GIS to Offer Certificate

UCF and University of Belize students use GIS to update building information in San Ignacio during a trip abroad in Belize.

Beginning this fall, UCF will offer a new Graduate Certificate in Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

This new GIS certificate will provide students with the interdisciplinary background in the geography and the technical skills in the application of GIS through a 4 course, 12 credit hour load. The certificate will not only enhance students’ ability to understand, visualize and analyze geospatial data to address questions related to place and spatial interactions, but introduce them to a variety of other disciplines and ways of thinking about spatial and geographic questions.

“We started the certificate because we saw across the university that a critical mass of students, faculty, alumni, and staff use GIS in their research and daily work, but didn’t have many courses and opportunities,” said UCF Anthropology Professor and GIS Certificate Program Director, John Walker, Ph.D. “We think the certificate provides opportunities for students to learn, share information, and become part of the active GIS community in Florida and around the world.”

The faculty behind the GIS program are hoping to continue its reach across other colleges such as the College of Medicine, College of Education & Human performance, and College of Business Administration.

“It has been a group effort, and GIS users have been organizing themselves for at least ten years now,” said Dr. Walker. “We are faculty in Anthropology, Biology, Political Science, Criminal Justice, Environmental Studies, Computer Science, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Sociology, History, and Philosophy. More and more of UCF’s new faculty are GIS users and teachers, so the curriculum and the faculty get stronger every year.”

The UCF team hopes to improve GIS education at the university and add it to other graduate programs. In addition, they believe that this certificate will lead to many new connections between research, the classroom and the Orlando community.

To learn more about the GIS Certificate, click here.

The inception of this new certificate was due to the collaborative efforts of UCF College of Sciences faculty including Timothy Hawthorne, Ph.D., John Walker, Ph.D., John Weishampel, Ph.D., Yingru Li, Ph.D., Scott Branting, Ph.D., and Barbara Kinsey, Ph.D. Additional faculty throughout the university including Michael Gilbrook, Ph.D., William Moreto, Ph.D., Dingbao Wang, Ph.D., Scot French, Ph.D., Al Hill, and many others made this certificate possible.