1979  Ph.D. Geography, University of Kansas

1976  M.A.  Geography, University of Kansas

1974  B.A.  Geography, Ohio University

Fall 2007 – present: Affiliate Professor of Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State University

Fall 2007: Visiting Professor, Department of Computer Science, Stanford University

Fall 1998 to present: Director, GeoVISTA Center , Department of Geography, Penn State University

Fall 1992 to present: Professor of Geography, Penn State University

1985-1992: Associate Professor of Geography and Director, Deasy GeoGraphics Laboratory, Penn State University

1983-85: Assistant Professor of Geography, University of Colorado-Boulder

1980-83: Director of the Department of Geography Spatial Analysis Laboratory, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

1979-83: Assistant Professor of Geography and Director of the Department of Geography Cartography Laboratory, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

1974-78: Teaching Assistant (Meteorology), University of Kansas

Keuffel & Esser Company Fellowship in Surveying and Cartography, 1978. 

Dissertation Fellowship - University of Kansas, 1978-1979.

American Congress on Surveying and Mapping - Andrew McNally Award for Research in Cartography, 1983.  For the article Map Complexity:  Comparison and Measurement, The American Cartographer, 9, 1, 1982, pp. 31-46.

American Congress on Surveying and Mapping - Andrew McNally Award for Research in Cartography, 1988.  For the article Sampling and isometric mapping of continuous geographic surfaces (with John V. Davidson)  The American Cartographer, 14(4):299-320 (1987).

First Place Award in the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, Visualization of Data Quality Challenge for project/paper entitled Visualizing the health of Chesapeake Bay : An uncertain endeavor. (with Howard, D., von Wyss, M., Askov, D. and Taormino, T.), GIS/LIS '93 Proceedings, Minneapolis , MN , 1993, (449-458).

Wilson Research Award, College of Earth and Mineral Science, Penn State University , 1998.

E. Willard and Ruby S. Miller Professor of Geography, College of Earth and Mineral Science, Penn State University.2004-2007

Award of Distinction – Exceptional Scholarly Contributions to the Practice of Cartography, Canadian Cartographic Association, 2004.

Honorary Fellow, International Cartographic Association, 2005 (6th Fellow from U.S. since 1974).

Certificate of Teaching Excellence - VPI&SU, 1979-1980.

Distinguished Teaching Achievement Award - National Council for Geographic Education, 1982.

Elected Fellow, American Congress on Surveying and Mapping,

1998-2000 Faculty Fellow, Center for Academic Computing, Penn State University

2004-2007 E. Willard and Ruby S. Miller Professor of Geography, College of Earth and Mineral Science, Penn State University.

Exceptional Scholarly Contributions to the Practice of Cartography, Canadian Cartographic Association, 2004.

Core Research Project Grant for Statistical Map Accuracy - VPI&SU, 1980, 1981, 1982.

Faculty Research Fund Grant for Locational and Attribute Components of Regional Images, Penn State , 1985.

Research Initiation Grant from the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences for Geographic Knowledge Acquisition and Spatial Problem Solving: Conceptualization of Regions and the Role of Maps, Penn State , 1986.

Faculty Research Fund Grant for Strategies for Presenting Map Information with Computers:  The Influence of Orientation Bias in Cognitive Maps, Penn State , 1987.

Faculty Research Fund Grant for The Influence of Map Orientation on Spatial Knowledge Acquisition from Maps, Penn State , 1988.

National Science Foundation Grant for: Application of Environmental Learning Theories to Spatial Knowledge Acquisition from Maps, April 1, 1988-September 30, 1989.

Developing Symbolization and Design Principles for Environmental Maps, U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Information and Resource Management (administered through Vigyan Corp., May, 1991)

National Science Foundation Grant for: Travel of U.S. delegates to the 15th International Cartographic Conference, Bournemouth , England , March, 1991 - November, 1992.

National Science Foundation Grant for: Travel of U.S. delegates to the 16th International Cartographic Conference, Cologne , Germany , March, 1993 - May, 1994.

The Design of Color Maps for the NCHS Mortality Atlas, (with Cynthia Brewer) Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control, National Center for Health Statistics, 9/7/94 - 6/1/95 .

VisEarth, one of 11 senior researchers (others are: Paula Levin, Jerry Bolgano, Karen Flammer, Richard Carlson, Mark Detweiller, Roger Downs, Cynthia Brewer, David DiBiase, Ron Blom, Bob Crippen) on a grant with the following PIs: Daniel Barstow, Eric Frost, Lynn Liben, Sally Ride, Randall Souviney), National Science Foundation, 1996-1999.

Population Research Center Core Grant (co-Director of the Geographic Information Analysis Core, one of 5 cores within the Institute), National Institutes of Health, 8/01/91 - 6/31/01

Design and evaluation of a computerized dynamic mapping system interface, PI, Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control, National Center for Health Statistics. 9/1/96 - 1/30/98 .

An integrated approach for effective representation and analysis of space-time environmental data, co-PI, Environmental Protection Agency, 10/96-12/99.

HealthVis - Exploratory tools for spatiotemporal analysis of health data, PI, Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control, National Center for Health Statistics. 8/17/98 - 12/31/99 .

Quality Graphics for Federal Statistical Summaries, co-PI (Daniel Carr, PI), Planning Grant, National Science Foundation, Digital Government Program.

Enabling collaboration and improving understanding: The Management of Semantics for Geospatial Information, NIMA, NURI Program, Mark Gahegan (PI), Alan M. MacEachren (Co-PI), Masahiro Takatsuka (Co-PI), March, 2000-April, 2003

Multivariate Representation Methods for Geo-referenced Health Statistics Data, National Cancer Institute, Research Contract, Alan M. MacEachren (PI), Feb 15, 2000-Feb. 15, 2001.

Quality Graphics for Federal Statistical Summaries, National Science Foundation, Digital Government Program, Collaborative Research. Daniel Carr (PI-George Mason), Alan M. MacEachren (PI-PSU), David Scott (PI-Rice), Aug, 2000-Aug, 2003.

Human Environment Regional Observatories, National Science Foundation. Brent Yarnal (PI), Mark Gahegan, Alan M. MacEachren, C. Gregory Knight, William Easterling (Co-PIs), Aug, 2000-Aug, 2005.

Visualization to support coordinated geospatial decision-making: Interpretation, representation of quality, data fusion, and collaboration, NIMA, NURI Program, Alan M. MacEachren (PI), Mark Gahegan (Co-PI), Sept., 2001-Aug, 2002.

Dialogue-assisted visual environment for geoinformation: Enabling collaborative information access and decision-making through a natural, multimodal interface, National Science Foundation – ITR, Alan M. MacEachren (PI), Rajeev Sharma (Co-PI), Guoray Cai (Co-PI), Aug. 1, 2001- July 31, 2004.

Geographic-Based Research in Cancer Control and Epidemiology, National Institutes of Health / National Cancer Institute, PI: Alan M. MacEachren, Co-Investigators: Mark Gahegan, Luc Anselin ( Illinois ), Gene Lengerich (PSU-Hershey), April. 1, 2002- March 31, 2007.

Development of an exploratory spatial data analysis tool for cancer surveillance, National Institutes of Health / National Cancer Institute, Alan M. MacEachren (PI), Mark Gahegan (Co-PI), Sept. 1, 2002- Aug. 31, 2003 .

Fundamental Approaches to Task-Oriented Visualization of Uncertainty, ARDA, Mark Gahegan (Co-PI), Alan M. MacEachren (Co-PI), Subcontract from PNNL (David McGee (PI), Oct., 2002-Sept, 2004.

GeoCollaborative Crisis Management (GCCM): Building better systems through advanced technology and deep understanding of technology-enabled group work, National Science Foundation – Digital Government, Alan M. MacEachren (PI), Rajeev Sharma (Co-PI), Guoray Cai (Co-PI), Michael McNeese (Co-PI), Sven Fuhrmann (Co-PI). July. 1, 2003- June 30, 2006 .

Model GIS/Atlas for State Comprehensive Cancer Control (PEP 2003-009), Centers for Disease Control, Gene Lengerich (PI), Alan M. MacEachren (CoPI), David O’Sullivan (Co-PI), Gary Chase (Co-PI), Roxanne Parrott (Co-PI). July. 1, 2003- June 30, 2006 .

Geovisualization and Spatial Analysis of Cancer Data, National Institutes of Health / National Cancer Institute, Alan M. MacEachren (PI), Co-Investigators: Mark Gahegan, Luc Anselin (Illinois), Gene Lengerich (PSU-Hershey), April. 1, 2002- March 31, 2009.

GeoCollaborative Crisis Management (GCCM): Building better systems through advanced technology and deep understanding of technology-enabled group work, National Science Foundation – Digital Government, Alan M. MacEachren (PI), Rajeev Sharma (Co-PI), Guoray Cai (Co-PI), Michael McNeese (Co-PI), Sven Fuhrmann (Co-PI). July. 1, 2003- June 30, 2006; supplement April 2005-June 2009.

Regional Visualization and Analytics Center, NVAC - Pacific Northwest National Laboratory/Department of Homeland Security, Alan M. MacEachren (PI), Initial contract January, 2006- June, 2008.

Geovisual EXplication Portal – Supplement to Geovisualization and Spatial Analysis of Cancer Data, National Institutes of Health / National Cancer Institute, Alan M. MacEachren (PI), Sept., 2006 – March, 2009.

GeoDiscoverer A search engine to integrate social networks with geospatial information Lee Giles & Alan M. MacEachren (PIs) – Industry sponsor, July, 2006-June, 2007; extended July, 2007-May 2008.

Geographic Contextualization for Accounts of Movement (GeoCAM): Representing, extracting, mapping, and interpreting movement references in text. Alan M. NacEachren (PI), Alexander Klippel (CoPI), Presenjit Mitra (CoPI) – National Geospatial Intelligence Agency; Sept. 2007 – Aug. 2009 (with 3 optional years).

Teaching Learning Grant - VPI&SU, 1981.

Supplemental Grant from the VPI&SU Education Foundation, 1982.

Computer Applications Course Development Grant for Computer-Assisted Cartography and Geographic Information Systems - College of Arts and Sciences, University of Colorado-Boulder, 1983-1986.  

Journal articles, proceedings papers, and book chapters

Alan M. MacEachren some Truth with Maps: A Primer on Design & Symbolization , Washington D. C.: Association of American Geographers, 1994.

Alan M. MacEachren and D. R. F. Taylor (co-editors) Visualization in Modern Cartography, Oxford : Pergamon Press, 1994.

Alan M. MacEachren How Maps Work: Representation, Visualization and Design, New York : Guilford Press, 1995.

Wilbanks, T., R. Adams, M. Church, W. Clark, A. deSouza, P. Gilmartin, W. Graf, J. Harrington, S. Horn, R. Kates, A. MacEachren, A. Murphey, G. Rushton, E. Sheppard, B. Turner and C. Willmott Rediscovering Geography: New Relevance for the New Century (one of 14 authors), Washington, D. C.: National Academy of Science Press, 1997.

Richard R. Muntz, Tom Barclay, Jeff Dozier, Christos Faloutsos, Alan M. Maceachren, Joanne L. Martin, Cherri M. Pancake, Mahadev Satyanarayanan IT Roadmap to a Geospatial Future, Washington, D. C.: National Academy of Science Press, 2003.

Jason Dykes, Alan M. MacEachren, Menno-Jan Kraak, editors. Exploring Geovisualization, London , Elsevier Science, 2005.

Thomas, James J and Cook, Kristin A., eds. Illuminating the Path: The Research and Development Agenda for Visual Analytics (one of 26 authors), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Department of Homeland Security, 2005.

Cartography and Geographic information Systems, Special Content Issue: Geographic Visualization (co-editor with Mark Monmonier), Vol. 19, No. 4, 1992

Computers & Geoscience, Print and electronic special Issue: Exploratory Cartographic Visualization, (co-editor with Menno-Jan Kraak) 23(4) May, 1997 print, CD-ROM, and WWW: [www.elsevier.nl/locate/cgvis].

International Journal of Geographic Information Science, special issue on Geographic Visualization for Space-Time Analysis, (co-editor with Menno-Jan Kraak), 13 and web supplement: www.geovista.psu.edu/ica/ijgis.thml

Cartography and Geographic information Systems, Special Content Issue: Research Challenges in Geovisualization, Alan M. MacEachren and Menno-Jan Kraak, Vol. 28, No. 1, 2001

Cartography and Geographic information Systems, Special Content Issue: Geovisualization, Menno-Jan Kraak and Alan M. MacEachren, Vol. 32, No. 2, 2005

Computer Graphics & Applications, Special Content Issue: Geovisualization, Theresa-Marie Rhyne, Alan M. MacEachren, and Jason Dykes, Vol. 26, No. 4, 2006

International Journal of Geographic Information Science, special issue on Visualization, Analytics, and Spatial Decision Support, Gennady Andrienko, Natlaia Andrienko, Piotr Jankowski, and Alan M. MacEachren, Vol. 21, No. 8, 2007.

Editor of CGS Newsletter (newsletter of the Cartography Specialty Group, Association of American Geographers), 4(2), 1984, 9 p.; 4(3), 1984, 7 p.;  5(1), 1985, 11

Communication Effectiveness of Choropleth and Isopleth Maps:  The Influence of Visual Complexity.

Cognitive Distance in the Urban Environment.