One of the world’s foremost experts in spatial data science has joined Florida State University’s Department of Geography.
A. Stewart Fotheringham, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, is the new Krafft Professor of Spatial Data Science and the founding director of the new Spatial Data Science Center in the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy.
“Dr. Fotheringham’s appointment is a game changer for FSU and COSSPP,” said Tim Chapin, dean of the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy. “His expertise in spatial analysis and geocomputation will drive groundbreaking research across disciplines and position FSU as a leader in spatial data science. We are thrilled to welcome a scholar of his caliber to our college and university.”
The FSU Spatial Data Science Center will serve as a hub for interdisciplinary research, bringing together scholars from various fields to analyze human behavior in its geographical context. By leveraging advanced spatial analytics, the center will provide deeper insights into health, the environment, transportation, voting, retailing, social issues and more.
Fotheringham is known for developing the spatial analysis technique Geographically Weighted Regression, which is used in many fields, including public health and urban planning.
My aim is to establish FSU as a leader in developing innovative solutions to some of society’s biggest challenges.
– A. Stewart Fotheringham, founding director of FSU’s Spatial Data Science Center
“I am extremely excited to be at FSU to begin the latest chapter in my academic career, which will see the establishment of a Spatial Data Science Center in the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy,” Fotheringham said. “I will be joining other members of the college to solve major challenges in areas such as health, transportation, housing and voting using advanced statistical and computational techniques. My aim is to establish FSU as a leader in developing innovative solutions to some of society’s biggest challenges.”
A globally recognized leader in geographical sciences, Fotheringham was named among the top 1% of the most influential scientists in the world by the Web of Science in 2023, with 12 books, 250 research papers and more than 45,000 citations. In addition to his election to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, he is a member of Academia Europaea, an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences in the U.K., and a Fellow of both the American Association of Geographers and the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science.
Fotheringham has also established and led several pioneering research centers, including the Centre for Geoinformatics at the University of St. Andrews, the National Centre for Geocomputation in Ireland, and most recently, the Spatial Analysis Research Center at Arizona State University (2017–2024).
To learn more about the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy and FSU’s Department of Geography, visit cosspp.fsu.edu.