|
SELECTED PROFESSIONAL
ACTIVITIES
-
Book Chapter (soon appearing): Challenges to herpetofaunal conservation in southern Honduras: a study from three protected areas in the Golfo de Fonseca region. by Thomas Akre, Robert Lovich, Mason Ryan, and Robert Ford.
-
Weekend special speaker for the San Diego chapter of Adventist Forum (SPECTRUM) at Pine Springs Ranch (May 2-4, 2008) where he along with other guest speakers made several presentations on the issue of GLOBAL SUSTAINABILITY AND CREATION CARE--see Spectrum BLOG which has sumarized the sessions and launched a vigorous debate... See PDF.
-
Using GIS/RS/GPS for SDI Capacity-building, PA and CZ Management in Northern Mesoamerica: The Loma Linda University’s (LLU) and University of Redlands (UR) Experience. (Powerpoint). GSDI_10 St. Augustine, Trinidad. February 2008.
-
Lesson's-learned
from a 2003-2006 USA-Honduras
NGO and University Geosciences Education Partnership in LULC Change
Analysis using Remote Sensing and GPS:
Loma Linda University’s
ESSE21
Project (PDF). Presentation at the American Geophysical Union (AGU)
- Annual Conference, San Francisco, CA,
December 13 and 14, 2006. Sessions:
ED43G, Geoscience Education in Latin America:
Opportunities for Interhemispheric Collaboration, and
ED34A: Twenty Years of Undergraduate Earth System
Science Education: What Have We Learned?.
-
Schulman Pavilion (Loma Linda University) public
presentation: Global
Food Security (PDF)
-
Schulman Pavilion (Loma Linda University) public
presentation: Sustainable
Development (Sustainability): Oxymoron or Ideal for Today?
(PDF)
-
SDI for
CZM (Coastal Zone Management), Biodiversity, and Protected Area
Management: Cases from Belize and Honduras (PDF).
GSDI-9,
Santiago Chile, November 6, 2006. Robert E. Ford - Special
invited workshop by USAID/FRAMEWEB -
ETA
(Environmental Trends Community). Knowledge
Sharing for the Natural Resources Community.
-
SCGIS (Society Conservation
GIS) Presentation - June 25, 2006, San Jose, CA - in
association with the SCB (Society for Conservation
Biology): PDF
Report (10MB) - Powerpoint
(64MB) = Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) for National
Development and Biodiversity Conservation.
Presented by: Dr.
Robert Ford, Loma
Linda University; Paul Burgess, The Redlands Institute;
Serene Ong, University of Redlands, MS GIS Program
-
Poster
(PDF 69 MB): Society for Marine
Mammalogy, Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals
12-16 December, 2005, Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego in San Diego,
CA.: The Use of Side Imaging Sonar to Study Manatees in Cuero y
Salado Wildlife Refuge, Honduras. Gonzalez-Socoloske, Daniel*;
Bacchus, Marie-Lys C.; Ford, Robert E.
-
Presentation
(PDF): SMBC, Society for Mesoamerican Biology and
Conservation Congress, November 22, 2005, La Ceiba Honduras: USAID/
MIRA (Proyecto Manejo Integrado de Recursos Ambientales)
Symposium: Biodiversidad en las Areas Protegidas de
Honduras: Resultados Preliminares de Estudios de Poblaciones de
Flora y Fauna: Nuevas Observaciones de Manati Antillano,
Trichechus manatus manatus, en la Costa Norte de
Honduras. -
UNAH - LLU Health Geoinformatics & Environmental GIS/RS
Workshop - Tegucigalpa Honduras (September 5-8, 2005): PPT
Presentations (Soret
PPT 66 MB- Ford
- PPT 68 MB - Foresman
PPT 77MB - Greer
PPT 15 MB) - AGENDA (Spanish
- DOC).
-
ESSE21 Poster - Fairbanks, Alaska Aug. 3-7,
2005 (PPT
7.9 MB) and ESSE21 Annual Meeting
PI-Report - Fairbanks, Alaska Aug. 3-7, 2005 (PPT
35.9 MB).
-
AGU (American Geophysical
Union) Annual Meeting Presentation, Dec. 15, 2004 - San Francisco,
CA : Launching an Undergraduate Earth System Science
Curriculum with a Focus on Global Sustainability: The LLU
Experience (PPT-85
MB) (PDF-10
MB)
-
Global Spatial Data
and Information User Workshop, SEDAC/CIESIN,
Columbia University, Lamont-Dahorty Earth
Observatory. September 21-23, 2004. Who Needs
SDI? (PPT -
59MB)
- GSA (Geological Society of America) Annual Meeting, Denver,
CO, November 2004. Poster session on Launching an
Undergraduate Earth System Science Curriculum with a Focus on Global
Sustainability: The LLU Experience (PPT 9.65
MB)
-
Status of Poverty-mapping Work by Loma Linda University
and the University of Redlands and other Partners - (PDF
- 12 MB) (PPT
Powerpoint - 79 MB ) (LLU-SST),
with the University of
Redlands (U of R) and other partners: CSUP-CGISR,
CEEMaST with ESSE21 - Presented
at ESRI User Conference, San
Diego, CA July 2004 as part of special
session on Poverty
Mapping with
(CGIAR, FAO, FIVIMS, UNEP, USAID, World
Bank...
-
Left
vs. Right Brain GIS: Reflections on the GISD Initiative
(PDF)
- Presented as Keynote Speaker 14th
Annual Virginia GIS Conference
October 27 - 28 , 2003
sponsored by Virginia Association of Planning District Commissions
and the Richmond Regional
Planning District Commission. A version was also presented a the
ESRI/University of Redlands, MS-GIS Symposium
Series (February, 2004).
Major Tasks (2003-2008):
1. As of March 2008 Robert Ford is a Senior Development Consultant with GPCI (Geographic Planning Collaborative, Inc.) based in Running springs, CA. The GPCI team is currently helping over the next year to implement the AGEDI project in Abu Dhabi, and assist in reorganizaing the Environment Agency of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
2. ESSE21 grantee ( http://esse21.usra.edu/)
College and University Earth System Science Education in the 21st
Century . New partner starting October 2004. See
some of the resources produced, e.g. ESSE21 -
LULC Module - Cases of Coastal Zone Change from Mesoamerica
as well as Mesoamerica
Projects page: Manatees,
herpetofauna,
conservation
GIS/NRM, water
resources project , landscape ecology, etc.
3.
Biodiversity assessment, management, and monitoring in
(
Honduras field research): focus on Manatee, Herpetofauna, and other
"flagship species" at key protected areas on the north
and Pacific cCoast of
Honduras (see photo
gallery July 2004). More fieldwork planned over the
next few years (follow plans and implementation HERE) –
see webpage = http://resweb.llu.edu/rford/courses/ESSC5xx/may99.html
- reconnaissance/planning trip July
2004. Overview Report on Plans to
FUCSA (La Ceiba, Honduras) - June 2005 = (PPT
- 60 MB) (PDF
- 13.7 MB). Partner was the USAID/MIRA project in Hondura.
-Manatee final report (PDF) - English
- Spanish
-Herpetofauna report (PDF) - English
- Spanish
-SCGIS Workshop Presentation - SDI (Spatial Data
Infrastructure) for NRM (Natural Resource Management):
SCB (Society for Conservation
Biology): PDF
Report (10MB) - Powerpoint
(64MB) = Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) for National
Development and Biodiversity Conservation: Presented by:
Dr.
Robert Ford, Loma
Linda University; Paul Burgess, The Redlands Institute;
Serene Ong, University of Redlands, MS GIS
Program
3. Poverty Mapping in Coastal
Tanzania with: TCMP
( Tanzania Coastal Management Partnership), University of Rhode Island ,
Coastal Resources
Center. Developing Webmap application using Internet Map
Server technology in cooperation with the University of Redlands (U of R),
MS-GIS
program (technical assistance by Adrian Fitzgerald, MS Student, U of R,
and Gideon Mazinga , PhD student at LLU).
4.
Book Review (Economic Geography): Global
Change and Local Places, Association of American
Geographers.
5. ESSE21 Poster -
Fairbanks, Alaska Aug. 3-7, 2005 (PPT
7.9 MB) and ESSE21 Annual Meeting PI-Report
- Fairbanks, Alaska Aug. 3-7, 2005 (PPT
35.9 MB).
6. AAG (Association of American
Geographers) – March 2004, Denver. Panel member
on “international GIS Education”.
7. AGU (American Geophysical Union) Annual
Meeting Presentation, Dec. 15, 2004 - San Francisco , CA :
Launching an Undergraduate Earth System Science Curriculum with a Focus on
Global Sustainability: The LLU Experience (PPT-85
MB) (PDF-10
MB).
8. Presentation/Proceedings: Global Spatial Data
and Information User Workshop, SEDAC/CIESIN,
Columbia University , Lamont-Dahorty Earth Observatory.
September 21-23, 2004. Who Needs SDI? ( PPT -
59MB).
9. SAG Award (Special Achievement Award in GIS)
at ESRI User’s Conference: July 2003, San Diego, CA. See
= http://www.esri.com/library/newsletters/federal-gisconnections/fedgis-fall03.pdfAward
received for efforts managing the GISD Initiative with USAID, State
Department and others (GISD).
10. Proposal Planning and submission to
NSF--Title: GEO-TASK - Geographic Tools and
Applications for Sustainable Development and Knowledge (with
the Association of American Geographers and other partners) - see: http://www.aag.org/geotask/ - Will
(if funded) develop series of 15 case studies on Global Health
Toolkit.
Major Tasks (2003):
Starting August 2003 Dr. Ford became a Professor of International
Sustainable Development and Social Policy in the Department of Social Work and Social
Ecology, School of Science and Technology,
Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA 92350. In 2003 he has been
involved in the following:
1. Keynote Speaker: 14th Annual
Virginia GIS Conference. Presentation: Left vs. Right Brain GIS: Reflections on the GISD Initiative
(PDF).
2. Supervise graduate students in "sustainable development":
Gideon Mazinga (Malawi) and George Ndzimiri (Zimbabwe) and
others.
3. Symposium Chair and
Presenter: American Society of
Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
52nd Annual Meeting.
Philadelphia, PA December 3-7, 2003. Panel entitled: Medical
Information Systems and the Spatial Data Infrastructure Initiative in
Africa. Robert Ford
presented summary and state-of GISD project and
initiative.
4. Proposal Planning
and submission--Title: Health, Environment, Livestock and People: An
International Learning Community submitted December 12, 2003 for funding by the Fulbright
Educational Partnerships Program (ECE/A/S/U-04-03), Bureau of Educational
and Cultural Affairs, Department of State.
(2001-2003) USAID Major Tasks:
Formerly (August 1999 - July 2003) Dr. Ford was a Senior
Natural Resources Planner and Policy Advisor for the U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID),
Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade (EGAT),
Office of Natural Resources Management (NRM), Land Resource Management
Team (LRMT). During his tenure with USAID he worked on
Special Initiatives such as climate adaptability, land degradation
in drylands, ICT (Information and Communications Technology)
focusing on Geospatial Information Systems (GIS)--see Geo-IT
CoP--sustainable tree-crops, agricultural resource
management, and policy analysis for key environmental conventions, e.g. UNCCD, UNFCCC. In the recent past he was
a co-Manager of the RAISE
Project.
1. Worked on Special Initiatives such as
climate adaptability, land degradation in drylands, ICT (Information and
Communications Technology) focusing on Geospatial Information Systems
(GIS), sustainable tree-crops, agricultural resource management, and
policy analysis for key environmental conventions, e.g. UNCCD, UNFCCC .
2. Helped organize and manage three projects which
are part of an IWG (Interagency Working Group) focused on the
World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) held in
Johannesburg, South Africa, August 14 - September 7, 2002--see:
GISD -
Geographic Information for Sustainable Development
MyCOE - My
Community, Our Earth
Geo-IT CoP -
Geographic Information Technologies, Community of Practice within
USAID
Some of the partners in the collaboration included the OGC (OpenGIS
Consortium) NRC/NAS (National Research Council), NASA, USDA,
State Department, USGS, NOAA, WRI (World Resources
Institute), FAO/Africover, UNEP-DEWA in Nairobi, and
many other partners within the growing GISD "alliance" based both in the
US, Europe and in Africa. Read more about it from the following PDF
document GISD
Prospectus/Overview Document or see Factsheet on GISD.
See a report on GISD activities at WSSD; other GISD-WSSD
presentations are also available.
3. As
part of the GISD
planning process and alliance building endeavours, Dr. Ford organized and
ran three overseas workshops in Asmara, Bamako and Nairobi (in
Africa)--see workshops listed under GISD-Supported Events .
4. He also helped plan, fund, and manage a
major international conference entitled: GASSIA (Geospatial
Applications in Support of Sustainable International
Agriculture)--held May 19-31, 2002 at EROS Data Center (USGS) in Sioux
Falls, South Dakota.
5. Organized and
implemented a new Geo-IT CoP (Geographic
Information Technologies, Community of Practice) within USAID.
It is part of the broader USAID/EGAT KM (Knowledge Management)
activities.
(1999-2000) Major tasks:
- Help design and implement a new Hillside Agriculture Program
(HAP for USAID/Haiti
),
- Assisted in science and policy support activities focused on
"soil carbon sequestration and climate change", e.g. helped
organize a global conference in Geneva, Switzerland jointly with WMO,
FAO, IFAD, and USAID as
well as participation with a World Federation
of Scientists, Permanent Monitoring Panel (PMP) on
Desertification and Soil Carbon Sequestration--see
symposium in Erice,
Sicily (August 2000) which was part of a conference on Planetary
Emergencies .
- Promotion and liason with the specialty coffee, cocoa and other
tree-crop sectors in Latin America involved with managing the
"global smallholder coffee crisis" and related market and
environmental/land management problems, e.g. developing an MOU
(Memorandum of Understanding) with the Specialty Coffee Association
of America (SCAA ) and
collaborating with related organizations such as the Consumer's
Choice Council (CCC )
for promotion of socially and environmentally sustainable production
within the smallholder coffee sector. See the as well as the
Conservation Principles for Coffee Production of the Consumer's
Choice Council and the USAID/Peru Conservation or "Bird-Friendly" coffee
project (done in collaboration with USGS-EDC
"Sustainable Tree-Crop Program") focusing particularly on
Guatemala, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic in USAID/LAC Bureau.
- Management of the RAISE IQC
and promotion of two thematic groups focused on sustainable
ecotourism and livestock production/range management,
- Planning and implementation of a new IAA (Inter-Agency Agreement)
between USAID and
USGS-EDC (GASSIA )
focused on capacity-building within the land-grant university
CRSP community (Collaborative
Research Support Programs ), IARCs (International
Agricultural Research Centers--CGIAR Centers ) who utilize
geospatial technologies in analysis, monitoring and development work
within agriculture and natural resource management.
(1999 May) - Leader of travel-study tour and
reconstruction project in areas of Honduras affected by
Hurricane Mitch (see ESSC 575
fieldcourse on this project as well as Selected
Trip Pictures and Pre
& Post Hurricane Mitch Pictures). See Honduras,
travel, geology,
Bay Islands/Roatan.
(1999 - April) - Participant in IAI / ESSE Workshop on Coastal Systems
- Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Presentation on use of the
internet and other digital resources for teaching ESS (Earth System
Science) and for research on coastal zone management in Latin
America. Part of collaborative project between ESSE and IAI (Interamerican Institute for Global
Change Research) which is part of START .
(1997 and 1998) IIE - Institute of International
Education/Fulbright Selection Committee Member - Central America
and the Caribbean. San Francisco December 1997 and Denver 1998.
(1998) Fulbright Fellowship: January - August
1998 in Honduras. Teaching / Research grant worth $26,000. Started
global change research study on the Mosquito Coast. See Honduras,
travel, geology,
Bay Islands/Roatan.
(1997/1998) Consulting / Academic Advisor to the Woodrow Wilson Foundation National
Leadership Program Summer Workshop on "Earth / Environmental
Systems"--1997 /
1998 .
(1997) Special collaborative Internet-based course
done in cooperation with UCSB and the - Global
Dialogues Project (Hurley, Ford, Proctor). Article in
Journal of Geography, Vol 99 (3) May-June 1999.
(1997 Nov) AGU Presentation - on Using the
Internet in the Geosciences - Washington, D.C.
(1997) External Committee Member - Doctoral
Dissertation Defense Committee in Geography: Simon Batterbury,
Graduate School of Geography, Clark University, Worcester, MA.
September 12, 1997. Topic: The political ecology of environmental
management in semi-arid West Africa: case studies from the Central
Plateau, Burkina Faso.
(1997) Participant in IAI / Initial Startup Grant
Workshop (Interamerican Institute for Global Change Research)--IAI -- in conjunction with NSF-funded
planning grant given to ESSE/USRA (Earth System Science Education /
University Space Research Association) - workshop held early February
1997at San Diego State University.
(1997) Trainer / consultant: ADRA/International in Peru, Costa Rica,
Thailand - trainer in course entitled: "Food Security Implementation"
(February - May 1997 - 10 days each location).
(1996) Appointed a Director of th AAG - HDGCSG (Association of American
Geographers, Human Dimensions of Global Change Specialty Group);
also the creator and manager of the SGs homepage in collaboration with
James Hipple of the University of Utah Department of Geography. April 1996
at Annual AAG meetings in Charlotte, NC.
(1996-1997) Participant in the VGD
(Virtual Geography Department) -
-funded by NSF--under Kenneth Foote, Department of Geography, University
of Texas, Austin. Coordinator and homepage manager for the EES
(Earth's
Environment and Society) working group of the VGD.
The goal of this project is to publish and put online high quality
"courseware"--using active learning approaches to pedagogy--for the
geography and earth science community. Participant in the First
International Virtual Geography Department Workshop, 2 - 15 June, 1996
in Austin, TX and Third
Workshop - June 1998. Published Hands-on module on Human Impacts on
LULC (Land Use / Land Cover Change).
(1995) Member of the Innovative Advisory
Committee of the Thrasher Research Fund, Salt Lake City.
Reviews and evaluates proposals (scientific and humanitarian) to fund
projects focused on improving child health around the world.
(1995) USRA/ESSE/NASA Grant Recipient :
Cooperative University-Based Program in Earth System Science Education.
From USRA/NASA ESSE
project. About $32,500 per year for 2 years ($65,000 in
direct and indirect grants)-- other funding for travel and interchange
goes for five years--to carryout innovative teaching and materials
production for introductory and senior-level courses in ESS (Earth System
Science) using hi-tech instructional technology, e.g., the World Wide Web
and the Internet and multimedia.
(1995) Appointed member of editorial board for
NASA/ESSE electronic textbook/journal publication committee: will
review and test multimedia/hypertext documents, (e.g. articles, teaching
modules, textbooks) to be published on the NASA/ESSE World-Wide-Web
server. Effective as of June 28, 1995.
(1995) Participant--
AAG - HDGCSG (College Commission on Geography II) project (see under
Education). Participated in the workshop entitled: Hands-on: Developing
Active Learning Modules on the Human Dimensions of Global
Change held at Clark University, June 19-25, 1995. Served
as an evaluator and user of college-level active learning modules being
developed under the auspices of this NSF-funded program.
(1995) Leader-organizer--travel-study tour to
Mexico and Honduras: May-term, 1995 and 1999
for Westminster
College of Salt Lake City. Led twelve students and three
faculty on inter-disciplinary field-oriented course entitled: Mexico and
the Mosquito Coast (22-day trip with three-day pre-course lecture
sessions).
(1995) Appointed regional coordinator--Utah
Geographic Olympiad (Salt Lake area): Organization of all-day events
and competition in geography and orienteering for teams coming from over
25 middle and high schools.
(1995) Organized a series of faculty workshops
during Spring semester 1995 on How to Use the Internet in Teaching and
Research. Conducted more than ten two-hour sessions with 30+ faculty
from Nursing, Arts and Sciences, and Business.
(1994) Co-Founder/Steering Committee Member: New
AAG/Human Dimensions of Global Change Specialty Group ( AAG - HDGCSG ). Association of
American Geographers.
(1994) Consultant: EPAT/USAID
Project--Population-Environment Relations in Africa: In collaboration
with Scott Grosse and others at the University of Michigan, Department of
Population Policy and International Health (contract for over $5500 for
about a year of part time assistance: literature review, editorial help,
etc.) Focus on lessons to be learned from the Rwanda tragedy re:
population-environment nexus.
(1994) ASA Annual Meetings 1994, Toronto. Paper
: Settlement Structure Change in Burkina Faso: the Case of Northern
Yatenga. November 3, 1994 (African Studies Association).
(1994) Co-Director/Tour leader: field practicum
course in Integrated Community Development (Loma Linda University, School
of Public Health, Department of International Health); lecture and field
training for MPH students in Costa Rica and Honduras, Central America.
July.
(1994) Participant/presentor: ICSE
Conference/Tufts University, Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy. The
Population-Environment Equation: Implications for Environmental Security.
June.
(1994) Appointed curriculum committee member:
USRA/ESSE/NASA planning project: creation of interactive/electronic
textbooks for Earth System Science. June.
(1993) Great Issues Forum speaker, Utah State
University, October 15, 1993: Famine in Africa, a Constrastive
Perspective.
(1993) Participant/expert witness to second
African-African American Summit, (for sub-group on Agriculture and
Development) Libreville, Gabon, May 23-29.
(1993) Participant/member special NSF/AAG
Workshop on Global Environmental Change held April 5-6, 1993 Atlanta,
Georgia.
(1993) Organizer/Co-Chair, Special Theme Panel
on Enterprise for the Americas at the Annual ISA Conference, Acapulco,
Mexico, March 23-28, 1993.
(1993) ICSE/SORISTEC Conference Participant
(International Consortium for the Study of Environmental Security). Held
January 6-9, 1993 in Chantilly, France. Geopolitics of the Environment
and the New World Order: Limits, Conflicts, and Insecurity. I
presented a paper entitled: Analysis of Famine Vulnerability in
Sahelian Africa: is 'Environmental Security' the right paradym?
(1992) Evaluator/Consultant: under contract
through IDA (Institute for Development Anthropology), Binghamton, New York
for Catholic Relief Services in Ghana and Burkina Faso (October 20
- November 10, 1992). Evaluation of Institutional Support Grant
funded by USAID to CRS for PL-480 program management.
(1988-93) Workshop trainer and Mexico Summer Tour
Leader: Utah Geographic Alliance (summers 1988-1992), in collaboration
with Utah State University and National Geographic Society, c/o Clifford
Craig.
(1991-92) Research grant received from David M.
Kennedy Center for International Studies, Brigham Young University,
1991-1992 ($5,100), plus College of Family and Social Sciences ($3000);
Field research, study entitled: "Human agency and ecological change
in Yatenga, Burkina Faso".
(1991) External doctoral defense member ,
University of Laval, Quebec City, Canada June 1991. Dissertation by Paule
Simard: Travail, autonomie et developpement des femmes Bambara.
(1987-92) Evaluator of USAID/funded development
projects: under PL-480 for ADRA/International, Department of
Evaluation, Silver Spring, MD 20904 Tel. (301) 680-6374:
1) ISG Final Evaluation, Bolivia and Peru, April-May, 1992
(team-leader).
2) ISG Mid-Term Evaluation, Haiti May 1991 (member).
3) Enhancement Grant Evaluation (Rwanda & Ghana), March-June 1990
(team leader).
4) Food Security Assessment, ADRA/Malawi, March 1990
(team leader).
5) Other short term consultancies and projects with
ADRA/Haiti over several years.
(1984-present) Adjunct Associate Professor of
International and Environmental Health (part time), Loma Linda
University, School of Public Health Loma Linda/CA.
(1990) Trainer in cross-cultural relations
special workshop at Avondale College,Cooranbong, New South Wales,
Australia January 3-11, 1990 (Institute of World Missions, Andrews
University, Berrien Springs, MI 49104).
(1982-83) External consultant & Evaluator :
Department of Evaluation, World Vision International, under Judy
Hutchinson (1982-1983); design of project monitoring systems.
(1984-87) First academic dean/planner and
administrator for new private francophone university in Gisenyi,
Rwanda (1984-1987)-Universite Adventiste de l'Afrique Centrale.
(1984-87) Coordinator of extension/development
programs Adventist University of Central Africa, Gisenyi, Rwanda,
Central Africa (1984-1987): several projects/programs, e.g. OXFAM
translation of primary health care manual; GATE (German Appropriate
Technology Exchange) lava rock building block project; Child Survival
project; Rwanda government/PVO natural resources & tourism
conservation conferences; rural clinic planning and development;
ADRA/International Pan-African Development Workshop; Rwanda/AUCA summer
CERAI teacher training projects.
(1979-82) Coordinator of rural/field activities
Department of International Health Extension Program (Loma Linda
University) in: Haiti, Puerto Rico, Central America, South America;
organizer of International Resource Room; organizer of summer field work.
(1980) Member field research team preparing
comprehensive health plan for the Marshall Islands, Fall, 1980 (Department
of Energy).
(1979) Expedition member with National
Geographic Society to arid lands of PROC (China) in association with the
Academia Sinica.
(1975-78) Field research project (eighteen
months) under contract with University of California on USAID/211-d
grant project in Burkina Faso with ICRISAT, IITA, ORSTOM, CILSS, etc.
TOP OF PAGE -
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PUBLICATIONS
Book Chapter (soon appearing): Challenges to herpetofaunal conservation in southern Honduras: a study from three protected areas in the Golfo de Fonseca region. by Thomas Akre, Robert Lovich, Mason Ryan, and Robert Ford.
ESSE21
- LULC Module - Cases of Coastal Zone Change from
Mesoamerica. Authors: Robert E. Ford, Sally Westmoreland, Aditya
Agrawal, Serene Ong, Miriam Cope, Jodye Selco and others. Tools for remote
sensing analysis using case material from Mesoamerica.
Along with other scientists Robert E. Ford is
developing college-level course materials for the enhanced study of ESS
(Earth Systems Science)--see the USRA/ESSE21
consortium. One of the modules he has adapted for the
web is also part of the VGD's
(Virtual Geography Department)--Hands-on module on
Human Impacts on
LULC (Land Use / Land Cover Change). An online
casebook entitled Geosystems Today: An
Interactive Casebook sponsored by John Wiley & Sons.
-Manatee final report (PDF) - English
- Spanish
- USAID/MIRA Biodiversity Assessments/Honduras.
-Herpetofauna report
(PDF) - English
- Spanish - USAID/MIRA Biodiversity Assessments/Honduras.
-SCGIS
Workshop Presentation - SDI (Spatial Data Infrastructure) for NRM (Natural
Resource Management).
Malone JB, Poggi E, Igualada FJ, Sintasath D, Ghebremeskel T, Corbett
JD, McCarroll JC, Chinnici P, Shilulu J, McNally KL, Downer R, Perich
M, Ford R. 2003. Environmental Risk Assessment of Malaria
in Eritrea. IGARSS 2003 Proceedings, Toulouse.
James M. Hurley, James D. Proctor, and Robert E. Ford. 1999.
Collaborative Inquiry at a Distance: Using the Internet in Geography
Education. Journal of Geography, Vol 98(3):128-140.
Ford, Robert E. and James Hipple. 1999. GeoSystems Today : an
Interactive Casebook. John Wiley
& Sons . This publication combines both a printed volume and WWW
digital publication.
Ford, Robert E. 1998. Settlement Structure and Landscape Ecology
in the Sahel: the Case of Northern Yatenga, Burkina Faso. In Rural
Settlement Structure and African Development. Edited by Marilyn
Silberfein. Boulder: Westview Press. Pp. 129-165.
Ford, Robert E. 1998. Settlement Structure and Landscape Ecology
in Humid Tropical Montane Rwanda. In Rural Settlement Structure and
African Development. Edited by Marilyn Silberfein. Boulder: Westview
Press. Pp. 169-205.
Ford, Ford, Robert E. 1996. The
Greater Salt Lake Ecosystem: An Online Learning Module and
Virtual Field Trip.
Ford, Robert E. 1996. Geographies of Global Change: Remapping
the World in the Late Twentieth Century. (Book Review) IN: Journal of
Geography. 96(6): 287-289.
Ford, Robert E. 1996. The Rwanda Tragedy: A Personal Reflection.
Hunger Notes. Summer 1996. Vol. 22, N0. 1 pp. 12-14. Brown
University, World Hunger Program Special Issue .
Ford, Robert E. 1996. Lessons Learned from using GIS/RS and as
Integrative Tool for Interdisciplinary Learning. Proceedings of IGARS '
96. Lincoln, NE May 27-31, 1996. Presentation No. 96.0891 (Hardbound
and CD-ROM versions).
Ford, Robert E. 1995. The Population-Environment Nexus and
Vulnerability Assessment in Africa. GeoJournal. 35(2): 207-216.
Ford, Robert E. 1994a. A Geographer Comments on 'Sex and the
Single Planet'. Human Ecology Forum. Summer/Autumn (1): 240-244.
_______________. 1994c. Book Review: IN Professional
Geographer . 46(1):118-119. Rural Livelihoods: Crises and
Responses. (edited by Harry Bernstein, Ben Crow and Hazel Johnson.)
Ford, Robert E. 1993. Marginal coping in extreme land pressures:
Ruhengeri, Rwanda. In Population Growth and Agricultural Change in
Africa. edited by B.L. Turner II, Robert Kates, and Goran Hyden.
Center for African Studies, University Press of Florida. Gainesville,
Florida.
Ford, Robert E. 1992. Humans and the Sahelian environment:
Human-Environment Interaction in Sahelian North Yatenga, Burkina Faso.
Research and Exploration. National Geographic Society.
8(4):460-475.
Ford, Robert E. and Valerie Hudson. 1992. The U.S. and Latin
America at the end of the Columbian Age: how America 'cut the Atlantic
umbilical cord' in 1992. Third World Quarterly. Vol. 13, No.3. pp.
441-462.
Valerie M. Hudson, Robert E. Ford, and David Pack with Eric R.
Giordano. 1991. Why the Third World matters, why Europe probably
won't; the geoeconomics of circumscribed engagement. Journal of
Strategic Studies. Vol. 14(3):255-298.
Ford, Robert E. 1991. Toponymic generics, environment and
culture history in Pre-Independence Belize. Names. Vol. 39
(1):1-25.
Ford, Robert E. 1990. The dynamics of human-environment
interactions in the tropical montane agrosystems of Rwanda: implications
for economic development and environmental stability. Mountain Research
and Development. Vol 10(1):43-63.
Ford, Robert E. 1988. Demographic change in Rwanda: implications
for economic and ecologic stability for tropical montane agro-ecosystems.
Culture and Agriculture. Fall:5-9.
Ford, Robert E. 1982. Subsistence Farming Systems in the
Semi-arid Northern Yatenga (Upper Volta). University of California,
Riverside. University Microfilms: Ann Arbor, Michigan.
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| BIOGRAPHICAL
SKETCH
Robert E. Ford was
born in Puerto Castilla, Honduras to expatriate Americans. He was raised
in Honduras (see travel, geology,
Bay Islands/Roatan) and
then later moved during his teen-age years to Belize, Costa Rica, and
Nicaragua. At the age of eighteen he came to Healdsburg, California for
the last year of high school and then went on for a B.A. in History,
Religion, and Spanish at Pacific Union College, in Angwin, California.
Subsequently he began study toward double masters degrees in Social
Anthropology and Public Health at Loma Linda University (1969-72).
See more about my family history and my ancestry
here.
In 1973 he joined the Loma Linda University School of Public Health,
first as a script-writer/producer in its Health Productions Unit and then
later the faculty. While at LLU he completed a Ph.D. in Cultural Geography
at the nearby University of California, Riverside. During 1975-1977 he was
on leave from LLU and worked for the University of California as a
Research Associate for a USAID funded 211-D grant project in then Upper
Volta (Burkina Faso). There he carried out farming systems and drought
adaptation/desertification (land degradation) research. During the various
periods he served Loma Linda University (1973-1983) he was most heavily
involved in administration and teaching in a new program in International
Health. While at LLU he also consulted for World Vision International and
other international agencies. This took him to the Marshall Islands,
Pakistan, Burkina Faso (then Upper Volta), Mexico, the Caribbean, and
Central America.
In 1983 Dr. Ford returned to Africa to help plan, build, and manage a
new francophone university--l'Université Adventiste de l'Afrique
Centrale, in Gisenyi, Rwanda, Africa. He became the institution's
first academic dean as well as coordinator of its extension and
development activities. While there he continued field research on rural
development and resource management issues in the humid montane regions of
East Africa. Upon his return to the U.S. in 1987 he entered academic and
research posts at Utah State University and Brigham Young University.
During his professional life Dr. Ford has functioned often as the key
social science member in multidisciplinary teams, integrating applied and
research personnel from, e.g. medicine, public health, natural resource
management, anthropology, agriculture, education, demography, political
science. In all, Dr. Ford has over 25 years experience working and living
in Latin America, Asia and Africa.
His own training is broad, including public health, history, physical
and cultural and political geography, social anthropology, and management,
much of it fieldwork-oriented. His research specialty is
cultural/political ecology, the study of nature-society relationships and
their policy/political implications for development. His regional
focus has been the arid/semi-arid and tropical montane regions of
Sub-Saharan Africa and Middle America. The current systematic focus of his
geographic research is population-natural resource relationships and
natural resource management issues--particularly sustainable development
and the human dimensions of global environmental change
(HDGC).
Between 1994 until August 1999 Dr. Ford was the first occupant of the
Kim T. Adamson Chair in International Studies at Westminster College
of Salt Lake City . His role was to internationalize the
curriculum and develop global consciousness among students and the faculty
and to serve as a catalyst and resource to all programs and
colleges. He was particularly involved in the environmental studies
and honors program. From 1993-1999 was an active member of
the ESSE21 (Earth System Science Education) network,
first at Utah State University (College of Natural
Resources ) and then at Westminster College. During most of
that time he helped manage a grant from NASA/USRA which helped
design and implement "integrated" web-based Earth System Science (ESS)
courses and learning materials--see ESSC 400-401
Earth Systems and Global Change - see also the project for
John Wiley & Sons
Publishers, entitled GeoSystems Today: An
Interactive Casebook.
From August 2003 - February 2008 Dr. Ford was a Professor of
International Sustainable Development and Social Policy in
the Department of Social Work and Social
Ecology, and Department of Earth and
Biological Sciences, School of Science and
Technology, Loma Linda
University, Loma Linda, CA 92350. Formerly (August 1999
- July 2003) he was a Senior Natural Resources Planner and
Policy Advisor for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Bureau for Economic
Growth, Agriculture and Trade (EGAT),
Office of Natural Resources Management (NRM), Land Resource Management
Team (LRMT). During his tenure with USAID he worked on
Special Initiatives such as climate adaptability, land degradation
in drylands, ICT (Information and Communications Technology)
focusing on Geospatial Information Systems (GIS)--see Geo-IT
CoP--sustainable tree-crops, agricultural resource
management, and policy analysis for key environmental conventions, e.g. UNCCD, UNFCCC. In the recent past he was
a co-Manager of the RAISE
Project. Over 2001-2003 he
helped organize and manage three special initiatives which are part of an
IWG (Interagency Working Group) which were focused on the World
Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) held in
Johannesburg, South Africa, August 14 - September 7, 2002--see some
of the results of those initiatives below:
GISD - Geographic
Information for Sustainable Development
MyCOE-GLSD - My
Community, Our Earth - Geographic Learning for Sustainable
Development
As of March 2008 Robert Ford is a Senior Development Consultant with GPCI (Geographic Planning Collaborative, Inc.) based in Running springs, CA. The GPCI team is currently helping over the next year to implement the AGEDI project in Abu Dhabi, and assist in reorganizaing the Environment Agency of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
For MORE Family Information
go HERE
....
From his personal
homepage or work homepage you
can see some of the Internet-based educational
materials he has prepared such as a Virtual Field Study on
the Greater Salt
Lake Ecosystem - and a Hands-on module on Human Impacts on
LULC (Land Use / Land Cover Change) --see also the ESSE21 project. He is also
heavily involved with the NSF-funded VGD/EES project ( Virtual
Geography Department - Earth’s
Environment and Society ). See also his casebook/website project
for John Wiley & Sons
Publishers, entitled: GeoSystems Today: An
Interactive Casebook .
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