Rutherford
Platt
Professor
Gettysburg College
I am Professor, Chair, and Director of the GIS lab at the Environmental Studies Department at Gettysburg College. I teach a variety of remote sensing and GIS courses. My research interests relate to land systems science, the study of land cover and land use as a coupled human-environment system. I am particularly focused on the dynamics of the Earth’s wildland-urban interface (WUI), where human-built structures abut or mix with naturally occurring vegetation types. Much of my research explores the relationship between forest management, land use change, fire risk and ecological integrity in the WUI. I am also interested in studying land systems through novel applications of remote sensing and GIS, including hyperspectral remote sensing, object-based image analysis, and trend analysis. My study areas are situated within the Rocky Mountain West, the Marcellus Shale Region of Pennsylvania, and the Terai Arc Landscape of India.