Jim Graham, Ph.D. | Environmental Science & Management

Professor - Geospatial Science

I love maps and I am very concerned with the decisions we are making in how we interact with the earth. I have combined these interests into using spatial data and software to analyze how we are impacting the earth and to model how our decisions may influence future generations.

I teach introductory to advanced GIS classes including programming and modeling. The introductory classes focus on the ArcGIS software that is popular within the United States but I also inform students of the growing body of GIS software, including my own.

For more information, please see my web site.

Specialty Area

Research Interest Areas:

GIS
Spatial analysis
Habitat suitability modeling

Education

Spatial analysis, habitat suitability modeling

Ph.D. in Forestry (GIS), 2006, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado

Courses Taught

GSP 330: Mobile Mapping

GSP 510: Research Methods in GSP

Research

Jim researches appropriate methods for applying spatial analysis to a wide variety of natural resource management issues. He specializes in habitat suitability modeling.

Current Graduate Students

Name	Thesis
Tambo Phrakonkham	Modeling Floodplain Connectivity in The Lower Eel River (Wiya’t), Humboldt County, Northern California
Sean Fleming	Satellite-Based Phenology and Climate Anomaly Analysis in Evaluating the Response of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands Tropical Forests to the 2015-2016 Drought

Former Graduate Students

Name	Thesis	Graduation Year
Maddie McNerthney	Examining the impacts of beaver dam analogues and groundwater storage on Miners Creek, California	2023
Hannah Joss	Monitoring bull kelp (Nereocystis leutkeana) remotely at high resolutions	2023
Jordan Adair	Using UAV and traditional remote sensing data to detect vegetation vigor and monitor stream morphology in a desert riparian ecosystem	2021
Lucy Corro	A look at land cover classification methods in northern California with the use of high spatial resolution geospatial data	2021
Melissa Collin	Satellite-based phenology analysis in evaluating the response of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands' tropical forests to the 2017 hurricanes	2021
Holli Pruhsmeier	Building habitat suitability models to examine distribution shifts for the Black-headed Grosbeak, Hairy Woodpecker, and Yellow-rumped Warbler due to drought, fire, and bark beetle infestation in the Pacific Northwest	2021
Ethan Luckens	Modeling the flow of Hall Creek, Humboldt County, California using visualizing ecosystem land management assessments (VELMA) and calculating the channel forming flow using the effective discharge calculation	2019
Aaron Taveras	The performance of 2D and 3D tsunami evacuation maps : a case study for Seaside, Oregon	2018
Portia Saucedo	Multiscale habitat suitability modeling for canary rockfish (Sebastes pinniger) along the northern California coast	2017
Melissa Kimble	Mapping uncertainty for habitat Suitability models for four North American tree species	2016