News from the 2010 UCGIS Summer Assembly
http://www.ucgis.org/summer2010

The 2010 UCGIS Summer Assembly took place June 15-16 at the Crowne Plaza Beach Resort, Hilton Head, South Carolina. The meeting attracted delegates from member institutions from across the United States, representing academia, industry, and government to learn about, and participate in setting future directions for, cutting-edge GIScience research and education. The meeting's theme was Geographic Information Science and Technology: Transformation, Education, and Futures.

Highlights of the meeting include:

• Research Plenary: Teaching Ethics in GIS&T: Final Results of NSF-Funded Research on GIS&T Education
  • Dawn Wright (Oregon State University) and Francis Harvey (University of Minnesota)
    
    
• Presentation: Disorientations: Mapping the Knowledge Economy
  • Tim Stallman, Craig Dalton, and Lan Tu (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)

• Panel Discussion: Professional GIScience Education
  • Robert McMaster (University of Minnesota), Sheila Wilson (GISCI Executive Director), Doug Flewelling (University of Redlands), Tim Nyerges (University of Washington), John Wilson (University of Southern California)

• Workshops
  • Core Geographic Principles in GIS&T, organized by Sara Battersby (University of South Carolina) and Amy Lobben (University of Oregon)
  • Integrating Information Literacy Principles in GIS&T Curricula, organized by Jeff Hamerlinck (University of Wyoming)
  • How Well Does Your Undergraduate or Graduate Program Prepare Students for Geospatial Industry Workforce Needs?, organized by David Dibiase (Pennsylvania State University) [Resources: DoL Geospatial Technology Competency Model (GTCM), GTCM Curriculum Assessment Worksheets]
  • Moving to Enterprise GIS, organized by Toni Fisher (ESRI, Inc.)

UCGIS Research and Education Awards

UCGIS Research Award
http://www.ucgis.org/summer2010/researchaward.htm

Dr. Michael Goodchild is Professor of Geography and Director of the Center for Spatial Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Dr. Goodchild is considered by many to be the father of GIScience itself, hearkening back to his landmark 1992 paper, simply entitled “Geographical Information Science,” published in what was then the International Journal of Geographical Information Systems.

Dr. Goodchild is being recognized by the UCGIS for his work within three specific themes: spatial data accuracy, digital libraries, and GIS interoperability. As the nominating letter states, "The theme of spatial data accuracy remains central, dating back to the origins of the NCGIA in 1988, and includes important contributions based on measurement theory, and on communicating and visualizing error in GIS. ...The digital libraries theme...is traceable to a paper in 1978. [But] the latest period includes work on the necessity of rethinking spatial scale for digital libraries, on redefining the library for the Internet era, and argues that a new appreciation of the communications approach is necessary if libraries are to make the digital transition. ...The NCGIA initiative on GIS interoperability pioneered and strongly influenced an emerging consensus around the need for and mechanisms to promote this goal."

Dr. Goodchild becomes the second scholar, after David Mark, to win both the UCGIS Education (2002) and Research Awards.

UCGIS Education Award
http://www.ucgis.org/summer2010/educationaward.htm

Dr. Robert McMaster is Professor of Geography and Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education at the University of Minnesota. Throughout his career, Dr. McMaster has demonstrated a commitment to advancing the quality of GIScience education, through his research, his contributions to his department's curriculum, and his service to his university and the GIScience community.

Dr. McMaster has developed a number of GIScience courses, including a well-received general education GIS course, and was instrumental in the development of the University's Master of Geographic Information Science degree, one of the first professional graduate programs in the United States, and an interdisciplinary minor in GIScience.

He has held many leadership positions in the GIScience and Cartography community, including terms as president of UCGIS, the Cartography and Geographic Information Society (CaGIS), Chair of both the Cartography and GIS specialty groups of the Association of American Geographers (AAG), the International Cartographic Association (ICA), and National Research Council Mapping Science Committee.  As a leader, he has consistently promoted the continuing development of GIScience education.

Student Travel Awards and Prizes (sponsored by USGS)

A student paper competition and poster session were held at the Summer Assembly, with paper presenters awarded travel funding. The student presenters were:

• Won Kyung Kim, Arizona State University (with Elizabeth Wentz, Arizona State University), Complicated Simplicity: A Case Study on Urban Open Spaces in Phoenix Metropolitan Area


• Sarah Cordivano,University of Pennsylvania, Measuring the Impact of a Decade of Labor and Delivery Unit Closures in Philadelphia


• Ping Yin, University of Georgia (with Lan Mu, University of Georgia, and John Radke, University of California, Berkley), Gamma-Partition: A Clustering Method for Spatial Point Pattern Analysis


• Isaac I.T. Ullah, Arizona State University, A GIS Method for Assessing the Zone of Human-Environmental Impact Around Archaeological Sites: A Test Case from the Late Neolithic of Wadi Ziqlâb, Jordan


• Woo Jang (with Xiobai Yao, University of Georgia), Interpolating Spatial Interaction Data

The Transactions in GIS Best Paper Award went to Woo Jang (with Xiobai Yao) of the University of Georgia for their paper "Interpolating Spatial Interaction Data."

The Best Poster Award went to Sam Copeland (with Ling Bian) of the University at Buffalo, State University of New York, for their poster "Fine-Scale Simulation of Influenza in an ER Waiting Room."

2010 ESRI Junior Faculty Award

ESRI supports UCGIS by providing travel funding for winners of the Junior Faculty Paper Competition.

Hyowan Ban, California State University, Long Beach Representing and Negotiating Uncertain Geospatial Concepts - Where are the Exurban Areas? (with Ola Ahlqvist, Ohio State University)
Qingmin Meng, University of North Carolina, Charlotte Two Local-Spatial Interpolators: Regression Kriging Versus Geographically Weighted Regression

GeoTECH Center Joins UCGIS as an Affiliate Member

New UCGIS Chairs Appointed in 2010
http://www.ucgis.org/aboutucgis/officersdisplay.asp

• Brandon Plewe (Brigham Young University) takes over as Chair of the Education Committee from Steve Prager (University of Wyoming).


• Kathleen Stewart (University of Iowa) takes over as Chair of the Research Committee from Dawn Wright (Oregon State University).

Steve continues to serve UCGIS on the Board of Directors. Thank you Steve and Dawn for all you've contributed to UCGIS over the past three (and more) years!