Center for Community Geography adds three new staff members for Fall 2022

September 20, 2022

The R.H. Mallory Center for Community Geography is excited to announce three additions to our staff for Fall 2022, Al-Ekram Elahee Hridoy, Joshua Driscol and Ramona Malczynski.

Al-Ekram Elahee Hridoy is a master’s student in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies starting his graduate studies at the University of New Mexico in Fall 2022. Al-Ekram’s research interests include various methods within GIScience such as machine/deep learning, spatio-temporal modeling, geovisualization and remote sensing applied to the areas of public health, spatial epidemiology and sustainability. For the Center, he is creating an inventory of web-based community mapping tools with information about for which types of projects the tools were designed. This online inventory of web-based mapping tools will be a great resource for people who want to launch their own community mapping projects.

Joshua Driscol is also a master’s student in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies. Joshua’s interests include inclusive software development, questions of data sovereignty and accessibility, and mapping applications for social and environmental justice. Joshua is creating a geospatial data aggregator and visualization tool with data on Albuquerque that will be publicly available to make mapping accessible to community members. He is compiling geospatial data from multiple sources and in some cases, this tool will be the first place this data is publicly available. He will meet with community members to get feedback on this tool and ensure that it is useful for community members who want to complete their own geospatial analysis projects. Once completed, this tool will be published on the Center’s webpage for anyone to use.

Ramona Malczynski is a PhD student in Geography and Environmental Studies planning to do her dissertation research on the historical processes of urban development in Albuquerque, how they have shaped human-environment relations in the city as well as implications for social and environmental justice. Ramona will be working closely with the Center’s Director, Dr. Maria Lane, and Associate Director, Dr. Miriam Gay-Antaki, as well as other Center staff and affiliates to help coordinate and publicize events, do community outreach, and complete research needs for the Center.