ASU researcher elected as member of Academia Europaea

Stewart Fotheringham, Foundation Professor in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State University and leader in the realm of computational spatial science, has been elected to membership in a highly prestigious scholarly organization, Academia Europaea.

Fotheringham is especially known for his work in spatial interaction modelling and local statistical analysis, and was one of the key developers of geographically weighted regression.  He applies these analytical techniques to build understanding in the realms of health, crime patterns, retailing and migration. 

Academia Europaea is an international, non-governmental association of scientists and scholars from humanities, social and physical sciences, comparable to the National Academy of Sciences in the United States. Membership in the academy requires a rigorous review that includes peer group nomination, a thorough assessment based on the nominee’s scholarship in their chosen field, and a formal election by the academy’s members.

Although the academy’s approximately 3400 members include 70 whose research area is geography, Fotheringham is the first member whose expertise is identified as “Geographic Information Science.”

Fotheringham joined ASU in fall 2014. As a faculty member in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, as well as senior sustainability scientist in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, he teaches undergraduate and graduate coursework in geographic information technologies and science, and advises several doctoral students.

“Working with Stewart is always professional, productive, and personal,” said doctoral advisee Taylor Oshan. “He’s treated me more like a colleague than as a student, which has been immensely helpful for fostering a positive academic experience.

“Stewart is extremely generous with his time and attention, always quick to provide useful feedback, and is supportive of me exploring and developing my own ideas.”

Already recognized internationally, Fotheringham is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the U.K.'s Academy of Social Sciences. He established both the Centre for GeoInformatics at the University of St Andrews in Scotland and the National Centre for Geocomputation in Ireland, and was awarded the first Science Foundation Ireland Research Professorship in 2004.  He has been awarded over $15 million in funding, published 12 books and almost 200 research papers and book chapters.