Areas of interest

GIS, Spatial Analysis, Active Transportation

Education

• PhD, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo
• MSc, University of Victoria.
• BSc (with Distinction, Honours) University of Victoria

Biography

Trisalyn Nelson is joining the Department of Geography at UCSB as Jack and Laura Dangermond Endowed Chair of Geography. Dr. Nelson joined USCB from Arizona State University where she has been the Director of the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning since 2016. Prior, she was professor and director of the Spatial Pattern Analysis and Research Lab at the University of Victoria, Canada.

As a researcher, Dr. Nelson and her team develop and apply spatial and spatial-temporal analyses to address applied questions in a wide range of fields from ecology to health. Currently, her research focuses on active transportation, and the use of big data and analytics to better plan healthy cities. Nelson led the creation of BikeMaps.org, a web-map and app to gather volunteered geographic information on cycling collisions and near misses. With her team, she has developed new ways of using fitness app data (like Strava) to create maps of bicycling volume useful for transportation planning. Nelson's uses BikeMaps.org and other big data to quantify and monitor patterns of urban cycling safety and ridership.