AAG Transportation Geography Specialty Group

The mission of the Transportation Geography Specialty Group of the American Association of Geographers is to encourage and facilitate interactions among individuals who are interested in research, practice, and education of transportation-related topics.

All members of the AAG with an interest in transportation and transportation-related issues are encouraged to join the Transportation Geography Specialty Group. Annual dues are $10 for regular members ($2 for student members) in addition to the normal AAG dues. Information and forms are available on the AAG home page and the AAG Knowledge Community.

TGSG Student Awards

We are pleased to invite submissions for the 2026 Transportation Geography Outstanding Thesis and Dissertation Awards. The Transportation Geography Specialty Group (TGSG) is committed to fostering the next generation of scholars and advancing transportation geography across research, policy, and practice. As a cornerstone of our mission, we recognize outstanding theses and dissertations in transportation geography each year at the AAG Annual Meeting. With a legacy of more than three decades, past awardees are building a lasting tradition of scholarship and service, and many are proud active TGSG members, mentors, and leaders in the field of transportation geography.

Winners will be recognized at the AAG 2026 Annual Meeting in San Francisco, CA, and receive a plaque.

We warmly welcome submissions from students whose research engages transport systems, mobility, accessibility, logistics and supply chains, networks, equity, sustainability, or related themes, including even those who may not primarily identify as transportation geographers. Work across methods (qualitative, quantitative, mixed), scales (local to global), and disciplines is encouraged.

Awards:

• Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award — $250 prize
• Outstanding PhD Dissertation Award — $250 prize

Eligibility:

• Thesis/dissertation completed between Dec 14, 2024 and Dec 31, 2025
• Applicant must be an AAG member at the time of submission

Required documents (PDF format):

1. Cover letter summarizing the research question, methods, key findings, and contribution to transport geography
2. Full thesis/dissertation
3. CV

Submission:

• Email to: transportationsg@communities.aag.org
• Subject line: 2026 TGSG [Thesis / Dissertation] Award – [Last Name]
• Deadline: December 31, 2025

2025 Edward L. Ullman Award

We are pleased to invite nominations for the 2026 Edward L. Ullman Award. The award has been offered as the most pretigious award by the TGSG since 1990 for outstanding contributions to the field of transportation geography. It was named for Edward L. Ullman (1912 - 1976), a pioneering transportation geographer who spent most of his academic career at the University of Washington and built foundational work on spatial interaction, raildroad networks, freight flows, and transport networks. Honoring the legacy of Edward L. Ullman, TGSG recognizes a scholar's lifelong, field-shaping contributions and impactful scholarship across research, policy, and practice in transportation geography.

With a tradition spanning more than three decades, Ullman Award recipients have built a lasting legacy of excellence in our transportation geography community. Recent honorees include Joe Weber (2025), Antonio Paez (2024) and Mark Horner(2023), reflecting the breadth of transportation geography's theoretical, methodological, and applied contributions. By custom, the Ullman Awardee is invited to deliver the Fleming Lecture in Transportation Geography at the following year's AAG meeting.

We warmly welcome nominations for transportation geographer who has committed to scholarly contributions to transportation geography; leadership and service to the profession; and broader impact on research, policy and practice.

The recipient will be honored at the AAG 2026 Annual Meeting in San Francisco, CA, and receive a plaque.

The Ullman Awardee is invited to deliver the Fleming Lecture in Transportation Geography at the 2027 AAG meeting in New York, NY.

Eligibility:

• Open to scholars whose cumulative contributions have significantly advanced transportation geography and allied fields. Nominations are welcome from TGSG members and the broader community.

Nomination package (PDF format):

• Nomination letter summarizing the nominee's scholarly impact and contributions, leadership and service to the field of transportation geography
• Nominee's CV

Submission:

• Email to: transportationsg@communities.aag.org
• Subject line: 2026 Ullman Award Nomination [Nominee Last Name]
• Deadline: December 31, 2025

Evaluation:

• A TGSG awards committee will consider the originality, depth, and durability of scholarly contributions; leadership and service to the profession; and the nominee's broader impact on research, policy and practice.

TGSG Officers 2025 - 2026

The Journal of Transport Geography

The Journal of Transport Geography is a leading interdisciplinary journal focusing on the geographical dimensions of transport, travel and mobility. It is international in its outlook, and welcomes both conceptual papers and theoretically-informed, empirically-oriented contributions on the movement of people, goods and/or information by any mode and at every geographical scale.

Articles and viewpoints for the Journal of Transport Geography may be submitted through the Elsevier Website.

TGSG By-Laws

The TGSG board approved these revised by-laws on April 18, 2025.

2025-04-tgsg-by-laws.pdf

Past Meetings and Award Winners

• 2024 AAG Annual Meeting: Honolulu, HI
• 2023 AAG Annual Meeting: Denver, CO
• 2022 AAG Virtual Annual Meeting
• 2021 AAG Virtual Annual Meeting
• 2020 AAG Virtual Annual Meeting
• 2019 AAG Annual Meeting: Washington, DC
• 2018 AAG Annual Meeting: New Orleans, LA
• 2017 AAG Annual Meeting: Boston, MA
• 2015 AAG Annual Meeting: Los Angeles, CA
• Edward L. Ullman Award Winners
• The Fleming Lectures in Transportation Geography
• Past Dissertation and Thesis Award Winners
• Past Chairs
• Annual Reports