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FALL 2024 NEWSLETTER

December 2, 2024

This is a bumper edition of the newsletter! Read below for changes in the Society’s social media outreach channels, a summary of a satellite conference in Nanjing, news relating to members and more.

You will see a summary of the Society’s accounts for the latest year with more information on the website here (for iEMSs members). These annual accounts are the 13th provided from the stellar service to iEMSs by Ioannis Athanasiadis. I thank him for his amazing service to iEMSs and for his assistance in handing over to the new Treasurer, Sue Cuddy. We were fortunate with a strong management team around the 2024 conference so despite low numbers it broke even. With Dublin being an attractive location for many and relatively easy to get to, we look forward to a bounce-back to pre-COVID numbers. See below for the confirmed conference dates for your diaries! The Proceedings for the 2024 conference have now been produced and are fully citable. The Proceedings are now available here. Many thanks to Stefan Reis for all the work in completing the compilation. – Val Snow, iEMSs President

iEMSs 2026 in University College Dublin (UCD) Dublin, Ireland

We are delighted to confirm the dates of 12-16 July 2026 for the 13th iEMSs conference at University College Dublin (UCD), Ireland, convened by David Ayala-Cabrera and Soumyabrata Dev.UCD is Ireland’s largest university, blending over 160 years of history with modern facilities. The conference venue will be O’Reilly Hall within the main campus within Dublin City. Dublin is well connected to direct routes from Europe and North America and the city is well-served by public transportation. The conference location will offer a good range of accommodation options ranging from university halls to near-by hotels.

We anticipate that Dublin and Ireland will be an attractive destination for Society members. The Irish are world renowned for their hospitality and Dublin is a city of contrasts, blending historic charm with modern sophistication.

We look forward to seeing you in Dublin!

Dr. Pouyan Nejadhashemi named director of MSU Institute of Water Research effecti

New director named for MSU Institute of Water Research

Michigan State University Research Foundation Professor Pouyan Nejadhashemi has been named director of the MSU Institute of Water Research (IWR) effective Oct. 15, 2024. The position is a 50% appointment, and Nejadhashemi will continue to serves as a professor in the departments of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering and Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences. His work is also supported in part by MSU AgBioResearch. As an expert in ecohydrology, which delves into how water interacts with ecological systems, his research uses leading-edge tools to model water use and address issues such as monitoring per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) chemicals in Michigan drinking water using machine learning.

Nejadhashemi’s world-renowned research program has received significant funding, including grants from the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. As IWR director, Nejadhashemi will deliver strategic vision and oversight of institute initiatives, increase the scholarly activity of IWR and strengthen its reputation at the local, state and national levels. One of his primary responsibilities is to foster a culture within IWR of transparency, diversity, equity and inclusion.

He will collaborate with the water research community at MSU and externally — in addition to state and federal agencies, nongovernmental organizations, tribal groups and other stakeholders — on challenges related to water use, availability and quality in Michigan, the Great Lakes region and beyond. On top of his administrative duties, Nejadhashemi will be tasked with obtaining and increasing funding to IWR efforts, as well as serving as the principal investigator on new research projects.

“We’re fortunate to bring Pouyan into this position given his vast expertise in water research and ecohydrology,” said George Smith, director of AgBioResearch, who will supervise Nejadhashemi in his IWR role. “He has demonstrated success in developing impactful water research, and his leadership will be critical to IWR’s growth and future. I look forward to partnering with him to broaden IWR’s reach.”

The IWR is one of 54 water institutes across the country created under the Water Resources Research Act of 1964 and receives funding from the U.S. Geological Survey.

The organization is dedicated to developing science-based technology, research, educational programs and partnerships to help understand and address critical water issues. Current IWR research and outreach explores risks and opportunities with groundwater management, develops methods to improve water quality for agriculture and local communities, examines PFAS risks and mitigation, reduces nutrient runoff and harmful algal blooms, and protects Michigan’s lakes and streams, among other topics.

“It’s an honor to be named IWR director, a position of great strategic importance to current and future MSU research and outreach,” Nejadhashemi said. “Understanding more about how we use water and the threats to water availability and quality are paramount to Michigan and around the world. With our state’s proximity to an abundance of fresh water in the Great Lakes region, it’s our responsibility to ensure this precious resource is actively managed and protected.”

Prior to Nejadhashemi’s appointment, Dana Infante, chair of the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, was serving as interim IWR director.

Treasurer’s Report

You will see a summary of the Society’s accounts for the latest year with more information here. We were fortunate with a strong management team around the 2024 conference so despite low numbers it broke even. With Dublin being an attractive location for many and relatively easy to get to, we are look forward to a bounce-back to pre-COVID numbers. See below for the confirmed conference dates for your diaries!

These annual accounts are the 13th provided from the stellar service to iEMSs by Ioannis Athanasiadis. I thank him for his amazing service to iEMSs and for his assistance in handing over to the new Treasurer, Sue Cuddy.

iEMSs Membership Details

Please remember to update/renew your membership in the Society. Go to the website and log into your account. That will open some information about your membership. You can update contact details etc. under “My profile” while “My membership” will allow you to renew your membership. Click on “Renew” and select a category. If you attended iEMSs 2024 then you have already paid your dues (but you still need to confirm the renewal). If you were not at iEMSs 2024 then the dues range from €10-40 (to take membership up to August 2026) for depending on what category you fall into.

@iEMSs moves to BlueSky

In the view of the direction that X, aka Twitter, has taken in recent months and the expressed values of the corporation owning the network, which are incompatible with ours, iEMSs has followed many not-for-profit organisations and other scientific groupings and moved to Bluesky. The iEMSs feed can be found at @iemss.org and hopefully many of you will be able to follow us there, and get followed back from our account. The iEMSs X/Twitter account will be closed down permanently soon. Of course, we are still keeping our website running, and feel free to join our LinkedIn group, or the WeChat network run by our colleagues in China.

26th Internal Congress on Modelling and Simulation (MODSIM2025)

The 26th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation (MODSIM2025) will be held at the Adelaide Convention Centre from Sunday 30 November to Thursday 4 December 2025. The topical streams can already be found here. The call for session organisers to submit session proposals to these streams will shortly open, please keep an eye on the website https://www.mssanz.org.au/modsim2025/ for further details.

Dr. 3rd International Workshop on Geographic Modelling and Simulation was Successfully Held

The 3rd International Workshop on Geographic Modeling and Simulation was successfully held at Nanjing Normal University (Suiyuan Campus) from October 26th to October 27th, 2024. With the theme ‘Modeling and Simulation for a Sustainable World’, the workshop focused on theories, approaches, technologies and solutions of geographic modeling and simulation, while exploring the challenges and applications of sustainable development. The workshop was jointly organized by School of Geography Science, Nanjing Normal University, China, Key Laboratory of Virtual Geographic Environment (Ministry of Education of PRC), Nanjing Normal University, China and International Geographical Union – Modeling Geographical Systems Commission. It also received strong support from co-organizers, including the International Environmental Modelling and Software Society, The International Association of Chinese Professionals in Geographic Information Sciences, Geographic Model and Geographic Information Analysis Commission, The Geographical Society of China, and so on.

The opening ceremony was held on October 26th morning, chaired by Prof. Changchun Huang (Dean of School of Geography, Nanjing Normal University). Prof. Linwang Yuan (Vice principal, Nanjing Normal University), Prof. Michael Meadows (Past president of the IGU, University of Cape Town) and Prof. Val Snow (President of the IEMSs, AgResearch) delivered welcome speeches.

After the opening ceremony, the following distinguished speakers delivered keynote presentations on various topics:

  1. Speaker: Prof. Stewart Fotheringham, Academician of U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Arizona State University.
    • Title: Measuring the unmeasurable: models of geographic context.
  2. Speaker: Prof. Jun Xia, Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan University.
    • Title: Developing water systems science and technology in large river basins.
  3. Speaker: Prof. Xin Li, Deputy Director of the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
    • Title: Modeling complex human–natural system at the river basin scale in the AI and big data era.
  4. Speaker: Prof. Paul Longley, Academician of Academy of Social Sciences, University College London, UK.
    • Title: Individual level modelling and simulation.
  5. Speaker: Prof. Josef Strobl, Academician of Austrian Academy of Sciences, University of Salzburg.
    • Title: Online DEMs: terrain representations for modeling and simulation.
  6. Speaker: Prof. Anthony Jakeman, Fellow of American Geophysical Union, Australian National University.
    • Title: Managing and reducing uncertainty for grand challenge problems: focus on water quality modelling.
  7. Speaker: Prof. Jinfeng Wang, Distinguish Professor, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
    • Title: Beyond the 1st & 2nd laws of geography: modelling for spatial stratified heterogeneous data.
  8. Speaker: Prof. Kazuhito Ichii, Deputy Director of the Center for Environmental Remote Sensing, Chiba University.
    • Title: Monitoring terrestrial carbon cycle across Asia in the era of earth observation big data.
  9. Speaker: Prof. Mei-Po Kwan, Academician of Academy of Social Sciences, Chinese University of Hong Kong.
    • Title: Advanced geospatial modeling in human mobility and health research.
  10. Speaker: Prof. Niklas Boers, Researcher of the Technical University of Munich.
    • Title: Machine learning for earth system modelling.
  11. Speaker: Prof. Stefan Reis, Past President of the International Environmental Modelling and Software Society, DLR Projektträger.
    • Title: Integrated environmental modelling and simulation to tackle the triple existential crisis.
  12. Speaker: Prof. Min Chen, President of the International Association of Chinese Professionals in Geographic Information Sciences (CPGIS), the Vice-President of the International Environmental Modelling and Software Society (iEMSs), Nanjing Normal University.
    • Title: Geographic modeling and simulation in the AI era.

At the welcome gala dinner on October 26th evening, Prof. Min Chen hosted the award ceremony for the 2024 International Geographical Union (IGU) Outstanding Achievement Award in Geographical Information Modeling (OAA) and the Young Scholar Award (YSA). Prof. Pankaj Kumar from the University of Delhi, and Prof. Guonian Lv from Nanjing Normal University presented certificates and trophies to the awardees.

On October 27th, 97 oral presentations were delivered in 4 parallel sessions, covering 13 themes including “Theories, Methodologies, and Applications of Earth System Models”, “Big Data Analytics, Modeling, Simulation, and AI in Health Geography”, and “Intelligent Simulation of Spatiotemporal Processes”.

After the conclusion of the parallel sessions, the closing ceremony was hosted by Prof. Min Chen, who summarized the achievements of the conference and presented certificates to the winners of the “Best Paper Awards”. The conference attracted over 160 experts and scholars from 48 universities and research institutes across 11 countries and regions, facilitating in-depth exchanges among international experts and strengthening collaboration and friendships among participants.

Dr. David Swayne Obituary

SWAYNE, Dr. David Allan Butler: September 5th 1945 – October 13th, 2024

Dr. David Allan Butler passed away suddenly in London, Ontario on Sunday, October 13th, 2024 at the age of 79 years. David was born in Smiths Falls, Ontario on September 5, 1945 to Clarence (1973) and Thressa (nee Droppo; 1995) Swayne. He was the loving husband of Dianne Swayne for 54 years. Loving father of Stephanie (Paul Buchan), Seanna (Tim Costello), and Leigh Anne (Brent Shantz). Doting grandfather of Izak Buchan and David Gnepe. Dear brother-in-law of Ronald and Susan White, and Brenda Lee and Daniel McNiven. Dearly missed by Dwayne, Sara, Mike, and Jeff Edgerton, and Clair, Charis, and Felica Kelso and many nieces and nephews.

David obtained his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo in (1975) and was a long-time professor at the University of Guelph. He was instrumental in establishing the University of Guelph-Humber. He was very proud of his long-term work with Canada Centre for Inland Waters and Environment Canada as a private consultant in the early days of artificial intelligence and environmental modelling. His work in this area also took him to many parts of the globe (where he made lasting friendships), including Ethiopia, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Germany, Denmark, Portugal, Scotland, England, Central and South America (and many more). David loved to ski, travel and enjoy a hearty meal with loved ones, often prepared by him. He excelled at many sports throughout his childhood and early adulthood, including basketball, hockey, running and tennis. Later in life, he became an avid crossfitter(!). He was an intense sports fan, cheering on his daughters in a variety of sports, and as a many-years-running president of the “6th player [basketball fan] club” and academic mentor to University of Guelph men’s basketball players, and as a dedicated fan of March Madness U.S. College basketball. He loved to spend time with Dianne and “the three girls” and organized many an adventure for them (in various Volkswagen vans). He loved dogs, especially his little 1.5 pound teacup poodle, Zena. He cherished sharing stories of his travels and his vast knowledge of many subjects with his grandsons, as well as cheering them on for all their activities and sports. Although the pandemic years were isolating, he kept them well supplied with Lego and other past times and he designed and helped construct a two-storey tree fort to make sure they were happy. He will be fondly remembered by family and friends alike for his quick wit, friendliness and generosity of spirit.

David’s family will receive relatives and friends from 4:00-6:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 19, 2024 at the Henry Walser Funeral Home, 507 Frederick Street, Kitchener, 519-749-8467. Memorial will be held in the funeral home chapel on Sunday, October 20, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. Reception to follow.

Condolences for the family and donations to, St. Mary’s Hospital Foundation-Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, and University of Guelph – Athletic Scholarships may be arranged through the Henry Walser Funeral Home (519-749-8467.)

Visit www.henrywalser.com for David’s memorial.