Geography Convention
The South Dakota State Geography Convention is the longest-running student-organized and -sponsored annual meeting in the United States. Approximately 10 eminent academic and applied geographers from around the region, the country and Canada are invited to make presentations at the conference each spring.
The convention also features social activities, a Gamma Theta Upsilon initiation and an awards banquet. Field trips are provided on occasion.
The 57th South Dakota Geography Convention will be held Thursday, March 26 through Friday, March 27, 2026. The goal of the convention is to gather current students, alumni of the Department of Geography and Geospatial Sciences, academic and applied geographers from around the region and share knowledge and enthusiasm for geography through professional presentations, discussions and social activities.
Join us for our annual Department of Geography Awards Banquet on Friday, March 27, 2026, from 5 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.. During the banquet, we will recognize outstanding students and alumni from the Department of Geography and Geospatial Sciences for their achievements.
We are also honored to welcome William G. Moseley, president of the American Association of Geographers, as our featured guest for the evening.
Reserve your spot at the banquet by completing the registration form below. Tickets may be purchased in advance using the payment link provided and can be picked up from Mary Ward before the event or at the door on the day of the banquet.
We look forward to celebrating with you!
Ticket Prices
- Students: $15 per ticket
- Nonstudents: $20 per ticket
Schedule and Information
Day 1 – Thursday, March 26 (Student Day, Volstorff Ballroom, University Student Union)
8:55 a.m. – Convention Welcome, Trevor Hatch, Geography Club President
9 a.m.-noon – Poster Session, Judging is 10 a.m.-noon
Paper Presentations
9 a.m. – Stephen Adebisi, Master's Student, SDSU
- Title: Do Self-Restored Peatlands Stabilize Soil Organic Carbon? An Enzyme Assay Approach to Evaluating Carbon Stability at the Marcell Experimental Forest, Minnesota, USA
9:30 a.m. – Hillson Ghimire, Master's Student, SDSU
- Title: WheatAI: An Operational Cloud-based Platform for Smartphone and UAV Image-based Wheat Trait Rapid Assessment
10 a.m. – Ruixuan Li, Ph.D. Student, SDSU
- Title: Global Ecoregion-Scale Variations in Wildfire Seasonality Revealed by Daily Satellite Data
10:30 a.m. – Kushal Poudel, Master's Student, SDSU
- Title: An Adaptive Deep Learning Framework to Mitigate Missing UAS Multispectral Data for Wheat Yield and Quality Prediction
11 a.m. – Minghao Wang, Ph.D. Student, SDSU
- Title: Large-area Maple Mapping Using the Harmonized Landsat Sentinel-2 (HLS) Data and Deep Learning
Noon-1 p.m. – Lunch
6-9 p.m. – Social at Old Fire Hall, 310 Fourth St., Brookings, SD
Day 2 – Friday, March 27 (Volstorff Ballroom, University Student Union)
8:55 a.m. – Welcome, Trevor Hatch, Geography Club president
9 a.m. – Dr. Kimberly Johnson Maier, ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ
- Title: Relational Landscapes of the Frontier Myth: Covered Wagons, Social Memory and Settler Narratives at the Ingalls Homestead
10 a.m. – Dr. Kelly Deuerling, University of Nebraska, Omaha
- Title: The Human Factor: Anthropogenic Impacts on Wetland Water Quality and Hydrogeology, Dr. Lee Opheim Lectureship
11 a.m. – Matthew Rigge, USGS-EROS
- Title: Monitoring Rangeland Change with Remote Sensing
Noon-1 p.m. – Lunch
1 p.m. – Dr. Taylor Tappan, The University of Texas at Arlington
- Title: Geographies of Indigenous Territory and Forest Conservation in Latin America
2 p.m. – Dr. Brett Chloupek, Northwest Missouri State University
- Title: The New Nationalisms of Eastern Europe in Monumental Form: Current Work in Monument Studies
3 p.m. – Dr. Joel Helmer, Concordia University, Nebraska
- Title: A Boot Leather Geography of the Nebraska Sandhills, Dr. Edward P. Hogan Lectureship
Day 2 evening – Friday, March 27 (Woster Celebration Hall, 815 Medary Ave., Brookings, SD)
5 p.m. – Happy hour
6 p.m. – Dinner
6:30 p.m. – Dr. William G. Moseley, President, American Association of Geographers, Dewitt Wallace Professor of Geography and Director of the Program for Food, Agriculture and Society, Macalester College
- Title: Decolonizing African Agriculture: Food Security, Agroecology and the Need for Radical Transformation
7:30 p.m. – Student and alumni awards
8:15 p.m. – Closing remarks by Trevor Hatch, Geography Club president
Convention Origins
Convention history excerpts from: "Origin of the South Dakota State Geography Convention" by Edward P. Hogan.
Geography as an academic discipline was reestablished in the curriculum at ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ in February 1967. Under the authority of the South Dakota Board of Regents, ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ was authorized to offer Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts degrees in geography. The number of geography majors grew to 15 by the spring of 1969. At that time, a party was held to celebrate that landmark occasion. The first degree from the new geography program was granted in fall 1969.
In 1969, there were two geographers on the SDSU faculty. There was a very active Geography Club at SDSU that also sought memberships in Gamma Theta Upsilon, the international geographical honor society. The Delta Zeta Chapter of Gamma Theta Upsilon was chartered at SDSU on March 2, 1970.
One of the primary objectives of the Geography Club was to promote geography in the schools and within the state. In order to achieve this goal, two students and a faculty member met to discuss the possible means by which this objective could be attained. The students, Loren Hill and James Rapp, and the adviser, Ed Hogan, discussed a number of possible means to enhance the status of geography. At some time during the meeting, someone suggested, "Let's have a geography convention!" Today, when reflecting on that comment, one is reminded of movies made in the '30s in which someone would say, "Lets put on a show, and save the college!"
