WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- ASSISTANT PROFESSOR of GEOGRAPHY
Dr Maxwell's research interests are in geospatial instruction, hands-on learning, and learning via travel. His primary research is in remote sensing image analysis, spatial modeling, GIS, object-based image analysis, terrain analysis, physical geography, geomorphology, and hydrology.
Job Titles:
- Adjunct Professor, Geology and Geography
Nektaria is an atmospheric physics and remote sensing scientist. She uses optical and thermal imagery to study phenomena in the man-made and natural environment, including urban expansion and the urban heat island effect and forest fires. She has a strong background in education practices and assessment and has a long-lasting involvement in the GLOBE (Global Observations to Benefit the Environment) program. She is the External Evaluator for the NASA Science Activation ‘Mission Earth' Program.
Job Titles:
- Director of Undergraduate Research, Honors College, and Professor of Geography
Dr. Hessl uses the environmental information stored in the growth rings of trees to study climate variability, ecosystem processes, and human activities over the last 2000 years. She has studied forest dynamics, climate and human history in the American West, Mongolia and Southern Australia.
*Maxwell, R.S., A. Hessl, E. Cook, and B. Buckley. 2012. A 1248-year reconstruction of May precipitation for the mid-Atlantic region using Juniperus virginiana tree rings. Journal of Climate 25:1045-1056. 10.1175/JCLI-D-11-00017.1
Job Titles:
- ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR of GEOLOGY
Dr. Weislogel's research group uses grain-scale to basin-scale techniques in Sedimentary Basin Studies to reconstruct tectonic and climatic controls on paleoenvironments. Our primary tools include provenance, stratigraphic and sedimentologic analyses and our projects investigate both subsurface and outcropping sedimentary records.
Job Titles:
- Adjunct Assistant Professor
Job Titles:
- Member of the Visiting Committee
- Private Consultant
Job Titles:
- Member of the Visiting Committee
- EQT Production Company
Job Titles:
- ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR of GEOGRAPHY and Director, WVU Center for Resilient Communities
I am a broadly trained human geographer. My research is rooted in fields such as community economies, agrarian studies, political ecology, post-colonial theory, and rural development. For 20 years I have focused on the response of communities to regional economic crises - in coffee and coal country - and the central role of solidarity, mutual aid, grassroots initiatives and social movements in forging alternative rural development pathways in those regions. Methodologically I practice critical ethnography but in recent years have more fully embraced my identity as a participatory action researcher - working in teams to accompany community partners as they work for social change. With my students I have established a robust action research program and experiments focused on cooperative economics, food justice, food system development, community health and environmental justice in West Virginia and Appalachia which is now housed in the WVU Center for Resilient Communities. In recent years I have been thinking about pragmatist pedagogies and how to practice community geographies.
Job Titles:
- PROFESSOR of GEOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT CHAIR
Job Titles:
- ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR of GEOGRAPHY
Dr. Gorman's research examines the legal geographies of political asylum in the U.S. and advocacy to expand human rights protections outlined in UN Refugee Conventions and Protocols. Using feminist legal archeology, her work traces how gendered and racialized logics of border control shape immigration categories and refugee status in the United States with a particular focus on those displaced from Central America. More recently, her work explores how immigration raids shape the politics of community life for immigrants who live in rural towns due to employment in meatpacking industries.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Visiting Committee
Job Titles:
- Adjunct Assistant Professor
Gao is interested in developing and applying 3D seismic interpretation technologies for more effective subsurface structure, facies, and reservoir characterization.
Di Cosmo, N., Hessl, A., *Leland, C., Byambasuren, O., Tian, H., Pederson, N., Andreu, L., and E. Cook. 2018. An integrated analysis of climate and socio-economic complexity in the expansion and collapse of the Uyghur Empire (744-840 CE). Interdisciplinary Journal of History 48(4):439-463. https://doi.org/10.1162/JINH_a_01194.
Dorothy is a low-temperature geochemist with a focus on karst hydrogeology, temporal changes in water quality (diel and storm), high-CO2 waters, metal geochemistry, thermal-mineral springs, coal-mine drainage, and how contaminant move in karst aquifers. Much of her recent research considers the relationship between inorganic carbon and sulfur in natural waters.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Visiting Committee
Job Titles:
- Geology Graduate Student Scholarship. Alan C. Donaldson Geology Graduate Student Scholarship. ( Https
- Professor of Geology
Job Titles:
- Member of the Visiting Committee
Job Titles:
- Member of the Visiting Committee
Job Titles:
- ADJUNCT ASSISTANT PROFESSOR of GEOGRAPHY
Eungul is a geographer-climatologist that studies the biosphere and atmosphere interactions in the monsoon climate regions over South and East Asia and West Africa. He is teaching introductory climatology (fall) and climatological analysis (spring) courses on a regular basis.
Job Titles:
- Emeritus Faculty
- EMERITUS PROFESSOR of GEOGRAPHY
Job Titles:
- Emeritus Faculty
- EMERITUS PROFESSOR of GEOLOGY
Dr. Rauch continues to serve on the West Virginia Surface Mine Board and Quarry Board and continues to work on publishing his past WVU research. His personal activities include research on his family genealogy, and publishing true crime stories, some of which involve forensic geology. He continues to give public lectures on these and other subjects.
EDUCATION
• BS degree, chemistry and geology, Alfred University, 1965
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Sustainability
Job Titles:
- Teaching Assistant Professor of Sustainability
Job Titles:
- PROFESSOR of GEOLOGY, ASSOCIATE CHAIR for GEOLOGY
Job Titles:
- ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR of GEOLOGY
Job Titles:
- ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR of GEOGRAPHY
The overarching theme is an interest in the statistics, algorithms and techniques for the analysis of spatial data. Jamison has worked in the past on methods for finding and analyzing disease clusters, but is venturing beyond that narrow focus. He has open-source projects that are available for those interested.
Job Titles:
- Emeritus Faculty
- EMERITUS PROFESSOR of GEOLOGY
- Geography of Elections. the Geographical Aspects of American Political Culture. Legislative Redistricting and Gerrymandering
Geography of Elections. The geographical aspects of American political culture. Legislative redistricting and gerrymandering.
Job Titles:
- TEACHING ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR of GEOLOGY
Job Titles:
- Emeritus Faculty
- EMERITUS PROFESSOR of GEOLOGY
Dr. Renton was an Eberly Family Professor for Distinguished Teaching for Earth Science education. He taught over 35,000 students in more than 300 sections of Physical Geology over 50 years at WVU.
3. P.C. McGuire, A. Bonnici, K.R. Bruner, C. Gross, J. Ormö, R.A. Smosna, S. Walter, and L. Wendt, 2014, The cyborg astrobiologist: matching of prior textures by image compression for geological mapping and novelty detection: International Journal of Astrobiology, v. 13, p. 191-202.
Job Titles:
- ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR of GEOGRAPHY
Karen's research and teaching uses critical and feminist geopolitical frames to examine contested places and identities. Her work focuses on the Middle East and the Arab world.
Job Titles:
- Adjunct Associate Professor
Job Titles:
- Emeritus Faculty
- EMERITUS PROFESSOR of GEOGRAPHY / Geography of Elections. the Geographical Aspects of American Political Culture. Legislative Redistricting and Gerrymandering.
Job Titles:
- Visiting Assistant Professor Emeritus
Job Titles:
- ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR of GEOGRAPHY
I am an Associate Professor in the Geography Program at West Virginia University's Department of Geology and Geography. A cultural anthropologist by training, I investigate the cultural and historical context of scientific practice. In other words, I approach science as a cultural activity. Speleology (cave science and exploration) serves as a case study with which I examine a range of topics such as: identity (Who are we? What brings us together?); place and emotion (How do places become meaningful? Why is it that we come to love some places more than others?); value (How do we come to value certain places over others, beyond dollars and cents?); and politics (Who has access to or owns what, and how far underground? Who has the means and power to represent the hidden dimensions of the Earth and to what effect?). Really, these questions are relevant well beyond caves, karst, and even bunkers, another site of research!
Job Titles:
- Marshall S. Miller Energy Professor of Geology
Job Titles:
- Adjunct Service Assistant Professor
Dr. Öztan holds a B.S. and M.S. in hydrogeology, and he did his Ph.D. work on GIS-enabled groundwater modeling of Michigan's watersheds. In 2013, he transitioned from his engineering career into becoming a full-time seed grower, steward, and heirloom seed advocate.
Dr. Öztan's areas of interest and work involve preservation and documentation of heirloom seeds and their human-oriented stories, seed sovereignty, racism and discrimination in seed industry, advocacy of food diversity, small-scale seed and vegetable production, sustainable farming practices, community-based plant breeding for open-pollinated vegetable varieties, and value-added artisanal food production in the context of West Virginia, Appalachia, and beyond the region.
Job Titles:
- TEACHING ASSISTANT PROFESSOR of GEOGRAPHY
Michael's area of interest includes analysis of spatial data, 3D visualization, modeling complex landforms and processes, teaching GIS and GISci, and mentoring geoscientists. In 2020, Michael mentored a team of students in the National Geothermal Design Challenge who won the contest with the poster, "Geothermal Locality Index: Where to Find ‘The Heat Beneath Our Feet'".
Job Titles:
- EMERITUS PROFESSOR of GEOLOGY
- PROFESSOR
Job Titles:
- SERVICE ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR of GEOGRAPHY
Rick's research combines forest ecology with land use management and restoration, using mapping and spatial analysis as tools to address basic questions of ecosystem structure and function. Working closely with the land conservation community in West Virginia through the West Virginia Land Trust, his research applies primarily to properties managed through conservation easements or other land use protection strategies.
Job Titles:
- Emeritus Faculty
- EMERITUS PROFESSOR of GEOLOGY
Job Titles:
- Emeritus Faculty
- EMERITUS PROFESSOR of GEOLOGY and GEOGRAPHY
Job Titles:
- Student Success Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Emeritus Faculty
- EMERITUS PROFESSOR of GEOLOGY
Dr. Kammer specializes in paleontology and paleoecology of Paleozoic marine fossils, especially crinoids, plus stratigraphy of the Mississippian Period. He is an Honorary Fellow of both the Geological Society of America and the Paleontological Society.
Job Titles:
- Emeritus Faculty
- EMERITUS PROFESSOR of GEOLOGY
Job Titles:
- Emeritus Faculty
- EMERITUS PROFESSOR of GEOLOGY
Tim is a geologist working to develop the energy resources that the people of the world require over the coming century, while protecting the environment. His current study areas concern unconventional resources and CO2 storage and utilization in North America, Europe, Middle East and Asia.
Job Titles:
- Emeritus Faculty
- EMERITUS PROFESSOR of GEOGRAPHY and GEOLOGY
Job Titles:
- EBERLY DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR of GEOGRAPHY
- Emeritus Faculty