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Curriculum Vitae

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

Jan 2009 - present  GeoVISTA Centre, PSU, State College, USA - Research Associate and Instructor

Apr 2004 – Mar 2008  Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), Edinburgh, UK - Senior GIS developer and analyst

May 2000 - Jan 2004  Imperial College, Ascot, UK - PhD studentship in Department of Biology at the NERC Centre for Population Biology

May 1997-Jan 2000   CIAT - International Centre for Tropical Agriculture, Cali, Colombia - GIS Research Fellow

Additional employment has included working in Canada with consultancies in South Africa, Brunei and Hong Kong.


EDUCATION

  • 2000-2004  Imperial College, Centre for Population Biology, Ascot, UK  -  Ph.D. in Biology, Thesis: Biocontrol of locusts: using GIS to model spatiotemporal temperature-dependent variability in performance of a biopesticide
  • 1998-2000  Leicester University, Department of Geography, Leicester, UK  -  M. Phil. in GIS, Thesis: The use of GIS spatial analysis to model the occurrence of bean golden mosaic virus and predict areas susceptible to outbreaks in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
  • 1995-1996  College of Geographic Sciences, Nova Scotia, Canada  -  Certificate in Geographic Information Systems
  • 1990-1994  Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada  -   Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Geography

Schooling in Kenya and United Kingdom


PUBLICATIONS

MacEachren A. M., Jaiswal, A., Robinson, A.C., Pezanowski, S., Savelyev, A., Mitra, P., Zhangi, X. & Blanford, J. (2011) SensePlace2: GeoTwitter Analytics Support for Situational Awareness. VAST

Robinson, A.C., Roth, R.E., Blanford, J.I., Pezanowski, S., MacEachren, A.M. (2011) A Collaborative Process for Developing Map Symbol Standards. Procedia- Social and Behavioural Sciences. 21:93-102

MacEachren A. M.,  Robinson, A.C., Jaiswal, A., Pezanowski, S., Savelyev, A., Blanford, J., & Mitra, P. (2011) July 3-8. Geo-Twitter Analytics: Applications in Crisis Management. 25th International Cartographic Conference, Paris, France

Tomaszewski, B., Blanford, J.I, Ross, K., Pezanowski, S. & MacEachren A.M. (2011) Supporting Geographically-aware WebDocument Foraging and Sensemaking. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems.35:192-207

Roth, RE, Finch, BG., Blanford JI., Klippel, A., Robinson, AC and MacEachren, AM (2011) Card sorting for cartographic research and practice. Cartography and Geographic Information Science. 38(2).


Paaijmans, K.P., Blanford, S., Bell, A.S., Blanford, J.I., Read, A.F. & Thomas, M.B. (2010). Influence of climate on malaria transmission depends on daily temperature variation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107, 15135–15139.

Roth, RE, Finch, BG., Blanford JI., Klippel, A., Robinson, AC and MacEachren, AM (2010) November 18 'The card sorting method for map symbol design.' Proceedings of the 2010 International Symposium on automated Cartography (AutoCarto), Orlando, FL


Klass, J.I.,  Blanford S., & Thomas M.B. (2007a) Development of a model for evaluating the effects of environmental temperature and thermal behaviour on biological control of locusts and grasshoppers using pathogens Agricultural and Forest Entomology 9(3): 189-199.

Klass, J.I., Blanford S., & Thomas M.B. (2007b) Use of a geographic information system to explore spatial variation in pathogen virulence and the implications for biological control of locusts and grasshoppers. Agricultural and Forest Entomology 9(3): 201-208.


Blanford, S. & Klass, J.I., (2004) Review of environmental effects on the performance of Metarhizium anisopliae var. acridum against the Desert locust under field conditions. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Pp.150+

Johnson, N. & Klass, J.I., (2003) The Impact of Crop Improvement on Rural Poverty: An Analysis of Bean Varieties Resistant to Bean Golden Mosaic Virus in Honduras. In Mathur, S. & Pachico, D. (eds.) Agricultural Research and Poverty Reduction: Some Issues and Evidence. Economics and Impact Series 2. Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical. Cali, Colombia.Pp 268.

Klass, J.I., Thomas, M. B. & Blanford, S., (2002) GIS solves locust control? In proceedings of the 22nd Annual ESRI International User Conference. San Diego, USA. July 8-12, 2002.

Thomas, M. B., Klass, J.I. & Blanford, S., (2000) The Year of the Locust. Pesticide Outlook, pp.192-195.

Klass, J. I.(1999) GIS and Integrated Pest Management: Using GIS to locate and analyze patterns of bean golden mosaic virus in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Final Report. Canadian International Development Agency, Canada. pp.46


PRESENTATIONS

Blanford, J. GIS and Health. Guest Lecture for Introduction to Global Health. Oct 25, 2011

Blanford, J. Predictive Modeling of West Nile Virus in Pennsylvania. Presented at Pennsylvania Vector Control Association Annual Conference. Nov 15, 2010

 



Blanford, J. Understanding the impact of an event Using Sense of Place Tools. Presented at GeoVISTA Center, August 2010.

 


Blanford, J. Connecting the dots: Space, time and geography. Presented at UC Davis. May 2010

Klass, J., GI for Scotland: the. Scottish Environment Protection Agency experience. Presented at Annual AGI Scotland, Ratho, UK. December 1st, 2004.

Klass, J. “The devil is in the temperature: GIS and locust biocontrol” Centre for Tropical and Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Roslin. November, 2004

Klass, J., Spatial-temporal efficacy of a pathogen-based biopesticide in the field against locusts and grasshoppers. Imperial College, Ascot, UK. March 12, 2002.

Klass, J. Blanford, S. & Thomas, M.B., Resultados de los ensayos de eficacia de Metarhizium anisopliae var. acridum contra Dociostaurus maroccanus y Calliptamus italicus, España. Annual locust working group meeting, Albacete, Spain. December 13, 2000.


AWARDS

Innovative Research Award 1998-1999 from Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)