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Home » Humanities/Social Sciences » MS-GIS

Student Research

Thesis in Progress

• Richard Rahe.  A Geographic Database for the Monitoring and Review of Prehistoric Mounds in Boone, Callaway, and Cole Counties of Missouri.  Advisor: Dr. Yanfen Le.
• Carmella Burdi.  The Creation of a Flexible Prescriptive Analytical Model to Determine the Best Location of a Luxury Small Business.  Advisor: Dr. Patricia Drews.
• Anne Wooden.  Developing a Tornado Likelihood Model for Michigan through Spatial Analysis.  Advisor: Dr. Yi-Hwa Wu.
• Charles Shoemaker.  Habitat Suitability Model for Pacific Fisher in a Portion of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, California.  Advisor: Dr. Yanfen Le.
• Arturo Botello.  Predicting the Region's Growth with a Simple Land Use Model:  Forecasting Future Land Uses Based on Existing Trends in the Laredo, Texas Metropolitan Area.  Advisor: Dr. Yanfen Le.
• David Jaquet. GIS Multicriteria Analysis for Siting a Sun/Wind Powered Plastic Processing Facility in the Contra Costa County, CA, Recycling Market Development Zone.  Advisor: Dr. Patricia Drews.
• Timothy Kahmann. Using GIS to Determine Airport Site Selection and Optimal Runway Orientation.   Advisor: Dr. Patricia Drews.
• Michael Rhoads. Using Landsat Imagery and a Supervised Classification Methodology for Monitoring Land Cover Change in Berks County, Pennsylvania.  Advisor: Dr. Ming-Chih Hung.
• Steven Stout. A GIS Approach to Automated Redistricting of LDS Church Ward Boundaries. Advisor: Dr. Patricia Drews.
• Richard Carlson. Efficacy of Using Normalized Intensity Values of Panchromatic Imagery for Change Detection Analysis. Advisor: Dr. Ming-Chih Hung.
• Karyl Fuller. Is Vermont an Endangered Place? Looking at Efficacy of Vermont's Land Use Regulations, Act 250 and Act 200, on High-Growth Towns, 1970-2005. Advisor: Dr. Gregory Haddock.
• Aaron Lorenzen. Changes in Medium-sized Cities: Demographics and Spatial Distribution, 1970-2000. Advisor: Dr. Gregory Haddock.

Thesis Completed

Full-text on-line theses are available from Northwest's Library web pages

• Chad Benham.  August 2012.  A GIS Based Decision and Suitability Model:  Solving the "Tower Location Problem" in Support of Electric Power Smart Grid Initiatives .  Masters thesis, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO.  Advisor: Dr. Yi-Hwa Wu.
• Erika Bocian.  August 2012.  Using GIS for Safe Bicycle Routing in Morris County, New Jersey .  Masters thesis, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO.  Advisor: Dr. Yi-Hwa Wu.
• Adam Dixon.  August 2012.  Modeling Ecological Connectivity in a Protected Area Network in Southeast Tanzania .  Masters thesis, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO.  Advisor: Dr. Ming-Chih Hung.
• Julie Muzzarelli.  August 2012.  Geospatial Visualization Applications for Critical Infrastructure Analysis .  Masters thesis, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO.  Advisor: Dr. Patricia Drews.
• Charles Nichols.  August 2012.  Land Use / Land Cover Classification:  Methods to Overcome Pixel Confusion and the Effects of Tree Shadows in Very High Resolution Multispectral Imagery .  Masters thesis, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO.  Advisor: Dr. Ming-Chih Hung.
• Nathan Tenholder.  August 2012.  Effect of Metrolink Light Rail Stations on Residential Property Values in St. Louis County, Missouri .  Masters thesis, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO.  Advisor: Dr. Ming-Chih Hung.
• Joan Biediger.  April 2012.  The Use of Digital Image Processing to Facilitate Digitizing Land Cover Zones from Gray Level Aerial Photos .  Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO.  Advisor: Dr. Ming-Chih Hung.
• Davie Crawford.  April 2012.  Implementing a Utility Geographic Information System for Water, Sewer, and Electric .  Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO.  Advisor: Dr. Ming-Chih Hung.
• Gregory Simpson.  April 2012.  Sedimentation in Small Black Hills Ponds:  Determining Volume and Accuracy of Measurements with GIS .  Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO.  Advisor: Dr. Yi-Hwa Wu.
• Daniel Cobb.  December 2011.  Social Vulnerabilities to Storm Surge Flooding: A Case Study of Lee County, Florida . Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO.  Advisor: Dr. Ming-Chih Hung.
• Jeff Eisman.  December 2011.  Using Mobile GIS for Monitoring and Evaluating International Relief and Development Projects in East Africa .  Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO.  Advisor: Dr. Patricia Drews.
• Christopher Park.  December 2011.  Cellular Automata and Urban Growth: A Case Study in the Western Shore Region of the Chesapeake Bay .  Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO.  Advisor: Dr. Gregory Haddock.
• Stephen Sanford.  December 2011.  A Technique for Mapping Urban Areas and Change Using Integrated Remote Sensing and Dasymetric Population Mapping Methods .  Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO.  Advisor: Dr. Yi-Hwa Wu.
• Chau Nguyen.  August 2011.  Mergeos:  A Pilot Study for Collaborative Mapping and Dynamic GIS Web Application .  Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO.  Advisor: Dr. Ming-Chih Hung.
• Sherry Massey.  August 2011.  Fire Station Site Selection in Rural Areas:  A Case Study of Dickinson County, Kansas .  Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO.  Advisor: Dr. Yanfen Le.
• Cinthia Eichhorn.  April 2011.  A Comparison of Federal Geospatial Taxonomic Standards among Selected U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Department of Interior Agencies .  Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO.  Advisor: Dr. Patricia Drews.
• Max Masters.  April 2011.  GIS Analysis of the Effect of Lahars from Mount Rainier, Washington, on Area Water Sources in King and Pierce Counties .  Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO.  Advisor: Dr. Yi-Hwa Wu.
• Michael Berzinis II.  April 2011.  Modeling Using Network Analysis to Examine Travel Distance Minimization in Forestry Field Sampling .  Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO.  Advisor: Dr. Patricia Drews.
• William Bird.  May 2010.  Use of GIS Technology in Improving Medical Service Delivery by Volunteer Drivers to VA Medical Facilities .  Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO.  Advisor: Dr. Yi-Hwa Wu.
• Ramiro Vega. December 2009. Managing Water Utilities with Geographic Information Systems: The Case of the City of Tampa, Florida . Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO. Advisor: Dr. Gregory Haddock.
• Nathan Paul. December 2009. Creating a User-friendly Multiple Natural Disaster Database with a Functioning Display Using Google Mapping Systems . Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO. Advisor: Dr. Ming-Chih Hung.
• Danielle Cervantes. July 2009. Using GIS to Create an Interactive GeoPDF Mapbook for the Big Island of Hawaii . Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO. Advisor: Dr. Yi-Hwa Wu.
• Deborah Peterson. July 2009. An Interactive GIS Map of Autism Resources in Missouri . Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO. Advisor: Dr. Yi-Hwa Wu.
• Melanie Riley. July 2009. Automated Detection of Prehistoric Conical Burial Mounds from LIDAR Bare-Earth Digital Elevation Models . Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO. Advisor: Dr. Ming-Chih Hung.
• Bradley Fisher. May 2009. Spatio-Temporal GIS Modeling of the Relationship between Precipitation and Streamflow . Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO. Advisor: Dr. Yi-Hwa Wu.
• Kevin Royal. May 2009. Evaluating and Comparing Digital Geospatial Publishing Tools . Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO. Advisor: Dr. Ming-Chih Hung.
• Dirk Peterson. December 2008. Using Large Scale Aerial Images for 3D Visualizations of Marion Sampson Park Mountain Bike Trails . Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO. Advisor: Dr. Yi-Hwa Wu.
• Nathan Wood. December 2008. Woody Corridor Levee Protection along the Missouri River: Mapping Areas That Can Benefit . Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO. Advisor: Dr. Yi-Hwa Wu.
• Samantha Banker. July 2008. Utilizing Geographic Information Systems to Identify Potential Lahar Pathways in Proximity to Cascade Stratovolcanoes: Mount Saint Helens, Cowlitz & Skamania Counties, Washington as Case Study . Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO. Advisor: Dr. Yi-Hwa Wu.
• Andrew Chapkowski. July 2008. Geographical Distribution of Pediobius Foveolatus in New Jersey Soybean Fields to Control the Mexican Bean Beetle Population . Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO. Advisor: Dr. Yi-Hwa Wu.
• Eric Foster. July 2008. Using Geographic Information Systems to Determine Street, Road, and Highway Functional Classification Accuracy . Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO. Advisor: Dr. Patricia Drews.
• Brett Matney. July 2008. Using an Animated Geographic Information System to Improve the Quality of Secondary Education of History in America . Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO. Advisor: Dr. Patricia Drews.
• Jennifer Morgan. July 2008. Spatial Implications of Municipal Sex Offender Residency Restrictions in Bay County, Florida, 2005-2007 . Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO. Advisor: Dr. Patricia Drews.
• Jason Wilder. Dec. 2007. Modeling Malaria Transmission Risk Using Satellite-Based Remote Sensing Imagery: A Five-Year Data Analysis in Democratic People's Republic of Korea . Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO. Advisor: Dr. Gregory Haddock.
• Kreh Germaine. June 2007. An Automated Methodology for the Identification of Impervious Surfaces from High Spatial Resolution Multispectral Imagery and LIDAR . Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University,Maryville, MO. Advisor: Dr. Ming-Chih Hung.
• Chad Lynch. April 2007. Examining the Relationship between Property Value and Urban Sprawl in Canyon County, Idaho . Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO. Advisor: Dr. Patricia Drews.
• Andrew Selk. Dec. 2006. Implementing a Geographic Information System to Identify Suitable Monitoring Station Locations on Protected Small Streams in Wisconsin . Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO. Advisor: Dr. Gregory Haddock.
• Robert Brundage. Dec. 2006. Implementing an Archival GIS Template Utilizing ArcMap GIS Software and the Personal Geodatabase . Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO. Advisor: Dr. Patricia Drews.
• Aaron Addison. July 2006. ArcGIS Geodatabase Data Model for Cave Science . Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO. Advisor: Dr. Patricia Drews.
• Lydia VerBrugge. July 2006. Depth of Soil in the Goss-Gasconade-Rock Outcrop Complex in Callaway County, Missouri using the Soil Land Inference Model (SoLIM) . Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO. Advisor: Dr. Yi-Hwa Wu.
• Melanie Salyer. July 2006. An Evaluation of the Economic and Environmental Impacts of Coal Mining, Flat Gap, Pound, Wise County, Virginia as Case Study . Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO. Advisor: Dr. Ming-Chih Hung.
• Eric Wolf. April 2006. Low-Cost Large-Scale Aerial Photography and the Upland South Folk Cemetery . Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO. Advisor: Dr. Ming-Chih Hung.
• Erik Harper. April 2006. Open-Source Technologies in Web-Based GIS & Mapping . Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO. Advisor: Dr. Ming-Chih Hung.
• Kathryn Bennett. April 2006. Development and Evaluation of Movement Corridors used by Rocky Mountain Elk within the Vicinity of Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico . Masters thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO. Advisor: Dr. Yi-Hwa Wu.
• Christopher McLean. April 2005. Potential Release Site Sediment Concentrations Correlated to Storm Water Station Runoff through GIS Modeling . Masters Thesis, Department of Geology/Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO. Advisor: Dr. Gregory Haddock.