Nathan Piekielek

Head of the Donald W Hamer Center for Maps and Geospatial Information
Librarian

Office Address

W1-B Central Pattee Library
Office Phone
814-865-3703
Departmental Phone
814-863-0094 (department)
nbp104@psu.edu

About Me

Nathan came to the library in November 2014 with nearly 20 years of experience applying geographic information systems to both basic research and applied problems.

Education History

Ph D, Ecology and Environmental Sciences - Montana State University - 2012
MS, Conservation Ecology and Sustainable Development - University of Georgia - 2003
BS, Geography -- Geographic Information Science - The Pennsylvania State University - 2000

Research Interests

GIScience and remote sensing; landscape ecology and natural resource conservation; interdisciplinary natural and social science research; academic library and information science

Teaching Interests

Spatial thinking and geospatial technologies; engaged scholarship and student research experiences; Teaching and learning with technology; Inter/transdisciplinarity

Subject Expertise

  • Format
  • Maps

Publications

Orthorectifying Library Collections of Historic Aerial Photographs for Research and Public Use, Journal of Map and Geography Libraries, 2025

Evaluating Software Tools to Orthorectify Archival Aerial Photographs, Journal of Map and Geography Libraries, 2023

What is everyone supposed to be doing?, Journal of Map & Geography Libraries, 2021

Best Paper of the Year Award for Volume 16, Journal of Map and Geography Libraries, 2021

Towards a new paradigm in map and spatial information librarianship., Journal of Map & Geography Libraries, 2019

In Defense of the Map Library, Journal of Map & Geography Libraries,, 2019

From Archive to Access to Experience – historical documents as a basis for immersive experiences, Journal of Map & Geography Libraries, 2019

Planning for change: A maps and geospatial information services survey, Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, 2018

From Archive, to Access, to Experience––Historical Documents as a Basis for Immersive Experiences, Journal of Map and Geography Libraries, 2018

American archives and climate change: Risks and adaptation, Climate Risk Management, 2018

Best practices for georeferencing large scale historical fire insurance maps of the USA, e-Perimetron, 2017

A Tale of Two Internships: Developing Digital Skills through Engaged Scholarship, Digital Humanities Quarterly, 2017

Targeting disciplines for GIS outreach using bibliometrics, Journal of Maps and Geography Libraries, 2016

Targeting Disciplines for GIS Outreach Using Bibliometric Analysis, Journal of Map and Geography Libraries, 2016

Using custom scientific workflow software and GIS to inform protected area climate adaptation planning in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Ecological Informatics, 2015

Using custom scientific workflow software and GIS to explore potential climate change impacts on a protected ecosystem to inform management decision making, Ecological Informatics, 2015

Changing climate suitability for forests in Yellowstone and the Rockies, Yellowstone Science, 2015

Combining state-and-transition simulations and species distribution models to anticipate the effects of climate change, AIMS Environmental Science, 2015

Patterns and variability of projected bioclimatic habitat for Pinus Albicaulisin the greater yellowstone area, PLoS One, 2014

Exposure of U.S. National Parks to land use and climate change 1900-2100, Ecological Applications, 2014

Understanding relationships among abundance, extirpation, and climate at ecoregional scales, Ecology, 2013

Extent of fragmentation of coarse-scale habitats in and around U.S. National Parks, Biological Conservation, 2012

Delineating the ecosystems containing protected areas for monitoring and management, BioScience, 2011

Other Publications

Abstracts

A semi-automated workflow for processing historic aerial photography, Abstracts of the ICA, 2019

Blogs

Sampling populations with spatial and aspatial structure of known or unknown origin, 2017

Chapters

Past, Present, and Future Impacts of Climate on the Vegetation Communities of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem across Elevation Gradients, Climate change in wildlands: pioneering applications of science to management in the Rocky Mountains and Appalachians, 2016

Toward assessing the vulnerability of US national parks to land use and climate change, 2016

Past, present, and future impacts of climate on the vegetation communities of the greater yellowstone ecosystem across elevation gradients, 2016

Remote Sensing for Inventory and Monitoring of the U.S. National Parks, Remote Sensing of Protected Lands, 2011

Magazine/Trade Publications

Best Practices for Digitizing Aerial Photography and Geospatial Archives, Association of Remote Sensing & Photogrammetry, 2025

Manuscripts

Insect and slug control into corn planted into sod in Pennsylvania, 1995, 1996

Comment/Debates

A Tribute to Paige Andrew, Journal of Map and Geography Libraries, 2025

Editorials

Reflections on Five Years as Coeditors, Journal of Map and Geography Libraries, 2023

Editorial, Journal of Map and Geography Libraries, 2022

What Is Everyone Supposed to Be Doing?, Journal of Map and Geography Libraries, 2020

The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same, Journal of Map and Geography Libraries, 2019

Towards a New Paradigm in Map and Spatial Information Librarianship, Journal of Map and Geography Libraries, 2018

In Defense of the Map Library, Journal of Map and Geography Libraries, 2018

Others

Understanding Energy Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Science Park Library Annex, 2023

GIS Mapping Standard Operating Procedure – Ecosystem type change and fragmentation: from pre Euro-American settlement to the present day., 2011

GIS Mapping Standard Operating Procedure – Estimating protected-area centered ecosystems, 2010