I am an Associate Professor of Spatial Data Science at the Department of Geography at the University of California Santa Barbara. I serve as an Associate Director of the Center for Spatial Studies and Data Science. Currently, I am a fellow at the ETH Zurich Collegium Helveticum program and the University of Zurich’s Digital Society Initiative.
I am a recipient of the 2021 NSF CAREER award, and the 2022 Emerging Scholar Award from the Spatial Analysis and Modeling Specialty Group of the American Associations of Geographers. I received my PhD in Geography with a specialization in Geographic Information Science (GIScience) from the GIScience Center of the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Prior to joining UCSB in 2019, I served as an Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (2016-2019), and at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (2013-2016). Between July 2021-June 2024, I served as a Director on the Board of Directors of the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS).
Please see MOVE Research Lab for more information about my research lab at UCSB. My work is supported by the US National Science Foundation (NSF). In general, my research involves developing spatio-temporal data analytics, knowledge discovery, modeling, and visualization techniques to study and understand movement in human and natural systems. Our ability to study movement and its relationship to the environment can advance our understanding of social and natural systems. My research on movement advances spatial data science and quantitative approaches for modeling complex dynamic processes such as human-wildlife conflicts, environmental change, natural hazards, spread of diseases, mobility, and global migration. Through interdisciplinary research, I aim to develop a broadly applicable analytical framework to unravel how movement patterns of individuals are driven by their behavior, their environment, and their interactions across multiple spatial and temporal scales. For example, with the NSF CAREER project, my group is currently exploring geographic data science approaches to study movement and behavior responses to environmental disruptions across multiple geographic and temporal scales.
As a GIScience educator, I teach introductory and advanced GIScience and movement analytic courses, including geographic visualization, and analysis and modeling of movement, agent-based simulation modeling.
Professional Experiences:
- Associate Professor, UC Santa Barbara (since July 2023)
- Associate Director, UCSB Center for Spatial Studies and Data Science (since July 2023)
- Assistant Professor, UC Santa Barbara (2019-2023).
- Director, Board of Directors of the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS)
- Co-Editor in Chief of the Journal of Spatial Information Science (JOSIS)
- Editorial Board member of Cartography and Geographic Information Society (CaGIS)
- Editorial Board member of Geographical Analysis
- Editorial Board member of Journal of Geographical Systems (JGS)
- Editorial Board member of Computers, Environment and Urban Systems (2019-2023)
- Editorial Board member of The Professional Geographer
- Editorial Board member of the Journal of Location Based Services
- Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (2016 – 2019)
- Editorial Board member of the UCGIS Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge (2016 – 2017)
- Assistant Professor, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (UCCS), 2014 – 2016
- Geospatial Lab Director, UCCS, 2014 – 2016
- Visiting Assistant Professor, UCCS, 2013 – 2014
Education:
- Postdoc – Computational Movement Ecology, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering, The Ohio State University (2012-2013).
- Postdoc – Computational Movement Analysis, University of Zurich, Switzerland, (2011-2012).
- Ph.D. (Dr. sc. nat.) – Geography with specialization in Geographic Information Science (GIScience), University of Zurich, Switzerland (October 2011).
- M.Sc. – Geographic Information Systems Engineering, K.N.Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran (2005).
- B.Sc. – Geomatics Engineering, K.N.Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran (2003).
Contact Information:
Somayeh Dodge, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)
Associate Professor
Email: sdodge[AT]ucsb.edu
Department of Geography | UC SANTA BARBARA | MOVE Lab
Somayeh Dodge 