Rate My Professor Ashton Shortridge

Ashton M. Shortridge is Professor and Chair of the Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences at Michigan State University. Born in Michigan but raised a Hoosier, he developed an early interest in geography. Shortridge earned a B.A. in Economics from Indiana University Bloomington, where he studied computer cartography, and a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He joined the Michigan State University Department of Geography in January 2001 and has progressed to full professor. In addition to his departmental leadership role, Shortridge serves as Director of the Social Science Data Analytics Initiative (SSDA) and the Center for Business and Social Analytics (CBSA). He is also involved in the Graduate Certificate in Spatial Ecology program.

Shortridge's research focuses on geographic information systems (GIS), spatial data analysis, and spatial data uncertainty. His publications address diverse topics including human-environment systems, health care access, Google Street View in health research, pastoral herd management, hospital bed distribution, species distribution modeling, and tiger attitudes in Nepal. Key works include 'Exploring complexity in a human–environment system: an agent-based spatial model for multidisciplinary and multiscale integration' (An et al., 2016), 'Measuring geographic access to health care: raster and network-based methods' (Delamater et al., 2012), 'Systematic review of the use of Google Street View in health research: Major themes, strengths, weaknesses and possibilities for future research' (Rzotkiewicz et al., 2018), 'Visualizing spatial data uncertainty using animation' (Ehlschlaeger et al., 1997), 'Geostatistics for conflation and accuracy assessment of digital elevation models' (Kyriakidis et al., 1999), 'Pastoral herd management, drought coping strategies, and cattle mobility in southern Kenya' (Butt et al., 2009), 'Do more hospital beds lead to higher hospitalization rates? A spatial examination of Roemer’s law' (Delamater et al., 2013), and 'Spatial structure and landscape associations of SRTM error' (Shortridge and Messina, 2011). Shortridge has contributed to diversity initiatives in geography, including as co-lead of the Advancing Geography Through Diversity Program.