OU Dept. of Geography and Environmental Sustainability

08/11/2026

Welcome to AGS, Dr. Zhenghong Tang!

Zhenghong Tang, Ph.D., has been named chair of the OU Dept. of Geography and Environmental Sustainability, bringing nearly two decades of experience in planning, environmental research and community resilience to the role.

Tang joins The University of Oklahoma from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he most recently served as associate dean for research and innovation in the College of Architecture.

His research, which has focused on environmental monitoring and assessment, hazard mitigation and geospatial technologies, has received funding support from agencies including the United States Department of Agriculture, Department of the Interior, Department of Housing and Urban Development and Environmental Protection Agency.

As chair, Tang will oversee the department and its mission of creating a community of interdisciplinary scholars and experts who aim to better understand the Earth’s human-natural systems. He is also joining as a professor within DGES.

“As chair of the search committee, I had the opportunity to work with an outstanding pool of candidates from across the country,” said AGS Dean Bob Palmer. “Dr. Tang distinguished himself through his collaborative leadership style, research excellence and unwavering commitment to student success. We are delighted that he has joined the University of Oklahoma, and I am confident he will provide exceptional leadership.”

Welcome to OU, Dr. Tang! ☝️

07/17/2026

07/02/2026

06/18/2026

06/15/2026

Congratulations!!🥳🥳🥳🥳

06/15/2026

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hew7QrrYZ8

Aparna earned her PhD in DGES and now works as Assistant Regional Administrator at the North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center (CASC) within the US Geological Survey (USGS).

In the podcast, she explains how the USGS functions as the science arm of the US Department of the Interior and how the CASC network supports climate adaptation across public lands and resources.

The conversation focuses on what “actionable science” looks like in practice: building partnerships, designing research questions with end‑users, avoiding stakeholder fatigue, and ensuring science is accessible in the format decision‑makers actually need. Aparna shares how she changed direction from physical climate modelling toward work that helps people do something with climate knowledge, and how she built her PhD research around improving stakeholder engagement processes—work that fed directly back into how her team operates.

Kit and Aparna discuss why place matters in adaptation, how to “meet people where they’re at,” and the practical realities of balancing priorities across legislation, gateway communities, visitors, and Indigenous partners. A particularly strong example explores difficult decisions around protecting cultural artefacts threatened by future flooding, and how early science‑informed conversations can create time for communities to decide what they want.

05/14/2026

Congratulations to all the DGES seniors who successfully presented their capstone projects🎉.Special thanks to the faculty who supported our students and made this milestone possible 💃💚.

04/13/2026

Congratulations Dr. Aditi on your successful defense of your dissertation titled: Worlding Dreams, Messy Realities: Deconstructing Dialectical
Images of Urban Future and the Politics of Difference in New Delhi
Smart City.

04/13/2026

Congratulations Dr. Anderson, wishing you all the best in your next steps🎉