IGTLab Faculty and Staff
Charlie Mix, GIS Director
Charlie Mix is the GIS Director for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He oversees and supports all things GIS for campus and its community partners. Charlie has led numerous successful projects utilizing GIS and cartography for conservation and outdoor recreation planning, public health, environmental management, community prosperity, and more. His cartographic work has received international recognition through awards and publications. Charlie holds a Bachelor of Science in Geography from Jacksonville State University and a Master of Science in Information Sciences from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
Nyssa Hunt, Assistant GIS Director
Nyssa’s years of research experience thus far have been gained from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, while exploring the many avenues of their Environmental Science program. In 2014, she earned her B.S. in Environmental Science with a concentration in Geographic and Cartographic Sciences and minors in Computer Science, Biology, and Geography, all of which allowed great immersion into fieldwork and the beginning phases of intensive GIS modeling. In Summer 2018, she earned an M.S. in Environmental Science, in which her thesis research focused on developing and assessing predictive spatial distribution models for an amphibian species listed as both rare and vulnerable in the state of Tennessee. From then onward, Nyssa has continued to work with conservation, recreation, and agricultural analysis for the greater Chattanooga region, collaborates with faculty, staff, and students on projects, and assists community organizations with GIS needs. She enjoys exploring new GIS technologies in machine and deep learning to go further with conservation GIS, and finding solutions to geospatial challenges. Additionally, she is a licensed Part 107 UAV pilot and is glad to assist on research projects in need of drone/UAV flights. Feel free to reach out to her if you ever have any GIS or drone/UAV related questions - she's always happy to help out!
GIS Fellows
The IGTLab’s GIS Fellows are a group of exceptional student GIS technicians that are offered opportunities to apply skills and knowledge learned in the classroom to help solve real world problems of UTC partners, while gaining experience and making professional connections. These projects are sponsored by various non-profits, government agencies, and foundations. Current and past GIS fellows have been sponsored by the Lyndhurst Foundation (to provide GIS and cartographic support to non-profit land trusts and outdoor recreation advocacy groups), The Enterprise Center, The Tennessee Valley Authority, The University of Tennessee and the Tennessee River Line, and the United States Forest Service. Through the GIS Fellows program, student GIS technicians are better equipped for their future professional or academic careers. These are the next leaders of geospatial thinkers and problem solvers.
Connor Firat, GIS Technician
Connor Firat is a master’s candidate in the Environmental Science program at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. In 2019 he earned his B.S. in Geology, with minors in GIS and Chemistry. During his undergrad he pursued research focused on a major geologic boundary by identifying and correlating fossilized sponge species. He studied abroad in Spain where he presented research on a carbonate platforms. He later shifted focus on GIS by working on projects related to mapping out geotechnical data and assessing a major coal ash spill at the Kingston Coal Ash Plant. With his skills Connor landed various projects with the Center of Urban Informatics and Progress (CUIP) and the IGTlab assisting on using machine learning to predict accidents, optimizing travel for local bus program, environmental impacts on COVID-19, and mapping logging roads in Cherokee National Forest. After his undergrad he attended a field camp with the University of Missouri where he developed skills in field mapping and Hydrology. He has worked at various state and federal agencies as an intern such as TDOT, TVA, and USGS as surveyor and hydrologic technician. He is currently pursuing his masters with a thesis centered around using remote sensing and hydrological models to understand suspended sediment around the Chattanooga area’s watershed basins.
Matthew Mollica, GIS Technician
Matthew Mollica is a senior at UTC studying Geology with a minor in Geographical Information Science. He started working in the lab in 2021 to help compile and organize data of recently conserved land, and will continue to work on conservation related projects. In his free time, he spends his time rock climbing, mountain biking, traveling, and using GIS to find new cliffs to climb.
Will Stuart, GIS Technician
Will Stuart is currently a master’s candidate in the Environmental Science program at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He earned his B.S. in Environmental Science, with a focus in Earth, Atmosphere, and Geologic Resources. In addition to his academic achievements, Will has served as a lab instructor for Environmental Science and teaching assistant for Introduction to GIS for Geoscientists here at UTC. His research experiences include geologic-based field studies across the US desert southwest, research concerning the topography and microclimate of the Cumberland Plateau, and the integration of GIS and remote sensing techniques to model the carbon sequestered in the trees across the UTC’s campus. Currently, Will’s thesis research is utilizing satellite imagery to accurately and rapidly map Chattanooga’s forest lands, quantify how the extent of forest lands have changed through time, and to model the carbon these forests have sequestered in their biomass in order to help inform future sustainable development initiatives in the City of Chattanooga. Since joining the IGTLab staff as a GIS Technician in August of 2019, Will has had the opportunity to work on a variety of projects, such as the Chattanooga Area Pollinator Project (CHAPP), as well as a variety projects for the Thrive Regional Partnership, including the Farm Connect web application. He is excited to continue conducting GIS-empowered spatial analyses to further the conservation of Chattanooga’s culturally, recreationally, and ecologically valued natural resources.