence on vegetation patterns in the southern Appalachians,
western U.S., circum-Caribbean, and northern Andes (Grissino-Mayer,
Horn, Orvis); landscape-scale modeling of vegetation, climate, and
human impacts (Orvis, Tran); modern lake environments and biota (Horn,
Orvis); the origins and spread of domesticated plants (Horn, Pulsipher);
the biogeographical consequences of the European Conquest of the New
World (Horn, Pulsipher, Orvis); and the impacts of Quaternary climate
change and human activity on plants and vegetation at sites throughout
North and South America (Horn, Orvis, Grissino-Mayer). These projects
make use of the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Science, the Laboratory of
Paleoenvironmental Research, and other department laboratories (see
also description under Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction, below).
Cultural/Historical Geography
Cultural/historical geographers at Tennessee are actively engaged in
research in the areas of folk and popular culture. John
Rehder has examined aspects of folk culture in Appalachia
and the South, especially the
material folk culture reflected in traditional log buildings.
Dr. Rehder is currently working on a book documenting these rapidly
vanishing cultural
landscape features. Tom Bell and Peggy
Gripshover have recently
examined the rise and demise of an onion-growing complex in eastern
Iowa focusing
on cultural factors such as ethnicity, folk knowledge, and family
structures. Dr. Bell is currently co-editing a volume on recent
research in music
geography. Dr. Gripshover is researching the cultural and historical
impact of Wrigley Field in neighborhoods on Chicago’s North Side.
(Contact person: Dr. Tom Bell)
Geography of the American South
At Tennessee a major focus of attention has been the American South
including Appalachia. Within this study region, geographers at
Tennessee have pursued their topical interests in material folk culture
(John
Rehder). Anita Drever studies patterns
of diffusion, and migration, especially the recent influx of Latino
immigrants into the South. Ron
Kalafsky is investigation the industrial development of the South
and the importance of knowledge-based advanced manufacturing to the
region.
Land use transition created by urban sprawl at the rural-urban
fringe is an area of interest to Tom Bell.
Specialized equines such as mules and Tennessee Walking Horses and Knoxville
are Peggy
Gripshover’s
research topics in the South. (Contact person: Dr. Tom Bell)
Geomorphology and Soils
Geomorphology is the study of landform evolution. Soils are byproducts and archives of landform evolution as well as regulators and recorders of surface and near-surface environmental conditions. Five faculty members, Carol Harden, Liem Tran, Ken Orvis, Sally Horn, and Henri Grissino-Mayer, conduct research in process geomorphology (fluvial, hillslope, glacial) and/or study soil processes or soils as archives of previous environmental conditions. Research themes have included soil erosion (Harden, Tran), sediment linkages between land and stream (Harden), glacial history (Orvis, Harden, Horn), paleoclimate inferences from paleosols (Orvis, Horn), fire histories based on soil charcoal (Horn, Orvis, Grissino-Mayer, Harden), and soil micromorphology (Orvis). The department has labs equipped to analyze physical characteristics of soils and sediments.
GIS and Transportation
Geographic Information Science and Transportation are closely intertwined areas of specialization in the Department of Geography. These areas constitute the primary research and teaching activities of Dr. Bruce Ralston and Dr. Shih-Lung Shaw. In addition, Dr. Ken Orvis and Dr. Liem Tran contribute to teaching GIS, remote sensing, and global positioning system (GPS) classes. The Department offers a highly competitive GIS for Transportation (GIS-T) program that is well recognized nationally and internationally. (Contact person: Dr. Shih-Lung Shaw)
Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction
Research on past environments contributes to answering fundamental questions about the functioning of Earth’s climate system, “natural” disturbance regimes in ecosystems, and the role of humans in changing the environment, and has important applications in designing conservation and land-management plans. Unraveling the past history of world environments also improves our knowledge of future global change. The University of Tennessee Department of Geography has a strong program of research involving the reconstruction of past environmental conditions—climate, vegetation, fire, ecosystem disturbances, and human activity—from natural archives that include tree rings, soils, and lake sediments. Three faculty members (Sally Horn, Ken Orvis, and Henri Grissino-Mayer) and their students are active in paleoenvironmental research funded by the NSF (National Science Foundation) and a variety of other agencies. The department has world-class laboratories in the Science and Engineering Research Facility for the study of tree rings (Laboratory of Tree-Ring Science, directed by Grissino-Mayer) and of pollen, charcoal, and other proxy indicators in sediments and soils (Laboratory of Paleoenvironmental Research, directed by Horn and Orvis). These faculty members and their students also collaborate with colleagues in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, the Department of Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries, and at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and elsewhere to investigate isotopic, chemical, and geochemical indicators in both tree rings and sediments.
Population Geography
Anita Drever examines both aspects of demographic change and the movements of population groups, especially voluntary migration. She has done research on the impact of guest workers (Gastarbiter) on the German economy and on the lives of the affected immigrants. She is currently pursing research on Latinos into the South, especially the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the influx of Latino workers into the Gulf coast region. (Contact person: Dr. Drever)
Rural Geography
Geographers at Tennessee have research interests in both the cultural and economic characteristics of rural areas. Tom Bell and Peggy Gripshover have published research on the changing retail and service mix of small towns within the sphere of influence of metropolitan regions in the Middle West. Bell and Gripshover have also studied the devolution of specialized agricultural regions. John Rehder's rural interests are centered in the material culture of Appalachia as well as the sugar cane plantations of Louisiana. Dr. Gripshover has examined animal geographies, in particular, specialized equine breeding areas in the South, especially in Middle Tennessee. (Contact person: Dr. Tom Bell)
Urban Geography
Urban areas are complex entities and urban and economic geographers
at 
Tennessee approach this complexity in a variety of ways. Tom
Bell has used aspects of central place theory to examine both regional systems
of cities and the internal structure of cities. He has applied the theory
to broaden our understanding of both modern marketing systems and prehistoric
(i.e., archaeological) settlement patterns. Grants from NSF and other
agencies allowed for the development of location-allocation models that
increased understanding of settlement location processes in Mesoamerica
(both Mayan and Aztec) as well as in ancient Egypt. More recent funding
from the US EPA allowed him, Peggy
Gripshover and fellow investigators
to examine changes in discretionary travel wrought by changes in retail
structure.
The GIS-T research of Bruce Ralston and Shih-Lung Shaw contributes immeasurably to the analytical focus on urban/economic geography at Tennessee. Ralston and his students have developed some spatial decision support systems to solve local urban issues such as the effective disposal of urban solid waste and international issues such as the provision of food aid in southern Africa and transportation routing in Bangladesh. With the financial assistance of an NSF grant, Shih-Lung Shaw and a colleague are currently researching the manner in which virtual communication can best be incorporated into time-geography based analytical models.
Approaching the study of cities from a more political economy perspective is the research of Ron Foresta. He has researched the Livable City movement and the role of local elites in revitalization efforts, especially as it pertains to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Ron Foresta has also examined land use impacts of national parks and natural area set-aside programs in the US, Canada and Brazil. Finally, Ron Foresta will be writing about the theory and political processes underlying the land use policy decisions of the Tennessee Valley Authority in creating the Land Between the Lakes recreational area in Kentucky and Tennessee.
Manufacturing, especially knowledge-based advanced forms, is a major focus of concern for Ron Kalafsky. He has, for example, analyzed changes in the machine tool industry both in the United States and Canada and along the Pacific Rim (especially Japan, South Korea and China). Anita Drever has focused most of her attention on population movement to and within cities both in Europe and the United States. She has worked for a German demographic research institute and has completed research on the impact of the guest worker program on the lives of Turkish women living in Germany.
Watershed Dynamics, Land-Use Change, and Human-Environment Interaction
Landscapes change as human land uses change or persist over time, and these dynamics affect watersheds and their streams. Carol Harden, Liem Tran, and their students currently conduct research to discern and test effects of land use and land-use change on the surface hydrology, water quality, and fluvial geomorphology of streams and rivers at scales from headwater catchments (Harden) to integrated regional assessment (Tran). They collaborate with other organizations, including TVA, local municipalities, and watershed associations, to study the effects of changing land uses and land-management strategies on water quality in the Little River watershed (an EPA-designated Targeted Watershed) and with TDEC in the Harpeth River watershed. They have other projects in Tennessee and elsewhere in the Southern Appalachians, the eastern U.S. (Tran), the Andes (Harden), and Viet Nam (Tran).