Fritz Kessler

Hello, I am Fritz Kessler. I am a Teaching Professor of Geography in Penn State's Geography Department where I teach a mix of online and resident courses. My course offerings include a mix of cartography, spatial statistics, GIS, and coordinate systems. Among many peer-reviewed publications, I have published two books of note: "Thematic Cartography and Geovisualization" and "Working with Map Projections: A Guide to their Selection." I also actively participate in service to the North American Cartographic and Information Society (NACIS) and Cartography and Geographic Information Science.

Prior to joining Penn State, I was Professor and Chair of the Geography Department at Frostburg State University, located in Frostburg, Maryland. During my tenure there, I taught a variety of courses related to cartography, land surveying, research methods, medical geography, and physical geography.

I earned my PhD with a focus on cartography from the University of Kansas in 1999 under the direction of Dr. Terry Slocum. My research interests are in coordinate systems, map projections and their use, cartography, map design, cartographic history, and qualitative analysis.

I have cartographic experience beyond academia. I have worked for various cartographic-related organizations such as USGS, Intergraph, R. R. Donnelley and Sons, and the T. R. Smith Map Library at the University of Kansas.