Welcome back Geographers!

Happy new year and welcome back folks! Hope you're adjusting well to your migration back to Burnside and the winter that comes with it. Here's what's going on this week! 

1. Honours!
2. Geography Field Notes Needed
3. Ocean Paths Fellowship
4. Guatemala Field Course (AGRI 325)
5. Panama Summer Internship Opportunity 
6. Mildy Interesting Map of the Week
7. Cool Thing of the Week

1. Honours!

U2 students -- Do you have a CGPA of 3.0 and a program GPA of 3.3?
If so, check out the Geography Honours Program!
•  Want to undertake an independent research project with a prof as a supervisor to guide you?
•  Want to learn skills in research design, data collection, fieldwork, analysis, write up?
•  Want a great way to prove to future employees you can work independently?
•  Want some great training for graduate school?

How do I learn more?
Talk with the Geography Advisor Michelle Maillet or email Profs Oswin or Turner (they are the Honours co-ordinators)

Some background info:
•  You usually apply in fall/winter of U2 (like you can apply now!)
•  This winter you take Geog 381 Geographic Thought and Practice (small, seminar format) - this year Profs Sarah Turner and Natalie Oswin are back teaching this. We focus on research design, ethics, methods, and geographical theoretical and conceptual approaches in lively discussions and debates.
•  Then next summer (before your final year), you complete data collection/fieldwork
•  In your final year- you do data analysis and write up your Honours thesis.
 
All the time, you get to work with an Honours thesis supervisor/prof & reader/prof.
[photos is of the poster session you get to be part of, at the end of the journey…]

More info here!
 

2. Field Notes Needed

Field Notes, The McGill Undergraduate Journal of Geography is currently accepting submissions for publication in 2017. Field Notes is a student-run, peer-reviewed academic journal based at McGill University's Department of Geography. As an interdisciplinary publication, we encourage submissions from artists, researchers, academics, practitioners and students in a range of fields. We aim to provide a forum for critical analysis of the economic, societal, and environmental issues surrounding geography. Please submit work to journal.fieldnotes@gmail.com by February 17th.

3. Ocean Paths Fellowship

Did you know the Science Undergraduate Society (SUS) Ambassador Fund provides funding for students hosting or attending conferences or competitions of an academic nature? Well now you do. If there's a science conference/competition you would love to attend though is too far away, or costs too much to go to, apply for funding from SUS and you could be sponsored to go!
visit http://sus.mcgill.ca/resources/funding/ for more information. The next deadline is January 21^st, 2017!

4. Guatemala Field Course!

AGRI 325 (3cr) was offered in Cuba every summer from 2012 to 2016 – in 2017 we are excited to offer it in Guatemala!
 
Application deadline is January 15, 2017. See application details on the course's website.
 
This is a 2-week intensive field course that will give you an overview of tropical cropping systems, their sustainability, and how they impact food security. We will visit banana, coffee, tea and cardamom plantations, traditional Mayan and non-indigenous farms, among other activities. Discover the diversity of Guatemala's climate, geography and cultures, and how they influence agricultural activities!
 
Dates: April 30^th to May 12^th 2017, with due dates for course work in June
Location: Guatemala City, Zacapa region, Izabal and Alta Verapaz provinces
Cost: 1,742.37$, including meals, accommodation and domestic travel. Excluded from the cost are tuition, flight, travel health insurance, immunizations and personal expenses.
 
This course is an approved substitution for the IDS program and can only be counted (due to subject matter and relevance) as a Complimentary Stream course for students pursuing Stream I – Economic Development & Living Standards as well as Stream IV – Environment & Agricultural Resources ONLY. Students can also consider taking this as an elective if selected.
As Arts students, if you are considering taking this course, you should note that this course is considered outside Arts and of Science. There is a Faculty of Arts restriction on how many courses you are allowed to take outside of Arts and Science.  
 
If you would like to explore opportunities for staying in Guatemala after the course to take a credited internship, we will provide help with finding hosts.  

5. Panama Summer Internship Opportunity

Do you want to gain work experience with the United Nations? Are you passionate about topics of safety and security in Latin America? Do you enjoy extensive research and analytical writing?

The United Nations Office of Safety and Security is seeking an intern for summer 2017 to work in its office located in Panama City. Applications must be returning to McGill in fall 2017, and possess intermediate to advanced language proficiency in Spanish.

For more information, please see the internship posting or visit our website:  https://www.mcgill.ca/internships/current-ion-internship-opportunities/undss-panama

P.S. Panama is warmer than Montreal.

5. Mildly Interesting Map of the Week

Although it surrounds us all in our everyday lives (apart from certain days it seems in the beloved cement tower many of us call home) the internet was really quite tangible in '73! And since we're geographers, here's a map showing it in its early glory :)

6. Cool Thing of the Week

If you've taken 308, you hate sun-glint as much as I do (rather D.I.I than go through that lab again, amirite?). Though here's an awesome use of it to reveal surreal wave patterns created in the Lembeh Strait between Bali and Lombok captured by good ol' MODIS. 
Read more about it here as well as other cool NASA remote sensing finds!

And there you have it, 

Lots of "New year new me" material right there with honours and cool summer opportunities, so don't miss out!

Hope you're all stoked for an exciting winter term ahead of us, and attend some of the rad events we'll be holding for you all in the (probably) near future! Also a large welcome back to new MUGS members Dorothy (your new Sustainability Officer) and Brian (your new VP AUS External)!
Have a grand start to the week folks,

Noé Schultz
VP Communications
McGill Undergraduate Geography Society