Brandon J. Vogt
I earned a BS from the University of Missouri and MA and PhD from Arizona State University. I enjoy music, mountains, thunderstorms, snow, sandstone, photography, cycling, traveling, coffee, and anything Colorado.
My primary research interests rest in geomorphology, geomorphometry, terrestrial lidar, and lightning. I blend these interests as I explore interactions between natural / physical processes and complex landsurfaces. A secondary research area involves developing and assessing undergraduate geography curriculum.
I maintain the UCCS Geomorphology Research Lab, a place well-equipped for collaborative, multi-disciplinary research in the physical sciences.
I teach courses in introductory geospatial technologies, physical geography, geomorphology, geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing, digital image processing, and snowpack assessment.
In 2013, I am working on a project that uses lightning activity as a proxy to understand summertime atmospheric dynamics in Colorado's mountains. Also, I am investigating rock weathering process dominance in local sandstone exposures. Last, I am working on a project that explores the usefulness of rock glaciers as geoindicators of environmental change.
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Granite, Yosemite NP, Calif. |
Double rainbow, Grand Lake, Colo. |
Tafoni, southeast Colo. |
Waldo Canyon Fire
Geospatial Technologies Labs (designed for UCCS students)
- Lab 1: Asking Questions of Maps - Interacting with the 'This Dynamic Planet' Map
- Lab 2: Documenting the Variety of Cultural / Physical Geography in El Paso County, CO using the Virtual Globe 'Google Earth'
- Lab 3: Estimating the Extent of Urban Sprawl on Long Island, NY, and Other Exciting Geographic Explorations Using the Virtual Globe 'SkylineGlobe'
- Lab 4: GPS and GIS - Using Control Points Collected in the Field to Georeference a .jpg of the UCCS Campus
- Lab 5: Geovisualization and Pattern Discovery - Draping Geology and Cultural Features over Topography
- Lab 6: Remote Sensing - IDRISI: Using Landsat Imagery and NDVI to Distinguish Vegetation near Pueblo, Colorado
- Lab 7: Digital Terrain Modeling and Geomorphometry using Peter Guth's MicroDEM
- Lab 8: Spatial Analysis and DEMs - Mountain Geography: Investigating Colorado Fourteeners Pixel by Pixel
- Lab 9: Interpolation of Airborne and Terrestrial Lidar Point Data
- Lab 10: Dababase Management - Exploring Temporal and Spatial Patterns of Thunderstorm Initiation in the Sangre de Cristo Range
Helpful GIS Stuff
- Working with USGS airborne lidar .las files (from USGS' CLICK) in ArcMap 10.1
- How to convert USGS airborne lidar .las files (from USGS' CLICK) to DEMs and TINs in ArcMap 10
- How to convert Geocomm.com 1:24K USGS DEMs to GRID or TIFF format, readable in ArcMap 10
Helpful Remote Sensing / Image Processing Stuff
- IDRISI Taiga: IDRISI to .kml
- IDRISI Taiga: Creating a NDVI image using Landsat Band 3 (red) and Band 4 (near-infrared); unsupervised classification of land cover; distinguishing snow from clouds using Landsat Band 2 (green), 4, and 5 (shortwave infrared)
- IDRISI Taiga: Mosaicing (joining images), filtering (smoothing images), and contrast enhancement; image windowing (subsetting / cropping); and importing IDRISI images into ArcMap
Leica-Geosystems TruViews
- Sections of UCCS campus in 3D (viewer requires IE plugin)