UCGIS Fellows

Dr. Tim Nyerges is professor of Geography at the University of Washington and has a long and distinguished career in geographic information science research, education, and service. Tim earned his Ph.D. degree in geography from The Ohio State University in 1980 and worked in industry for 5 years before joining the faculty at the University of Washington where he continues his work today. Tim has accumulated an excellent research and publication record which includes five books, 45 referred...

Hanan Samet is a computer scientist who has specialized in computerized geographic information storage procedures. He is the world's foremost expert on a structure known as the quadtree, a method of organizing spatial information that is economical and yet facilitates analysis. This work has profoundly affected Geographic Information Science through his published books and many lectures.

Professor Samet received his education in engineering and computer science in California at UCLA...

Dr. Barbara P. Buttenfield (babs), Professor, Department of Geography, University of Colorado-Boulder and Director, Meridian Research Laboratory, has made many important and seminal contributions to research and education in Geographic Information Science (GIScience) and to UCGIS. Her most important contributions are in the area of map generalization and multiple representations, a term first used at a National Science Foundation-funded specialist meeting she organized in 1989. Her papers...

Dr. Max Egenhofer has made numerous, highly significant research contributions to geographic information science. Many of his research results on spatial relations and the spatial query languages are commonplace in commercial geographic information systems and have been embedded as key ingredients in international standards. In these standards, the topological relations that derive from his 9-intersection model are often referred to as the "Egenhofer relations." His most prominent...

Dr. Luc Anselin, Regents' Professor and Walter Isard Chair at Arizona State University is an elected member of the United States National Academy of Sciences and a William Alonso awardee, a Walter Isard recipient for distinguished scholarship, and  a Fellow of the Regional Science Association International.  As Director of the GeoDa Center for Geospatial Analysis and Computation at ASU, he is a spatial scientist with an admirable international reputation.  His popular software, GeoDa,...

Dr. Jerome E. “Jerry” Dobson is awarded University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS) Fellow status to recognize his outstanding contributions to geographic information science (GIScience) and his service to UCGIS. Jerry was an early researcher and pioneer who helped establish the field of GIScience. He earned an AA from Reinhardt College, AB and MA from the University of Georgia, and a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Tennessee. In 1975, he began his career with...

Dr. Karen K. Kemp has been a major figure in the evolution of GIS education in the US and abroad. She also has contributed in the areas of research and administration. Karen has been involved in the UCGIS since before its inception ‐‐ she helped organize and then chaired the founding meeting in Boulder in 1995. She has served on the UCGIS Board of Directors, served as Program Co‐chair for the UCGIS 1997 Annual Assembly and Summer Retreat and, with Richard Wright, was editor of the UCGIS...

Dr. Harlan J. Onsrud has been a leader in research and education on the legal, ethical, and institutional issues surrounding spatial information since the 1980s. Professor Onsrud was instrumental in the establishment of the UCGIS. He participated in the founding meeting in Boulder, Colorado, and took the lead in drafting the original UCGIS bylaws. Harlan then served as the first Chair of the UCGIS Policy and Legislation Committee and played a key role in the planning of early UCGIS...

Dr. Roger Tomlinson (1933-2014) is generally recognized as the "father of GIS.” He is the visionary geographer who conceived and developed the first GIS for use by the Canada Land Inventory in the early 1960s.  This and continuing contributions led the Canadian government to give him its highest civilian award, the Order of Canada, in 2001.  Text for that award reads, “he pioneered its uses worldwide to collect, manage, and manipulate geographical data, changing the face of geography as a...

Dr. Waldo Tobler has made unique and seminal contributions to the development of geographic information science. He graduated PhD from the University of Washington in 1961, rose from Assistant Professor to Professor at the University of Michigan, and was Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, until his retirement in 1994. He was elected Member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1982, one of the first geographers to receive this honor, and was awarded an honorary...

Dr. David M. Mark is awarded a University Consortium of Geographic Information Science (UCGIS) Fellow status to recognize his sustained and far-reaching contributions to Geographic Information Science as well as his devoted service to UCGIS. Dr. Mark received his Ph.D. degree in Geography from Simon Fraser University in 1977. His Master and Bachelor degrees were granted by University of British Columbia (1974) and Simon Fraser University, respectively. He is a SUNY Distinguished Professor in...