Geospatial Information Scholar is Honored by Peers

Griffith has spent his career studying the Earth and how locations affect how we live. Because his research is global in scope, it’s appropriate that he was honored by an organization whose members work in countries throughout the world.

To have his life’s work recognized and applauded by his colleagues in regional science was a great tribute, Griffith said.

“I was very flattered,” he said. “This was one of my career goals.”

Griffith was one of 11 scientists honored this year. He and Dr. James LeSage of Texas State University are the first Texas-based academics to be named fellows. The group has elected about 50 fellows since the program’s inception in 2001.

Griffith is a past president of the North American branch. He came to UT Dallas from the University of Miami in 2005.

His research focuses primarily on spatial statistics, quantitative urban and economic geography, and applied statistics. He looks at economic and cultural data collected by governments and analyzes the influence of location and geographic features. Griffith teaches courses at UT Dallas about spatial statistics, geographic information sciences research design, mathematical statistics and spatial organization.

Griffith is the author of 15 books and has received many honors. He was selected as a Fulbright research fellow, a Guggenheim fellow and was elected a fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences. He is editor of Geographical Analysis and is a steering committee member of the International Geographical Union’s Commission of Modeling Geographical Systems.

Griffith received his plaque in November during the North American Regional Science Association annual meeting in San Francisco. The international organization has about 4,000 members worldwide.

The group’s scholars are interested in the regional effects of economic and social change. They take a multidisciplinary approach and use the latest quantitative methods and technologies to develop new models for impact assessment.