The Clark Center for Geospatial Analytics (CGA) is proud to welcome Dr. Pontius and Dr. Sangermano to the 2025 CGA Faculty Fellows Program. Both faculty members from Clark University’s Graduate School of Geography bring deep expertise in environmental change, spatial modeling, and conservation. Dr. Pontius specializes in land change science, statistical modeling, and carbon offset methodologies, while Dr. Sangermano focuses on biodiversity conservation, climate change impacts, and ecosystem management through remote sensing and geospatial analysis.
The CGA Faculty Fellows Program aims to expand the center’s research reach by fostering interdisciplinary collaboration with faculty across departments. This initiative is designed to support the development of innovative research opportunities, the advancement of geospatial methods, and the application of geospatial tools to critical global challenges.
“As a CGA Faculty Fellow, I aim to expand the reach of the methodologies my students and I have developed to assess temporal land change—tools like the Total Operating Characteristic, Trajectory Analysis, DynamicPATCH, and a new technique for summarizing land cover class change. These come with open-access software and are already supporting geospatial research globally. I’m especially interested in contributing to CGA’s Land Cover Change Modeling and REDD Risk Mapping projects and pursuing funding opportunities to advance these efforts. Additionally, I’m excited to strengthen CGA’s collaboration with MapBiomas in Brazil, where we’ve had productive partnerships around methodological development and student exchange. Looking ahead, I’m also exploring the creation of microcredentials to support skill-building in geospatial analytics.”
— Dr. Pontius
Through the CGA Faculty Fellows Program, Dr. Pontius and Dr. Sangermano will collaborate on research initiatives, mentorship opportunities, and innovative applications of geospatial analytics. Clark CGA is excited to explore the potential achievements of this collaboration and is already scoping out new opportunities to advance the field.
A leading expert in Geographic Information Science, with a focus on statistics, simulation modeling, and land change science. Developed quantitative methods now built into TerrSet software, advancing carbon offset strategies and REDD+ efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation.
As a CGA Faculty Fellow, I look forward to sharing our land change methods and expanding collaborations—especially in modeling, REDD risk mapping, and global partnerships like MapBiomas.
An expert in geospatial analysis of ecosystems and biodiversity, with research spanning climate change, landscape ecology, and conservation planning. Recently contributed to a biodiversity challenge in the Brazilian Amazon, where nearly 300 species were identified in just 72 hours.
I'm excited to collaborate with CGA by contributing my expertise in remote sensing and spatial analysis to support biodiversity conservation across ecosystems throughout the world.
