Frank Witmer

frank witmer
Associate Professor
Computer Science & Engineering
ECB 308B
907-786-1637
fwitmer@alaska.edu

Education

2007 Ph.D., University of Colorado, Boulder, Geography. Dissertation: "The Effects of War on Land-Use/Land-Cover Change: An Analysis of Landsat Imagery for Northeast Bosnia"
2003 M.A. University of Colorado, Boulder, Geography
1997 B.S., summa cum laude, Tufts University, Mathematics & Computer Science

Biography

Frank Witmer is a computational geographer who conducts research in violent conflict and human-environment interactions using spatial statistical methods, remote sensing data, and simulation. He also uses immersive visualization technology in the Planetarium and Visualization Theater (PVT) to study the effects of environmental changes on salmon and Alaska fisheries. He currently teaches classes in both the Computer Science and Geomatics departments at 老澳门六合彩开奖记录.

Research Interests

  1. Human-environment geography, with an emphasis on quantifying how human activity (e.g. war, population growth, urbanization) affects environmental conditions (e.g. land use, deforestation, climate) at local and regional scales.
  2. Immersive visualization of environmental changes at multiple scales
  3. Remote sensing, especially as applied to war and land-use/land-cover change detection
  4. Development of methods from spatial statistics, GIScience, and remote sensing for analyzing sociodemographic and environmental change data, including the location and diffusion of point events (e.g. violence, crime)

Publications

  1. Witmer, F., A. Linke, J. O鈥橪oughlin, A. Gettelman and A. Laing. 鈥淪ub-national violent conflict forecasts for sub-Saharan Africa, 2015-2065, using climate-sensitive models鈥� In review for Journal of Peace Research.
  2. Linke, A., T. McCabe, J. O'Loughlin, J. Tir, F. Witmer (2015). 鈥淩ainfall variability and violence in rural Kenya: Investigating the effects of drought and the role of local institutions with survey data.鈥� Global Environmental Change34:35-47.
  3. Witmer, F. (2015). 鈥淩emote sensing of violent conflict: Eyes from above.鈥�  International Journal of Remote Sensing 36(9):2326-2352.
  4. O鈥橪oughlin, J., A. Linke, and F. Witmer (2014). 鈥淭he effects of temperature and precipitation variability on the risk of violence in sub-Saharan Africa, 1980-2012.鈥� Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences111(47):16712鈥�16717.
  5. O鈥橪oughlin, J., A. Linke, and F. Witmer (2014). 鈥淢odeling and data choices sway conclusions about climate-conflict links.鈥� Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(6):2054鈥�2055.
  6. O鈥橪oughlin, J., F. Witmer, A. Linke, A. Laing, A Gettelman, and J. Dudhia (2012). 鈥淐limate variability and conflict risk in East Africa, 1990-2009.鈥� Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences109(45): 18344鈥�18349.
  7. O鈥橪oughlin, J. and F. Witmer (2012). 鈥淭he diffusion of violence in the North Caucasus of Russia, 1999鈥�2010.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;Environment and Planning A 44: 2379鈥�2396.
  8. Linke, A., F. Witmer and J. O鈥橪oughlin (2012). 鈥淪pace-time Granger analysis of the war in Iraq: A study of coalition and insurgent action-reaction.鈥� International Interactions38(4): 402鈥�425.
  9. Witmer, F. and J. O鈥橪oughlin (2011). 鈥淒etecting the effects of wars in the Caucasus regions of Russia and Georgia using radiometrically normalized DMSP-OLS nighttime lights imagery.鈥�GIScience and Remote Sensing48(4):478鈥�500.
  10. O鈥橪oughlin, J. and F. Witmer (2011). 鈥淭he localized geographies of violence in the North Caucasus of Russia, 1999鈥�2007.鈥� Annals of the Association of American Geographers101(1): 178鈥�201.
  11. O'Loughlin, J., F. Witmer, A. Linke and N. Thorwardson (2010). 鈥淧eering into the fog of war: The geography of the WikiLeaks Afghanistan war logs 2004鈥�2009.鈥� Eurasian Geography and Economics51(4): 472鈥�95.
  12. O'Loughlin, J., F. Witmer and A. Linke (2010). 鈥淭he Afghanistan-Pakistan wars 2008鈥�2009: Micro-geographies, conflict diffusion, and clusters of violence.鈥� Eurasian Geography and Economics51(4): 437鈥�71.
  13. Witmer, F., J. O鈥橪oughlin (2009). 鈥淪atellite data methods and application in the evaluation of war outcomes: Abandoned agricultural land in Bosnia-Herzegovina after the 1992鈥�1995 conflict.鈥� Annals of the Association of American Geographers99 (5) Special Fifth Issue on Peace and Conflict: 1033鈥�44.
  14. Witmer, F. (2008). 鈥淒etecting war-induced abandoned agricultural land in northeast Bosnia using multispectral, multitemporal Landsat TM imagery.鈥� International Journal of Remote Sensing29(13): 3805鈥�31.

 

Career History/Work Experience

  • 老澳门六合彩开奖记录, Anchorage, AK - Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, 2020-present
  • 老澳门六合彩开奖记录, Anchorage, AK - Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, 2014-2020
  • University of Colorado, Boulder, CO - Research Associate, 2008-2014; Research Assistant, 2005-2008, Institute of Behavioral Science
  • International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria, 2004
  • Science Applications International Corporation, Burlington, MA, 1997-2001
CS&E Faculty