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Samuel P. Walker, MSPH
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Graduate Research Assistant
School: Arnold School of Public Health
Department: Environmental Health Sciences
Degree Program: Ph.D.
(Environmental Quality)
Major Advisor: Dr.
Dwayne E. Porter
Mailing Address:
University of South Carolina
Arnold School of Public Health
Department of ENHS
921
Assembly Street, PHRC 401
Columbia, SC 29208
Office Location:
Public Health Research
Center, 206C
(Note: NOT a mail stop – see
above)
Contact Information:
Phone: 803.777.1765
Fax: 803.777.8769
E-mail: sam@inlet.geol.sc.edu
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Education
2007 (Expected)
- Ph.D., Environmental Health Sciences, University
of South Carolina, Columbia, SC
2005 - M.S.P.H., Environmental Health
Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC
1995 - B.A., Geography, University of Maryland Baltimore
County, (UMBC), Baltimore, MD
1995 - Certification, Cartography,
University of Maryland Baltimore County,
(UMBC), Baltimore, MD
Research
Currently, my
doctoral research involves predictive modeling of an invasive species (Phragmites australis) in a managed
estuarine environment.
Previously, my Master’s thesis examined the efficacy of
using multispectral satellite-based imagery (IKONOS) to assess and
monitor the health of an estuarine ecosystem. My dissertation committee
includes:
Dr. Dwayne E. Porter (University of South
Carolina) - Chair
Dr. G. Thomas Chandler (University of South
Carolina)
Dr. Geoffrey I. Scott (NOAA-CCEHBR / University of South Carolina)
Dr. Denise M. Sanger (SC Sea
Grant / University
of South Carolina)
Dr.
Victor V. Klemas (University of Delaware, College
of Marine Studies)
Interests
My professional
interests include: geographic information science, remote sensing
applications, coastal policy issues, estuarine health monitoring, spatial
modeling, carbon sequestration, sustainability, impacts of globalization,
environmental law and economics, imaging sensor design, and spatial data
management. My personal
interests include: hiking, camping, fishing, hunting, canoeing, cycling,
traveling, and reading.
Projects
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Coastal Intensive Sites Network (CISNet)
– EPA/NOAA
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Land Use-Coastal Ecosystem Study (LU-CES) - NOAA
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Urbanization of Southeastern Estuaries (USES) - NOAA
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NERRS Remote Sensing Applications Assessment Project
(RESAAP) - NOAA
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Coastal Resiliency Information Systems Initiative for
the Southeast (CRISIS) - USC
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NERRS Habitat Mapping and Change (HM&C) –
USC
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Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) – NOAA
Biographical
Information
I have a B.A. in Geography and
Environmental Systems from the UMBC, where I also minored in History and
received a Certification in Cartography. I received my MSPH in
Environmental Health Sciences at USC’s
Arnold School of Public Health, and during my time at USC I have been
working as a graduate research assistant in the Geographic
Information Processing Laboratory, under the
direction of Dr. Dwayne Porter.
Before I began my graduate studies
at USC I spent 5-plus years working in the private and public sectors on
a variety of environmental and earth system science projects. I served as a staff geographer at
EIS, International, Inc. (Rockville, MD), as the senior environmental geographer at
Chesapeake Environmental Management, Inc. (Bel
Air, MD), and managed the UMBC Spatial Analysis Laboratory (Baltimore, MD). In 2000 I worked at the College of Charleston
and the NASA Goddard Space
Flight Center
(Greenbelt, MD) developing spatial data
applications for NASA’s Office of Earth Science, before beginning
my Master’s degree.
I served as a Graduate Research Fellow,
from 2002-2004, at the North Inlet-Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research
Reserve (NERR) in Georgetown,
SC. This fellowship helped to support
the initial stages of my dissertation research and allowed me to learn
much more about NOAA’s NERR System, where
I serve on the Habitat Mapping & Change, Remote Sensing, and
Restoration Science Committees
I have also tried to stay involved
in Arnold School of Public Health initiatives as well, and represented
the ENHS Department as co-chair of the Dean’s Student Advisory
Council (DSAC) from 2000-2003, and also served as the graduate student
representative on the School’s Information Technology Committee in
2004. In 2004 I also helped
lobby for a graduate student health insurance program at USC, and I now
serve as the graduate representative on the President’s Alternative
Energy Council.
Currently I am completing my
doctoral dissertation in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences
and plan to maintain a professional career that allows me to divide time
between research and practical applications.
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