Assistant Professor of Geographic Information Sciences Stephanie Insalaco-Wyner, along with colleagues at the University of Tennessee and the University of Florida, were awarded a $499,045 grant from the United States Environmental Protection Agency. This grant funds the development of a public dashboard to monitor seagrass in real-time throughout South Florida. Additionally, this grant funds research assistantships for Southwestern students to assist in the making and implementation of this dashboard, which will be widely used by researchers and resource managers.

Assistant Professor of Geographic Information Sciences Stephanie Insalaco-Wyner wrote an article in The Conversation, which examined the unexpected seagrass comeback on Florida’s east coast after Hurricanes Ian and Nicole. The article can be read here.

Assistant Professor of Geographic Information Sciences Stephanie Insalaco-Wyner published “Recording seagrass growth in Mosquito Lagoon, Florida after Hurricanes Ian and Nicole” in Frontiers, along with physics major Dominic Mashak ’27 and environmental studies alumni Hailey Vickich ’25. The paper uses machine learning to classify seagrass recovery in Florida’s Mosquito Lagoon and can be read here.

Assistant Professor of Geographic Information Sciences Stephanie Insalaco-Wyner and environmental studies major Zoe Van der Walt ’26 co-authored a publication, titled “Pathways to Sustainable Land Stewardship in South Africa’s Wine-Producing Regions,” with colleagues at the University of Tennessee, the University of Florida, and Michigan State University. The article is published in Sustainability and can be read here.

Assistant Professor of Geographic Information Sciences Stephanie Insalaco-Wyner presented her talk, titled “Implementing Learner-Centric Pedagogy in Environmental GIS: A Case Study from Southwestern University,” at the American Association of Geographers Conference (2026) in San Francisco. She also co-authored a paper presentation at the conference with Clare Stauber ’27, titled “From Archive to Interactive Map: Digital Storytelling of Midwifery in Mexico City after the Revolution.”