This semester's Coffee Hour schedule is now available.

Carlos Ruiz (BS ‘90, geography; MS ‘96, geography) is the director of business geographics at the Star Tribune's market research department. He uses his analytical and critical thinking skills along with his knowledge of maps and how they work to assist local business owners and journalists to help make the Twin Cities a flourishing community.

Tree-ring research is a simple but remarkably powerful tool for environmental science. In the global change era, tree rings provide unique perspective on ways that natural systems vary and the influence of human activities. Dendrochronology is also a superb mechanism for introducing students and the broader public to environmental thinking and geographic inquiry.

Scott St. George, assistant professor of geography, co-authors this article about the history of "megadroughts," or dry spells that were as severe as, but longer lasting than, the worst 20th-century droughts.