Sean C. Ahearn

Dr. Ahearn is a Professor of Geography and Director of the Center for Analysis and Research of Spatial Information (CARSI) at Hunter College – CUNY. He received his Ph.D. in Environmental Remote Sensing from the University of Wisconsin- Madison. His research interests include agent-based models, spatial-temporal models, digital image analysis, ecological modeling, location-based systems, emergency response and urban geographic systemsAs Founder and Director of CARSI at Hunter College, Dr. Ahearn played a major role in managing the design, development, and implementation of the digital geographic base-map (GIS) for the City of New York, called NYCMap, in the '90s and early '00. NYCMap was instrumental in enabling the City of New York to respond to the 9/11 crisis. Dr. Ahearn’s role was highlighted in the History Channel's "The Twin Towers: Rise and Fall of an American Icon". He was PI on a National Science Foundation Grant titled “Geographic Information Science and Technology BoK2: Foundational Research “ from 2010-13He is past president of the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS). He was appointed by the United States Secretary of Interior to the National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC) as a Charter Member in 2008. Professor Ahearn received the prestigious 2013 IBM faculty award.

Recent Publications:

• Smith, S., D.M. Brown, J.R. Oliveras, P.L. Sieswerda, S.C. Ahearn, D. Reiss. Preliminary Study on Humpback Wales Lunge Feeding in the New York Bight. Frontiers in Marine Science. Vol 9, 2022.
• Dodge, S.,R. Su, J. Johson, A. Simcharoen, K. Goulias, J.L.D. Smith. S. C. Ahearn (2021). ORTEGA: An object-oriented time-geographic analytical approach to trace space-time contact patterns in movement data. Computer, Environment and Urban System. Vol 88, July 2021, 101630
• Ahearn, S.C., S. Dodge. 2018. “Recursive multi-frequency segmentation of movement trajectories (ReMuS). Methods in Ecology and Evolution. Vol. 9, Issue 4, April 2018.
• Ahearn, S. C., A. Skupin. (2016) From BoK to Base Map: Managing Domain Knowledge Through Collaboration and Computation. In Onsrud, H. and Kuhn, K., (Eds.), Advancing Geographic Information Science: The Past and Next Twenty Years.
• Ahearn, S.C., S. Dodge, A. Simcharoen, G. Xavierc and J. L.D. Smith. 2016. “A context-sensitive correlated random walk: a new simulation model for movement. International Journal of Geographical Information Science. 31:5, 867-883, 2016.

• Green, G., S. Ahearn, W. Ni-Miester. (2016). “Downscaling On Demand: Examples in Forest Canopy Mapping”.  In Why Scale Still Matters: Applications That Advance GIScience and Remote Sensing, Ed. D. A. Quattrochi, from CRC press.

• Dodge, S., Weibel, R., Ahearn, S. C., Buchin, M., & Miller, J. A. (2016). Analysis of movement data. International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 1-10.

• Green, G., S. C. Ahearn. (2015). Modeling forest canopy trends with on-demand spatial simulation. International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 2015.
• Ahearn, S., I. Icke, R. Datta, B. Plewe, M. DeMere, A. Skupin. (2013) . “Re-engineering the Geographic Information System Body of Knowledge” Special Issue on GIS-Cyber-Infrastructure. International Journal for Geographic Information Science Vol. 27 Issue 11.
• Carney, R., S. Ahearn, A. McConchie, C. Glaser, C. Jean, C. Barker, B. Park, K. Padgett & V. Kramer. 2011. DYCAST early warning system for West Nile virus"". Journal of Emerging Infectious Disease, Vo. 17, issue 8.
• Theophilides, C.; S. C. Ahearn; E. Binkowski; W. S Paul; and K. Gibbs. 2006. “First Evidence of West Nile virus amplification and relationship to human infections” International Journal for Geographic Information Science Vol 20, No. 1, January 2006, 103-115.
• Ahearn, S. C.; J.L.D. Smith; A. R. Joshi; and J. Ding “TIGMOD: an individual-based spatially explicit model for simulating tiger/human interaction in multiple use forests”. Ecological Modeling 140 (2001) 81-97.

Research Affiliations:

• Center for Advanced Research of Spatial Information (Director)