Jane M. Read

• 2025 Spring
  • ESP/GEO 470 Experience Credit
  • GEO 108 Mapping Today: Technology and Spatial Thinking
• 2024 Fall
  • ESP 470 Experience Credit
  • GEO 383/683 Geographic Information Systems
  • GEO 215 Global Environmental Change
• 2024 Summer
  • ESP 470 Experience Credit
• 2024 Spring
  • GEO 482/682 Environmental Remote Sensing
  • IRP 499 Honors Capstone Project
• 2023 Fall
  • ESP 470 Experience Credit
  • GEO 383/683 Geographic Information Systems
  • GEO 215 Global Environmental Change
• 2023 Summer
  • ESP 470 Experience Credit
• 2023 Spring
  • ESP 470 Experience Credit
  • GEO 108 Mapping Today: Technology and Spatial Thinking

I am an associate professor and director of undergraduate studies in the Department of Geography and the Environment at Syracuse University. I hold degrees from the University of London (B.S. environmental science 1987; M.S. surveying 1990) and a Ph.D. in geography (1999) from Louisiana State University. I have served on the faculty at Syracuse University since 1999.

I specialize in geographic information systems, remote sensing, land use and land cover, and human-environment interactions. Much of my research has focused in the neotropics, including Costa Rica, Brazil and Guyana, although I have also studied historical land changes in the Adirondacks of New York state.

I have published on applications of GIS and remote sensing to land-use and land-cover changes, selective logging operations, indigenous hunting patterns and uses of traditional knowledge in vegetation mapping using remote sensing imagery and identification of multiple-use tree species in Guyana. I am currently examining the spatial history of land use around Onondaga Lake, New York, through multiple perspectives, and attempting to find new ways to map and visualize those changes.

I teach courses in introductory and advanced GIS/GIScience, remote sensing, global environmental change, tropical environments and spatial storytelling, and advise graduate students within my realm of expertise. I am interested in strategies to improve curriculum and student engagement.

Geographic information systems and remote sensing, human-environment interactions, geohumanities, indigenous livelihoods, Latin America

Applications of remote sensing and GIS to environmental and biogeographical questions; tropical environments, tropical forest ecology and human-environment interactions (land-use and land-cover changes); geographic information science and technologies (geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing, global positioning systems, UAS); geohumanities and spatial storytelling; teaching methods in geographic information systems and technology; promoting women and girls in geospatial sciences.

"Onondaga Lake: Finding a restorative center in digital space", Sponsored by National Endowment for the Humanities/Natl. Fndn. on the Arts & Humanities.

"Biodiversity Dynamics and Land-Use Changes in the Amazon: Multi-Scale Interactions between Ecological Systems and Resource-use Decisions by Indigenous Peoples", Sponsored by National Science Foundation.

"MRI: Acquisition of Networked Computers for the Integrated Spatial Dynamics Laboratory", Sponsored by National Science Foundation.

"Biodiversity Dynamics and Land-use Changes in the Amazon: Multi-scale Interactions between Ecological Systems and Resource-Use Practices by Indigenous Peoples", Sponsored by National Science Foundation.

"Geographic Information Services", Sponsored by Federal Emergency Management Agency.

• Journal Articles
  • Cummings, A. R., Read, J. M. and Fragoso, J. M., "Implications of forest type and land tenure diversity for the sustainability of ecosystem services provided by northern Amazonia’s multiple-use tree species." Landscape Ecology, 2018.
  • Cummings, A. R., Read, J. M., "Drawing on Traditional Knowledge to Identify and Describe Ecosystem Services Associated with Northern Amazon’s Multiple-Use Plants." International Journal of Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services & Management, 2016.
  • Fragoso, J. M., Levi, T., Oliveira, L. F., Luzar, J. B., Overman, H., Read, J. M. and Silvius, K. M., "Line Transect Surveys Underdetect Terrestrial Mammals: Implications for the Sustainability of Subsistence Hunting.." PLoS ONE, 2016.
  • Cummings, A. R., Read, J. M. and Fragoso, J. M., "Utilizing Amerindian Hunters' Description of Vegetation to Guide the Production of a vegetation Cover Map." International Journal of Applied Geospatial Research, 2015.
  • McNeil, B. E., Read, J. M. and Driscoll, C. T., "Foliar Nitrogen Responses to the Environmental Gradient Matrix of the Adirondack Park, New York.." Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 2011.
  • Luzar, J., Silvius, K. M., Overman, J. P., Giery, S. T., Read, J. M. and Fragoso, J. M., "Large-scale environmental monitoring by indigenous peoples." Bioscience, 2011.
  • Read, J. M., Fragoso, J. M., Silvius, K. M., Luzar, J., Overman, H., Giery, S. T. and de Oliveira, L. F., "Space, Place, and Hunting among Amerindians of the Guyanese Rupununi." Journal of Latin American Geography, 2010.
• Book Chapters
  • Read, J. M., "Satellite Remote Sensing for Management and Monitoring of Certified Forestry: An Example from the Brazilian Amazon.." In Globalization and New Geographies of Conservation. University of Chicago Press, 2006.
  • Read, J. M., Denslow, J. S. and Guzman, S. M., "Documenting Land-cover History of a Humid Tropical Environment in Northeastern Costa Rica Using Time-Series Remote Sensing Data.." In GIS and Remote Sensing Applications in Biogeography and Ecology. Kluwer, 2001.
  • Cox, G., Read, J. M., "Cracidae Country Report for Bolivia." In The Cracidae: Their Biology and Conservation. Strahl, S. D., Beaugon, S., Brooks, D. M., Begazo, A. J., Sedaghatksh, G. and Olmos, F. (eds.) Hancock House Publishers, 1997.
• Abstract
  • Read, J. M., Lam, N. N., Land cover from Landsat-TM Data Using Selected Spatial Statistics. Caschetta, A. R. (ed.) , 2000.
• Editorials
  • Mennis, J., Kemp, K., Sinton, D., Read, J. M. and Shaw, S. L., "UCGIS at 25." Transactions in GIS, 2021.
  • Read, J. M., "GIS studies on Latin America." Journal of Latin American Geography, 2010.
• Encyclopedia Entries
  • Read, J. M., Chambers, C. and Torrado, M. J., "Remote Sensing." International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, 2019.
  • Read, J. M., Torrado, M. J., "Methods: Remote Sensing." In International Encyclopedia of Human Geography. Kitchin, R., Thrift, N. (eds.) Elsevier, 2009.
• Technical Report
  • Cox, G., Read, J. M., "Las Aves y los mamiferos de Perseverancia." Ecología en Bolivia: Documentos, Serie Zoología, 1992.

Coffel, E. D., Read, J. M., Lott, G., Wilson, R. M., Department of Geography and the Environment, Syracuse University, "Geography & Articifical Intelligence" (January 31, 2025)

American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting, "UAS in Higher Education – Challenges and Prospects in Instruction" (April, 2019)

Blanford, Read, J. M., Pennsylvania State University, "Geospatial Sciences: Where are the women leaders of tomorrow?" (November, 2018)

Spatial Humanities conference, "Geospatial technologies for spatial storytelling: experiences from research and teaching" (September, 2018)

NYS GIS Association, "Integrating geospatial technologies into higher education" (September, 2018)