Todd S. Bacastow
Ph.D., Geography, Penn State
M.S., Geography, Penn State
B.S., Engineering, United States Military Academy
Dr. Todd S. Bacastow’s focus is preparing analysts to serve in the U.S. intelligence community. He has conducted active research in improving the training and education of the geospatial analyst. He was the author of the massive open online course (MOOC) titled Geospatial Revolution and Geospatial Intelligence, delivered to more than 25,000 students. He serves as an expert witness. Before joining Penn State, Dr. Bacastow retired from the U.S. Army after serving in a variety of infantry, engineer, and geospatial intelligence assignments and positions.
Anthony Robinson
Ph.D., Geography, Penn State
M.S., Geography, Penn State
B.S., Applied Geography, East Carolina University
Dr. Anthony C. Robinson is an assistant professor of geography and director of Online Geospatial Education at Penn State. He leads Penn State's online GIS Certificate and Master of Geographic Information Systems programs. He is also assistant director for the GeoVISTA Center. Dr. Robinson is a cartographer who designs and evaluates geovisualization tools to improve geographic information utility and usability. He has worked in epidemiology, crisis management, national security, and education domains to develop and evaluate new methods for visualizing spatial data.
Ryan Baxter
M.S., Geography, Penn State
B.A., Geography and Environmental Sciences, Northwestern University
Ryan Baxter advises students and teaches courses in topics including renewable energy, environmental applications of GIS, cloud and server GIS technologies, and introductory geographic information concepts. He is active in technical research projects involving spatial databases, online data discovery tools, interactive mapping applications, and cloud-based GIS services. He is also engaged in research to investigate the spatial modeling of land use change, quantifying the amount of land available for bioenergy feedstocks, and assessing the suitability and productivity of energy crops.
Dennis Bellafiore
Ph.D., Physics, University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Dennis Bellafiore received the USGIF Academic Research Award for the top geospatial intelligence project, "Advanced Analytic Methods for the Geospatial Intelligence Professional" and "The Learner's Guide to Geospatial Analysis" in 2010. He continues to conduct research in understanding geospatial intelligence cognitive analysis; apply that knowledge to online learning; teach online courses in geospatial intelligence analytic methods; and, publish papers to advance the discipline to include a larger scope of applicability beyond the traditional use of imagery analysis, remote sensing, and mapping technologies
James Detwiler
M.S., Geography, University of Delaware
B.S., Earth Science, Penn State
James Detwiler is in a 100 percent teaching appointment and specializes in GIS programming. He teaches GEOG 485: GIS Programming and Automation; GEOG 863: Web Application Development; and GEOG 868: Spatial Database Management. His research interests are in the areas of applied GIS and climatology.
Steve Handwerk
M.A., Administrative Sciences, George Washington University
B.S., Geography, Penn State
Steve Handwerk, a National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency retiree, is most interested in geospatial analysis for defense and homeland security applications.
Beth King
M.Ed., Adult Education, Penn State
B.S., Geography, Penn State
Beth King is co-author and instructor of GEOG 483: Problem Solving with GIS; GEOG 482: Making Maps that Matter with GIS; and GEOG 597G: Challenges in Global Geospatial Analytics. She is assistant program manager for Online Geospatial Education and maintains regular communication with students in the MGIS degree program to identify their questions and concerns. Previously, she worked as a GIS analyst for a private water/wastewater engineering firm, where she managed a wide range of GIS projects, from turnkey sanitary sewer conversion to 911 rural addressing.
Fritz Kessler
Ph.D., Geography, University of Kansas
M.S., Geography, Penn State
B.S., Geography, Ohio University
Dr. Fritz Kessler's teaching interests include cartography, geographic visualization, map projections, spatial analysis, land surveying, geography of health, and statistics. His research interests include map projections, geographic visualization, history of cartography, and cognitive cartography.
Karen Schuckman
M.S., Geographic Information Systems, Penn State
B.A., Liberal Arts, Penn State
B.S., Meteorology, Penn State
Karen Schuckman's teaching and research interests include applications of airborne and spaceborne remote sensing to topographic mapping, land-use/land-cover analysis, positional accuracy assessment of remotely sensed base map data products, and other geospatial applications.
James Sloan
M.S., Marine Geology and Geophysics, University of Miami,
Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science
James Sloan has taught GIS and cartography courses since 1995, at both Penn State and the University of Florida. He has been an instructor in the online geospatial education program at Penn State since 2003. At Penn State, he has co-authored and taught GEOG 484: GIS Database Development; GEOG 482: The Nature of Geographic Information; and GEOG 868: Spatial Database Management.
Gregory Thomas
Ph.D., Administration and Leadership Studies, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
MPA, Penn State
B.S., Criminal Justice, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Gregory Thomas has experience developing intelligence for decision-makers, supervising the analytical process, and providing team guidance. He also has experience teaching intelligence and analytical techniques to college students as well as intelligence analysts and law enforcement personnel. He has developed operational intelligence to support criminal investigations and anti-terrorism activities, and has selected, trained, and supervised analysts in a criminal intelligence center. His teaching and research focus on geospatial intelligence analysis, homeland security, and criminal intelligence.
Michelle Zeiders
M.S., Geoenvironmental Studies, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
B.S., Public Administration, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
Michelle Zeiders teaches GEOG 483: Problem Solving with GIS; GEOG 484: GIS Database Development; and GEOG 487: Environmental Applications of GIS. She has been teaching introductory and software-intensive GIS courses since 1998. Prior to joining the geospatial education program, she worked as a GIS programmer/instructor for the Penn State Population Research Institute, a GIS Project manager/instructor for the Institute for Transportation Research and Education at North Carolina State University, a GIS Project Manager at a private civil engineering firm, and a GIS analyst at MapQuest.