Dr. Salling is a Senior Fellow and Research Associate in the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs. At the university since 1981, he has served as the Director of the College’s Northern Ohio Data & Information Service (NODIS).

Dr. Salling is Chairman and Key Person for the Cleveland Census Statistical Areas Committee. He also serves on the Council of the Ohio Geographically Referenced Information Program (OGRIP), representing higher education. Dr. Salling has been active in the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) since 1982, is a past board member, twice a recipient of the Association’s service award, and was the editor of the URISA Conference Proceedings for 19 years. Until 2017, he served as a member of the Core Committee of URISA’s GISCorps, which matches GIS professionals to volunteer opportunities in underprivileged communities and for humanitarian projects, particularly in developing countries.

Dr. Salling has authored papers dealing with computer applications in planning, data dissemination, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), public participation GIS, voting rights, redistricting, poverty, residential mobility, environmental equity, and demography. He has taught courses on GIS, urban geography, statistical and computer methods, and demography. He is a certified GIS Professional (GISP) by the Geographic Information Systems Certification Institute (GISCI) and holds a B.A. and Ph.D. in Geography from Kent State University and an M.A. in Geography from the University of Cincinnati.