User:AlexBrown

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Alex Brown
Instructor, UML-EEAS GIS and remote sensing
http://faculty.uml.edu/abrown
http://gis.uml.edu
UML email: mailto:Alexander_Brown@uml.edu
Permanent email: mailto:a.brown@ieee.org
(617) 308-9456

In 2003 I began a new career in geospatial information systems (GIS) and remote sensing applications after many years in software for telecommunications and distributed systems. GIS is an applied technical subject dealing with recent and emerging technology for management and manipulation of spatial information, especially for decision support and planning. It is one of the most interdisciplinary areas of computer technology, with applications in many fields, notably atmospheric science, including meteorology and climatology, and environmental science. In 2006 I received an MA in GIS and Remote Sensing for Development and Environment (GISDE) from the Program on International Development, Community, and Environment at Clark University, Worcester MA, on completion of a thesis project on time series analysis of global satellite data archives of global vegetation, focused on the science of climate change, with Prof Ron Eastman, founder of the GISDE program and author of Clark Labs' Idrisi software for GIS and remote sensing. Other work in the program included preparation and delivery of a short informal seminar series on mapservers and networking in GIS with Prof. Eugenio Marcano, and a study of information loss in encoding of aspect in GIS processing of terrain elevation data (originally scheduled for AAG06 but finally presented at AAG08-Boston) with Prof. Gil Pontius. In addition to the GISDE program, I attended a seminar in college teaching through the Colleges of Worcester Consortium.

1 Teaching
2 Research
- 2.1 Study
- 2.2 Other projects
3 Other guises
4 Professional organizations

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Teaching

EEAS 87.504 Introduction to GIS (Fall term)

I'm delighted to teach this subject as adjunct faculty at UMass-Lowell in the Department of Environmental, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, because much of my interest in GIS and remote sensing applications is in these fields. However, my teaching serves students from the wide range of science and engineering fields that use GIS tools: in addition to students and faculty in environmental science, earth science, and atmospheric science, I work with students in transportation and environmental fields in civil engineering, in public health and workplace safety, and in regional planning and policy. I enjoy teaching, and expect to continue and expand my role as a teacher, especially in opportunities to explore service learning and project learning for students, in the many interdisciplinary applications of GIS and remote sensing.

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Research

I am continuing research on the topics and methods begun at Clark, but also investigating new tools and applications in GIS, especially cluster computing for GIS and remote sensing, and visualization of spatial data and information. Directions of broad interest include applications to problems in development, environment, climate change, technology policy, and social policy.

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Study

I am now a student in the Marine and Atmospheric Systems Modeling program, UMass School of Marine Sciences.

MA thesis research (M.Barlow, advisor): "Vegetation-hydroclimate links in Central-Southwest Asia" PDF HTML
- NDVI, phenology and greenup
- Central Asia drought and greenup

Central-Southwest Asia vegetation climatology
Central-Southwest Asia snowpack, snowmelt, and stream flow response to precipitation
Central-Southwest Asia vegetation response to insolation, temperature, precipitation, stream flow, and irrigation

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