Dr. David M. Mark was awarded a University Consortium of Geographic Information Science (UCGIS) Fellow status to recognize his sustained and far-reaching contributions to Geographic Information Science as well as his devoted service to UCGIS. Dr. Mark received his Ph.D. degree in Geography from Simon Fraser University in 1977. His Master and Bachelor degrees were granted by University of British Columbia (1974) and Simon Fraser University, respectively. He was a SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Geography at the University at Buffalo (UB), the State University of New York, and the Director of the Buffalo site of the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA). Mark was Project Director of the University at Buffalo’s two NSF-funded Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) projects in Geographic Information Science, projects that together supported more than 60 doctoral level trainees in GIScience, in seven academic departments.

Dr. Mark is best known for his research achievement in theorizing new approaches to and conceptions of geography in the context of Geographic Information Science. His research interests have involved digital elevation models, hierarchical data structures, navigation and wayfinding, qualitative spatial reasoning, and geographic cognition. In later years, his work focused on cultural and linguistic variation in geographic concepts, particularly in the context of ontology and indigenous geographies.

As of 2010, Dr. Mark had advised or co-advised 18 completed Ph.D. students and more than 40 Master's. Counting his advisees, Mark served on the PhD advisory committees of more than 100 Doctoral students. Mark also wrote or co-authored almost 240 publications, including 83 refereed articles, 6 edited books, 33 book chapters, 72 conference proceedings articles, and 43 technical reports. He had made almost 250 academic presentations, almost three-quarters at professional meetings, and the others as invited talks at universities and government agencies.

Dr. Mark helped found the UCGIS, served as president in 1998, and chaired the research, membership, and policy and legislation committees of UCGIS. He received UCGIS Researcher of the Year Award in 2004 and the UCGIS Educator of the Year Award in 2009. Dr. Mark was also an active driving force in the larger GIS community. He served as Vice-chair (1987-88) and Chair (1988-89) of the Geographic Information Systems Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers and Chair of the Technology Interest Group, Canadian Cartographic Association (1987-89). He also has served on numerous international editorial boards and program committees, and was program co-chair for Auto Carto 10 (1991), COSIT'99, COSIT'05, and GIScience 2000 and 2002.

For later details on the accomplishments of Prof. Mark, see the Memorial for Prof. Mark published by the AAG in 2022.