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 Michigan Geographic Alliance, led by Prof. Mike Libbee, received $198,898 for the project "Wayne County Middle School Geography and History Project."  The two-year project aims to improving the teaching and learning of geography and history in Dearborn City School District.  The project will provide 90 hours of professional development for 30 sixth and seventh grade teachers.  The project is a partnership among the Michigan Geographic Alliance, headquartered in the College of Science and Technology at CMU, the CMU College of Education, Wayne County RESA, and the Dearborn City School District.   02/09/2010

Drs. Tao Zheng (PI) and Brian Becker (Co-PI) were awarded $391949 by the US Geological Survey for the project "The National Map: Imagery and Elevation Maps."  This is one of the most significant external grants the department has received.  It will provide release time and graduate student supports as well as expenses for data collection and processing.  The sixteen month project will lead to the creation of a highly accurate elevation database.  Congratulations!  2/8/2010

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.

Kenny Robertson, a student in the accelerated Masters program in GISci at CMU, was among the 3 undergraduate recipients of the prestigious USGIF Scholarship in 2009.  This national award carries a $5000 scholarship.  The United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting education and application of geospatial technology.  Congratulations, Kenny!  10/1/2009

• 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.