Kopo Oromeng
I am a second-year Ph.D. student in Geography and Spatial Sciences working with Dr. Kyle Davis and Dr. Saleem Ali on the socioeconomic impacts of large-scale land acquisition. I am particularly interested in the different ways we use land and seek to explore global trends of land use and land ownership shifts driven by extraction and their linkages to local livelihoods through a mixed-methods approach. Parallel to this, I hope my research can also conceptualize the different ways in which land ownership shifts to facilitate extraction may amplify global inequality; destroy local food systems, drive rapid changes to global labor markets and degrade landscapes. I am one of two CEOE students who have been awarded a prestigious Schlumberger Foundation “Faculty of the Future Fellowship” that provides $50,000 per year for doctoral studies. The fellowship is for women scientists from developing countries to help increase representation in STEM.
I am currently working on a project assessing forest cover changes around refugee camps and the different ways forced migrations intersect with natural resource management and national immigration policies. This work spun from an International Resource Panel report investigating the role of natural resources in migration and displacement. I hold a Masters in Geological Sciences from the University of Delaware where I worked in the hydrological chemistry of an inland freshwater system. My work explored dryland hydrological systems and transboundary water chemistry changes using high-resolution datasets.
Prior to UD, I earned a BA in Geology and Economics from Oberlin College and Conservatory. I was a Bonner Scholar ‘18, Oberlin Business Scholar ‘17, an Ignition Fund and a Doris Baron Environmental Studies Student Research Fund ‘17 recipient. My past research work at Oberlin looked into the efficiency of state-owned energy utilities, particularly local government financial mismanagement using South Africa as a case study. I also have experience working with STEM and literacy outreach through public library-hosted children’s programs.
I was born and raised in Botswana and came to the States by way of South Africa, where I earned a diploma in Entrepreneurial Leadership and African Studies from African Leadership Academy. Plants, small fishes, tea and funny podcasts give me a lot of joy. I like to nerd out on African literature and contemporary African art, specifically Afrofuturism and black speculative fiction. I have native proficiency in Setswana and moderate fluency in Sotho-Tswana language groups of South Africa and Lesotho (Pedi, Sotho, Tswana) and elementary exposure to Zulu and Xhosa.
Publications
Oromeng, K.V., Atekwana, E.A., Molwalefhe, L. and Ramatlapeng, G.J., 2021. Time-series variability of solute transport and processes in rivers in semi-arid endorheic basins: The Okavango Delta, Botswana. Science of The Total Environment, 759, p.143574. Available on research gate
Ramatlapeng, G.J., Atekwana, E.A., Molwalefhe, L. and Oromeng, K.V., 2021. Intermittent hydrologic perturbations control solute cycling and export in the Okavango Delta. Journal of Hydrology, 594, p.125968.
Ingrid Burrington
Ingrid Burrington (any pronouns) is a journalist, artist, and graduate student at the University of Delaware. For the past decade, much of their work focused on the often-overlooked or occluded landscapes of the internet (and the ways in which the entire planet has become, in effect, a “landscape of the internet”). By examining the embodied realities of living on a networked planet, they seek to demystify and reframe the politics and power dynamics of capitalism.
Ingrid’s work has taken a variety of forms, including an 18-part online series on internet infrastructure for The Atlantic, making large-scale lenticular prints of satellite imagery, developing curricula on network infrastructure for young adults with collaborator Surya Mattu, and writing the book Network of New York: An Illustrated Field Guide to Urban Internet Infrastructure, which received positive media coverage in The Intercept, The Wall Street Journal, Gizmodo, and The Financial Times.
Prior to coming to UD, Ingrid worked as a freelance journalist for a variety of outlets and an adjunct educator at Rhode Island School of Design, The Cooper Union, and The New School. They also held artist-in-residence and fellowship positions at various institutions, including USC’s Annenberg Innovation Lab, Data and Society Research Institute, Eyebeam Center for Art and Technology, and The Center for Land Use Interpretation.
Publications and Talks
New Mexico’s Sad Bet on Space Exploration (The Atlantic)
Neodymium (Popula)
Effortless Slippage (e-flux journal)
Everything Has a Resonant Frequency (talk)
In the Realm of Rough Telepathy (talk with Meredith Whittaker)