Hi, I’m an Assistant Professor of Geography with the Department of Geography and the Center for Global Change and Earth Observations at Michigan State University. I started Fall 2001. I consider myself a GISc and remote sensing person with interests in landscape and human ecology, landscape epidemiology, computational pattern metrics, computer simulations, and complexity theory.
I spent three years in the US Army - primarily at Ft. Campbell with the 101st Abn. My specific unit was 3/320th FABN, though technically we were 3/319th for a month or two. I enlisted as a 13C (battlefield GIS).
My Master of Science degree was from George Mason University under Dr. Barry
Haack and focused on Land use change in Tanzania. After the Army, I enrolled at George Mason
University were I received degrees in Biology and Geography and a University
Certificate in Environmental Management. After graduation, I worked for the
SPOT Image Corporation as a remote sensing scientist.
I completed
my doctoral program in the department of Geography at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill where I worked in the Landscape Characterization and
Spatial Analysis Laboratory for Dr. Steve Walsh. My research focus was and continues
to be on the dynamics of landuse and landcover change. My doctoral work focused
on LULCC in the Ecuadorian Amazon. The entirely unpretentious title of my dissertation
is: “A Complex Systems Approach to Dynamic Spatial Simulation Modeling:
LandUse and LandCover Change in the Ecuadorian Amazon.” Links and Contact Information
Professional Links
My CV
Research Overview
Field Research
Personal Pages
Contact Information
Joseph P. Messina Ph.D.
jpm@msu.edu
1405 S. Harrison Rd.
101 Manly Miles Bldg.
East Lansing MI
48823