Rob Howard
M.S., Geology, East Carolina University
B.S., Geology (Environmental), East Carolina University
Research
Areas of Interest: Remote sensing methods for watershed-scale land cover change detection; Low-cost, connected sensor technologies for large-scale environmental monitoring; Imaging and reality capture technologies and their applications; Decision support tool design and implementation; GIS process automation and application development; Fostering entrepreneurship in the geosciences
My research interests are diverse, encompassing areas of hydrology, remote sensing, and geographic information science. Currently, I am working on projects mapping urban stormwater response using satellite-based synthetic-aperture radar; developing low-cost, connected environmental sensors; and, mapping the spread of COVID-19 across Eastern N.C.
For information regarding our COVID-19 work in ENC, please visit https://enchealth.org.
Recent Projects:
Evaluating Stormwater Retrofit Potential to Reduce Flood Impacts and Improve Water Quality in Urban Coastal Plain Communities (starting in 2022). Funded by the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office.
Eastern Region Community Health Needs Assessment (2021). Funded by Eastern AHEC.
Mapping of COVID-19 in Eastern N.C. Joint with Vidant Health (2020-2021). Funded by the COVID-19 Recovery Act. General Assembly, N.C. House Bill 1043 (Session Law 2020-4).
Publications
Park, Y. M., Kearney, G. D., Wall, B., Jones, K., Howard, R. J., & Hylock, R. H. (2021). COVID-19 Deaths in the United States: Shifts in Hot Spots over the Three Phases of the Pandemic and the Spatiotemporally Varying Impact of Pandemic Vulnerability. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(17), 8987. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18178987
Cooper, H. M., Wasklewicz, T., Zhu, Z., Lewis, W., LeCompte, K., Heffentrager, M., … & Howard, R. (2021). Evaluating the Ability of Multi-Sensor Techniques to Capture Topographic Complexity. Sensors, 21(6), 2105.
Manda, A. K., Etheridge, J. R., Grace‐McCaskey, C., Allen, T. R., & Howard, R. (2021). Are Groundwater Level Data Collected by Citizen Scientists Trustworthy? A Cautionary Tale. Groundwater, 59(1), 123-130.