UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Julie Michelle Klinger, assistant professor of geography and spatial science at the University of Delaware, will kick off the Penn State Department of Geography’ fall 2023 "Coffee Hour" lecture series with the talk, “Wasting and wanting: an extractive supply chain approach to outer space geographies.” Her talk will be held at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 25, in 112 Walker Building on the University Park campus and via Zoom.
Klinger will discuss how waste plays a big role in modern space activities by presenting a conceptual architecture and also reflexively examining the potential epistemic violence of waste-making as a spatial analytic to link Earthly and outer-space geographies.
Klinger’s research focuses on the dynamics of global resource frontiers and space-based technologies with particular emphases in China, Brazil and the United States; how diverse forms of violence and strategies for survival shape land use, environmental conservation and livelihood security; rare earth elements; natural resource use; environmental politics; and outer space.
Klinger has published numerous articles on rare earth elements, natural resource use, environmental politics and outer space. Her 2017 book, “Rare Earth Frontiers: From Terrestrial Subsoils to Lunar Landscapes,” received the Meridian Book Prize for its “unusually important contribution to the art and science of geography.”
Klinger also is a faculty member in the University of Delaware’s Minerals, Materials and Society program. She earned her doctorate in geography from the University of California, Berkeley, and her bachelor of arts degree in geography from Sarah Lawrence College.
Klinger’s talk is part of the fall 2023 "Coffee Hour" seminar series hosted by Penn State’s Department of Geography. To learn more and access the Zoom information, visit the Coffee Hour event webpage.