Rachel Isaacs

At Johns Hopkins, Rachel Isaacs is a Program Coordinator and lecturer in the MS in Environmental Sciences and Policy and MS in Geographic Information Systems programs.

Her research interests in landscape ecology, climate change, GIScience, remote sensing, and spatial statistics have led her to conduct research in several international and domestic locations, including Scotland, Nicaragua, Alaska, Arkansas, Hawai’i, Washington, and California.

Isaacs’ background and technical skills have enabled her to work in the public and private sectors, as well as academia, for the past 16 years. Private and government institutions include the American Association of Geographers (editorial), NOAA (metadata), National Geographic (video), and environmental compliance for the oil and gas industry with EMS and AK Environmental (GIS, drafting, and surveying). Isaacs has also worked as a research consultant and instructor for Pennsylvania State University, Bucknell University, and Saint Paul College. In recent years, Isaacs has taught a variety of physical geography, human geography, and GIScience courses.

Isaacs is currently running an environmental research consulting firm specializing in the impacts of climate change, land use/landcover assessments, wetland conservation, and precision agriculture.

Isaacs received degrees in geography throughout her academic career, first earning a bachelor’s degree at the University of Hawai’i -Hilo and then a master’s degree at Texas A&M University. She completed a PhD at Pennsylvania State University in the Department of Geography. Her doctoral work examined the spatial and temporal impacts of climate change on treeline in Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska.