My interests include landscape ecology, vegetation disturbance and dynamics, remote sensing, and human impacts on ecosystems. See my CV (pdf) for more about my background or the publications below if you would like to know more.

Prospective Students
I am looking for new students for either the MA Geography program or PhD program in Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology for Fall 2012. Please note that I do not have funding to support a post-doctoral researcher. Please see if my research fits your interests, then follow the links to the graduate programs above, or contact me.

Current Project

I am currently researching invasion dynamics of an exotic understory shrub species (Lonicera maackii)  funded by a USDA National Research Initiative (NRI) Competitive Grant on the Biology of Weedy and Invasive Species in Agroecosystems ($376,940). See the Resasco et al. paper below for a pilot study on this subject and Wilfong et al. paper for another project from the grant.

Fire Ecology

I have also done research using remote sensing to study to fire in chaparral (Southern California) and pine-oak forests (Southern Arizona). I am also currently wrapping up a project testing different techniques to map fires in Ocala National Forest, Florida (see Henry 2008 publication below).

Geographic Education

I also have interests in geographic & earth science education at the university- and K12-levels, including the use of GIS, remote sensing, and GPS in the classroom. See this link for information on a past NSF proposal. I have recently joined the Steering Committee for the Ohio Geographic Alliance.

I am always doing 'informal research' through my own teaching, and participated in a faculty learning community on the scholarship of teaching (2003-2004). My work during this program focused on my GEO121 class (Intro Physical Geography) and included development of my own set of lab exercises for the course, which are completely computer-based (click here for a sample lab on climate change). I have not quantitatively assessed the impact of this change (from traditional labs to computer-based), but hope to conduct more formal research (on this and related topics) in the future

Publications

Gillen, J., L. Skryzhevska, M. C. Henry, J. Green (2010) Map Interpretation Instruction in Introductory Textbooks: A Preliminary Investigation, Journal of Geography, 109:181-189. (pdf)

Bryan N. Wilfong, David L. Gorchov, and Mary C. Henry (2009) Detecting an Invasive Shrub in Deciduous Forest Understories Using Remote Sensing, Weed Science, 57:512-520.(pdf) *graduate student first author*

Winn N., C. E. Williamson, R. Abbitt, K. Rose, W. Renwick, M. Henry and J. Saros (2009) Modeling dissolved organic carbon in subalpine and alpine lakes with GIS and remote sensing, Landscape Ecology, 24(6):807-816. (pdf) *graduate student first author*

Henry, M. C. (2008) Comparison of single- and multi-date Landsat data for mapping wildfire scars in Ocala National Forest, Florida, Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 74(7):881-891. (pdf)

Resasco, J., A. N. Hale, M. C. Henry, and D. L. Gorchov (2007) Detecting an invasive shrub in a deciduous forest understory using late-fall Landsat sensor imagery, International Journal of Remote Sensing, 28(15-16):3739-3745. (pdf) *REU student first author*

Maingi, J. K. and Henry, M. C., (2007) Factors influencing wildfire occurrence and distribution in eastern Kentucky, USA, International Journal of Wildland Fire, 16(1):23-33. (pdf)

Henry, M. C. and S. R. Yool, (2005) The Sensitivity of SIR-C Backscatter to Fire-Related Forest Spatial Patterns, GIScience & Remote Sensing, 42(1):19-43. (pdf)

Henry, M. C. and S. R. Yool, (2004) Assessing relationships between forest spatial patterns and fire history with fusion of optical and microwave remote sensing, Geocarto International, 19(2):25-37. (pdf)

Henry, M. C. and S. R. Yool, (2002) Characterizing Fire-Related Spatial Patterns in the Arizona Sky Islands using Landsat TM Data, Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 68(10); 1011-1019. (pdf)

Maingi, J. K., M. C. Henry, W. M. Luhn (2001) Assessing Forest Damage by the Southern Pine Beetle in the Daniel Boone National Forest, Kentucky, p. 27-34 in Papers and Proceedings of the Applied Geography Conferences, Volume 24, Fort Worth, Texas, November 14 - 17.

Henry, M. C. and A. S. Hope (1998) Monitoring Post-Burn Recovery of Chaparral Vegetation in Southern California using Multi-Temporal Satellite Data, International Journal of Remote Sensing, 19:3097-3107. (pdf)