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Thomas W. Crawford (Tom)

Professor and Department Chair
Tom Crawford
238B Wallace Hall (0115)
295 West Campus Drive
Blacksburg, VA
24061
tomc3@vt.edu
540-231-7216

I am privileged to serve as chair of a fantastic department. As a geographer, I like understanding linkages among people, places and environments – themes that generally characterize our discipline of Geography.  My recent research explores coastal hazards using geospatial and social science approaches.  I have a current project investigating coastal erosion in Bangladesh that involves themes of vulnerability, resilience, and sustainability.  I also do work in geospatial applications of public health issues.  I am not currently teaching but have experience teaching varied geospatial and human-environment courses.  My main job is to work with our department, college, and VT community to help deliver an awesome department.  When I can, I also like to research on bicycle themes.

Areas of Expertise:

  • Geospatial applications, GIS, remote sensing, spatial analysis
  • Coastal geography and hazards
  • Human-environment interactions, vulnerability and resilience
  • Health applications

Education:  

  • Ph.D. - University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, 2000
  • M.A. - University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, 1994
  • B.S. - Wake Forest University, 1988
  • Md Sariful Islam. 2023. Ph.D. Coastal Erosion Hazard in Bangladesh: Space-time pattern analysis and empirical forecasting, impacts on land use/cover, and human risk perception.
    Professor(s): Thomas W. Crawford
  • Nazmul Huda. 2022. M.S. Patterns and Associations of Shoreline Erosion and Developed Land Use Change in the Lower Meghna Estuary of Bangladesh.
    Professor(s): Thomas W. Crawford

Geography and Spatial Sciences Program (GSS). Coastal erosion vulnerability, monsoon dynamics and human adaptive response.  
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Investigator(s): T. Crawford (PI), S. Curtis, B. Paul, K. Rahman. Amount: $405,868. 
2017-2020

COCA – Supporting Resilient Coastal Communities and Ecosystems in a Changing Climate. A community-wide public health risk assessment of vulnerable water infrastructure in coastal cities.
Sponsor: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Investigator(s): PI on subaward to Saint Louis University from South Carolina SeaGrant Consortium with E. Fly (PI), S. Lovelace, J. Whitehead, T. Allen, B. Montz, G. Kearney. Amount: $25,923 of total $290,993. 
2015-2017

  • Gyanwali, S., Karki, S., Jang, K. M., Crawford, T., Zhang, M., & Kim, J. (2024). Implications for spatial non-stationarity and the neighborhood effect averaging problem (NEAP) in green inequality research: evidence from three states in the USA. Journal of Geographical Systems, 1-24.
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s10109-024-00448-x
  • Islam, M. S., Crawford, T. W., & Shao, Y. (2023). Evaluation of predicted loss of different land use and land cover (LULC) due to coastal erosion in Bangladesh. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 11, 1144686.
    https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2023.1144686
  • Islam, M. S., & Crawford, T. W. (2022). Assessment of spatio-temporal empirical forecasting performance of future shoreline positions. Remote Sensing, 14(24), 6364.
    https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14246364
  • Rahman, M., Popke, J., & Crawford, T. W. (2022). Resident perceptions of riverbank erosion and shoreline protection: A mixed-methods case study from Bangladesh. Natural Hazards, 114(3), 2767-2786.
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-022-05489-3
  • Rahman, M. K., Crawford, T. W., & Islam, M. S. (2022). Shoreline change analysis along rivers and deltas: A systematic review and bibliometric analysis of the shoreline study literature from 2000 to 2021. Geosciences, 12(11), 410.
    https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences12110410
  • Paul, B. K., Rahman, M. K., Lu, M., & Crawford, T. W. (2022). Household migration and intentions for future migration in the climate change vulnerable lower Meghna estuary of coastal Bangladesh. Sustainability, 14(8), 4686.
    https://doi.org/10.3390/su14084686
  • Crawford, T. W., Rahman, M. K., Miah, M. G., Islam, M. R., Paul, B. K., Curtis, S., & Islam, M. S. (2021). Coupled adaptive cycles of shoreline change and households in deltaic Bangladesh: analysis of a 30-year shoreline change record and recent population impacts. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 111(4), 1002-1024.
    https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2020.1799746
  • Rahman, M. K., Crawford, T. W., Paul, B. K., Sariful Islam, M., Curtis, S., Giashuddin Miah, M., & Rafiqul Islam, M. (2021). Riverbank erosions, coping strategies, and resilience thinking of the Lower-Meghna River Basin community, Bangladesh. Climate Vulnerability and Resilience in the Global South: Human Adaptations for Sustainable Futures, 259-278.
    https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77259-8_13
  • Paul, B. K., Rahman, M. K., Crawford, T., Curtis, S., Miah, M. G., Islam, R., & Islam, M. S. (2021). Coping strategies of people displaced by riverbank erosion in the lower Meghna estuary. Living on the Edge: Char Dwellers in Bangladesh, 227-239.
    https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73592-0_13
  • Paul, B. K., Rahman, M. K., Crawford, T., Curtis, S., Miah, M. G., Islam, M. R., & Islam, M. S. (2020). Explaining mobility using the Community Capital Framework and Place Attachment concepts: A case study of riverbank erosion in the Lower Meghna Estuary, Bangladesh. Applied Geography, 125, 102199.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2020.102199
  • Crawford, T. W., Islam, M. S., Rahman, M. K., Paul, B. K., Curtis, S., Miah, M. G., & Islam, M. R. (2020). Coastal erosion and human perceptions of revetment protection in the Lower Meghna Estuary of Bangladesh. Remote Sensing, 12(18), 3108.
    https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12183108
  • Crawford, T. W. (2020). Urban form as a technological driver of carbon dioxide emission: A structural human ecology analysis of onroad and residential sectors in the conterminous US. Sustainability, 12(18), 7801.
    https://doi.org/10.3390/su12187801
  • Lovelace, S., Hanks, A., Fly, E., Phan, M., Crawford, T., Kearney, G., ... & Whitehead, J. (2019). Susceptibility of Public Health Impacts from Flooded Water, Wastewater and Public Infrastructure: Guidebook for Community Assessment.
    https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/45753
  • Allen, T. R., Crawford, T., Montz, B., Whitehead, J., Lovelace, S., Hanks, A. D., ... & Kearney, G. D. (2019). Linking water infrastructure, public health, and sea level rise: Integrated assessment of flood resilience in coastal cities. Public Works Management & Policy, 24(1), 110-139.
    https://doi.org/10.1177/1087724X18798
  • Crawford, T., & M.K. Rahman. (2018). Settlement patterns. In, S. Walsh (Ed.) Comprehensive Remote Sensing, Vol. 9: Remote Sensing Applications for Societal Benefits, pp. 106-122, Elsevier.
  • Dawson, T., J.S. Onesimo Sandoval, V. Sagan, & T. Crawford. (2018). A spatial analysis of the relationship between vegetation and poverty. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 7, 83. https://doi.org/103390/ijgi7030083
  • Boettge, B., D.M. Hall, & T. Crawford. (2017). Assessing the bicycle network in St. Louis: a place-based user-centered approach. Sustainability, 9, 241. https://doi.org/103390/su9020241
  • Rahman, M.K., T. Crawford, & T. Schmidlin. (2017). Spatio-temporal analysis of road traffic accident fatality in Bangladesh integrating newspaper accounts and gridded population data. GeoJournal.
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-017-9791-x
  • Crawford, T. (2015). Finding the Real America on the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail: landscape meaning of a contemporary secular pilgrimage. In, S. Brunn (Ed.) The Changing World Religion Map: Sacred Places, Identities, Practices and Politics, pp. 855-873. Springer.
    https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9376-6_43
  • Crawford, T., S. Jilcott-Pitts, J. McGuirt, T. Keyserling, & A. Ammerman. (2014). Conceptualizing and comparing neighborhood and activity space measures for food environment research. Health & Place, 30:215-25.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2014.09.007
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