Appendix A
Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff
William L.Graf (Chair) is Educational Foundation University Professor and Professor of Geography at the University of South Carolina. His research interests focus on the physical forms and processes associated with rivers, and on policy for public land and water. He is a past president of the Association of American Geographers. He has received more than 50 grants and contracts, and has authored or edited 7 books and more than 100 papers and book chapters in the fields of geography, geology, hydrology, public policy, and environmental history. His present research emphasis is on the physical environmental effects of large dams, and he is an advisor to federal agencies on decision making regarding dam decommissioning. He is a member of the NRC Board on Earth Sciences and Resources and has been a member of the NRC Water Science and Technology Board. He has participated in numerous NRC studies, and recently chaired the NRC Committee on Innovative Watershed Management.
Barbara P.Buttenfield is Professor of Geography at the University of Colorado in Boulder and Director of the Meridian Lab, a research facility focusing on visualization and modeling of geographic information and technology. She teaches courses in Geographic Information Science, Computer Cartography, and Geographic Information Design. She spent a one-year research sabbatical in residence at the United States Geological Survey (USGS) National Mapping Division in Reston, Virginia (1993– 1994). Her research interests focus on data delivery on the Internet, visualization tools for environmental modeling, map generalization, and interface usability testing. Dr. Buttenfield is a Past President of the American Cartographic Association, and a fellow of the American Congress
on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM). She was a member of the National Research Council’s Mapping Science Committee 1992 to 1998.
Carol Harden is Professor of Geography at the University of Tennessee. She has been on the geography department faculty at the University of Tennessee since 1987, and served as Department Head from 1995 to 2000. Her research interests include process geomorphology, emphasizing hillslope processes and watershed dynamics in mountain regions; human impact on the environment, focusing on water; land use, and soil erosion relationships; and the geomorphology of deglaciated and deglaciating landscapes. Her professional memberships include the Association of American Geographers, the American Geophysical Union, and the American Water Resources Association. Dr. Harden served as chair of the Geo-morphology Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers in 1997 to 1998 and as the U.S. representative to the International Association of Geomorphologists in 2002.
John R.Jensen is a Carolina Distinguished Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of South Carolina. He majored in physical geography and analytical cartography and remote sensing at the following institutions: B.A., California State University, Fullerton, 1971; Master’s degree, Brigham Young University, 1972; and Ph.D., from the University of California, Los Angeles, 1976. He has mentored 50 master’s students and 22 Ph.D.’s in remote sensing. Dr. Jensen’s research focuses on: (a) remote sensing of vegetation biophysical resources (biomass, leaf-area-index); (b) developing improved digital image processing algorithms to extract and model change; (c) improvement of environmental sensitivity index (ESI) mapping to protect coastal resources; and (d) modeling water quality parameters (chlorophyll, dissolved inorganic matter) in estuaries and reservoirs using remote sensor data. He is past president of the American Society for Photogrammetry & Remote Sensing and author of Introductory Digital Image Processing (2nd Edition, 1996) and Remote Sensing of the Environment (2000) published by Prentice-Hall, Inc.
George P.Malanson is Professor of Geography at the University of Iowa, where he has been a Faculty Scholar and Intergraph Professor of Landscape Ecology. His research interests include biogeography and landscape ecology. His previous positions include terms at Oklahoma State University; CNRS Centre Emberger, Montpellier; and Southwest Texas State University. He is a past chair of the Biogeography Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers and was a task leader in the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme’s Global Change in Terrestrial Ecosystems project. He is currently participating in a field research project on the invasibility of
alpine tundra by woody vegetation funded through the USGS Glacier Field Station.
Patricia F.McDowell is Professor of Geography and Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Oregon. She teaches courses in fluvial geomorphology, watershed science and policy, arid lands geomorphology, and soils geography. Her research focuses on response of river systems to human impacts and environmental change, and it has been supported by funding from the National Science Foundation, Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Forest Service and Bonneville Power Administration. At the University of Oregon, she served as Associate Vice-President for Research in 1990 to 1993 and as Chair of the Department of Geography in 1993 to 1996. She was Chair of the Geomorphology Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers in 1990–1991, and a Natural Science Research Council Guest Scientist at the Department of Physical Geography, Uppsala University, Sweden in 1991.
Sara McLafferty is Professor of Geography at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research expertise centers on the application of geospatial techniques to the study of urban geography, specifically the use of spatial analysis methods and geographic information systems to analyze health, social, and environmental problems in cities. She served as a national councilor for the Association of American Geographers and was a member of the National Research Council’s Mapping Science Committee.
Risa Palm is Professor of Geography and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research interests include societal responses to earthquake hazards and intra-urban mobility. She has done bi-national research on earthquake hazard response and preparation in California and southern Japan. Her previous positions include terms as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oregon and Dean of the Graduate School and Associate Vice-Chancellor for Research at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She is a past president of the Association of American Geographers.
Norbert P.Psuty is Professor II in the Departments of Geography, Geological Sciences, and Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. He is also Associate Director of the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences. His coastal geomorphologist research encompasses beach and dune processes and morphology, sediment budget studies, barrier island dynamics, estuarine sedimentation, and sea-level rise. His research has been conducted primarily in various portions of coastal
New Jersey and it has both a basic science component as well as an applied side. He is a consultant to the National Park Service on shoreline dynamics and change in the coastal parks. He has been the Chair of the Coastal Commission of the International Geographical Union, President of The Coastal Society, and President of the New Jersey Academy of Sciences. He is recipient of the Honors Award from the Association of American Geographers.
Henry J.Vaux, Jr. is Associate Vice-President for Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) of the University of California, System-wide. He is also Professor of Resource Economics at the University of California, Riverside. His principal research interests are in the economics of water use and water quality. He also serves as Co-Chair of the Rosenberg International Forum on Water Policy, an ongoing global dialogue to reduce water-related conflict and improve water policy. He previously served as Director of the University of California Water Resources Center. Prior to joining the University of California he worked at the Office of Management and Budget and served on the staff of the National Water Commission. He received a Ph.D in economics from the University of Michigan. Dr. Vaux is immediate past Chair of the Water Science and Technology Board of the National Research Council and is a National Associate of the National Academies.
NRC Staff
Anthony R.de Souza is currently director of the Board on Earth Sciences and Resources at the National Research Council in Washington, D.C. Previously he was executive director of the National Geography Standards Project, secretary general of the 27th International Geographical Union Congress, editor of National Geographic Research & Exploration, and editor of the Journal of Geography. He has held positions as a professor and as a visiting teacher and scholar at the George Washington University, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, University of Minnesota, University of California-Berkeley, and University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. He has served as a member of NRC committees. He holds B.A. (honors) and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Reading in England, and has received numerous honors and awards, including the Medalla al Benito Juarez in 1992 and the Gilbert Grosvenor honors award from the Association of American Geographers in 1996. His research interests include the processes and mechanisms of economic development and human-environment relationships. He has published several books and more than 100 articles, reports, and reviews.
Lisa M.Vandemark has a Ph.D. in Geography from Rutgers University and a M.S. in Human Ecology from the University of Brussels, Belgium. Her B.S. (nursing, specialty psychiatry) is also from Rutgers University. Currently Lisa is a Program Officer at the National Research Council. Prior to this appointment she was a research associate at the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, and an intern at the National Science Resources Center at the Smithsonian Institution. Her research interests include environmental perception and decision making, international development, natural resource management, and the role of interdisciplinary studies in environmental protection.
Monica R.Lipscomb is a research assistant for the NRC Board on Earth Sciences and Resources. She is completing a Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, with a concentration in Environmental Planning and graduate certificate in International Development. Her areas of interest include community-based environmental protection, watershed management and environmental conflict resolution. Previously she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Côte d’Ivoire and has worked as a biologist at the National Cancer Institute. She holds a B.S. in environmental and forest biology from the State University of New York-Syracuse.