Geographic data from satellites, GPS-enabled mobile devices, social media, and environmental monitoring networks are increasingly important in research and policy-making in diverse areas, including business, transportation, environment, and health. At the same time, geospatial technologies are becoming deeply embedded in people's everyday lives and experiences.

They emphasize methodological training in GIScience as the foundation for understanding and modeling these processes and for developing innovative new tools and methods. We also foster critical awareness of the roles of geospatial technologies in society. Areas of research emphasis include: CyberGIS, Big Data analytics, geovisualization, spatiotemporal analysis and modeling, analysis of human mobility (e.g., GPS trajectory analysis), satellite remote sensing, critical and qualitative GIS, spatial analysis, and GIS applications in ecology, health, urban studies, transportation, emergency response, fluvial geomorphology, and environmental justice. Faculty and students have strong connections with other units on campus including the National Center for Supercomputing Activities, the Prairie Research Institute, and the Blue Waters Supercomputing facility.