GEOG Winter Courses

Intern for a Day: Winter Break in New York City

Intern for a Day: Winter Break in New York City

For the second year in a row, Intern for a Day is expanding to New York City over students' winter break!  The process is the same as the regular fall and spring Intern for a Day program, but the location is different.  The Big Apple, here we come!

Click here for the Intern for a Day: Winter Break in New York City Host List!

Students must participate in a 30-minute orientation in order to have access to the application.  There are four (4) orientations for students to choose from.  Click on the date to RSVP:

• Tuesday, November 5, 3:30-4pm
• Wednesday November 6, 4-4:30pm
• Thursday, November 7, 12-12:30pm
• Friday, November 8, 10-10:30am

Students will receive the application after attending one of the orientation sessions above.  Applications will be due Sunday, November 10 at 11:59pm.  

After the student is matched with a host, the student will connect with their host via email to determine a day to shadow them during winter break.  Travel reimbursements will not be provided for this program.

The majority of questions about Intern for a Day's process and structure will be addressed during the mandatory orientation session.  For other questions or concerns, please email ifad@umd.edu.

Students who have already participated in Intern for a Day still need to attend one orientation session.  

PLCY689I-- Indonesia Study Abroad Opportunity

There are a little over two weeks left to apply for the Indonesia Winter Session course (October 1st deadline). PLCY 689I: Complex Social-Ecological Systems, Environmental Policy, and Sustainable Development in Indonesia (traveling to Bali, Flores, Sumatra, Java), December 29, 2019 - January 22, 2020.

The course summary can be found further below in this email.

Applications:

Applications for the course can be made at UMD’s Education Abroad webpage (MyEA): http://ter.ps/wtindonesia. The deadline for applications is October 1st, 2019. 

Graduate students and undergraduate seniors with advanced standing from UMD or other universities may apply. This three-credit, multi-disciplinary course is open to all specializations and departments. 

Note that admissions are competitive.

Course fee:
The course fee ($3230) covers in-country transportation (flights, buses, vans, bicycles, boats), lodging, group meals, group events and activities, travel insurance, and UMD administrative fees. Students are primarily responsible for this course fee, international airfare, and personal expenses during the trip. Students do not pay UMD tuition in addition to the course fee. 

Tuition remission applies for GAs - check with your adviser.

Scholarships:

We are pleased to offer four $1000 Indonesia Policy Course Scholarships. If you wish to apply for a scholarship, please make sure to fill in the scholarships section of the general application form at the Education Abroad website.

Contacts:
Tom Hilde, Professor and Director: thilde@umd.edu
Matt Regan, Associate Director: mrgregan@gmail.com
Adriane Michaelis, Assistant Director: michaelis.adri@gmail.com

Summary of the course

Indonesian place names like Bali, Java, Spice Islands (Maluku), and Sumatra resonate with exoticism for many Westerners. This historical image has its roots, perhaps, in the country’s great and unique diversity and complexity. The archipelago’s 17,000 islands comprise one of the most diverse countries on the planet – biologically, ethnically, and linguistically. Indonesia is home to at least 600 languages, 300 ethnic groups, one of the three great remaining tropical rainforests, and one of the richest, most biodiverse marine reef systems in the world. Indonesia is a young country, having declared independence from the Netherlands in 1945, but nonetheless is today the world’s largest majority Muslim nation, third largest democracy, fourth largest country by population, and one of the biggest emerging economies. Indonesia continues to grapple with how to hold its bursting diversity together in a single, modernizing nation in a way that also firmly confronts the issues of economic development, climate change, multiculturalism, democratic autonomy, good governance, inequality, and biodiversity conservation. As such, the country is emblematic not simply of its historically exoticized uniqueness, but of the complex global problems we all face in the 21st century. This graduate-level international development and environmental policy field course takes a complex systems approach to the interconnections between Indonesia’s environmental challenges and development strategies with a focus on the interface between local governance systems and global policies, especially in the face of climate change. Understanding that most such challenges involve multiple stakeholders, we study how ground-level problems are mitigated or exacerbated by national and global government policies and where local efforts may better inform policy, paying special attention to indigenous systems and what they can teach us about sustainable development, livelihood security, and climate policy.

Visiting several of the main islands of Indonesia – Bali, Flores, Sumatra, and Java – the course focuses on:

• Indigenous systems of environmental management and understanding such as the complex adaptive subak system of rice terraces, irrigation, and water temples in Bali. 
• Forest conservation and its place in climate change mitigation and adaptation, including deforestation and the expansion of oil palm plantations, carbon emissions from forest and peatland burning, wildlife habitat conservation, indigenous and local forest management, and REDD+. 
• Coral reefs and marine protected areas in the famed Coral Triangle, which comprises some of the healthiest remaining reefs on the planet. 
• Local governance and adaptation measures, the country’s decentralization policy, and democratic development and human rights. 
• Discussions with leading government officials, top research experts, local farmers and fishermen, and NGO and IGO leaders, with intensive meetings in Jakarta and Bogor. 

Throughout the course, we experience the rich and fascinating nature and culture of Indonesia – the country’s diverse religions and complex communal traditions, stunning music and theater, ancient temples, beautiful landscapes and biodiversity, and wonderful people.

Course faculty

Tom Hilde is a research professor in the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, Associate Director of International Programs, and Senior Fellow in the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM). Before coming to UMD, he taught at New York University, directing the Environmental Conservation Program there as well as the Applied Philosophy Group. He has produced books and articles on environmental and international development policy and philosophy; climate change adaptation; food systems and land use change; international agreements; human rights; and sustainability and complex adaptive systems. He currently works on collaborative projects in the Western Amazon and Indonesia, including a book on resource frontiers and climate change. For a large part of his childhood and parts of adulthood he lived in Asia, including Thailand, Japan, and Taiwan, and has traveled throughout the continent as well as in Africa, South and Central America, and Europe, having also lived in France for three years. He is a former Fulbright Senior Scholar (Venezuela) and Safra Network Fellow at Harvard University.

Matt Regan is a PhD student at the University of Maryland's School of Public Policy researching a dissertation on democracy and culture in Southeast Asia, focusing on the “Asian values” debate. He holds a B.A. in history and an M.A. in modern European history from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where his research focused on the history of the biological and social sciences and European interpretations of Asian thought and culture. His research interests include the ethics of global development, sustainable development, and Buddhist philosophy. He has toured Mexico with a Thai traditional dance group, served on the organizing committee for the Dalai Lama's 2011 visit to DC, and spent the last several Januarys in the Indonesian jungle, despite being totally unsuited for that kind of thing.

Adriane Michaelis is a PhD student in the University of Maryland’s Department of Anthropology. Her dissertation research focuses on the continued development of oyster aquaculture alongside public oyster fisheries in the United States, in order to better understand the social and ecological implications of privatized oyster fisheries. Adriane earned her B.S. in anthropology-zoology from the University of Michigan and her M.S. in marine biology from the University of North Carolina Wilmington. She has worked as a field biologist for the National Audubon Society, managing coastal bird sanctuaries in North Carolina, and as lab manager of an oyster research and restoration monitoring lab at the University of Maryland. Her research interests include social-ecological systems, sustainable fisheries, and participatory resource management. In her free time, Adriane can usually be found near water and/or wandering with her two dogs.

GVPT Winter Courses

AASD Winter Classes

GEOG498A

GEOG198A/GEOG788X

Marine Science Internship Opportunity in South Africa

Cape RADD facilitates a 4 week field course for individuals or groups who want to learn
more about the marine environment, conservation and research through hands on field experience and diver development. The Cape RADD course includes training in multiple data collection and field operation techniques, theoretical workshops on analysis techniques and tools like R, GIS, and Coral Point Count. Come spend a month abroad, scuba diving and freediving in one of the most beautiful parts of the world. 

As a Cape RADD student you will enroll in a fascinating and rewarding programme that will put you under the water for a hands on experience and valuable contribution to the marine research projects taking place just outside Cape Town. Check us out on Facebook or Instagram to follow our story and see what our students are up to!

This programme is ideal for students, graduates, divers, conservationists or just those with an interest in marine biology looking to gain extra knowledge and field experience in the marine sciences, to develop new skills and show some real life experience on their CV. We have seats available from January 2019.

Visit http://www.caperadd.com or email info@caperadd.com for more details.

BSOS Undergraduate Experience Fund

The College of Behavioral and Social Sciences will soon be accepting applications from undergraduate students seeking funding for Winter 2019 and Spring 2019 learning experiences. If you are a BSOS student with financial need that is preventing you from taking advantage of an experiential learning opportunity, apply for BSOS Undergraduate Experience Funds. Note that BSOS accepts applications for these funds on a biannual basis. During the Fall semester for Winter & Spring learning experiences and during the Spring semester for Summer & Fall experiences.

To apply, click here!

Eligibility Requirements:

Winter & Spring Funds:

• Have completed at least one semester (Spring 2018 or earlier) at the University of Maryland.
• Have at least one semester (Spring 2019 or later) left as a student at the University of Maryland - Awards will be made for Winter 2019 and Spring 2019 experiences, thus seniors who are graduating Winter 2019 are ineligible to apply.
• Be enrolled in a BSOS major or an ENSP track housed within BSOS.
• Submit a complete application (all questions answered) by the deadline November 19 at 9 AM. Incomplete applications will not be considered.
• Complete the learning experience for which you apply in Winter 2019 or Spring 2019. If you choose not to complete the experience, you must notify the Selection Committee (bsos-scholarships@umd.edu) and the funds will be rescinded.
• Notification date is December 7. All recipients should plan to attend the college’s scholarship dinner in the spring semester. Questions regarding BSOS Undergraduate Experience Funds or the application process should be directed to bsos-scholarships@umd.edu.

Summer & Fall Funds:

• Have completed at least one semester (Fall 2018 or earlier) at the University of Maryland.
• Have at least one semester (Fall 2019 or later) left as a student at the University of Maryland - Awards will be made for Summer 2019 and Fall 2019 experiences, thus seniors who are graduating Spring 2019 are ineligible to apply.
• Be enrolled in a BSOS major or an ENSP track housed within BSOS.
• Submit a complete application (all questions answered) by the deadline (TBD). Incomplete applications will not be considered.
• Complete the learning experience for which you apply in Summer 2019 or Fall 2019. If you choose not to complete the experience, you must notify the Selection Committee (bsos-scholarships@umd.edu) and the funds will be rescinded.

Additional Information:

• Preference in selecting awardees will be given for activities where financial obstacles would likely prevent a student from participating.
• Preference will be given for experiences in not-for-profit, government, or educational organizations, rather than in for-profit companies.
• Preference will be given for NEW, rather than continuing, experiences (i.e. starting a new internship, as opposed to continuing in a position from a previous semester or summer).
• These funds are NOT designated for study abroad experiences.  Visit the Education Abroad Scholarships page to learn more about study abroad funding.
• Students may apply for funding for more than one learning experience per application cycle, but may only receive funding for one experience.
• Recipients will be recognized at the college’s Scholarship & Donor Recognition Dinner.

New Course: HIST328N (History of Medicine)

Consider registering for HIST328N, History of Medicine, a collaboration between the U of M School of Medicine and The College of Arts and Humanities- History Department. This class is great for students interested in pre-med, pre-dental, nursing, public health, and more! 

GEOG Winter 2019 Schedule

Registration opens October 23rd!