Gregory chu Home page

Hello, 

You have reached the home page of Dr. Gregory Chu, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Geography/Environmental Science at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.  The following is my brief bio.

E-mail: chu.greg@eagle.uwlax.edu

EDUCATION:

Ph.D. (1986) in Geography with major specialization in Cartography, and minor in Environmental Policy, University of Hawaii-Manoa; Dissertation title: Type Size Selection in Map Design, a User- Preference Approach. Advisor: Dr. Everett Wingert

M.S. (1974) in Geography with specialization in Cartography, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Thesis title: The Rectangular Grid in Chinese Cartography. Advisor: Dr. Arthur H. Robinson.

B.Sc. (1970) with major in Geography and minor in Biology, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

EMPLOYMENT:

Professor, Sept 1993 – December 2010, Professor Emeritus since 1/2011, Dept. of Geography & Environmental Science, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse; serving as chair from July 2007 – June 2010

National Science Foundation (NSF) Program Director, August 2003 – August 2005, Geography and Regional Science, Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences, Directorate of Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences, National Science Foundation (on leave from the UW-La Crosse)

Visiting Professor, September - December, 1998, Department of Geography, University of Caen, Normandy, France

Director of Cartography Laboratory, also Graduate Faculty, 1981 - 1993, (Professional/Academic Appointment), Dept. of Geography, University of Minnesota

Visiting Instructor, September - December, 1983, Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Head of Cartographic Unit, 1974 - 1981, East-West Population Institute, The East-West Center, Honolulu, HI.

United Nations' appointed Cartographic Adviser to the Government of Indonesia, May 1979, Central Bureau of Statistics, Jakarta, invited and funded by UNDP (United Nations Development Programme)

Director of Cartography Lab, also Instructor, 1973 - 74, Dept. of Geography, Univ. of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

MEMBERSHIPS (past and present): 

    Association of American Geographers; American Geographical Society; North American Cartographic Information Society; National Council on Geographic Education; National Council on Social Studies; Canadian Cartographic Society; CaGIS; ACSM; ACA; ASPRS; ICA US Corresponding Member of Commission on Census Mapping; Wisconsin Academy of Sciences; Wisconsin Geographical Society

TEACHING: 

    1993 – 2010: Taught more than a dozen undergraduate and graduate courses at five different universities (including online courses); served as advisor to 2 doctoral students and 10 masters’ degree students. 

RESEARCH INTERESTS :

Geographic Information Science; Precision farming; Map Design and Cognitive processes; Regional geography of China and East Asia; World Regions; Multimedia Cartography and Cartographic Animation; K-12 Geographic education and curricula development; Spatial visualization and spatial thinking

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES:

Consultancy: Serving as consultant to the National Atlas of Korea, Vol. I; Co-editor of the English language version of National Atlas of Korea, Vols. II and III (with Jongnam Choi); currently co-authoring The National Atlas of Korea, Vol. IV (with Everett A. Wingert).

Editing: Editor, 2002 – 2009, FOCUS on Geography, a general audience quarterly journal of the American Geographical Society, New York; edited a total of 140 scholarly articles in 25 issues.

Chu, Gregory, and Barbara Buttenfield, Guest Editors, Cartographic Perspectives, North American Cartographic Information Society (the major cartography journal in the U.S.), #27, August, 1997

Reviews: Reviewed a total of 14 scholarly articles and one animated digital atlas; reviewed over 1000 research grant proposals as Geography and Regional Science Program Director at the National Science Foundation. Also co-reviewed (with Darryl Napton) the Department of Geography, Minnesota State University - Mankato.

National Science Foundation Panel Meetings: chaired or served on 12 NSF panels

Publications: 27 scholarly articles; a middle school geography textbook titled myWorldGeography, published by Pearson Education, 2011 (Lead author: Gregory Chu; co-authors Susan Hardwick and Don Holtgrieve) complete with teachers' aids, interactive materials, student workpages, worldwide photographs, videos, charts, and maps (944 pages) and also delivered as an online course in addition to the printed book.

Published a second middle school social science textbook, titled Contemporary World Cultures, published by Pearson Texas, first printing in September, 2014, (Lead author: Gregory Chu; co-authors Susan Hardwick and Don Holtgrieve). 

Published a third book,  titled myWorldGeography Interactive by Savvas Learning Co., formerly Pearson Educations (Lead author: Gregory Chu; co-author Don Holtgrieve).

Presentations: 82 oral presentations in regional, national, and international conferences.

Funded Grants and Contracts since joining UW-La Crosse: 26 funded grants totaling $496,866, including three from the National Science Foundation and one from the U.S. Geological Survey

Workshops taught: 20 mapping workshops taught at international, national, state, and university conferences      

Maps Published (major projects only): Animated Maps Broadcasted: Consultant and Supervisor, animated maps for Geog. 3111, Geography of Minnesota, broadcasted on KTCA Channel 17 (PBS), St. Paul, MN, as a ten-week half-hour episode; Maps published: hundreds of individual large format sheet maps (many for geologic atlases); thousands of small format maps in 21 books; thousands of small format maps in professional and scholarly journals since 1970; hundreds in Reports for four U.S. Geological Survey professional papers.

Recently published article and atlases 

Chu, Gregory, Chul Sue Hwang, and Jongnam Choi. 2019,  "A Glimpse into the Geography of North Korea."  The Geography Teacher (Journal of the National Council on Geographic Education,) 16:4, 150-169. 

Chu, Gregory, 01/31/2019, “Foreign Investment Dilemma: Real Estate on Jeju Island, Korea,” FOCUS on Geography, Journal of the American Geographical Society, Vol. 62 Taylor and Francis, https://www.focusongeography.org/publications/articles/jeju/index.html

Chu, Gregory, Chul Sue Hwang, Jongnam Choi, Doug Anersen, Ken Keller, Michael Robinson, and Kelly Swanson. 2016,  "Teaching Spatial Thinking With The National Atlas of Korea: A Valuable Resource for Advanced Placement Human Geography."  The Geography Teacher, 13(4), 166-178, Journal of the National Council on Geographic Education. 

Reviewer. 2014. The National Atlas of Korea, Vol.I, http://nationalatlas.ngii.go.kr/pages/page_1.php 

Co-editor. 2016. The National Atlas of Korea, Vol.II,  http://nationalatlas.ngii.go.kr/pages/page_1.php

Co-editor. 2016. The National Atlas of Korea, Vol.III, http://nationalatlas.ngii.go.kr/pages/page_1.php

Chu, Gregory, and Everett Wingert. 2018 The National Atlas of Korea: Comprehensive Edition (Vol.IV), http://nationalatlas.ngii.go.kr/pages/page_1.php.