Meghan Kelly

• 2024 Fall
  • GEO 381/681 Cartographic Design
• 2024 Spring
  • GEO 381 Cartographic Design
  • GEO 478/678 Spatial Storytelling
• 2023 Fall
  • GEO 381 Cartographic Design

I work at the intersection of cartography, feminist theory and digital storytelling. I am particularly interested in the role of power in spatial data, map design and mapping processes. My most recent project, for example, examines the ubiquity and use of satellite data in the news and our everyday lives through a Black feminist lens.

In my work, I aim to rethink and expand conventional cartographic tools and techniques through alternative perspectives. Additionally, I am a professional cartographer, and my work can be found in the Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, Rolling Stone Magazine, and Science.

The most up-to-date information about me can be found on my website: meghankelly-cartography.github.io/ 

"Multidisciplinary approaches to building research capacity and resilience through partnerships during conflict", Sponsored by Research England and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) .

"Where do we go from here? An open-source TRELIS toolkit", Sponsored by Carolyn Merry Mini-Grant: Training and Retaining Leaders in STEM-Geospatial Sciences (TRELIS) and University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS).

"Training and Retaining Leaders in STEM-Geospatial Sciences (TRELIS) Fellowship", Sponsored by University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS) and National Science Foundation funding.

"Designer-in-Residence Fellowship", Sponsored by Leventhal Map and Education Center at the Boston Public Library.

• Journal Articles
  • Kelly, M., Lally, N. and Nicholson, P., "On Art and Experimentation as Geographical Practice." GeoHumanities, 2023.
  • Kelly, M., "The Gallery of Possibilities." The Professional Geographer (Special Issue on Feminist Research Methods and Intersectionality), 2023.
  • Kelly, M., Bosse, A., "Pressing Pause, 'Doing' Feminist Mapping." ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies, "Doing Critical GIS" Specialty Issue, 2022.
  • Bley, K., Caldwell, K., Kelly, M., Loyd, J., Roth, R. E., Anderson, T. M., Bonds, A., Plevin, J., Madison, D., Spencer, C., Sims, T., Archuleta, C., Ellner, Z., McDowell, T., Nestle, C., Noterman, E., Smith, N., Veleditsky, S., Underwood, N., Darlington, R., Gao, Y., George, A., Miller, L., Prestby, T. and Vongkusolkit, J., "A Design Challenge for Transforming Justice." GeoHumanities, 2021.
  • Kelly, M., "Mapping Bodies, Designing Feminist Icons." GeoHumanities, 2021.
  • Kelly, M., "Mapping Syrian Refugee Border Crossings: A feminist approach." Cartographic Perspectives, 2019.
  • Kelly, M., "Collectively Mapping Borders." Cartographic Perspectives, 2016.
• Book Chapters
  • Kelly, M., "Feminist Geography and Geospatial Technology." In Routledge Handbook of Geospatial Technologies and Society. , 2023.
  • Kelly, M., "Narrative and Storytelling." In Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge. University Consortium of Geographic Information Science, 2022.
• Extended Abstracts
  • Kelly, M., Chen, J. K. and Alvarez Léon, L. F., "Digital Storytelling from Above." International Cartography Association (ICA) EuroCarto 2022. Vienna, Austria: September, 2022.
  • Roth, R. E., Kelly, M., Underwood, N., Lally, N., Vincent, K. and Sack, C., "Interactive & Multiscale Thematic Maps: A Preliminary Study." Proceedings of the 29th International Cartographic Conference (ICA). Tokyo, Japan: July 15, 2019.
  • Roth, R. E., Sack, C. M., Kelly, M., Lally, N. and Vincent, K., "MapStudy: An Open Source Survey Tool for Researching Interactive Web Maps." Proceedings of 2018 International Symposium on Automated Cartography (AutoCarto), 2018.
  • Kelly, M., "Collectively Mapping Syria’s Borders." Proceedings of the 28th International Cartographic Conference (ICA). Washington, DC: July 5, 2017.
• Others
  • Rosenfeld, H., Kelly, M. and Roth, R. E., "Learning Cartography, or, a Gallery of Awesome Maps." Edge Effects, 2016.
  • Kelly, M., "From Lines to Stories: New Visualizations of Syria’s Borders." Edge Effects, 2016.

he Spatial Turn in Holocaust and Genocide Studies: Space, Place and Mapping, Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University, "Teaching Spatial Storytelling" (April 24, 2025 - April 26, 2026)

Teaching Ecology, Climate, and Environmental Justice at Syracuse University: A Humanities-driven Interdisciplinary Summit, "Mapping as Spatial Storytelling" (May 17, 2024 - May 19, 2024)

Commuity Geography Methods Workshop, Syracuse University Community Geography, "Feminist Icon Design" (November 15, 2023)

North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS) Annual Meeting, North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS), "Small Multiples as a Gallery of Possibilities " (October 12, 2023)

Kelly, M. A., Hammond, T. W., Koch, N., Huber, M., Wilkins, D., Future Professoriate Program, Department of Geography and the Environment, "Navigating Academic Publishing" (September 25, 2023)

Kelly, M. A., Ruszczky, H., Cole, T., Cheshire, J., Kent, A., Representing People on the Move, Research England and UKRI, "Narrative Mapping Workshop" (July 17, 2023 - July 18, 2023)

Representing People on the Move, Research England and UKRI, "On Art and Experimentation: A Framework for Narrative Mapping" (July 17, 2023)

Colloquium Series, University of Southampton (UK), "Feminist Mapping: Black Feminist Approaches to Points and Pixels" (May 4, 2023)

Human Geography Seminar Series, Department of Geography, University College London, "From Points to Pixels: Feminist Approaches to Mapping" (January 31, 2023)

Colloquium Series, Department of Geography and the Environment, Syracuse University, "From Points to Pixels: Feminist Approaches to Mapping" (January 24, 2023)

Colloquium Series, Department of Geography, Penn State University, "From Points to Pixels: Feminist Approaches to Mapping" (January 19, 2023)

Kelly, M., Chen, J., Alvarez Léon, L. F., Digital Geographers Research Group Annual Symposium: The Materiality of Digital Geographies: Agencies, Affects, and Impacts, "Imagery is the News: The Emerging Politics of the View from Above in New Media" (November, 2022)

Kelly, M., Chen, J., Alvarez Léon, L. F., International Cartography Association (ICA) EuroCarto, "Digital Storytelling from Above" (September, 2022)

Spatial Analytics and Data Seminar Series, The Alan Turing Institute, Newcastle University, and Bristol University, "The Interviews: Sarah Elwood" (June 14, 2022)

Colloquium Series, New Mexico State University, "Points and Pixels: Feminist Approaches to Mapping" (April 8, 2022)

Critical Approaches to Place and the Environment Lecture Series, National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and New Mexico State University, "Feminist Mapping: An Introduction to Feminist Icon Design" (April 7, 2022)

Geoscience in Context Seminar Series, University of Cambridge, "Feminist Mapping: Power and Context" (March 14, 2022)

Rua Red, South Dublin Arts Centre, "Feminist Mapping: A Gallery of Possibilities" (March 8, 2022)

Alvarez Léon, L. F., Chen, J., Kelly, M., American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, "Selling the View from Above: Remote Sensing, Commercialization, and the New Satellite Ecosystem" (2022)

Interactive Data Visualization Course, MIT, "Feminist Mapping: Content, Form, and Process" (April 24, 2021)

Advanced GIS Course, Urban Planning, UCLA, "Maps and Visual Storytelling, More Than Showing Data" (April 21, 2021)

Culture, History and Environment Methods Course, University of Wisconsin–Madison, "Mapping as Method" (March 30, 2021)

Feminist Visualization 2021: Mobility, Sovereignty, Borders, National Science Foundation (NSF), University at Albany, and University of Arizona, "Making a Feminist Map: Where can we start?" (March 3, 2021)

Feminist Visualization Series, University of Arizona and University of Albany, "Feminist Mapping, A Gallery of Possibilities" (March, 2021)

Feminist Visualization 2021: Mobilities, Sovereignty, and Borders, National Science Foundation (NSF), University at Albany, and University of Arizona, "Feminist Mapping: Past, Present, and Futures" (February 26, 2021)

Portland State University, "Reflexive Data Practices" (February 17, 2021)

Association of American Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting, Association of American Geographers (AAG), "Collectively Designing Icons, Feminist Vocabularies for Map Design" (2021)

Acera School, 6th grade, "Maps and Power" (September 25, 2020)

MIT Visualization Group, "Feminist Mapping: Content, Form, and Process" (August 18, 2020)

Field Museum of Natural History, "Storytelling and Map Design" (January 29, 2020)

Association of American Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting, Association of American Geographers (AAG), "Feminist Visualization: Emerging Methodologies Interrogating Power and Representation" (2020)

Field Museum of Natural History, "Map Design for Community Engagement" (2020)

Kelly, M., Bosse, A., Association of American Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting, "Pressing Pause, “Doing” Feminist Mapping" (2020)

Association of American Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting, Association of American Geographers (AAG) , "Re-Visiting Feminist Geography and GIS" (2020)

Kelly, M., Bosse, A., North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS) Annual Meeting, North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS), "Mapping and Positionality: A Call for Reflection and Action" (October 17, 2019)

Great Plains/Rocky Mountain Regional Association of American Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting, "Mapping Bodies, Feminist Icon Design" (October 11, 2019)

Roth, R. E., Kelly, M., University Consortium on Geographic Information Science 2019 Symposium, "Map-based Storytelling for the GeoHumanities" (June 12, 2019)

Association of American Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting, Cartography Specialty Group, "Student Illustrated Poster Competition" (April 5, 2019)

Kelly, M., Jones, A., Ketcham, L., D’Ignazio, C., Buckingham, T., Roth, R. E., Association of American Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting, "Feminist Mapmaking in Practice: Applying Feminist Concepts to Mapping Workshops for Enhanced Community Engagement" (April 4, 2019)

Doing Critical GIS Workshop, University of Maryland Baltimore County, "Feminist Cartographies: Theory and Practice for Map Design" (April 1, 2019)

Association of American Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting, Association of American Geographers (AAG), "Creative GeoVisualisation" (2019)

Association of American Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting, Association of American Geographers (AAG), "Feminist Cartographies: Theory Meets Practice" (2019)

GIS Day, Department of Geography and the Environment, Syracuse University, "Mapping Stories: A Hands-on Introduction to Spatial Storytelling and ESRI StoryMaps" (November 20, 2024)

Geography Awareness Week, Global Studies and Geography, Hofstra University, "Feminist Mapping and Icon Design" (November 14, 2024)

North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS) Annual Meeting, North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS) , "Algorithmic Design Defaults: Implications and Possibilities" (October 17, 2024)

Kelly, M. A., Dalton, C., Fish, C., Wilmott, C., Limpisathian, B., Thatcher, J., Rosenfeld, H., North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS) , "Updating the Cartographic Curriculum" (October 17, 2024)

Qualitative and Interpretive Research Institute Methods Workshop, Qualitative and Interpretive Research Institute, Cornell Center for Social Sciences, Cornell University, "Feminist Mapping and Icon Design" (October 4, 2024)

Critical Development Seminar Series, Global Development, Cornell University, "From Points to Pixels: Feminist Approaches to Mapping" (October 4, 2024)

Kelly, M. A., Fish, C., EuroCarto, International Cartography Association (ICA) EuroCarto, "Storytelling with Satellites: A Preliminary User Study of Satellite Data in the News" (September 11, 2024)

Royal Geographic Society (RGS) Annual Meeting, "Storytelling with Satellites: Black Feminist Thought and Satellite-derived News Maps" (August 28, 2024)