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Doug Reardon is the Coordinator of the Global Studies Program and an Assistant Professor of Geography at Coppin State University, which is one of the country's Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in Baltimore, Maryland. He received his PhD in Geography from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1998. His research interests include human dimensions of environmental change, sustainable development and education.

At Coppin, he spearheads an initiative to enhance post-secondary education in Geography and in geospatial technologies, such as remote-sensing, and to improve the preparation of aspiring K-12 teachers with the infusion of NASA resources into the teacher-education curriculum. He serves as Principal Investigator for The Middle Passage Project an agenda for research in Geography and the Earth Sciences, for education, and for outreach, which employs an historical theme.

Currently Dr. Reardon manages two NASA projects: An investigation of land cover change in historic Cape Coast, Ghana, and an investigation of wind and ocean current patterns along the route of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Reardon was awarded a NASA Faculty Fellowship to work at the Laboratory for Terrestrial Physics in the Earth Sciences Directorate at Goddard Space Flight Center in the summers of 2003 and 2004. In 2003, Coppin presented Reardon with an award for educational excellence.

2004 Project Description

Dr. Douglas Reardon, from Coppin State University, is working with a NASA colleague, Dr. James R. Heirtzler, in the Laboratory for Terrestrial Physics, while on a Faculty Fellowship during the summer of 2004. This summer's research builds upon work begun as a fellow the previous summer and addresses Ecosystem change, which is a theme given priority by the laboratory and the Earth Sciences Directorate.

Reardon's work entails analysis of remotely-sense imagery of the Cape Coast region of Ghana. The foci of the research are: 1) on variability-discerning and describing how the region's environment is changing- and, 2) on forcing- identifying the causes of the observed changes. Population growth, urbanization, the ebb and flow of global trade in agricultural commodities, and an effort to conserve a portion of the region's forest are some dynamics that make the site worth study.

In addition the historical significance of the region to African Americans provides a rationale for the study. Several slave-trade era fortresses are located in the region, including three designated by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites. African-American heritage tourism factors largely in the Ghanaian government's economic development plans for the region and potentially in environmental conservation policies. Further, the research contributes to .The Middle Passage Project,. an agenda for research in the Earth Sciences, which seeks to enhance post-secondary and K-12 education in Geography and other STEM disciplines by developing unique curricular materials based on NASA resources.