Prof. Piepenburg teaches courses in geomorphology, meteorology, physical geography, remote sensing, and field methods. He has served as chair of the department of geography and the conservation program. He held the position of Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College at Carthage from 1995-2009, and also served as the College as the Dean of Students from 1990 through 1994.

Prof. Piepenburg has directed two student field experiences on the eastern Caribbean island of Antigua, during which students completed field analyses of abandoned Holocene beaches and water quality in English Harbour. He has held an appointment as a visiting scientist on a natural resources project in Mexico, which was funded by a National Science Foundation grant of D. Miller of The State University of New York at Cortland.

His primary research involves environmental impact assessment and has led to articles published in Physical Geography and Soviet Geography. Prof. Piepenburg also has been involved in consulting in the private sector. He earned his B.A. from Carthage, and his M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he was honored with University fellowships. He came to Carthage in 1984.

Julio Rivera teaches courses in geographic information systems (GIS); satellite imagery interpretation; and urban, economic and cultural geography. He administers and directs the Geographic Information Systems Laboratory. His research focuses on the development of suburban communities and how the design of the built environment enhances or impedes community life.

During a sabbatical in the 2004-05 academic year, Dr. Rivera worked with the Center for Environmental Studies at Arizona State University examining trends in the development of the urban fringe in the Phoenix metropolitan area. He has traveled with students during J-term to Nicaragua.

Dr. Rivera came to Carthage in 1997 from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he taught geography and worked as a GIS specialist. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (Phi Kappa Phi), where he held fellowships for three years. He earned his B.A. in journalism and theology at Marquette University, and M.A. in higher education and student affairs at The Ohio State University.

Dr. Rivera is the author of a number of papers and has presented his work at regional and national meetings of the Association of American Geographers, National Council on Geographic Education, and the North American Cartographic Information Society. He currently serves on the executive board and is chair of the social science division of the Council on Undergraduate Research. He is the recipient of the 2002 Carthage College Distinguished Teaching Award.

Dr. Wenjie Sun joined Carthage in 2006. She is originally from Harbin city in northeastern China. She earned her B.S. in Geography with a minor in Economics from Beijing University. Prior to Carthage, Wenjie went to graduate school at Indiana University, Bloomington, where she received her M.A. in Geography, M.S. in Computer Science, and Ph.D. in Geographic Information Science (GIS). She teaches courses in GIS, Satellite Image and Air Photo Analysis, Human Geography, Geography of East Asia, and Heritage. She also led interdisciplinary themed J-Term trips to China with Dr. Choffnes from the Biology Department in 2008 and 2009.

Wenjie has been conducting research projects using GIS and Remote Sensing (RS) techniques to examine land use and land cover change (LUCC) from the perspective of human-environment interaction. For her dissertation work, she has been involved in a couple of NSF-funded research projects on LUCC in southern Indiana and spatially explicit decision-making lab experiments combining GIS and experimental economics. She has published in the International Journal of Geographical Information Science and given a number of talks at national professional meetings.

She is also interested in applying GIS and RS to a wider range of economic, social and environmental studies. Since 2008, she has developed collaborative applied research opportunities with the Kenosha County Health Department, particularly on using GIS and spatial analyses to identify high-risk neighborhoods for the Kenosha-Racine Lead Free Communities Partnership Program and ultimately help preventing childhood lead poisoning. This collaboration has resulted not only team projects in Advanced GIS class, but also a successful SURE (Summer Undergraduate Research Experience) award, a senior thesis project and two national-level conference presentations.

In addition, she is actively pursuing undergraduate research and teaching opportunities on regional differences in China and East Asia through organizations such as AsiaNetwork.

In her spare time, Wenjie enjoys traveling, landscape photography, cooking, and badminton.

Matt Zorn's teaching and research interests focus on climatology, environmental conservation, meteorology, natural environmental hazards, hydrology, fluvial/coastal geomorphology and quantitative methods. He has been an instructor of geography at West Georgia College, Catawba Valley Community College, and has taught geography courses at the University of Florida continuously since 1992.

In addition to his teaching experience, he worked as a GIS analyst for a consulting firm and directed a GIS and remote sensing lab for a minorities upward bound program. He served for four years as a park ranger/interpreter in the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina and the Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico. He has chaired several sessions, presented nearly a dozen papers and published five essays on the national level of geographic research.

Dr. Zorn earned his Ph.D. in geography from the University of Florida, his M.A. and B.A. in geography, and a second B.A. in interdisciplinary/environmental studies from Appalachian State University.

Tracy Gartner joined the Carthage faculty in 2005. She directs the Environmental Science Program and teaches research- and service-oriented courses in environmental science, ecology, botany, experimental design and restoration. Dr. Gartner's research focuses on how shifts in biodiversity (due to invasive species, environmental change and human disturbance) influence community structure and nutrient dynamics in ecosystems. She has presented her work at several national conferences, including the Ecological Society of America, where she co-organized an oral session on the influence of biodiversity in the litter layer. Her work has been published in a variety of professional journals, including Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Oikos, and Ecology Letters. In addition, she has remained active in a variety of professional research groups, including Sigma Xi, MExEco (Microbial Enzymes across Ecosystems), and a network focusing on gathering continental-scale ecological data at principally undergraduate institutions.

Before arriving at Carthage, Dr. Gartner received her BA in biology and environmental science at Coe College (Phi Beta Kappa), received her Ph. D. in ecology from the University of Connecticut, and did postdoctoral work in Alaska while sponsored by the University of California-Irvine.