Recent Graduates

Ekaterina Korzh
Current Position: Graduate student, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Thesis: “Spaces of Disadvantage, Places of Hope: Women Empowerment, Economic Emancipation and NGOs in Bogota Slums”      
Advisor: Dr. Andrey Petrov

2013

2012 

Graham, Michael

2011 

Andrew Duggan
Current Position: International Support Manager at JAMF Software
Thesis: "Post-Graduate Settlement Patterns: Tuition Reciprocity and its Impact on Graduate Retention in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin"
Advisor: Dr. Alex Oberle

William Burkett
Current Position: Analytical Engineer, Williams Interactive, Cedar Rapids, IA
Thesis: "A Survey of LiDAR Use by Iowa Professionals"
Advisor: Dr. Ramanathan Sugumaran

Justin Thomas
Current Position:  GIS Technician, Iowa Department of Natural Resources/University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Thesis: "A Semi-Analytical Method for the Temporal Prediction of Chlorophyll in Clear Lake, Iowa Using Hyperion Imagery"
Advisor: Dr. Ramanathan Sugumaran

Tyler Johnson
Current Position: GIS Technician, Iowa Department of Natural Resources/University of Iowa; Iowa City, IA
Thesis: "A Late-Quaternary Record of Environmental Variability from Lake Sediment Cores, Wind River Range, Wyoming"
Advisor: Dr. Dennis Dahms

Munshi Khaledur Rahman
Current Position: Post Doctoral Fellow in Geography, Virginia Tech University, VA
Thesis: "Preparation and Response to the Flood of 2008 and Windstorm of 2009 in Cedar Falls, Iowa"
Advisor: Dr. Kay Weller

Ying He
Thesis: "A Geographic Analysis of Wind Turbine Placement in Iowa"
Advisor: Dr. Ramanathan Sugumaran

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Micah Destival
Graduate Project: "The Spatial Distribution of College Football Recruiting"
Advisor: Dr. Kay Weller
 

2009

Anna Pestereva
Current Position: Programmer, Aerial Services, Inc; Cedar Falls, Iowa
Thesis: "The Role of Road Network Structure in the Spatial Analysis of Crashes"
Advisor: Dr. Tim Strauss

Luhua Cai
Current Position: MS student in Economics (Iowa State); Ames, IA
Thesis: "Development of a Spatial Decision Support Tool for Watershed Critical Area Identification of Soil Loss and Best Management Practices Evaluation"
Advisor: Dr. Ramanathan Sugumaran

Jeffrey Lentz
Current Position:
Thesis: "Highway-Railroad Grade Crossing Consolidation: An Evaluation and Development of Viability Assessment Tools"
Advisor: Dr. Tim Strauss

Lucas Geadelmann
Current Position:  Transportation Analyst, Donaldson Company, Inc.
Thesis: "Risk management of commercial overland food transport and distribution"
Advisor: Dr. Tim Strauss
 

2008 

Scott Larson
Current Position: PhD student in Entomology (UW-Madison); Madison, WI
Thesis: "A field study and prediction of mosquitos in Black Hawk County, Iowa and ecological niche modeling for probably West Nile Virus mosquito vectors in Iowa using GIS"
Advisor: Dr. Ramanthan Sugumaran

Alexander "Sasha" Savalyev
Current Position: Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of Geography, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA
Thesis: "Temperature mapping of the UNI campus using high resolution thermal infrared aerial imagery"
Advisor: Dr. Ramanathan Sugumaran

Daniel Walsh
Current Position: High school teacher; Cedar Rapids, IA
Graduate Project: "Mapping Metro High School Students: Defining transportation issues and recommendations for Metro High School Students."
Advisor: Dr. Kay Weller

Ryan Takatsuka
Current Position:
Graduate Project: "College Hill: Business viability of a college business district."
Advisor: Dr. Alex Oberle
​

2006 

Matt Voss
Current Position: Remote Sensing Scientist, US Army Corps of Engineers
Thesis: "Tree Species Mapping With Hyperspectral and LiDAR"
Advisor: Dr. Ramanathan Sugumaran

Guang “Sunshine” Yang
Thesis: "Using GIS Models to Simulate Water Quality in Iowa Lakes"
Advisor: Dr. Ramanathan Sugumaran

Jeffery Rossate
Current Position: Manager, Strategy and Operations, Deloitte Consulting
Thesis: “Ethanol Facility Locations in the United States: Historical Trends and Future Directions” (Rossate’s paper won Second Place Award in the Graduate College Master’s Paper competition, $100)
Advisor: Dr. Tim Strauss

Mark Steger
Current Position: GIS Associate, City of Overland Park, Kansas
Thesis: “Spatial and Modal Characteristics of Farm to Elevator Transport: Where, How, and Why Black Hawk Farmers Transport Their Grain.”
Advisor: Dr. Tim Strauss
 

2005 

Nathan Green
Current Position: Senior Remote Sensing Specialist, National GeoSpatial Intelligence Agency, St. Louis, MO
Thesis: "Water Quality Assessment Using Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Data"
Advisor: Dr. Ramanathan Sugumaran

Brian Bakker
Thesis: "GIS-Based Site Suitability Analysis for Planning Confined Animal Feeding Operations in Iowa"
Advisor: Dr. Ramanathan Sugumaran

Greg Halverson
Thesis: “Spatial Interaction Modeling within the Pella/Knoxville, IA Laborshed”
Advisor: Dr. Thomas Fogarty

Steven Kent Oaks
Current Position: Teaching at East High School in Waterloo
Thesis: “Settlement Patterns of Bosnian Rufugees in Waterloo, Iowa”
Advisor: Dr. Kay Weller

Matthew Kajewski
Thesis: “The Automated Query and Analysis of Crash Statistics in a GIS Environment: Using MapObjects 2.2, CrimeStat 2.0, and Visual Basic 6.0”
Advisor: Dr. Tim Strauss

Brooke Kayser
Current Position: 
Thesis: “The Geographic Analysis of the All-American Girls Baseball League”  
Advisor: Dr. James F. Fryman  

Leonard Bombom
Current Position: PhD Student, Oklahoma State University
Thesis: “An Evaluation of Crash Cluster Identification Methodologies: A Case Study of Iowa”
Advisor: Dr. Tim Strauss

Alexandra Bozheva
Current Position: PhD Student, University of Western Ontario, London, ON
Thesis: “Russian Immigration to the USA, 1990-2003”
Advisor: Dr. Tim Strauss
 

Tami Huegel
Current Position: Teaching high school in Forest City, IA
Thesis: “Regional Geopolitical Conflicts Stemming from the Southeast Anatolia Project on the Euphrates River”
Advisor:  Kay Weller

James Harken
Current Position: GIS Analyst, Polk County, IA
Thesis: "Mapping Wetlands and Potential Wetland Restoration Areas Using Object-oriented Classification and a GIS"
Advisor: Dr. Ranamathan Sugumaran

Gregory A. Keller
Current Position:
Thesis: “Water Resources for the Las Vegas Area" (Research paper won First Place in the Graduate College Research paper competition)
Advisor: David May

Amber Doyle
Current Position: 
Thesis: "Reviving the CRANDIC: Is there interest in reviving passenger rail service on the CRANDIC route between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, Iowa?" (Research paper won Second Place Award in the Graduate College Master’s Paper competition, $100)
Advisor: Kay Weller

Jess Elder
Current Position: Senior Product Manager, National Geographic Society
Thesis: “Assessing the Applicability of Traditional Urban Transportation Planning Methods for the University Campus: A Case Study of the University of Northern Iowa”
Advisor: Dr. Tim Strauss

Andrey N. Petrov
Current Position: Associate Professor, University of Northern Iowa
Thesis: “Spatial Population Dynamics in the Resource-dependent Peripheral Territories of the Canadian North during the 1990s”
Advisor: Dr. Tim Strauss

James Gerjevic
Current Position: Information Technology Officer, White River Junction, VT
Thesis: "Transportation Infrastructure Extraction from Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Data"
Advisor: Dr. Ramanathan Sugumaran
​

2003

Nanmi J. Tissing
Current Position:
Thesis: “The Use of GIS and Remote Sensing to Analyze Mosquito Habitats in Black Hawk County”
Advisor: Dr. Tim Strauss

Karla L. Suckling
Current Position:
Thesis: Regional Patterns and Social Implications of Groundwater Arsenic Contamination in Bangladesh
Advisor: Dr. J. Henry Owusu

Jasper E. Dung
Current Position: Assistant Professor of Geography, Alabama State University
Thesis: "Development of An Agricultural Land Evaluation and Site Assessment (LESA) Decision Support Tool Using RS and GIS"
Advisor: Dr. Ramanathan Sugumaran
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2002 

George Kuhter
Current Position: Teaching at a Middle School in Toledo, IA
Thesis: "Factors Related to the Shifting Spatial Distribution of African Distance Runners in Olympic and World Championship Competition" 
Advisor: Dr. Kay Weller

Dale Splinter
Current Position: Associate Professor of Geography, University of Wisconsin, Whitewater
Advisor: Dr. Dennis Dahms

James Quinn
Current Position: GIS Coordinator, Buchanan County, IA
Advisor: Dr. Dave May
 

2000 

Rhonda Shaw
Current Position: Teaching in Toledo, IA
Thesis: "Tonto’s Revenge"
Advisor: Dr. Kay Weller
 

1998 

Bonnie Sines-Deceased
Current Position: 
Thesis: "A Geographical Analysis of Houses of Worship in Waterloo and Cedar Falls, Iowa 1968-1998 (Research paper won First Place in the Graduate College Research paper competition)
Advisor: Dr. James F. Fryman

Frederick Payne
Current Position:
Thesis: "Changing the Rules for Congressional Districts"
Advisor: Dr. C. Murray Austin