Michele Masucci

Areas of Expertise:

Water resources management, GIS and society, appropriate use of GIS and information technologies, planning theory, community development

Education:

Ph.D. Clark University, Geography, 1987.
M.A. Clark University, Geography, 1986.
B.S. Salisbury University, Geography and Regional Planning, 1982.

Courses Offered:

GUS 1051 Environment and Society

GUS 2051 Urban Environment

GUS 3051 Problems of Environmental Quality

GUS 4000 Special Topics: Community Information Systems

GUS 5000 Special Topics: Information Systems Design and Management

GUS 4197/8097 Research Methods in Geography and Urban Studies

Research:

Dr. Masucci's current research examines the how barriers to accessing information resources using geographic information technologies are interrelated with community development and environmental quality problems, including accessing health, education, and social services. She has worked to develop university-community partnerships with organizations that address human rights issues, community and environmental planning organizations in the Southeastern U.S. and in Brazil involved in water quality monitoring and assessment, and with informal educational settings on integrating information technology curricula through educational programs aimed at advancing knowledge of to develop information resources. She currently directs the IT and Society Research Group, a university-wide consortium from interdisciplinary fields of study who share a research focus on information and communications technologies and related social issues, including digital divide and technological literacy, Internet communication systems and social inequality, and partnership and e-collaboration approaches for organizing and managing community information needs.

Dr. Masucci is currently a co-investigator on a study of internet health communication systems entitled “Preventing Heart Disease in Underserved Patients.” Her research on this study examines the relationship between geographic, social, and networked access to information technologies and health outcomes among 400 cardiovascular disease patients in a comparative study of health care systems in Philadelphia and rural Pennsylvania . She is responsible for developing and implementing an internet training protocol that addresses digital divide barriers to accessing information technologies among patients enrolled in the study, assessing self-efficacy issues related to acquiring skills needed to use the internet communication tool developed for the study, and analyzing social, demographic, and spatial patterns associated with health outcomes among patients who use the communication tool. This study is ongoing through 2007.

Previous research has been funded by the USIA College and University Affiliations Program, USDA, Fulbright, and the Regional Center for Teacher Education in Georgia . This work has examined the relationships between community planning, environmental management and information uses and technologies in non-governmental organizations in the Atlantic Rainforest Region of Brazil , in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River Basin region, and in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . She developed an appropriate technology GIS that analyzed drought and flood data for the ACF River Basin that permitted an analysis of the relationship between information resources and drought contingency planning during a period of extreme fluctuation in drought and flood conditions during the 1980s and 1990s in the Southeastern U.S. The outcomes of this study are the focus of a book (co-authored with Richard Perritt) entitled: Human Environmental Interchange: Managing the Effects of Recent Droughts in the Southeastern U.S.

Her work on identifying criteria for assessing appropriate use of IT in marginalized community settings is the focus of a new book that specifically addresses the relationship between social marginalization and technology implementation with non-governmental and community environmental planning organizations. It is entitled: Ethical Issues in the Use and Development of Geographic Information System Technologies (forthcoming - Oxford University Press).

Current Publications:

Gilbert, M. and M. Masucci, C. Homko, and A. Bove (2008) Theorizing the Digital Divided: Information and Communication Technology Use Frameworks among Poor Women using a sTelemedicine System. Geoforum 39: 912-925.

Gilbert, M. and M. Masucci (2008) Reflections on a Feminist Collaboration: Goals, Methods, and Outcomes. In Feminisms in Geography: Space, Place, and Environment . Ed., K Falconer Al-Hindi and Pamela Moss. Rowman and Littlefield, pp. 237-246.

Masucci, M. and M. Gilbert. Feminist Praxis in University Community Partnerships: Reflections on Ethical Crises and Turning Points in Temple-North Philadelphia IT partnerships. Forthcoming (2004) in ACME: An International E-Journal of Critical Geographies.

Masucci, M. and M. Gilbert. Moving Beyond “Gender and GIS” to a Feminist Perspective on Information Technologies: The impact of welfare reform on women's IT needs. Forthcoming (2004) in Seager and Nelson (eds.): A Companion to Feminist Geography. London / New York: Blackwell Publishers.

Masucci, M. 2000. Institutional Partnerships in Using and Developing Information Technology for Community Environmental Monitoring. In: Viadana, I. and M. Lombardo.(eds). Universidade e Comunidade na Gestao do Meio Ambiente. UNESP ( State University of Sao Paulo ) Press, Sao Paulo , Brazil. p. 65-75.

Moss, P., K. DeBres, A. Cravey, J. Hyndman, K. Hirschboeck, and M. Masucci. 1999. “Mentoring Strategies for Ourselves and Others.” The Journal of Geography in Higher Education.

Masucci, M. 1999. Virtuality and Reality: "Navigating" the Power Relationships within Geographic/Information Technology Partnerships to Discover the Terrain of Empowerment. Papers of GISOC'99 - The First International Conference on GIS and Society. Minneapolis: The University of Minnesota.

Recent Grants Funded:

Masucci, M. 2003. “Building Work Readiness Skills through Development of a Community Information Systems in Collaboration with Local Small Businesses and Community Centers.” Funded by Philadelphia Youth Network Summer Development Institute Program. Amount Funded: $22,500 plus $49,440 youth participation funding. Project Director.

Masucci, M. 2003. “Improving Information Technology Skills and Technology Literacy through Summer Career Exploration Opportunities – 2003.” Funded by Philadelphia Youth Network, Summer Career Exploration Program. Amount Funded: $8,500 plus $15,450 youth participation funding. Project Director.

Masucci, M. 2003. “Forward and Beyond at Wanamaker Middle School – Spring 2003: Positive Youth Development through Career Exploration and Technology Training.” Philadelphia School District. $5000. Project Director.

Bove, A.; Santamore, W.; McConnell, T.; Menapace, F.; Hankins, S.; Crabbe, D.; Glassberg, H.; Libonati, J.; Masucci, M.; Morris, N.; and R. Albert. 2003. “Preventing Heart Disease in Underserved Patients.” The Pennsylvania Department of Health and Human Services – Public Health Services Division. Amount Funded: $4,003,000. Co-P.I.

Masucci, M. 2002. “Enhancing Basic and Technological Literacies through Collaborative Career Exploration Experiential Learning Projects.” Funded by the Philadelphia Youth Network, Year Round In-School Youth Program. $54,000 with additional $36,500 youth participation incentive funding. Project Director and P.I.

Masucci, M. and M. Gilbert. 2002. “Overcoming Digital Divide Barriers through Summer Career Exploration Opportunities.” Funded by the Philadelphia Foundation, Summer Career Exploration Program. $23,600. Project Director and P.I.