Alan M. MacEachren is Professor Emeritus of Geography at Penn State. His career has focused on cartography, data visualization, visual analytics, spatial cognition, and geographic information retrieval, with applications in public health, crisis management, and environmental science. During 42 years in academia, he authored two books (How Maps Work: Representation, Visualization, and Design and some Truth with Maps: A Primer on Symbolization and Design), co-edited many scientific publications, and authored or co-authored well over 200 research papers. Recent awards include: The International Cartographic Association’s Carl Mannerfelt Gold Medal (2021), the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science Research Award (2022), and the Cartography and Geographic Information Society Distinguished Career Award (2022). MacEachren’s long career included travel to many parts of the world, offering chances to pursue a non-academic avocation – birding. Starting in 1991, his “life list” is 1,519 bird species. He has posted over 7000 eBird reports (from 22 countries), including 1629 eBird reports from sites in Pennsylvania in 2021.<br> <br>
