Resume

• 2009

  Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

  Spatial Information Science and Engineering

  Alternative Breaks

  University of Maine

  IGERT

  Interdisciplinary Graduate Education and Research Trainee program through the NSF. Worked on a project concerning blind navigation in indoor spaces.

  Sensor Science

  Engineering

  and Informatics

  University of Maine

• 2003

  Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)

  Mathematics and Statistics

  Sigma Phi Epsilon

  Alternative Spring Break

  Honors College Advisory Council

  Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Team

  Phi Beta Kappa

  Pi Mu Epsilon

  Swing and Ballroom Dance Club

  University of Maine

  Business and Technical Writing

  Fundamentals of Wireless Communication

  Calculus I

  Grant Writing

  Calculus III

  Human Computer Interaction

  Educational Psychology in Math and Science

  Accounting

  Abstract Mathematics

  Academic Advising

  Calculus II

  Internet Marketing For Small Business

  Innovation Engineering

  Ethnomathematics

  College Teaching

  GIS Applications

  Complex Analysis

  Discrete Mathematics

  Database Design and Engineering

  Information Systems Law

  Verified Peer Reviewer

  Publons

• 1999

  High School Diploma

  Baseball

  Basketball

  Soccer

  Model State

  Mock Trial

  Model UN

  Academic World Quest

  Theater

  Band

  Chorus

  Carrabec High School

  Valedictorian

• 4.0

  English

  Master of Science (M.S.)

  Spatial Information Science and Engineering

  Alternative Spring Break

  University of Maine

• Childhelp®

  General Construction/Electrical

  Impact Ministries

  General Volunteer

  The Greater Richmond ARC

  General Volunteer

  James R. Jordan Center

  Cabin Counselor

  Camp Boggy Creek

  Child Life

  Frankie's World

  Soccer and Basketball Coach

  Special Olympics

  Meal Prep

  Distribution

  Food and Friends

  General Volunteer

  Boys and Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida

  Child Life Volunteer

  Florida Hospital

  General Construction

  Southern Appalachian Labor School

  Public Speaking

  Training

  Leadership

  Engineering

  Teaching

  Data Analysis

  GIS

  Teamwork

  PowerPoint

  Microsoft Excel

  Higher Education

  Research

  Time Management

  Leadership Development

  Java

  Microsoft Office

  Matlab

  Statistics

  Microsoft Word

  Database Design

  Partitions to Improve Spatial Reasoning

  The field of spatial reasoning has provided a litany of formal models and reasoning systems aimed at providing users with information about spatial tasks and concepts

  ranging from point-to-point distance measurements coming from sensors all the way to topological information coming from the interaction of multiple sensor readings. In this short paper

  the concept of using topology to augment partitions is addressed. Future work within the dissertation includes other partition-based relation theories

  including digital topological relations and surrounds configurations within a collection of objects.

  Partitions to Improve Spatial Reasoning

  Doctoral Dissertation

  Algebraic Refinements to Direction Relations through Topological Augmentation

  Max J. Egenhofer

  Surrounds is a topological relation that can exist between two regions or between collections of regions in ℝ2. This paper provides an algebraic construction for surrounds within a partition \nand provides a complementary graph-theoretic approach for the detection of the surrounds conditions created by the operations within the algebra. These two approaches are contrasted to one another. Constraints are placed upon surrounds to maintain certain algebraic benefits and the consequences of their relaxations are assessed.

  Surrounds in Partitions

  Max Egenhofer

  ACMGIS 2009

  Naive Geography’s premise “Topology matters

  metric refines” calls for metric properties that provide opportunities for finer grained distinctions than the purely qualitative topological\nrelations. This paper defines a comprehensive set of eleven metric refinements that apply to the eight coarse topological relations between two regions that the 9-intersection and the Region-Connection Calculus identify and develops the applicable value ranges for each metric refinement. It is shown that any topological relation between two regions can be derived uniquely from the conjunction of at most three such refinement specifications (i.e.

  pairs of metric refinements and\napplicable value ranges). The smallest set of refinement specifications that determine uniquely all eight relations resorts to six of the eleven metric refinements.

  Topological Relations from Metric Refinements

  Richard J. Powell

  Since the early 1800s

  partisans in state legislatures and redistricting commissions have been drawing congressional districts in order to win elections

  by splitting and grouping populations to promote their chances of victory--a process commonly known as gerrymandering. Past research finds that current levels of partisan polarization are at least partly due to gerrymandering (Carson et al 2007; Cox and Katz 2002; Engstrom and Kernell 2005; Mann and Ornstein 2006; Stonecash

  Brewer

  and Mariani 2003)

  although some studies suggest that geographic sorting accounts for much of this phenomenon (Chen and Rodden 2013; Powell

  Clark

  and Dube 2015). Building upon our prior work (Powell

  Clark

  and Dube 2015) in which we devised a method of creating repeated iterations of purely randomized House districts in each state

  this paper seeks to measure the extent to which states have been gerrymandered by examining the mathematical characteristics of district boundaries lines. Our prior research has found evidence that the disproportionate number of House seats won in recent years by Republicans is due to both intentional gerrymandering by Republicans in some states

  combined with a natural Republican advantage due to the clustering of Democratic partisans. In this paper

  we subject this finding to more scrutiny by examining the compactness of congressional districts in light of election results and the partisan control of the redistricting process in each of the states

  comparing actual districts with our simulated districts.

  Mathematical Characteristics of District Boundary Lines as Indicators of Partisan Gerrymandering in U.S. House Elections

  While contiguity is easily discernible

  a single accepted measure of district compactness has not been found. Due to the various effects that gerrymandering and noncompact districts have on the aggregation of voter preferences

  questions surrounding district compactness have direct implications of representation in democratic theory. Empirical political science has attempted on numerous occasions to formulate a single method by which to measure district compactness. The real-world implementation of these compactness measures has been fraught with issues. Most apparent among these are natural and state boundaries

  which greatly interfere with the implementation of geometric compactness measures. Examples of noncompactness induced by natural boundaries can be seen in the coast of Maine and the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland

  while noncompactness induced by state boundaries can be seen in West Virginia and Louisiana. Further implementation issues may be found in methods that rely on voter dispersion. This is due to the boundaries that are used to collect apportionment data

  namely census tracts

  blocks

  and precincts. U.S. Census Bureau delineations are the spatial granularity by which legislative districts are drawn

  and have rigid boundaries. These boundaries not only proscribe the full use of most voter dispersion metrics of compactness

  but also lead districts to be naturally conducive to irregular geometry. In this paper

  we seek to overcome these geometric issues by using a different discipline of mathematics—graph theory—to formulate a new metric of district compactness. This method utilizes graph partitioning with the established goal of balancing the population while minimizing the number of shapes that share an edge with one another. In doing so we formulate a new approach to compactness that is more reflective of the redistricting process

  and overcomes traditional issues surrounding natural boundaries

  disconnects

  and population distribution.

  Beyond the Circle: Measuring District Compactness Using Graph Theory

  Max Egenhofer

  Klippel has recently identified topological relativity as an important question for geographic information theory. One way of looking at theimportance of topology in spatial reasoning and in spatial theory is to assess commonplace terms from natural language relative to conceptual neighborhood graphs

  the alignment structures of choice for topological relations. Each of the\naggregate terms explored is found to represent a convex topological relation

  which is a convex induced subgraph within the conceptual neighborhood graph of the region-region relations

  giving rise to the construction of a convex ordering of region-region relations on the surface of the sphere.

  An Ordering of Convex Topological Relations

  The past 20 years has seen the vast growth of the field of qualitative spatial reasoning. While qualitative formalisms have been developed to identify topologically similar binary relations from the point-of-view of the 9-intersection

  one of the most important pieces of the spatial reasoning puzzle is in that of the conceptual neighborhood graph. Conceptual neighborhood graphs remain restricted to homeomorphic deformations of regions. In this paper

  topological changes to the structure of an object are considered

  such as that of hole formation and separation generation. This paper lays the groundwork for neighborhoods of non-homeomorphic deformations

  a necessity in a sensor world

  Beyond Homeomorphic Deformation: Neighborhoods of Topological Change

  Max Egenhofer

  Joshua A. Lewis

  COSIT 2013

  Spatial scenes are abstractions of some geographic reality

  focusing on the spatial objects identified and their spatial relations. Such qualitative models of space enable spatial querying

  computational comparisons for similarity

  and the generation of verbal descriptions. A specific strength of spatial scenes is that they offer a focus on particular types of spatial relations. While past approaches to representing spatial scenes

  by recording exhaustively all binary spatial relations

  capture accurately how pairs of objects are related to each other

  they may fail to distinguish certain spatial properties that are enabled by an ensemble of objects. This paper overcomes such limitations by introducing a model that considers (1) the topology of potentially complexly structured spatial objects

  (2) modeling applicable relations by their boundary contacts

  and (3) considering exterior partitions and exterior relations. Such qualitative scene descriptions have all ingredients to generate topologically correct graphical renderings or verbal scene descriptions.

  The Topology of Spatial Scenes in R2

  The current state of the art for partition based qualitative spatial reasoning systems such as the 9-intersection

  9+-intersection

  direction relation matrix

  and peripheral direction relations is that of the binary set intersection — either empty or non-empty — conveying the intersection (or lack thereof) of an object in the sets deriving the partition. While such representations are sufficient for topological components of objects

  these representations are not sufficient for various tasks in qualitative spatial reasoning (composition

  representation transfer

  converse

  etc.) regarding partitions as tiles. Topological augmentation expands the current binary status quo into a system of assigning topological relations between objects and tiles. A case study is presented in the form of the direction relation matrix

  demonstrating that an increased vocabulary has benefits for spatial information systems

  providing localized context within a qualitative embedding.

  Topological Augmentation: A Step Forward for Qualitative Partition Reasoning

  Max J. Egenhofer

  Within the Geospatial Semantic Web

  selecting a different ontology for a spatial data set will enable that data’s analysis in a different context. Analyses of multiple data sets

  each based on a different ontology

  require appropriate bridges across the ontologies. This paper focuses on establishing such a bridge across two topological-relation ontologies of different granularity—the standard eight detailed topological relations and five coarse topological relations. By mapping the conceptual neighborhood graphs onto a zonal representation

  the different granularities are aligned spatially

  yielding a reasoned approach to determining similarity values for the bridges across the two ontologies. A comparison with bridge lengths from an averaged model shows the better quality of the zonal model.

  Establishing Similarity Across Multi-Granular Topological-Spatial Relation Ontologies

  Lauren Underhill

  Dale Paccamonti

  Literature has shown that mare age influences foaling success

  but other aspects of mare reproductive history are less understood. Immediately prior season results may conceal important information from earlier years

  and interactions between age and other factors have not been well-studied. We extended the evaluation of a mare's fertility to include information spanning her reproductive life

  and considered its interaction with her age. The Jockey Club Information Systems

  Inc. provided reproductive status data for all registered Thoroughbred mares bred in the US during the 2014/2015 foaling season (n=36

  841)

  the reproductive status for those mares in 2013/2014

  and the reproductive status in aggregate for those years prior to 2013/2014 for those mares. Each prior history was coded as either foaling

  unsuccessful

  or not bred. These designations denoted nine possible histories for mares bred in 2014: foaling mares consisted of three sub-groups (fF

  fU

  fN)

  barren mares consisted of five groups (uF

  uU

  uN

  nF

  nU)

  and maiden mares consisted of one group (nN). Foaling rate for each of the nine groups was plotted by age

  with a minimum of 40 horses required in each group. Compared to the regression model for 1987/1988

  foaling rate for the 2014/2015 season improved by 12% in the younger mares and by 8% in the oldest mares. Four subgroups (uU

  uN

  nU

  nN) had markedly reduced foaling rates. Maiden mares displayed the most rapid decrease in fertility with age. In contrast

  no difference could be seen based on history from the prior season only. Based on accumulated history prior to 2013

  foaling rates were highest in foaling mares

  intermediate in those who were unsuccessfully bred

  and lowest in historical maidens. The foaling rate in mares who had previously foaled was higher than in mares who had always been unsuccessfully bred

  and in 9+-year-old maidens. The rapid decline in foaling rates of maiden mares was striking

  an aging effect of nearly ten years.

  Differences in Foaling Rates of Thoroughbred Mares with Different Histories

  Richard J. Powell

  The argument that U.S. House districts have become more demographically homogenous over time—either through intentional gerrymandering

  geographic self-sorting

  or some combination of the two— is a central component of most explanations of the growth of partisan polarization in Congress. In recent research

  we developed a highly sophisticated method of creating simulated

  randomized districts in all states with more than one member of the House (see Powell

  Clark

  and Dube 2015

  2016). In this paper we build on that prior research to examine the extent to which geographic self-sorting may or may not account for trends in district homogeneity. To do so

  we compare the homogeneity of actual districts as drawn to repeated iterations of randomized

  simulated districts within each state. We extend this analysis to examine changes in the margins of victory in these districts. Thus

  this paper presents a thorough examination of the hypothesis that geographic self-sorting (or intentional gerrymandering) is creating safer House seats and a more polarized legislative environment in Congress.

  Assessing the Causes of District Homogeneity in U.S. House Elections

  Shirly Stephen

  Joshua A. Lewis

  Max J. Egenhofer

  Spatial regions are a fundamental abstraction of geographic phenomena. While simple regions—disk-like and simply connected—prevail

  in partitions complex configurations with holes and/or separations occur often as well. Swiss cantons are one highlighting example of these

  bringing in addition variations of holes and separations with point contacts. This paper develops a formalism to construct topologically distinct configurations based on simple regions. Using an extension to the compound object model

  this paper contributes a method for explicitly constructing a complex region

  called a canton region

  and also provides a mechanism to determine the corresponding complement of such a region.

  Swiss Canton Regions: A Model for Complex Objects in Geographic Partitions (in press)

  Ashlie Myer

  Kathleen Harvey

  Ashley Edwards

  Scott Mitchell

  Martin Stokes

  Mark Hutchinson

  Alexandria Poulin

  The survival of Streptococcus equi subspecies equi and zooepidemicus in soiled equine bedding (SEB)\nand compost was evaluated. Dacron bags containing SEB were inoculated with 10 10 c.f.u. of each\nsubspecies

  and stored at 21 – 23 0 C for 24 h

  then placed in compost windrows containing SEB and\nfeed waste (Experiments 1 and 2). Streptococci were quantified immediately after inoculation in the\nbags

  and during the 336 h following placement in the windrow. Next

  SEB

  autoclaved and non-\nautoclaved

  was inoculated with 10 10 c.f.u. of each subspecies and sampled from 0 to 264 h\n(Experiment 3). Finally

  SEB was dried at 37 0 C for 48 h and sterile water added (25 mL

  50 mL

  75\nmL

  100 mL) to 100 g of dried bedding

  which were inoculated with 10 10 c.f.u of each subspecies and\nsampled at intervals from 0 to 120 h (Experiment 4). In Experiments 1 and 2

  heavy Streptococcal\ngrowth was detected immediately post inoculation of Dacron bags

  but no Streptococci were isolated\n48 h after placement in compost windrows. In Experiment 3

  S. zooepidemicus was isolated from\nsterlized SEB for 168 h

  but replaced by other flora at 264 h. In non-sterilized SEB

  Streptococci were\neliminated by 72 h (p<0.001). In Experiment 4

  S. equi was isolated from dried SEB with no added water for 120 h

  whereas in SEB with added water

  S. equi

  were not isolated after 72 h (p<0.001). These data suggest that

  depending on moisture

  microbes in SEB may eliminate equine Streptococci.

  Abatement of Streptococcus Equi in Soiled Equine Bedding and Compost

  Max J. Egenhofer

  Jordan V. Barrett

  This paper considers the nineteen planar discrete topological relations that apply to regions bounded by a digital Jordan curve. Rather than modeling the topological relations with purely topological means

  metrics are developed that determine the topological relations. Two sets of five such metrics are found to be minimal and sufficient to uniquely identify each of the nineteen topological relations. Key to distinguishing all nineteen relations are regions’ margins (i.e.

  the neighborhood of their boundaries). Deriving topological relations from metric properties in R^2 vs. Z^2 reveals that the eight binary topological relations between two simple regions in R^2 can be distinguished by a minimal set of six metrics

  whereas in Z^2

  a more fine-grained set of relations (19) can be distinguished by a smaller set of metrics (5). Determining discrete topological relations from metrics enables not only the refinement of the set of known topological relations in the digital plane

  but further enables the processing of raster images where the topological relation is not explicitly stored by reverting to mere pixel counts.

  From Metric to Topology: Determining Relations in Discrete Space

  An Embedding Graph for 9-Intersection Topological Spatial Relations

  Richard Powell

  Northeast Political Science Association

  Since the early 1800s

  partisans in state legislatures and redistricting commissions have been drawing congressional districts in order to win elections

  by splitting and grouping populations to promote their chances of victory--a process commonly known as gerrymandering. Past research finds that current levels of partisan polarization are at least partly due to gerrymandering

  although some studies suggest that geographic sorting accounts for much of this phenomenon. This paper seeks to measure the effects of gerrymandering by examining the discrepancy between the actual partisan makeup of each state’s U.S. House delegation and the “natural” partisanship of each state’s delegation using a randomized process.In this project

  we run a series of Monte Carlo simulations using randomly assigned Census tracts within each state to determine the average partisan makeup of state congressional delegations under randomized conditions absent political gerrymandering. We then predict the partisanship of each district from one hundred simulations in each state using a regression model composed of a range of demographic indicators that have been found to be highly predictive of district partisanship. This approach allows us to compare the results of elections or predict the outcome of elections for proposed districts to an unbiased sample of state redistrictings based on a partisanship model

  potentially identifying a gerrymander.

  Determining an Expected House Majority Using Pattern Analysis

  Matt

  Dube

  PhD

  Sigma Phi Epsilon

  University of Maine at Augusta

  Upward Bound Math-Science Center at the University of Maine

  State of Maine Baseball Umpires Association

  Orono

  ME

  Co-taught

  instructed

  graded

  or otherwise the following courses: BUA 490-Leadership for the Future (Spring 2010)

  ECO 493-Integrated Calculus for Economics (Spring 2011)

  INT 598-Sensor Foundations and Testbed Development (AY 2010-2011)

  MAT 127-Calculus II (Spring 2014)

  POS 498-Redistricting and Gerrymandering (Summer 2013)

  SIE 550-Information Systems Design and Engineering (Fall 2008 - Present)

  SIE 554-Spatial Reasoning (Spring 2009 - present)\n\nIGERT Trainee in Sensor Science

  Engineering

  and Informatics\n\nSupervisors: Max Egenhofer (research/SIE)

  Paula Drewniany (MAT)

  Richard Powell (POS)

  Kate Beard (INT/IGERT)

  Scott Anchors (BUA)

  George Criner (ECO)

  Graduate Teaching and Research Assistant

  University of Maine

  Developed the first renditions of four separate courses for the Upward Bound program: Precalculus

  Calculus

  Statistics

  and Presentation Skills. Mentored two group research projects and have mentored 10 individual research projects in various fields

  including spatial reasoning

  algorithms

  redistricting

  harmonics

  language detection

  Jungian typologies

  and calculus.\n\nSupervisor: Kelly Ilseman

  Upward Bound Math-Science Center at the University of Maine

  Sigma Phi Epsilon

  Orono

  ME

  Worked on future planning

  streamlining

  and curriculum development for the Balanced Man Program at the University of Maine's chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon. Facilitated at national SigEp Leadership Continuum Events (Carlson Leadership Academies and EDGE). Directly mentored the Member Development team.\n\nSupervisors: Carey Heckman

  Brian Tahmoush

  Maine Alpha Balanced Man Steward

  Orono

  ME

  Oversee the executive board of one of the top performing chapters of the largest national fraternity in the United States. Directly mentor ten executive officers in effective leadership and organizational management.\n\nSupervisors: Carey Heckman

  Chris Lynch

  Maine Alpha Chapter Counselor

  Sigma Phi Epsilon

  Orono

  ME

  Facilitated and developed training for all University personnel and debugged interface issues for the MaineStreet academic suite powered by PeopleSoft. Position under the Office of Student Records. \n\nSupervisors: Tammy Light and Doug Meswarb

  Assistant Training/Security Coordinator

  University of Maine

  Augusta

  Maine

  Assistant Professor of Computer Information Systems

  University of Maine at Augusta

  State of Maine Baseball Umpires Association

  ACM SIGSPATIAL