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Sarah M McDonald

Sarah McDonald is a member of the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) Geospatial Science and Applications Team (GSAT), formerly the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Team, and the CBP Land Data Team. 

Sarah McDonald is a member of the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) Geospatial Science and Applications Team (GSAT), formerly the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Team, and the CBP Land Data Team. 

Her research interests include Land Use/Land Cover monitoring and modeling, land change detection, remote sensing, and open-source Python geospatial solutions. 

Professional Experience

  • Geographer (December 2020 – Present) - Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center, Chesapeake Bay Program Office, Annapolis, MD 

  • Student Contractor (June 2019 – December 2020) - Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center, Chesapeake Bay Program Office, Annapolis, MD 

Education and Certifications

  • M.S. Student (2023 - Present) University of Maryland, Baltimore County

    Department of Geography and Environmental Systems, Advisors Dr. Matthew Baker and Dr. Matthew Fagan

  • B.S. Environmental Science and Geography (2019), University of Maryland, Baltimore County

  • B.S. Computer Science (2019), University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Science and Products

The Chesapeake Bay Land Change Model (CBLCM): Simulating future land use scenarios and potential impacts on water quality The Chesapeake Bay Land Change Model (CBLCM): Simulating future land use scenarios and potential impacts on water quality

The Chesapeake Bay Land Change Model (CBLCM) is an open-source pseudo-cellular automata land change model tailored for loose coupling with watershed models. The CBLCM simulates infill development, residential and commercial development, natural land and agricultural land conversion, and growth served by sewer or septic wastewater treatment. The CBLCM is unique among land change models by
Authors
Peter Claggett, Labeeb Ahmed, Frederick Irani, Sarah McDonald, Renee Thompson
By
Chesapeake Bay Activities, Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center

Geospatial standard operating procedures of the Chesapeake Bay Program Geospatial standard operating procedures of the Chesapeake Bay Program

Introduction The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) has operated a geographic information system (GIS) program since the early 1990s to address the established and growing need for and use of geospatial data, maps, and analysis within the CBP Partnership. This report is intended to detail the standard operating procedures of the CBP GIS program and address the quality assurance, quality...
Authors
John C. Wolf, Labeeb Ahmed, Peter Claggett, Andrew Fitch, Frederick Irani, Sarah McDonald, David Strong, Renee Thompson, Zhaoying Wei
By
Chesapeake Bay Activities, Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center, Virginia and West Virginia Water Science Center
Chesapeake Bay Program releases most detailed data on the Chesapeake’s lands and waters to date

Chesapeake Bay Program releases most detailed data on the Chesapeake’s lands and waters to date

Chesapeake Bay Program — Press Release — June 26, 2025

Read Article

Science and Products

The Chesapeake Bay Land Change Model (CBLCM): Simulating future land use scenarios and potential impacts on water quality The Chesapeake Bay Land Change Model (CBLCM): Simulating future land use scenarios and potential impacts on water quality

The Chesapeake Bay Land Change Model (CBLCM) is an open-source pseudo-cellular automata land change model tailored for loose coupling with watershed models. The CBLCM simulates infill development, residential and commercial development, natural land and agricultural land conversion, and growth served by sewer or septic wastewater treatment. The CBLCM is unique among land change models by
Authors
Peter Claggett, Labeeb Ahmed, Frederick Irani, Sarah McDonald, Renee Thompson
By
Chesapeake Bay Activities, Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center

Geospatial standard operating procedures of the Chesapeake Bay Program Geospatial standard operating procedures of the Chesapeake Bay Program

Introduction The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) has operated a geographic information system (GIS) program since the early 1990s to address the established and growing need for and use of geospatial data, maps, and analysis within the CBP Partnership. This report is intended to detail the standard operating procedures of the CBP GIS program and address the quality assurance, quality...
Authors
John C. Wolf, Labeeb Ahmed, Peter Claggett, Andrew Fitch, Frederick Irani, Sarah McDonald, David Strong, Renee Thompson, Zhaoying Wei
By
Chesapeake Bay Activities, Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center, Virginia and West Virginia Water Science Center
Chesapeake Bay Program releases most detailed data on the Chesapeake’s lands and waters to date

Chesapeake Bay Program releases most detailed data on the Chesapeake’s lands and waters to date

Chesapeake Bay Program — Press Release — June 26, 2025

Read Article
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