Peter Scull

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Peter Scull

Professor of Geography

Department/Office Information

Geography

308 Ho Science Center

Contact

pscull@colgate.edu (315) 228-7864

I am a physical geographer interested in using geospatial tools (geographic information systems and remote sensing) to study environmental change. My research program is generally focused on topics within soil geography and biogeography. Currently, however, I am part of an interdisciplinary and international team of researchers studying the prevalence of antibiotic resistance in pathogens causing upper respiratory illness in southwestern Uganda. I have also become increasingly interested in critical GIS, in particular the erosion of locational privacy.

Distinctions

Publications

Birungi, M., Nahabwe, H., Orikushaba, I.M., Mubangizi, J., Kuule, Y., Scull, P., and F. Frey (2025) Streptococcus pneumoniae carriage and antibiotic use in children in southwestern Uganda. Journal of Public Health in Africa 16 (1). DOI
Bonzani, C., Scull, P, and D. Yamamoto (2023) A spatiotemporal analysis of the social determinants of health for COVID-19. Geospatial Healh 18 (153) DOI
Woods, C.L., Mekonnen, A.B., Baez-Schon, M., Thomas, R., Scull, P., Tsegay, B.A., and C.L. Cardelús (2020) Tree Community Composition and Dispersal Syndrome Vary with Human Disturbance in Sacred Church Forests in Ethiopia. Forests 11 (10) DOI
Cardelús, C.L., Mekonnen, A.B., Jensen, K.H., Woods, C.L., Baez, M.C., Montufar, M., Bazany, K., Tsegay, B.A., Scull, P. and W.H. Peck (2020) Edge effects and human disturbance influence soil physical and chemical properties in Sacred Church Forests in Ethiopia. Plant Soil. DOI
Frankl, A, Nyssen, J., Adgo, E., Wassie, A. and P. Scull (2019) Can woody vegetation in valley bottoms protect from gully erosion? Insights using remote sensing data (1938-2016) from subhumid NW Ethiopia. Regional Environmental Change. DOI
McCay, T.S., and Scull, P. (2019) Invasive lumbricid earthworms in northeastern North American forests and consequences for leaf-litter fauna. Biological Invasions DOI
Cardelús, C.L, C.L. Woods, A. Bitew Mekonnen*, S. Dexter*, P. Scull, Berhanu Tsegay Abraha. (2019). Disturbance impacts the integrity of sacred church forests, Ethiopia. PlosONE.14(3): DOI
Cardelus, C., Scull. P., Wassie, A., Woods, C., Klepeis, P., and I. Orlowska (2017) Shadow conservation and the persistence of sacred forests in northern Ethiopia. Biotropica. DOI
Woods, C. Cardelus, C., Scull, P., Wassie, A. Baez*, M., and P. Klepeis (2017) Stone walls and sacred forest conservation in Ethiopia. Biodiversity and Conservation. 26(1): 209-221. DOI
Klepeis, P. Orlowska, I, Kent, E., Cardelus, C., Scull, P., Wassie, A. and C. Woods (2016) Ethiopian Church Forests: A Hybrid Model of Protection. Human Ecology. 44(6): 715-730.
Scull, P., Cardelus, C., Klepeis, P., Woods, C., Frankl, A. and J. Nyssen (2016) The resilience of Ethiopian church forests: interpreting aerial photographs, 1938-2015. Land Degradation and Development. DOI: 10.1002/ldr.2633
Scull, P., Burnett, A, Dolfi, E.*, Goldfarb, A.*, and Baum, P.* (2015) Privacy and Ethics in Undergraduate GIS Curricula. Journal of Geography. DOI: 10.1080/00221341.2015.1017517
Cavallo, S.*, Lynch, J.* and P. Scull (2014) The Digital Divide in Citizen-Initiated Government Contacts: a GIS approach. Journal of Urban Technology. 21(4): 77-93.
Cardelus, C.L., Scull, P., Hair, J.*, Baimas-George, M.*, Lowman, M.D., and Wassie, A.E., (2013) A preliminary assessment of Ethiopian sacred grove status at the landscape and ecosystem scales. Diversity 5(2): 320-334.
Klepeis, P., Scull, P., Lalonde, T.*, Svajlenka, N.*, and N. Gill (2013) Changing forest recovery, dynamics in the Northeastern United States. Area 45 (2): 239-248.
Scull, P, Palmer, M.*, Frey, F. and E. P. Kraly (2012) A comparison of two home range modeling methods using Ugandan mountain gorilla data. International Journal of Geographic Information Science. 26(11): 2111-2121.
Scull, P. and Schaetzl, R. (2011) Using PCA to Characterize and Differentiate Loess Deposits in Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, USA. Geomorphology. 127: 143-155.
Scull, P. (2010) A top-down approach to the State Factor paradigm for use in macro-scale soil analysis. Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 100(1):1 -12.
Scull, P. (2007) Changes in soil temperature associated with reforestation in central New York state. Physical Geography. 24(4): 1-14.
Scull, P. and Richardson, J.* (2007) Reconstructing the Pre-European Settlement Forest Composition of Central New York State from Ranked Timber Observations, The American Midland Naturalist. 158: 446-460.
Berman, J.*, McCay, T., and Scull, P. (2007) Spatial analysis of shrew (Insectivora: Soricidae) species richness in North America north of Mexico. Acta Theriologica. 52 (2): 151-158
Scull, P and Okin, G. (2007) Sampling challenges posed by continental scale soil landscape modeling. Science of the Total Environment. 372: 645-656.
Michelsen-Correa, S.* and Scull P. (2005) The impact of reforestation on soil temperature. Middle States Geographer 38:39-44.
Scull, P., Okin, G.S., Chadwick, and Franklin, J. (2005) A comparison of methods to predict soil surface texture in an alluvial basin. The Professional Geographer. 57(3): 423-437.
Scull, P., Franklin, J., and Chadwick, O.A (2005) The application of classification tree analysis to soil type prediction in a desert landscape. Ecological Modeling. 181: 1-15.
Scull, P. and Harman, J. (2004) Forest distribution and site quality in southern Lower Michigan. Journal of Biogeography. 31: 1503-1514.
Scull, P., Franklin, J., Chadwick, O.A., and McArthur, D. (2003) Predictive soil mapping- a review. Progress in Physical Geography. 27(2): 171-197.

* former Colgate student co-author

Professional Experience