McCoy, Roger M.

PERSONAL:

Education: University of Kansas, Ph.D., 1967.

ADDRESSES:

E-mail—rm.mccoy51@sisna.com.

CAREER:

Geographer, educator, writer, and editor. University of Utah, Salt Lake City, emeritus professor in the department of geography.

WRITINGS:

(Editor) Radiometric Surveys in Petroleum Exploration, Association of Petroleum Geochemical Explorationists (Denver, CO), 1996.

Field Methods in Remote Sensing, Guilford Press (New York, NY), 2005.

Ending in Ice: The Revolutionary Idea and Tragic Expedition of Alfred Wegener, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Roger M. McCoy is a geographer and author. His book Field Methods in Remote Sensing provides guidelines for laboratory-based scientists who have little experience in working with remote sensors in the field. "The book tries to expose the forgotten steps in remote sensing research such as the importance of defining clear objectives, how to make sampling in the field, how to [find] locations in the field and how to collect thematic data in the field," wrote Ketut Wikantika on the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing Web site. K. Wayne Forsythe, writing in the Canadian Geographer, noted: "Overall, this is a very thorough and detailed explanation of field methods and their role in remote sensing. The wide range of examples represents many application areas. The suggestions and advice for planning field work will help students and more experienced practitioners make informed decisions concerning field campaigns."

In his 2006 book, Ending in Ice: The Revolutionary Idea and Tragic Expedition of Alfred Wegener, McCoy writes of the German meteorologist and climatologist who wrote the first paper theorizing that continents actually move around the surface of the planet. The author examines the theory's origins and how it was received by Wegener's fellow scientists. He also recounts four expeditions that Wegener made to Greenland, ultimately dying on the last trip as he tried to rescue other members of his team in trouble. In a review in Booklist, Colleen Mondor commented that Ending in Ice is "a superb tribute to a forgotten scientific trail blazer … [and] a worthy addition to … polar exploration titles."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, July 1, 2006, Colleen Mondor, review of Ending in Ice: The Revolutionary Idea and Tragic Expedition of Alfred Wegener, p. 16.

Canadian Geographer, winter, 2006, K. Wayne Forsythe, review of Field Methods in Remote Sensing.

Choice, February, 2007, A.K. Ackerberg-Hasting, review of Ending in Ice, p. 1013.

Geotimes, December, 2006, review of Ending in Ice, p. 63.

Reference & Research Book News, May, 2005, review of Field Methods in Remote Sensing, p. 80.

SciTech Book News, June, 2005, review of Field Methods in Remote Sensing, p. 5; September, 2006, review of Ending in Ice.

ONLINE

International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing Web site,http://www.isprs.org/ (June 25, 2007), Ketut Wikantika, review of Field Methods in Remote Sensing.