Somayeh Dodge

Biography

Somayeh is an associate professor of spatial data science and runs the MOVE Lab (https://move.geog.ucsb.edu/) in the Department of Geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She also serves as an associate director to the Center for Spatial Studies and Data Science. Somayeh received her Ph.D. in Geography with a specialization in Geographic Information Science (GIScience) from the University of Zurich, Switzerland in 2011. She holds an MS degree in GIS Engineering and a BS degree in Geomatics Engineering from the KNT University of Technology, Iran. 

Somayeh is a recipient of the 2021 NSF CAREER award, and the 2022 Emerging Scholar Award from the Spatial Analysis and Modeling Specialty Group of the American Associations of Geographers. Somayeh's research focuses on developing data-driven analytics, machine learning, modeling, and visualization techniques to study movement in human and natural systems. Her research applies spatial data science and computational approaches to advance the knowledge and understanding of how movement patterns are formed in dynamic ecological and social systems. 

She has published in a number of high-ranked international journals such as Methods in Ecology and Evolution, International Journal of Geographic Information Science (IJGIS), Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Movement Ecology, Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, Geographical Analysis, and Information Visualization. Somayeh currently serves as the Co-Editor in Chief of the Journal of Spatial Information Science, and on the editorial board of multiple journals including Geographical Analysis, IJGIS, Journal of Location Based Services, and The Professional Geographer. At UCSB, Somayeh teaches introductory and advanced GIScience Courses, including Introduction to Geographic Information Science and Systems, Maps and Reasoning, and Analysis and Modeling of Movement.

Before joining the UC Santa Barbara faculty in July 2019, Somayeh worked as Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (2016-2019) and University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (2013-2016). Prior to that, Somayeh completed postdoctoral research at the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geodetic Engineering at The Ohio State University.

Research

My research focuses on developing data analytics, knowledge discovery, modeling, simulation, and visualization techniques to study movement and spatiotemporal processes. Our ability to study movement and its relationship to the environment can advance our understanding of social and ecological systems. My research on movement advances spatial data science and quantitative approaches to model problems such as human-wildlife conflicts, environmental change, natural hazards, spread of diseases, human mobility, and spatial interaction. Through interdisciplinary research, I aim to develop a broadly applicable analytical framework to unravel how movement patterns of individuals are driven by their behavior, their environment, and their interactions across multiple spatial and temporal scales.