Faculty and Staff

cconrad@smu.ca

Faculty profile page

Professor

Ph.D. (Wilfrid Laurier, 1999)

My research background is in community-based environmental monitoring and water security. As more recent research shifted to water and food security in West Africa, particularly The Gambia, new questions around environmental migrants and migration in general have emerged. I am now working on irregular migration in West Africa, migration as a rite of passage, and climate change on the African continent.

Expertise

• Perceptions of climate change and environmental change
• Irregular migration in Africa
• Climate change and migration
• Water security

philip.giles@smu.ca

Professor

Ph.D. (Calgary, 1996)

Department of Geography and Environmental Studies Chairperson (2022-25)

I am a physical geographer specializing in geomorphology. My current research focuses on applying processing and analysis of digital elevation models and satellite images to study the dynamics of humid-temperate alluvial fans.

I am also interested in coastal sand dune morphology and dynamics.

Expertise

• Morphology of alluvial fans
• Morphometric analysis of digital elevation models
• Geomorphological analysis of remotely-sensed images
• Coastal sand dunes

jason.grekmartin@smu.ca

Associate Professor

Ph.D. (Queens, 2009)

Bachelor of Environmental Studies Program Coordinator (2023-26)

I am an historical-cultural geographer with broad interests in how places are constructed, contested, and imbued with complex meanings by individuals and communities. My current research explores the processes of place-making primarily in the context of travel and tourism to heritage sites, especially those with a dark past. In addition, I am interested in exploring how cultural landscapes of nature are conceptualized and materialized.

Expertise

• Sites of difficult heritage and contested memoryscapes
• Historical and cultural geographies of tourism in Nova Scotia and beyond
• Nature, place, and meaning in Halifax parks

min-jung.kwak@smu.ca

Associate Professor

Ph.D. (British Columbia, 2008)

I am an economic and social geographer with broad interests in immigration and settlement studies. I have conducted research projects on the international education industry, immigrant entrepreneurship, and transnational migrant family experiences. My current research focuses on accessibility and transnational dimensions of immigrant healthcare services in major Canadian cities, having developed significant research partnerships with Korean-Canadian and Chinese-Canadian communities.

Expertise

• Globalization and education migration
• Immigrant entrepreneurship
• Immigrant healthcare services

m.novak@smu.ca

Associate Professor

Ph.D. (Western Ontario, 2010)

M.A. in Geography Program Coordinator (2022-25)

My research focuses on the development of the urban landscape, using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to map patterns and processes of urban change.

Underlying my research is the understanding that the built environment is shaped by and simultaneously a shaper of human activity; the urban landscape can be read as an indicator of human culture and modified to influence activities of its inhabitants.

Expertise

• Urban planning and development
• Retail geography
• The built environment and urban morphology

cristian.suteanu@smu.ca

Faculty profile page

Professor

Ph.D. (Bucharest, 1997)

My major research question is: How do we make sense of the environment?

I am applying models and methods of analysis, and I am developing new ones, to study complex systems involved in the dynamics of climate, natural hazards, and renewable  energy.

At the same time, I am focusing on aspects of complex natural systems that reveal insights into our understanding of reality.

Expertise

• Environmental systems analysis and modeling
• Information processes involved in our interaction with the environment

dvanproo@smu.ca

TransCoastal Adaptations Centre for Nature-Based Solutions
transcoastaladaptations.com

Professor

Ph.D. (Guelph, 2001), FRSC, FRCGS

As a coastal geomorphologist, I am interested
in understanding how biophysical processes of coastal ecosystems respond to natural and anthropogenic drivers of change, and how ecosystem-based adaptation tools and processes can be applied in temperate and tropical regions.

Expertise

• Coastal climate change vulnerability assessment and adaptation
• Coastal geomorphology and morphodynamics
• Ecosystem-based restoration
• Salt marsh biophysical processes
• Geomatics and UAVs

peter.bush@smu.ca

Ph.D. (Western Ontario, 2007)

Website

Expertise

• Landscape ecology
• Old-growth forests
• Geomatics
• Protected areas

jordan.eamer@NRCan-RNCan.gc.ca

Ph.D. (Victoria, 2017)

Website

Expertise

• Quaternary geology
• Coastal geomorphology
• Geomatics
• Paleogeography
• Marine geology

karen.harper@smu.ca

Ph.D. (Alberta, 1999)

Website

Expertise

• Plant biogeography
• Landscape ecology
• Forest edges, fragmentation and conservation
• Spatial pattern and structural diversity of plant communities

khan.rahaman@smu.ca

Ph.D. (Tokyo, 2006, and Calgary, 2018)

Expertise

• Climate change modeling, impacts, and vulnerability assessment
• Application of GIS and Remote Sensing in local warming modeling, disaster impacts and management
• Environmental management, sustainability, and urban health
• Urban built environment, pedestrianization, and non-motorized transportation planning

kate.sherren@dal.ca

Ph.D. (Australian National, 2008)

Expertise

• Rural social science
• Sustainability transitions
• Landscape change
• Visual and spatial method

trevor.adams@smu.ca

Ph.D. (Calgary, 2013)

Expertise

• Weather and climate
• Natural hazards
• Urban geography
• Rural geography

Jill.Banks@smu.ca

Ph.D. (Louisiana State, 2016)

Expertise

• Human-environment interaction
• Climate change
• Holocene sedimentation and palynology
• Quaternary environments
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marie.fox@smu.ca

M.A. (Saint Mary's, 2022)

Expertise

• Cultural geography
• Commemorative landscapes
• Sites of contested heritage
• People-environment relationships

Patrick.Larter@smu.ca

M.A. (Saint Mary's, 2017)

Expertise

• Place and health geography
• Cultural geography
• Geography and environmental conservation

patricia.matsumoto@smu.ca

Ph.D. (Sao Paulo State, 2019)

Expertise

• Health geography
• Spatial analysis
• Cartography
• Geographic information systems
• Decision-making support

christopher.ross@smu.ca

B.A. (Dalhousie, 2018)

amy.siciliano@smu.ca

Ph.D. (Toronto, 2010)

Expertise

• Intersection of urban and natural systems
• Post-war suburbs
• Social geography
• Critical cartography

stefanie.slaunwhite@smu.ca

M.A. (Saint Mary's)
Ph.D. candidate (UNB)

Expertise

• Atlantic Canada
• History of the Atlantic Canada region
• Social history of medicine
• History of disability

robin.willcocks.musselman@smu.ca

M.E.S. (Dalhousie, 2005)
Ph.D. candidate (Dalhousie)

• Environmental education
• Environmental sustainability

Professor Emeritus

(1939 - 2017)

Professor Emeritus

Ph.D. (Hull, 1975)

Expertise

• Economic
• Transportation
• Ports
• Shipping

hugh.millward@smu.ca

Professor Emeritus

Ph.D. (Western Ontario, 1975)

Expertise

• Time and location of urban walking activity
• Land-use issues in urban and peri-urban areas
• School siting and travel-to-school

Associate Professor

M.A. (Alberta, 1967)

Expertise

• Historical-cultural geography
• Cultural ecology
• Literary geography
• Tourism geography

geography@smu.ca

will.flanagan@smu.ca

greg.baker@smu.ca

B.A. (Saint Mary's, 2004)
Dip. Digital Cartography (COGS, 2001)

Expertise

• Geographic Information Systems
• Surveying
• Cartography
• Photogrammetry