Ryan Kirk

Associate Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies and Chair of the Department of Environmental Studies

Lindner Hall - Arts & Sciences, office 112C 2335 Campus Box Elon, NC 27244

Brief Biography

I am a skills-based scholar who uses GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and related empirical methods in both traditional academic research and for applied management of natural resources. The core disciplinary areas in which I have applied these skills include forest management, urban and rural land development policy, water resources management, and wildlife management. I also greatly enjoy collaborations and have worked with faculty and students from Communications, Psychology, Sport and Event Management, Public Health, Environmental Studies, Geography, Economics, Political Science, and History on analysis and cartography. Please contact me if you have any interest in spatial analysis!

Education

Ph.D. 2009. Natural Resources Science and Management, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN.

M.S. 2005. Forestry, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN.

B.S. 1996. Business Adminstration and Management Information Systems, William Jewell College, Liberty, MO.

Courses Taught

ENS 200: Strategies for Environmental Inquiry

ENS 250 / GE0 250: Introduction to GIS

ENS 340 / GEO 340: Water Resources Management

GEO 131: The World's Regions

GEO 360: Geography of North America

GEO 377: Soccer & Globalization (summer on-line course)

Leadership Positions

Coordinator of the GIS Interdisciplinary Program

Current Projects

1) Land use change and environmental legacies of past land use decisions in the Southern Appalachian Mountains

2) Water quality management in the Piedmont Region

3) Forest Ecology of the Elon University Forest

4) Internationalization of U.S.College Soccer

5) Applications of GIS across the disciplines

Publications

Recent work:

2012 Kapfer, Joshua M. and Ryan W. Kirk. Camera Trap Observations of Gray Foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) in a Suburban Landscape in the Piedmont Region of North Carolina (USA). Southeastern Naturalist. 11(3): 507-516.

2011. Kirk, Ryan W., Paul V. Bolstad, and Steven M. Manson. Spatio-temporal trend analysis of long-term development patterns (1900-2030) in a Southern Appalachian County. Landscape and Urban Planning.

2009. Tanner, Dawn, and Ryan Kirk. Matrix to Mosaic: Habitat fragmentation from 1982-1999 in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Borneo Research Bulletin. 39: 255-268.

Presentations

Recent work:

2016. Kirk, Ryan W. and Tony Weaver. The Internationalization of U.S. College Soccer. Annual Meeting of the European Association for Sociology of Sport. Copenhagen, Denmark.

2015. Kirk, Ryan W. Using smartphones and location services to teach geographic theory. Annual Meeting of the National Council for Geographic Education. Washington, D.C.

2011. Kirk, Ryan W. Agricultural site suitability as a biophysical driver of land use change in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Division of the Association of American Geographers (SEDAAG). Savannah, GA.

2010. Kirk, Ryan W. New opportunities for geographic research in NC using current and historic parcels data. North Carolina Property Mappers Association. Greensboro, NC.

2009. Kirk, Ryan W. and Paul V. Bolstad. Land use and terrestrial carbon accrual in Western North Carolina, 1850-2030. Southern Appalachian Biosphere and Man Conference, Asheville, NC.

2009. Kirk, Ryan W. Opening the Appalachians: 200 years of transportation changes in Western North Carolina. North Carolina GIS Conference, Raleigh, NC.