Today in Geography - Celebrating Programmers' Day with Arika Ligmann-Zielinska

Today, we welcomed Arika Ligmann-Zielinska, an Associate Professor in the ⁠Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences⁠ at Michigan State University. Dr. Ligmann-Zielinska’s areas of study include spatial analysis, coupledhuman-environment modeling, and agent-based models.

Arika discussed the annual celebration of Programmers’ Day, which honors the programming profession and the impact of software on daily life, often featuring code sharing, tech discussions, and company recognition for developers. It is celebrated on the 256th day of the year, which is the highestpower of 2 less than 365 (\(2^8 = 256\)), representing an 8-bit byte. In 2026, a common year, this falls on September 13th.

You can learn more about Dr. Ligmann-Zielinska’s research on her MSU Geography directory page.

Our sponsor for this episode is the MSU Geography Undergraduate Program. At MSU Geography, you won’t just study the world — you’ll help shape it. Ready to map your future? Visit geo.msu.edu and talk with an academicadvisor today.