Department of Geography

Have you ever wondered who create those beautiful and effective map-based "infographics" on the New York Times, like this interactive map showing the Regional Difference in Costs and Care?  Please read this profile review with Erin Aigner, a graphics editor at the New York Times, and a formally trained Geographer and Cartographer.

Geospatial technology is changing the modern society in every way, from personl trip planning to homeland security.  The Geography Department at CMU is part of this exciting revolution.  This video trailer developed by colleagues at Penn State gives an overview of what Geospatial Revolution is all about.

The department has the approval to hire a tenure track faculty at the rank of associate / full professor.  Area specialization is in Physical Geography / GIS.  The faculty member will also serve as the Director of the Center for Geographic Information Sciences.  Click here for the job ad.  10/13/09.

• Torbick, N. and B. Becker, Evaluating Principal Components Analysis for Identifying Optimal Bands Using Wetland Hyperspectral measurements from the Great Lakes, USA, Remote Sensing, 1(3), 408-417.
• Francek, M., J. Welsheimer, 2009, "Exploring global Climate Change Knowledge and Misconceptions for a primary through College Aged Sample," Geography Teacher, (in press)
• Francek, M., W. Johnstone, "Inexpensive, Simple, Exciting Earth Science Inquiry," Michigan Science Teacher Journal, 54(1), 63-64.
•  Li, B., J. Gong, W. Jia, Y. Yu, 2009, "PCGAP: Pattern Catalog for GIS Application Programming," Geomatica, 63(2), 25-36.
• Patton, D. and R. Lloyd, 2009, "Asymmetrical Learning of Locations on Maps: Implicit Learning, Prior Knowledge and Sex Differences," Cartographic Perspectives, No. 63, 4-34.
• Wang, D., S. Liang, R. Liu, and T. Zheng, 2009, "Estimation of Daily-Integrated PAR from Sparse Satellite Observations: Comparison of Temporal Scaling Methods," International Journal of Remote Sensing, (in press)

The National Council for Geographic Education is having its 94th Annual Meeting at San Juan, Puerto Rico.  Professors Mark Francek and Mike Libbee as well as graduate student Matt Patton are attending the conference.  Mike will present Geography and History: Connecting Time and Place, while Mark will report his experience with Photo Portfolios as a Capstone Class Experience.  Matt will showcase the project Using Topography & Politics to Draw State Borders.

The department plans to strengthen the concentration in Environmental and Landuse Planning.  Xiaoguang Wang from the Tauman College of Architecture and Urban Planning will join the department as Assistant Professor in Spring 2010.  Professor Dave Patton, a specialist in Cartography and GIS as well as in Urban Planning, will shift part of his teaching responsibility to the planning curriculum.  Dave will teach GEO530 (Land Use Planning) in the coming semester.

The department has acquired twenty units of state-of-the-art GPS receivers.  They will be ready for the GIS courses in the coming semester.

Dr. Michelle Brym and Jim Pytko will join the department this fall.  Dr. Brym will teach courses in the human / cultural domain, while Jim will be responsible for several sections of GEO105.  Michelle has a Ph.D. in Geography from University of Tennessee and has a range of college teaching experience.  Jim has been a well-like instructor for the GEO105 labs and is ready to assume the lecture portions of the course.  He will be assisted by Joe Pomerville, a second year graduate student.