GeoVISTA faculty member Alexander Klippel received two National Science Foundation awards for his work in cognitive GIScience.

The first award, titled "Contextual influences on the category construction of geographic-scale movement patterns," will investigate the way humans understand movement patterns at a geographic scale, such as in the paths of hurricanes or flooding events. Klippel will collaborate with GeoVISTA research associate Frank Hardisty and GeoVISTA alumnus Chris Weaver of Oklahoma State University.

The second award, titled "Spatial awareness through sapient interfaces," is a collaborative effort between Klippel and Luke Zhang, an assistant professor in the College of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State. The project addresses the question of how navigation devices can be improved to create spatial awareness.

For more information, contact Alex Klippel at klippel@psu.edu

Visit http://www.geog.psu.edu/news/2009_1008klippelawards.html to learn more.