Angela Lee from Esri joins us to talk about map libraries, Esri’s work with academic libraries, introducing GIS into K-12 education, developing a customized version of ArcView for K-12 schools, creating teaching materials for K-12 classes, helping people understand the world through maps, addressing career skills, the scientific method, spatial literacy, potential impacts of AI in teaching and learning, evolving the GIScience curriculum, the importance of critical thinking and asking the right questions, and much more. Show notes and photos are available at: https://americaview.substack.com

This is Round Three of our special “Squared Circle” episodes, where a group of guests gets together to wrestle with a particular topic. For this episode, we're joined by Dr. Paige Brochu from the University of Vermont, Dr. Tracy DeLiberty from the University of Delaware, Ms. Amy Logan from Iowa State University, and Dr. Dana Peterson from the University of Kansas and we are discussing working with remote sensing and imagery in K-12 classrooms. We talk about the education-ready digital toolkits our guests are building, creating state level landcover maps, digital state atlases, lesson plans using maps and data in a variety of applications, challenges of incorporating geospatial technologies into a K-12 curriculum, supporting new teachers, curriculum insertion points, removing the software barriers and web applications, and much more. Show notes and photos are available at: https://americaview.substack.com

Sam Batzli from the University of Wisconsin-Madison joins us to talk about the vestibule of the Manly Miles Building at Michigan State University, writing historical contexts for installations around the country for the US Army Corps of Engineers, selective availability for GPS, distributing Landsat imagery online, the Upper Great Lakes RESAC, the birth of WisconsinView, data wrangling, the Space Science and Engineering Center at University of Wisconsin-Madison, fire analysis via remote sensing and web mapping, burn scar mapping and the BRISK project, thermal anomalies, new developments of RealEarth, and much more. Show notes and photos are available at: https://americaview.substack.com

Jason Tullis from the University of Arkansas joins us to talk about finding fossils in the mountains, the question of seeing a moon in a blue sky, attending school in England, being introduced to GIS in the US Forest Service summer program, mapping with aerial photos, cold-calling the University of South Carolina for graduate work, a choice between the CIA or academia, the importance of data provenance, remote sensing imagery and provenance, basic science on Mars, data replicability, a technical geography concentration in the geosciences, renaming remote sensing, the four futures, space exploration, and much more. Show notes and photos are available at: https://americaview.substack.com

Chris Cooper from G2G Consulting joins us for this special episode to talk about the whole process behind federal funding which influences so many activities and projects today - we discuss coloring in maps in red and blue on election night as a child, Chris’ work on Rob Portman’s 2010 Senate race, the job of a Staff Assistant in a Congressional office, addressing policy issues on Capitol Hill, the activities of the different Congressional Committees for Appropriations, the process of funding requests, visiting Capitol Hill to discuss GIS and remote sensing, and much more. Show notes and photos are available at: https://americaview.substack.com

Karen Schuckman from RRC Companies and ASPRS joins us to talk about riding Argentinian horses on vacation, living the farm life and an equestrian background, Karen’s time as an international-level gymnast in high school, meteorologists who study meteors, remote sensing and oceanography, photogrammetry courses for surveying, a momentous summer picnic, teaching at Penn State, participation in ASPRS, aerial GPS and topographic lidar, the importance of locational accuracy, positional accuracy and automated processes, a growing demand for an understanding of photogrammetry, GeoWeek 2026, new developments at ASPRS, student chapters of ASPRS, and much more. Show notes and photos are available at: https://americaview.substack.com

Santosh Panda from the University of Alaska Fairbanks joins us to talk about coal mine reclamation in India, a choice between petroleum and remote sensing, helicopter flights to remote field sites, Alaskan permafrost modeling and mapping, AlaskaView, statewide forest health and change, boreal forest change through time, MOOC development for GIS and remote sensing, a traveling permafrost exhibit, student training for Alaskan wildfire mitigation with geospatial tools, and much more. Show notes and photos are available at: https://americaview.substack.com

Robert Washington-Allen from the University of Nevada, Reno joins us to kick off 2026 with an extra-length episode where we talk about Robert’s time as a Peace Corps volunteer in Lesotho, the Curlew National Grassland, time-series imagery analysis, kudzu bug distribution, the REDD program, applications of Terrestrial Laser Scanner technology around the world, the dynamics of the Niassa Special Reserve in Mozambique, Robert’s work with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), an agricultural and natural resources atlas of Nevada, GRACE_FO applications for groundwater, below-ground biomass, and so much more. Show notes and photos are available at: https://americaview.substack.com