To celebrate Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Day this year, the Natural Resources & the Environment and Geography departments are jointly hosting GIS Day events at Marshall on Wednesday, Nov 15, 2017. The main event will be held at BE5 in the Memorial Student Center. Keynote speaker will be Mr. Mack McCarty (US Army Corps of Engineers – Huntington District). He will speak on “Drones for GIS and RS.” GIS Day will also feature undergraduate/graduate research posters. In addition, local high school students who are officially invited will participate in GIS software contest and geocaching.
Schedule
09:00 – 09:30, Welcome and Introduction (BE5)
09:30 – 11:00, Poster Exhibition (BE5), GIS software contest (Corbly Hall 330)
11:00 – 11:30, Keynote Speaker: Mr. Mack McCarty
11:30 – 12:30, Dutch lunch
12:30 – 01:30, Poster Exhibition (BE5), Geocaching (On-campus)
We invite all interested faculty, students and staff to participate in the poster presentation/exhibition. All types of GIS/remote sensing posters, including those from your past and on-going projects, will be welcomed. A small prize will be given for best graduate and undergraduate posters. Feel free to post/distribute the flyer. This year GIS Day events are sponsored by the College of Science, College of Liberal Arts, Dept. of Geography and Dept. of Natural Resources and the Environment.
Academic Opportunities
1) Doctoral assistantship in Economic/Urban Geography at the University of Luxembourg. Applications are invited until 30th November for specific details click here or contact Markus Hesse at markus.hesse@uni.lu.
2) Doctoral research assistantship at the University of Utah. The selected research assistants will work as members of an interdisciplinary research team, studying the socially and geographically uneven effects of environmental hazards, under the direct supervision of Drs. Tim Collins (Geography) and Sara Grineski (Sociology). Potential projects that the students may contribute to include: environmental injustices in exposure to air pollution at US elementary schools; social and geographical inequities in exposure to multiple hazards (e.g., flooding, industrial fires, etc.) and emergency response capabilities at US elementary schools; effects of air pollution on children’s academic performance and development, including analysis of unequal impacts by race/class/gender as well as identification of protective factors; disparate health effects of Hurricane Harvey; and/or social, spatial and temporal dynamics of post-Hurricane Harvey recovery. First contact Drs. Tim Collins (twcollins@utep.edu) and Sara Grineski (segrineski@utep.edu) via e-mail by no later than December 1, 2017, to express interest in the positions. Drs. Collins and Grineski will then encourage individuals to apply for the positions.
3) The Agricultural Impacts Research Group at Clark University’s Graduate School of Geography is looking for PhD candidates interested in studying the drivers and impacts of tropical agricultural change (particularly within sub-Saharan Africa’s savanna range countries). Their projects relate to food security, land use planning, climate variability, trade and economic policy, biodiversity impacts, and the development and application of next-generation Earth Observation methods (e.g. environmental sensing networks, crowdsourcing, UAS, computer vision/machine learning) for measuring and monitoring agricultural systems. Candidates should have a background in a relevant discipline (e.g. geography, geosciences, computer science, engineering, quantitative ecology or social science) and experience in programming and geospatial analysis. Funding to support the position is available for three years (TA and/or RA duties assigned) with the potential for additional support thereafter. Interested candidates may contact Lyndon Estes (head of the group; lestes@clarku.edu) for further inquiries. The deadline to apply for Fall, 2018 enrollment is December 31, 2017. The application portal is here
4) The Geography Program at West Virginia University is currently recruiting graduate students for the 2018-19 academic year, with opportunities for funding though competitive University fellowships, research assistantships, and teaching assistantships. The 2018-2019 funded research assistantship positions will be in the following areas/units: Immersive Virtual Reality for Geovisualization and Geography Education (Dr. Insu Hong, insu.hong@mail.wvu.edu), Health care disparity and accessibility in West Virginia (Dr. Insu Hong, insu.hong@mail.wvu.edu), The role of wild food/game in the WV food system (Dr. Gregory Elmes, greg.elmes@mail.wvu.edu), and in the WV GIS Tech Center (Dr. Jonathan C. Hall, jonathan.hall@mail.wvu.edu).
Funded Ph.D. students will be guaranteed 3 years of funding contingent upon progress within the program and are eligible for continued funding in years 4 and 5, based upon performance. Funded M.A. students are guaranteed 1 year of funding contingent upon progress within the program and are eligible for continued funding in year 2, based upon performance. All funded positions include a tuition waiver. Students interested in research assistantships should contact the research faculty prior to applying. Transcripts, test scores, and all other completed application materials are due January 1, 2018 for Fall 2018 admission.
5) Three years of funding is available to enroll in the PhD program in Environmental Studies Program (www.colorado.edu/envs) at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU), beginning in August 2018. This includes tuition and stipend for each academic year (mid-Aug through April). The PhD student will be involved in a large, interdisciplinary project funded by the National Science Foundation, “Sustainable Communities & Gold Supply Chains: Integrating Responsible Engineering & Local Knowledge to Design, Implement & Evaluate Sustainable Artisanal Mining in Latin America.” If you are considering applying, please send the following: 1) a curriculum vitae; 2) statement of your research and professional interests, including your interests and qualifications for the research project described below, as well as why you would like to enroll in the ENVS program, and why you would like to obtain a PhD; 3) GRE scores and percentiles; 4) TOEFFEL scores where relevant; and 5) copies or links to any publications (e.g., peer reviewed, professional reports, conference proceedings) if relevant to Dr. Joel Hartter (joel.hartter@colorado.edu). Deadline: December 1st, 2017
Job Opportunities
Here are the most recent job opportunities for our recent and soon to be graduates:
Geotechnical Intern, Stantec, Cincinnati, OH
GIS Technician, HNM Systems, Norfolk, VA
Human Geographer, Novel Applications of Vital Information, Springfield, VA
Data Analyst, Hampton Roads Transit, Norfolk, VA
Cartographer, Booze Allen Hamilton, Springfield, VA
Should you have any questions about any of these opportunities, do not hesitate to get in contact.
Sincerely,
The Geography Department