People

Dr. Nathan Jacobs is a professor at the McKelvey School of Engineering, co-director of the WashU Geospatial Research Initiative, and director of the Multimodal Vision Research Laboratory. His lab develops learning-based algorithms and systems for processing large-scale image collections. A major current focus is on developing techniques for understanding the natural world from geotagged imagery, including images from social networks, publicly available outdoor webcams, and satellites. Examples of active projects include species distribution modeling using citizen science data, fine-grained soundscape mapping using field audio recordings, and automating ecologist workflows (from searching for specimens in the field to processing archival collections).

Professor Frachetti specializes in spatial analysis and archaeological landscape modeling using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing. He has a strong interest in the reconstruction of paleo-ecological, geo-morphological, and land-cover changes in extreme environments (e.g. high mountains, deserts). His current work centers on modeling prehistoric rangelands of mountain and steppe regions of western and eastern Eurasia by analyzing contemporary satellite data combined with paleo-climatic regressions. Within GIS, these reconstructions are paired with data recovered from his regional archaeological survey and excavations, bringing together environmental and social components of the prehistoric context.

Jennifer directs services in digital data management, curation and sharing, analysis, visualization, literacies, and GIS. In her 10 years at Washington University, she has served as Data Services Coordinator, Project Manager, GIS Librarian, and Anthropology Librarian. Jennifer is program faculty in International and Area Studies and an instructor of GIS.