Diana Sinton
Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Integrative Plant Science, Soil and Crop Sciences Section
Sinton’s professional career has been focused on the teaching and learning of geographic information science and systems (GIS), especially in the natural and environmental sciences. She serves as the Executive Director of the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS), a non-profit scientific and educational organization that supports a community of practice around GIScience research and teaching, representing its 65+ member and affiliate institutions – including Cornell University - as well as a broader community of practice in higher education. Current NSF-funded projects on which she is working include TRELIS (Training and Retaining Leaders in STEM – Geospatial Sciences) for women in the academic geospatial sciences, and OKN-SDS (Open Knowledge Network for Spatial Decision Support).
Interests
Geographic information science and systems and natural resources management
Integration of in social and cultural data in GIS and humanitarian mapping projects
Geospatial literacy and spatial thinking, GIS in Higher Education
Courses Taught
PLSCI 2200: Introduction to Mapping and Spatial Analysis with GIS
Selected Publications
Wikle, T. and Sinton, D. S. (2021). Where Have the Cartographers Gone? The Status of Cartography Instruction within U.S. Geography Departments and Programs. Cartography and Geographic Information Science. 48(2): 140-150. DOI: 10.1080/15230406.2020.1852971
Wikle, T. and Sinton, D. S. (2020). The Administration of Academic GIS Certificates: A Survey of Program Coordinators. Transactions in GIS. 24(6): 1681-1694. DOI: 10.1111/tgis.12677.
Sinton, D. S. (2020). Mapping. Digital Pedagogy in the Humanities. Eds. Rebecca Frost Davis, Matthew K. Gold, Katherine D. Harris, and Jentery Sayers. Modern Language Association. https://digitalpedagogy.hcommons.org/
Sinton, D. S. and Kerski, J. J. (2020). GIS&T Education and Training. The Geographic Information Science & Technology Body of Knowledge (1st Quarter 2020 Edition), John P. Wilson (ed.). DOI: 10.22224/gistbok/2020.1.4
Dony, C.C., Nara, A., Amatulli, G., Delmelle, E.M., Tateosian, L., Rey, S., and Sinton, D.S. (2019) Computational Thinking in U.S. College Geography: An Initial Education Research Agenda. Research in Geographic Education, 21(2): 39-54.
Sinton, D. S. (2019). Observations on the Gaps and Opportunities for Geocomputation. In Proceedings of GeoEd'19:1st ACM SIGSPATIAL International Workshop on Geo-computational Thinking in Education Proceedings. ACM, Chicago, IL, USA, 4 pages. DOI: 10.1145/3356393.3365370.
Sinton, D. S. (2017). Critical Spatial Thinking, in Richardson, D., Castree, D. N., Goodchild, M., Liu W., Kobayashi, A., & R. Marston, R. (Eds.) The International Encyclopedia of Geography: People, the Earth, Environment, and Technology. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley/AAG. DOI: 10.1002/9781118786352.wbieg0706.
Sinton, D. S. (2016). Spatial Thinking and GIS. In H. Burte, T. Kauppinen, & M. Hegarty (Eds.), Proceedings of the Workshop on Teaching Spatial Thinking from Interdisciplinary Perspectives (TSTIP 2015) at COSIT 2015 in Santa Fe, NM. CEUR-WS.org, online: ceur-ws.org/Vol-1557/.
Baker, T.R., Battersby, S., Bednarz, S.W., Bodzin, A., Kolvoord B., Moore, S., Sinton, D. & Uttal, D. (2015). A Research Agenda for Geospatial Technologies and Learning, Journal of Geography, 114:3, 118-130, DOI: 10.1080/00221341.2014.950684. Winner of the 2016 Journal of Geography Award from the National Council for Geographic Information.
Sinton, D. S. (2014). Spatial Learning in Higher Education, in Montello, D. R, Grossner, K., & Janelle, D. G. (Eds.), Space in mind: Concepts for spatial learning and education. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press: 219-238.
Sinton, D. S., Kolvoord, B., Gersmehl, P., Bednarz, S. and Uttal, D. (2013). The People’s Guide to Spatial Thinking. Washington, DC: National Council for Geographic Education.
King, A. M., Larsen, L. I. and Sinton, D. S. (2012). The Spatially Interactive Literature System Study Tool: A GIS Classroom Tool for Interpreting History. International Journal of Applied Geospatial Research, 3(3): 70-85. DOI: 10.4018/jagr.2012070105.
Sinton, D. S. (2012). Making the case for GIS in higher education, in Unwin, D., Tate, N., Foote, K. and DiBiase, D. (eds.), in Teaching Geographic Information Science and Technology in Higher Education. London: John Wiley & Sons (UK): 17-36.
Sinton, D. S. (2011). Spatial Thinking, in Stoltman, J. (ed.), 21st Century Geography: A Reference Handbook. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications: 734-744.
Howarth, J. T. and Sinton, D. S. (2011). Sequencing spatial concepts in problem-based GIS instruction. International Conference: Spatial Thinking and Geographic Information Science. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences 21:253-259. DOI: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.07.042.
Sinton, D. S. (2009). Roles for GIS within Higher Education. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 33(1): S7-S16. DOI: 10.1080/03098260903034046.
Sinton, D. S. and Schultz, R. (2008). GIS and Mapping Applications for Reasoning and Critical Thinking about the Environment and Society, in M. N. Solem and K. E. Foote (eds.), Teaching College Geography: A Practical Guide for Graduate Students and Early Career Faculty. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall: 69-80.
Sinton, D. S. and Huber, W. (2007). Mapping polka and its ethnic heritage in the United States. Journal of Geography, 106: 41-47. DOI: 10.1080/00221340701487913.
Sinton, D. S. and Lund, J. J. (Eds.) (2006). Understanding Place: GIS and Mapping across the Curriculum. Redlands, CA: ESRI Press.
Sinton, D. S., Jones, J. A., Swanson, F. J., and Ohmann, J. (2000). Forest composition, structure, and disturbance by wind in the Bull Run basin, Oregon. Ecology, 81(9): 2539-2556. DOI: 10.1890/0012-9658(2000)081[2539:WDFCAS]2.0.CO;2.
Selected Invited Keynotes, Plenaries, Seminars
Teaching Ethics in the use of GIS and Spatial Data. Ethics in Geographic Information, Symposium and Workshop. United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) Academic Network Americas (ANA). March 2021.
Spatial Thinking for Everyone: Geographic Information Systems in Supporting Learning Across the Humanities and Social Sciences. Live lecture recorded online for their ThinkSpatialUL Seminar Series. University of Limerick, Ireland. January 2021.
Linking Spatial Questions and Digital Technologies to Understand Geographic Patterns. Live lecture recorded online for the GeoEducation Collection. The Geographical Association, United Kingdom. November 2020.
Directions and Trends in Geospatial Curricula. Department of Geography Colloquium. Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York. September 2019.
Internal & External Forces Influencing GIS&T in Higher Education Today, Or, You’re Not the Boss of Me. Journal of Geography in Higher Education Invited Lecture, American Association of Geographers Conference, Washington DC. April 2019.
Strategic Bridge Building via Communication. Panel on Geography, Civic Engagement, and the Future of Data Science. Illuminating Space and Time in Data Science, Center for Geographic Analysis, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, April 2018.
Teaching, Learning, and Communication within the Context of GIS&T. Transactions in GIS Plenary Lecture, American Association of Geographers Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana. April 2018.
Evolving Roles for GIS in Higher Education. Women in Technology Seminar, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. January 2018.
Spatial Reasoning and STEM Learning. Department of Geography Seminar, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas. October 2015.
Spatial Thinking via Geography and GIScience. Pre-conference workshop on Teaching Spatial Thinking through Multiple Perspectives at COSIT XII, Santa Fe, New Mexico. October 2015.
Learning through Geospatial Analytics. Geospatial Forum, Center for Geospatial Analytics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina. September 2015.
Why Spatial Thinking Underlies Visual Thinking. Plenary Presentation, Visualization in Science and Education, Gordon Research Conference, Bates College, Lewiston, Maine. August 2015.
Building the next Generation of Knowledge about Geospatial Technologies and Learning. Keynote Presentation, GI-Forum, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria. July 2014.
Contact Information
dss326 [at] cornell.edu
More information
- Blog: diana maps
- Twitter: @dianamaps