UO Collaboration: Esther Jacobson-Tepfer

A UO art history professor collaborates with InfoGraphics Lab cartographers to document her ground-breaking research in Mongolia

Esther Jacobson-Tepfer points to a squiggly blue line on the large map spread out before her on a table in the UO Department of Geography's InfoGraphics Lab. Her finger moves rapidly as she traces its path, citing points of interest along the route.

Weaving up, down, and around in an intricate pattern, the line follows approximately 300 miles of rugged terrain in the Altai Mountains of Northern Asia. It is the route taken by V.V. Sapozhnikov, a Russian geographer whose fascination with this area predates Jacobson-Tepfer's by a hundred years.

The few seconds it takes to trace the Russian's journey with her index finger belie the formidable obstacles travelers face in this remote region, including unpredictable extremes in weather, primitive roads, aggressive insects, and lethal outbreaks of marmot plague.

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