Bailey Glover
Pronouns: he/him
Graduate Representative 2020/2021
University of Florida
Adviser: Dr. Liang Mao
Focus Area:
Research Statement:
Bailey is a PhD student in the department of Geography at the University of Florida. Before starting at UF, Bailey completed his master’s degree in environmental science and policy from the University of South Florida. During this time, Bailey investigated various aspects of food insecurity in the Tampa Bay region by conducting an accessibility analysis using several GIS techniques. Some of Bailey’s main interests are found in applying GIS to investigate real world problems. His passions include transportation, urban environments, and public health. Furthermore, he is especially interested in investigating the interaction of humans and the built environment. His future research hopes to focus on how spatial networks impact various aspects of public health, most notably food insecurity and infectious disease.
Who is he?
Bailey is a second year PhD student in the Geography Department. He is a Florida native of Cuban and Colombian descent, and a first-generation student. Bailey will serve as a Graduate Representative for the 2020/2021 academic year.
How did he get here?
Bailey grew up in Jensen Beach, on Florida’s Treasure Coast. He has fond memories of visits to the Environmental Studies Center on the Indian River Lagoon, where he learned about the complex ecosystem of the St. Lucie River estuary. As a third generation Eagle Scout, Bailey spent a lot of time hiking, camping, and boating in the state parks, beaches, and islands of Martin County.
In Bailey’s earliest memories, the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon were crystal clear. That has all changed over the past 15 years, as discharges from Lake Okeechobee continue to degrade water quality, killing fish and creating algal blooms that wreak havoc on local tourism industries. During this time Bailey discovered a passion for environmental health. Determined to learn how to solve the water problems in his hometown, Bailey went to the University of South Florida to earn a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science and Policy – making him the first member of his family to earn a college degree. During his bachelor’s studies, Bailey focused on water quality issues. When he completed his B.S., he stayed at USF’s School of Geosciences, where he earned a M.S. in Environmental Science and Policy and a Graduate Certificate in GIS.
His first semester in the Master’s program was also Dr. Yujie Hu’s first semester as a new Assistant Professor there. The two of them hit it off and Dr. Hu became Bailey’s adviser. While working with Dr. Hu, Bailey shifted his focus to transportation and food deserts when he discovered the power of GIS analysis. He worked on a project that compared the distribution of solid waste facilities and the distribution of race in Florida’s urban landscapes. While the study was inconclusive, it demonstrated the power of GIS tools and raised Bailey’s awareness of how issues like pollution and access to healthcare fall disproportionately on communities of color.
After completing the coursework for his master’s degree, Bailey moved to Gainesville when his fiance Dom took a position at UF’s Warrington College of Business. Shortly after arriving, they learned that their neighbor, Dr. Vivan Haynes, ran a food bank out of her garage – helping Bailey to see food insecurity in the greater East Gainesville community. While completing his degree remotely, Bailey wrote his thesis Measuring and Understanding Food Accessibility in the Tampa Bay Area, which uses multivariate analysis of the Census’ American Community Survey data to assess patterns of food scarcity and poverty through an environmental health lens.
What’s he been doing at UF?
Bailey has been keeping busy now that he’s at UF. He continues to develop new skills and tools. He found Dr. Hu’s GIS4113 GIS6104 Spatial Networks to be particularly useful for his research questions.
While continuing work on transportation issues with Dr. Hu (who also recently joined the department from USF), Bailey has expanded his environmental health scholarship by studying Medical Geography under his new adviser, Dr. Liang Mao. He is currently combining commuting data from the Census’ American Community Survey with metrics of food insecurity from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) to characterize how transportation systems intersect with food insecurity.
As a proud gay man, Bailey feels blessed that he had very supportive parents when he came out. As a testament to his commitment to the LGBT community, he currently volunteers on a research project focused on LGBT youth mental health in rural communities in North Central Florida. The project is being supervised by Dr. Jeanne-Marie Stacciarini of UF’s College of Nursing. Dr. Stacciarini and Bailey were introduced by Dr. Mao, who is part of UF’s SEED program which provides preliminary research funding to investigate a variety of interdisciplinary issues. In preparation for the work, Bailey had extensive training to identify bias and promote safety and youth privacy. “This work is important,” says Bailey, “I might be a person of color, but I still have privilege. How are people going to excel and get out of the cycle of poverty, if people like me don’t advocate for it?”
Bailey is excited to teach his first course this Fall – GEO3427 Plants, Health, and Spirituality.
As if that wasn’t enough, Bailey is one of the Grad Reps for the 2020/2021 school year.
“I hope to promote communication between the grads. When we’re on campus, we tend to associate with the folks in the same lab. While our opportunities to socialize in person are limited, I’m hoping to put together outdoor events for the grads.”
How has he been holding up during the pandemic?
After their first year in Gainesville, Bailey and his fiance bought a house – leaving them with plenty of home improvement tasks to keep them busy. They’ve built a gazebo, have done lots of gardening including transplanting lots of bamboo, and are making sure to do lots of grilling in the backyard.
Bailey’s wedding plans for October have been put on hold for the time being. His mom, step-dad, and sister live in Germany, which complicates travel logistics.
Their house has been filled with music – Bailey plays clarinet, saxophone, baritone sax, sometimes tries the guitar and fails. He received a keyboard for his birthday and has been playing with that as well.
Bailey’s fiance Dom has been able to do most of his work for Warrington from home – with only occasional trips to campus. Their cats Joey and Tiny are clearly resentful of their humans being home all the time, but they salve their egos by lounging in the sun room and watching lizards out the window. On the other hand, their dachshund Cappy has been delighted to have the humans home all the time – his behavior has improved with all the socialization!
Credit: Mike Ryan Simonovich