Department Directory

	Ronald Abler Professor Emeritus of Geography rabler@aag.org Expertise: geography of communications systems; history of geographic thought
	Daniela Aiello Assistant Professor of Geography - Begins July 2023 - Expertise: feminism; urban; anti-racism; anti-colonialism
	Todd Bacastow Teaching Professor bacastow@psu.edu Expertise: geospatial Intelligence; analytic Methods; GIS; comparative Analysis; cognitive Processes
	Mahda Bagher Postdoctoral Scholar mmm6749@psu.edu Expertise: GIScience and geospatial analysis; UX Research; HCI; extended reality technologies (AR/VR/mixed); human cognition & perception; designing embodied learning experiences in VR; 3D modeling and 3D visualization; geospatial data visualization in VR; virtual field trips; place-based education
	Jennifer Baka Associate Professor of Geography jeb525@psu.edu Expertise: energy geographies; political-industrial ecology; environmental governance
	Ann Bartos Courtesy Scholar aeb6276@psu.edu Expertise: feminist political geography; care ethics; political ecology of food and agriculture; children's geographies
	Ryan Baxter Associate Teaching Professor rbaxter@psu.edu Expertise: geospatial technologies; land-use change; data management and distribution; energy
	Trevor Birkenholtz Associate Head of Resident Graduate Programs tlb5964@psu.edu Expertise: political ecology; development; social theory; nature-society relations; gender-dynamics; South Asia; water resources
	Cynthia Brewer Professor of Geography cab38@psu.edu Expertise: cartographic communication and visualization; map design; color theory; multi-scale mapping; atlas production; topographic maps; cartography
	Amy Burnicki Associate Teaching Professor acb154@psu.edu Expertise: spatial data analysis; spatial statistics; quantitative modeling; land change science; transportation; environmental engineering applications
	Andrew Carleton Professor Emeritus of Geography amc7@psu.edu Expertise: climatology; synoptic climatology; climate dynamics; climate impacts of aviation contrails; human impacts on climate; climate variability and change; land surface-climate interactions; polar climatology; polar lows; Southern Ocean; Antarctica
	Guido Cervone Professor of Geography, Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences (Courtesy appointment in MAS) cervone@psu.edu Expertise: environmental hazards; remote sensing; geoinformatics; social media
	Harrison Cole Postdoctoral Scholar harrisoncole@psu.edu Expertise: cartography; geovisualization; accessibility; user experience; disaster management
	Robert Crane Professor Emeritus of Geography rqc3@psu.edu Expertise: climatology; regional scale climate change; African climates
	Jim Detwiler Associate Teaching Professor jed124@psu.edu Expertise: geospatial programming; web mapping; spatial databases; climate
	Ida Djenontin Assistant Professor of Geography ind5050@psu.edu Expertise: environment-development governance; agro-forest systems; climate change adaptation and mitigation; sustainable livelihoods; equity; knowledge co-production; sub-Saharan Africa
	Lorraine Dowler Professor of Geography and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies lxd17@psu.edu Expertise: political geography; gender; qualitative methods; feminist geopolitics
	Roger Downs Professor Emeritus of Geography rd7@psu.edu Expertise: spatial cognition; cognitive development; geography education; behavioral geography
	William Easterling Professor of Geography wee2@psu.edu Expertise: environmental change; agricultural systems; climate; renewable natural resources; land use
	Rodney Erickson 17th President of Penn State rae@psu.edu
	Chris Fowler Associate Head of Undergraduate Programs csfowler@psu.edu Expertise: inequality; population; scale; economic; urban; race; segregation
	Susan Friedman Affiliate Instructor swf3@psu.edu Expertise: historical geography; social geography; history of geography
	Brandi Gaertner Assistant Teaching Professor bah6009@psu.edu Expertise: hydrology; climate change; normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) ; growing season length; spatial analysis; spatial statistics; R statistical programming and modeling; GISciences
	Panagiotis Giannakis Assistant Teaching Professor pmg5371@psu.edu Expertise: economic geography; strategic management; social networks
	Adrienne Goldsberry Assistant Teaching Professor adg30@psu.edu Expertise: GIS education; urban planning; environmental perception & attitudes
	Larry Gorenflo Courtesy appointment in Geography ljg11@psu.edu Expertise: biodiversity conservation; cultural ecology; East Africa; Latin America; Southeast Asia
	Helen Greatrex Assistant Professor of Geography and Statistics hlg5155@psu.edu Expertise: weather risk management; geostatistics; uncertainty estimation; historical weather analysis; satellite rainfall estimation; index insurance; agricultural modeling; social equity
	Deryck Holdsworth Professor Emeritus of Geography dwh6@psu.edu Expertise: urban historical geography; historical geography of North America; historial GIS
	Louisa Holmes Assistant Professor of Geography lmholmes@psu.edu Expertise: health disparities; substance use; socio-spatial determinants of health; urban health; environmental justice; migration; demographic and geospatial research methods
	Joshua Inwood Professor of Geography jfi6@psu.edu Expertise: critical race theory; peace geographies; social movements; political economy; urban geography; social justice; cultural geography
	Gregory Jenkins Courtesy appointments in Geography and African Studies gsj1@psu.edu Expertise: atmospheric/air chemistry; climate; tropical meteorology; Africa
	Fritz Kessler Teaching Professor fck2@psu.edu Expertise: map projections; datums; cartographic design; history of cartography; spatial analysis; qualitative analysis
	Beth King Associate Teaching Professor exf107@psu.edu Expertise: GIS; data management; geospatial analysis; online education
	Brian King Head of Department king@psu.edu Expertise: development; conservation; Southern Africa; cultural and political ecology; health; livelihoods; justice
	Alan MacEachren Professor Emeritus of Geography and Information Science & Technology maceachren@psu.edu Expertise: visual analytics; geovisualization; geographic information retrieval; place & big data
	Stephen Matthews Courtesy appointments in Geography and School of International Affairs sxm27@psu.edu Expertise: demography; health; mortality; inequality; spatial analysis
	Doug Miller Research Professor Emeritus dam8@psu.edu Expertise: remote sensing; geomorphology; soils; GIS; landscape ecology; small unmanned autonomous systems
	Belen Norona Assistant Professor of Geography - Begins July 2023 mbnorona@psu.edu Expertise: social justice; Indigenous knowledge; body-territory; women; oil infrastructure; Amazon of Ecuador
	Mark Ortiz Presidential Postdoctoral Scholar mark.ortiz@psu.edu Expertise: climate justice; youth; social movements
	Donna Peuquet Professor Emerita of Geography peuquet@psu.edu Expertise: geographic information science; space-time representation; spatial data models; environmental cognition
	Nathan Piekielek Geospatial Librarian and Associate Professor of Geography nbp104@psu.edu Expertise: geographic information science; remote sensing and spatial analysis geospatial research support ; landscape ecology and conservation ; interdisciplinary social and natural science research
	Bronwen Powell Associate Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion bxp15@psu.edu Expertise: biodiversity and nutrition; wild and forest foods; dietary patterns and dietary diversity; traditional food systems; applied research for improved policy and practice
	Anthony Robinson Director of Online Geospatial Education acr181@psu.edu Expertise: geovisual analytics; cartography; user-centered design; geovisualization; information visualization
	Emily Rosenman Assistant Professor of Geography ekr5260@psu.edu Expertise: urban and economic geography; financialization; philanthropy; housing; debt; public finance
	Karen Schuckman Associate Teaching Professor kls505@psu.edu Expertise: photogrammetry; lidar; UAS mapping; accuracy assessment
	Erica Smithwick Distinguished Professor of Geography smithwick@psu.edu Expertise: landscape ecology; ecosystem ecology; biogeochemistry; fire ecology
	Kaitlyn Spangler Postdoctoral Scholar kas6281@psu.edu
	Marcela Suarez Assistant Teaching Professor marcela.suarez@psu.edu Expertise: spatial data science; GIScience; cartography; emergency management; spatio-temporal data mining; spatial data quality
	Alan Taylor Professor of Geography aht1@psu.edu Expertise: landscape ecology; fire ecology; disturbance and climate effects on vegetation; biogeography; biological conservation; environmental management; paleoecology
	Gregory Thomas Associate Teaching Professor gat5@psu.edu Expertise: geospatial intelligence; intelligence analysis; homeland security
	Luke Trusel Assistant Professor of Geography trusel@psu.edu Expertise: climate variability and change; ice sheet surface mass balance; ice core paleoclimatology; remote sensing
	Ramzi Tubbeh Postdoctoral Scholar rmt5319@psu.edu Expertise: political ecology; science and technology studies; postcolonial studies; environmental and water governance; common-pool resources; conservation; agrobiodiversity; climate change; livelihoods; Latin America
	Kimberly Van Meter Assistant Professor of Geography vanmeterkvm@psu.edu Expertise: water quality; wetlands; biogeochemistry; environmental modeling; remote sensing; human-environment interactions
	Shujie Wang Assistant Professor of Geography skw5660@psu.edu Expertise: remote sensing; machine learning; numerical modeling; ice flow dynamics; snow/ice albedo; glacier algae
	Denice Wardrop Research Professor dhw110@psu.edu Expertise: ecological indicator development; monitoring and assessment for environmental management; wetland ecosystem services; impacts of anthropogenic change
	Melissa Wright Professor of Geography and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies mww11@psu.edu Expertise: critical geography; urban landscapes; Mexico-US borderlands; Latin America; intersectional feminist and critical race studies; social Movements; post-colonial and decolonial studies
	Lakshman Yapa Professor Emeritus of Geography lxy3@psu.edu Expertise: Post-modern discourse theory; Third World; theories of poverty; community development; GIS applications; public scholarship and service learning
	Brent Yarnal Professor Emeritus of Geography alibar@psu.edu Expertise: global change in local places; climate variation and change; land-use/land-cover change; natural hazards; coupled human-environment systems
	Manzhu Yu Assistant Professor of Geography mqy5198@psu.edu Expertise: geographic information science; spatiotemporal theories and applications; big data and cloud computing; natural hazards and extreme weather; environmental informatics; spatial data science and deep learning
	Michelle Zeiders Assistant Teaching Professor mgz1@psu.edu Expertise: GIS; spatial analysis; online geospatial education; geoenvironmental studies
	Karl Zimmerer Professor of Geography ksz2@psu.edu Expertise: land use and agricultural change/global change; economic development/globalization/neoliberalism; nature-society and human-environment theory environmental impacts (biodiversity/soils/water/conservation); food/producer-consumer networks/sustainability

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Department Directory