Michael N. DeMers is a

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

and

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

New Mexico State University New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public, land-grant, research university in Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1888, it is the state's oldest public institution of higher education, and was the original land-g ...

Education and field

DeMers obtained a B.S.Ed. in

Earth science Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four spheres ...

in 1974 and an

M.S. A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medicine ...

in geography in 1980, both from the

University of North Dakota The University of North Dakota (UND) is a Public university, public research university in Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States. It was established by the Dakota Territory, Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishm ...

. He earned an M.Phil. in geography in 1983, and a Ph.D. in geography in 1985, both from the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

. He has taught geography and courses related to

geographic information systems A geographic information system (GIS) consists of integrated computer hardware and software that store, manage, analyze, edit, output, and visualize geographic data. Much of this often happens within a spatial database; however, this is not ...

(GIS) since 1983, and obtained a GCERT in Online Teaching and Learning from New Mexico State University in 2007. DeMers specializes in

geographic information science Geographic information science (GIScience, GISc) or geoinformation science is a scientific discipline at the crossroads of computational science, social science, and natural science that studies geographic information, including how it represe ...

(GIScience), including applying it to research in real-world problems in fields such as

landscape ecology Landscape ecology is the science of studying and improving relationships between ecological processes in the environment and particular ecosystems. This is done within a variety of landscape scales, development spatial patterns, and organizatio ...

, researching its theoretical implications, and teaching it to students. He advocates for geographic education in public schools and has researched employing novel technologies.

Career

DeMers became a faculty member in the geography department at New Mexico State University in 1992, and served as department head between 2000 and 2004. He served as president of the

National Council for Geographic Education The National Council for Geographic Education (NCGE), chartered in 1915, is a non-profit scientific and educational society in the United States that supports geography education. History George J. Miller, a professor at the Mankato Normal Sc ...

in 2014. DeMers' research focuses on applying GIS to problems including water resources,

big data Big data primarily refers to data sets that are too large or complex to be dealt with by traditional data processing, data-processing application software, software. Data with many entries (rows) offer greater statistical power, while data with ...

, and species range expansion. He has contributed significantly to literature involving geographic information science and teaching geospatial concepts with novel technologies. He advocates teaching geography in public schools using geographic information systems and has worked to increase public awareness of GIScience.

Publications

DeMers has published over seventy-five research articles on geographic topics, authored the

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

entry on GIS, and served as an editor, and contributed to, the ''

Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge __NOTOC__ The Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge (GISTBoK) is a reference document produced by the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS) as the first product of its Model Curricula project, s ...

''. His works have been cited over 3600 times, giving him an

h-index The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with success indicators such as winning t ...

of 21. In addition, he has authored or edited the following books: * * * * (Translated into Arabic) * (translated into Russian and Chinese)

Awards

Over the course of his career, DeMers has received the following awards: * The University Consortium for Geographic Information Science Lifetime Achievement in GIScience Education Award, 2023 * New Mexico Geographic Information Council Wheeler Peak Lifetime Achievement Award, 2018 * Distinguished Alumni Award, University of North Dakota, 2013 * Anderson Medal of Honor in Applied Geography "for exceptional accomplishments in applied geography education, research, and service to the profession and the wider public, 2010." * Highest Award for Achievement, Dale Carnegie Training, Fall, 2003.

Philanthropy

Demers established the "Duane Marble Award for GIS Design and Education Research" at NMSU in 2010 to recognize the work and contributions of his friend and fellow GIScientist Duane Marble. It was awarded to NMSU graduate students whose thesis focused on novel applications to GIS, or to GIS education.

Personal life

DeMers grew up in East Grand Forks, Minnesota. After retiring, he began writing fantasy novels. The first of these to be published is the book ''Young Vandar''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:DeMers, Michael 1951 births Living people American geographers New Mexico State University faculty Geographic information scientists American fantasy writers University of Kansas alumni