Dr. Michael McCanless

Michael McCanless | C.V.

PhD | Department of Geosciences | he/him                                                                                                                     

Texas Tech University | 214 Holden Hall, Lubbock, TX 79413 

EDUCATION

degrees

2021 – 2025              PhD, Geography, University of Kentucky

2019 – 2021              MA, Geography, University of Kentucky

2013 – 2017              BA, Urban Studies, Rhodes College (Cum Laude)

other educational achievements

2021 – 2023
Graduate Certificate in Digital Mapping

University of Kentucky, Department of Geography
2017 – 2018
Fulbright Student Award in the Country of Georgia

National Defense Academy of the Country of Georgia
 

FACULTY APPOINTMENTS

2025 –                       Assistant Professor, Geosciences, Texas Tech University

PUBLICATIONS

peer-reviewed articles

Zook, Matt., & McCanless, Michael. (2025). Blockchain Real Estate: The Messy Landing of Digital Property. Progress in Economic Geography, 100039.

McCanless, Michael. (2025). Constructing public rent: Property tax appeals and the fiscal strategies of rentier capitalism. Geoforum, 160, 10423.

McCanless, Michael. (2023). Banking on alternative credit scores: Auditing the calculative infrastructure of U.S. consumer lending. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 55(8), 2128–2146. 

Zook, Matt, & McCanless, Michael. (2022). Mapping the uneven geographies of digital phenomena: The case of blockchain. The Canadian Geographer / Le Géographe Canadien, 66(1), 23–36. 

Casey, Zac. & McCanless, Michael. (2018). Looking backward to go forward: Toward a Kliebardian approach to curriculum theory. Berkeley Review of Education, 8(1). 

Under review

McCanless, Michael. “’The Guy(s) from California: Race, the tax code, and the making of retail driven housing financialization in Memphis”. Submitted. Annals of the American Association of Geographers.

AWARDS & HONORS

research awards
 
2025
Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant, National Science Foundation
$19,820
2024
Barnhart-Withington Research Award
$3,450
2020
Barnhart-Withington Research Award
$1,420
2018
Neighborworks Learning Communities Rural Initiatives
$50,000
2015
Institute for Regional Studies Research Grant
$3,500
fellowships
 
 2024
Graduate Fellowship, Urban Geography Specialty Group of the American
 
 2024
Association of Geographers

Geography Department Fellowship, University of Kentucky
 
2023
NYU-Mellon Institute on Urbanism, NYU-Mellon Foundation
 
2017
Fulbright Student Award, Fulbright Program in the Country of Georgia
 
2016
Summer Service Fellowship, Rhodes College
 
teaching & other awards

2025                         College of Arts and Sciences, Outstanding Teaching Award, University of Kentucky

2024                         Summer Workshop on Urban Mixed Methods, University of Toronto, School of Cities

2023                         IRS Spring Academy on Financialization and De-Financialization, Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space

2023                         Best Student Group Map, North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS)

2020                         Travel Grant, University of Kentucky Graduate Student Congress

 

TEACHING

instructor

2025                         Concepts in Human Geography (GEOG 5303), Texas Tech University

2025                         Global Inequalities (GEO 161), University of Kentucky

2024                         Global Inequalities (GEO 161), University of Kentucky

2023                         Introduction to GIS (GEO 309), University of Kentucky

2022 (x2)                  Health Geography (GEO 261), University of Kentucky

2018                         U.S. Culture and Concepts, National Defense Academy of the Country of Georgia

teaching assistantships

2020                         Health Geography (GEO261), University of Kentucky

2019                         Environmental Issues (GEO162), University of Kentucky

CONFERENCE PARTICIPATION

paper presentations

2024             “Where do deferred capital gains go? Turn-key rentals and racialized geographies of the 1031 exchange in Memphis”. Southeastern Division of the American Association of Geographers. Greenville, South Carolina

2024             “Constructing public rent: Property tax appeals and the local distortion of urban valuation”. Annual Meeting of the American Collegiate Schools of Planning. Seattle, Washington.

2024             “The impact of corporate rentiership on property assessment and valuation in Memphis, TN”. Urban Affairs Association Annual Meeting. New York City, New York.

2023             “Making a market for campus investments: the UKInvests program and financial citizenship”. Southeastern Division of the American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting. Co-presented with Jed Debruin, Jacob Saindon and Jack Swab. Norfolk, Virginia.

2023             “Public Data Tools for Understanding Urban Property Ownership”. North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS). Co-presented with Jacob Saindon. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

2023             “Banking on Alternative Credit Scores: New Geographies of Calculative

Infrastructure in U.S. Consumer Lending”. Accounting for Space. Toronto, Canada.

2022             “Three vignettes of a billboardscape”. Southeastern Division of the American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting. Co-presented with Jacob Saindon and Matthew Wilson. Atlanta, Georgia.

2022             “Changing Spaces of Ownership: Web3, NFTs and the Financialization of Everything”. The 6th Global Conference on Economic Geography. Co-presented with Matt Zook. Dublin, Ireland.

2022             “Mapping the Uneven Geography of Digital Phenomena: The Case of Blockchain”. American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting. Co-presented with Matt Zook. Virtual attendance.

2021             “Debilitating debt and recapacitating loans in the online consumer lending industry”. American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting. Virtual attendance.

2020             “’Money is a fundamental ingredient of life’: FinTech and the platform futures

of debt.” American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting. Virtual attendance. 2017             “Economic Precarity and Subjects in Transition: Lessons from the Country of

Georgia and the United States”. 10th International Research Conference on American Studies.. Tbilisi, Georgia

2017             “Thinking-together post-industrial labor education: Paul Willis and the service

economy” 7th International Conference on Critical Education (ICCE). Athens, Greece.

panel organization

2024             “Urban Geographies of the American South”. Southeastern Division of the American Association of Geographers. Panel co-organized with Ryan Pardue and presentations

from Coleman Allums, Scott Markley, and Mia Wood. Greenville, SC.

2024             “Digital technologies and land justice”. Digital Geography Specialty Group Annual Plenary Panel co-organized with Emily Barrett and panelists Annita Hetoevėhotohke’e Lucchesi, Joyce Percel, Genevieve Reid, Isaac Rivera. Virtual.

2023             “Data Infrastructures II: Cities”. Big Data & Society Colloquium: Data Practices & Digital Social Worlds co-organized with Jun Zhang and panelists Erin McElroy, Julien Migozzi, Martin Tironi and Rachel Weber. Virtual

2020             “Space, Technology and Difference”. Summer Brown Bag Series. Member of Graduate Student Organizing Committee, with J. Saindon and I. Spangler.

Lexington, KY.

poster presentations

2019             “Local Resources, Global Wealth: The Role of Appalachian Practitioner

Organizations in Disentangling Local Economies”. Appalachian Studies Association Annual Meeting. Asheville, NC.

INVITED PRESENTATIONS, APPEARANCES, & LECTURES

invited presentations

2025               “’The Guy(s) from California’: Race, the tax code, and the making of retail driven housing financialization in Memphis”. University of Tennessee Geography Awareness Day Speaker. 19 November.

2021               “Debilitating debts and recapacitating loans: How FinTech made markets for unsecured consumer debt using Alternative Data and Machine Learning”.

University of Kentucky Geography Colloquium Series. 27 August.

media appearances

2022
Interview with Wendy Chun. “Discriminating Data: Correlation, Neighborhoods,
 
and the New Politics of Recognition”. Big Data & Society.
2017
Interviewed by Tyler Serritt. “Calhoun Resident Michael McCanless Wins Fulbright
 
Award to Teach in Europe”. Northwest Georgia News.
2016
Interviewed by Sydney Neeley. “Rhodes College students devote summer to
 
making difference in Memphis.” Commercial Appeal
departmental guest lectures

2022             “Financial inequalities: what’s in a credit score”. Guest Lecture, GEO 161 Global Inequalities, University of Kentucky. 23 February.

SERVICE

peer reviewer

Big Data & Society (2021), Journal of Urban Technology (2023), Annals of the American Association of Geographers (2023), Geoforum (2025)

editorial positions

2023 – 2024            Assistant Editor, Big Data & Society

special themes

2022                         Editorial Assistant, The City as a License: Design, Rights and Civics in a  Blockchain Society, Big Data & Society.

disciplinary & departmental

2023 – 2024
Personnel Committee Representative, UK Geography Graduate Student Union
2023 – 2024
Student Representative, Digital Geographies Specialty Group
2022 – 2023
Community Renewal Representative, UK Geography Graduate Student Union
2022 – 2023
Social Chair, UK Geography Graduate Student Union
2022 – 2023
Graduate Committee Representative, UK Geography Graduate Student Union
2022 – 2023
Mentorship Program Coordinator, UK Geography Graduate Student Union
2020 – 2022
Kickball Team Captain, UK Geography Graduate Student Union
2021 – 2022
Mentorship Program Coordinator, UK Geography Graduate Student Union
2020 – 2021
Research Committee Member, United Campus Workers of Kentucky
2020 – 2022
Graduate Student Steward, United Campus Workers of Kentucky
2020
Session Chair, Dimensions of Political Ecology Conference.
2019 – 2020
Colloquium Committee Representative, UK Geography Graduate Student

Union
public panels & committees

2018                         Global UGRAD Exchange Program Panelist, U.S Embassy in Georgia

SOFTWARE SKILLS

mapping & gis

Desktop (ArcGIS Desktop/Pro, QGIS)

Libraries & APIs for mapping & web design (Leaflet, IIIF, D3.js, Chart.js, jQuery, Bootstrap)

language proficiencies

Query (SQL)

Markup (CSS, HTML, XML, AJAX)

Programming (JavaScript, R)

data & database systems

Relational databases (ArcCatalog, PostgreSQL/PostGIS) Version control software (GitHub)

Web services (GitHub Pages, SEO/Google Search Console)

AFFILIATIONS & MEMBERSHIPS

Urban Affairs Association (Since 2023)

Southeaster Division of the American Association of Geographers (since 2022)

Global Network on Financial Geography (since 2021) New Mappings Collaboratory (since 2021) Committee on Social Theory (since 2019)

Association of American Geographers (since 2019)

Digital Geography Specialty Group Economic Geography Specialty Group Urban Geography Specialty Group