Lynnette Dornak

Lynnette Dornak is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography, as well as affiliated with Civil and Environmental Engineering and Environmental Sciences and Society at the University of Wisconsin–Platteville. She contributes to interdisciplinary research and teaching in geospatial sciences and environmental systems.

Her research interests include:

• Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
• Biogeography and species distribution modeling
• Ornithology, particularly grassland birds and breeding habitats
• Spatial analysis and remote sensing applications in ecology
• Environmental and cultural landscape mapping

Her current research spans ecological modeling of bird populations, habitat suitability analysis, spatial epidemiology of Lyme disease vectors, and cultural mapping of regional identities. She employs advanced GIS, remote sensing, and programming tools (R and Python) in her work.

Lynnette has held academic appointments since 2014 at UW–Platteville and completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Idaho and the Smithsonian Institution. She earned her Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Kansas in 2012, with a dissertation on grassland sparrows, and holds M.S. and B.S. degrees in Biology from Stephen F. Austin State University.

She teaches courses such as Intro to GIS, Python for GIS, Remote Sensing, Biogeography, and Field Geography. She mentors students through guided research and independent study opportunities.

Lynnette actively engages in fieldwork and community activities, including prescribed burning, outdoor recreation, and roller derby with Madison Roller Derby.