WC’s Program in Computer Mapping Earns Prestigious Foundation Award at Conference

Students Steve McFall and Mariah Perkins join Stewart Bruce on
stage to received the award from USGIF president Keith Masback.

ORLANDO, FL—The United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation has awarded the Washington College geographic information systems (GIS) program its 2012 Academic Achievement Award. Program director Stewart Bruce and two of his GIS students, senior Mariah Perkins and freshman Steve McFall, accepted the award on stage October 10 at the annual GEOINT Symposium in Orlanda, Fla.

The award announcement summed up the Washington College GIS Program this way:

“The GIS Program at Washington College, part of the Center for Environment and Society, is exploring radical and disruptive innovations to get youth interested in and excited about the geospatial intelligence tradecraft. They have developed programs such as youth summer camps and after-school programs that are combined with undergraduate experiential learning opportunities. The GIS Program currently employs over 45 undergraduates working on a wide variety of funded GeoInt related projects. While the program is established and operated as an entrepreneurial microenterprise, their number one mission is the experiential learning opportunities for their undergraduate students and the outreach mission they have to engage K-12 youth. And all of this has one purpose: to place these youth on clear paths to become productive members of the future geospatial intelligence workforce.”

GIS program director Stewart Bruce, Assistant Director of the Center for Environment & Society, says his team is “very honored” by the award, which he views as “recognition of the dedication and hard work of our talented team of Washington College students, and the professional staff that guides their experiential learning.” He adds that GIS applications are being used increasingly throughout the liberal-arts curriculum at Washington College. “I often remind people that back in the late 1700’s when the College was founded, we taught our undergraduate students navigation, surveying, geography, ancient geography, and yes, even globemaking.  These skills were considered very important skills for the future leaders of our country then and now that the world is even a more dangerous place, these are skills that our future leaders need to master as well.”

Also honored at the symposium were George Mason University’s Center for Geospatial Intelligence, which earned the Academic Research Award, the U.S. State Department’s Humanitarian Information Unit (Government Award), U.S. Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, (Military Award), and DigitalGlobe and the Satellite Sentinel Project (Industry Award).

To see video of the awards, go to http://geointv.com/archive/geoint-2012-usgif-awards-program-presentations/. 

GIS students find that a liberal-arts education and on-the-job tech skills are a winning combination

Mariah Perkins works in the field for a GIS lab project.

CHESTERTOWN, MD—In today’s economy, few college students graduate with both diplomas and job offers in hand. Thanks to their work with Washington College’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) lab, seniors Mariah Perkins and Spencer Van Cise will be counting themselves among the fortunate few. They are proof of the effectiveness of the growing work-study program run by the GIS lab, where some 60 undergraduates are now applying their computer mapping skills to a variety of projects for both the College and for outside organizations and agencies.

            Perkins, an anthropology major from Frederick, Md., and Van Cise, an environmental studies major from Arcadia, Calif., each completed a summer internship with technology consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton and returned to campus with assurances that a full-time position would await them following their graduation next May.  These are jobs with “very generous” starting salaries, adds Stewart Bruce, the director of the GIS program at Washington College who has mentored the two students.

            Bruce’s connection to Booz Allen Hamilton principal Susan Kalweit, who serves with him on the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation Academic Advisory Board, helped Perkins and Van Cise land the internships. Both had worked in the campus GIS lab since freshman year. “I knew they were outstanding members of GIS who would represent Washington College well,” says Bruce. “They more than exceeded expectations in their internships; according to Sue [Kalweit], they ‘set the bar very high.’”

            Van Cise is continuing to work part-time for Booz Allen Hamilton during the school year, working remotely on a company-supplied computer. He also puts in 10 hours a week in the Washington College GIS lab, honing the skills he’s been building over the last three years.

            Perkins, on top of her Booz Allen Hamilton internship and job offer, earned a prestigious $5,000 undergraduate scholarship from the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation. She is studying in Finland for the semester but will likely join Van Cise in working for both the company and the College when returns to Chestertown in the spring.  “I’m happy for these students,” says Bruce with obvious pride. “These jobs are really a fantastic opportunity.”  He is not surprised that such job offers can come to students at a small liberal arts college without a GIS major. “Companies want critical thinkers who come from a wide range of backgrounds—anthropology, biology, environmental studies, etc.—because they want and need those interdisciplinary teams,” he says.

            The Washington College GIS program is striking for the number of undergraduates who are using cutting-edge computer mapping technology to complete real-world projects for clients. The 60 student workers, many of them first-years and sophomores, work under professional staff supervision on projects that include mapping crime statistics for the Maryland State Police, creating 3-D cityscapes for town planners and helping conservationists map critical areas and waterways. A recent addition to the project list is helping the Upper Shore Regional Council create an online mapping tool for its Harvest Directory, a listing of the agricultural products and services available in Maryland’s Cecil, Kent and Queen Anne’s Counties.

            “You know, the classroom is great, the Intro to GIS course is great, but in the lab, students are on a voyage of independent discovery,” says Bruce. “They don’t know the answers in advance, and they’re able to work it out on their own using a combination of technical skills and the critical thinking skills that a broad liberal arts education can strengthen.” Working on practical GIS projects at WC, he adds, gives them a competitive edge in the job market.”  

First-year student Steve McFall works part time in the GIS lab.

            Another GIS student well on his way to gaining that edge is freshman Steve McFall. After attending four of Bruce’s GIS summer programs for young people, he earned a $2,000 scholarship from the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation his senior year at Smethport Area High School in Smethport, Penn. McFall began working in WC’s GIS lab last summer, before his freshman year began.

            “Back in the summer after my sixth grade year I met Stew at his GIS camp at Penn State and completely fell in love with GIS,” says McFall. “Two years later the camp moved down here to Washington College and I decided to come, as well. I fell further in love with the technology and I also really liked the campus.”

            McFall will be one of a handful of high-achieving students joining Bruce and his Washington College contingent this October at the Geospatial Intelligence Symposium in Orlando, Fla. The symposium draws GIS leaders from business, military and public service sectors and offers the students a chance to network and explore career opportunities.  

            For Bruce and the GIS program he has built at Washington College, such trips are one more way to help students map their own futures.

  ­–– Grace Arenas

           

Former Exec to Share Business and Tech Lessons from CIA Venture-Capital Fund, In-Q-Tel, Sept. 25

CHESTERTOWN, MD—Dr. Christopher K. Tucker will share his experiences as the Chief Strategic Officer of the CIA’s venture capital fund, In-Q-Tel, in a free public lecture on Tuesday, Sept. 25 at Washington College. The talk will take place at 7 p.m. in Litrenta Lecture Hall on the main campus, 300 Washington Avenue, Chestertown.

         Tucker will discuss the problem that In-Q-Tel was created to solve, the business model that was created and some challenges the organization faced at its inception. He also will provide an overview of a variety of investments made under his watch, both the successful and not-so-successful, and share lessons learned for entrepreneurs, investors, national security leaders and other public sector decision makers.

            Throughout his career, Tucker has worked at the intersection of technology, strategy, geography, and national security. He now manages Yale House Ventures, a portfolio of social ventures and technology companies that span the worlds of energy, geospatial technologies, cyber-security, open-source software and hardware, and social media technologies. In that role, Tucker addresses issues that span the domains of defense, international affairs, civilian government, commercial industry, NGOs and academe.

            Prior to his time in industry, he served as Special Advisor to the Executive Vice Provost of Columbia University, where he focused on strategic R&D portfolio development and federal science technology and policy. He also co-founded what is now the Consortium on Science, Policy and Outcomes.

         A leader in the geospatial industry, he serves on the boards of the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, the Open Geospatial Consortium, and OpenPlans and its open-source software division OpenGeo. Tucker has served on numerous task forces and committees and currently serves as an independent advisor to the director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

            Tucker’s talk is sponsored by the College’s GIS Program, the GRW Program, the Center for Environment & Society, and the Business Management Department.

            While at Washington College, Tucker also will give students presentations on his new MapStory Foundation social venture. He will speak to the “Navigating Maps” GRW class at 8:30 a.m. and the “Introduction to GIS” class at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 26.  Guests are welcome to sit in on these classes, as well. For more on the Washington College GIS program, please visit http://gis.washcoll.edu/.

College GIS Lab to Unveil 3-D Images that Recreate Historic Pluckemin Artillery Cantonment

CHESTERTOWN, MD—On Thursday, April 19, the Washington College Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Program will present its 3-D reconstruction of the Pluckemin Artillery Cantonment, an important Revolutionary War garrison in New Jersey. The presentation will begin at 7:30 p.m in the Litrenta Lecture Hall, Toll Science Center, on the College campus (300 Washington Avenue). On hand to explain the project will be Dr. John Seidel, an archaeologist and director of the Center for Environment and Society at Washington College. He will be joined by Stewart Bruce, the coordinator of the GIS lab, and student interns who worked on the project. The presentation is free and open to the public.

The Pluckemin Artillery Cantonment was the winter headquarters of General Knox and the Continental Artillery in late 1778 and early 1779 and is considered to be the nation’s first military academy. Using archeological findings and other historical records, the Washington College GIS Lab created a preliminary reconstruction of the site, which once held barracks, officers' quarters, workshops, and warehouses. At its heart was an academy building for military training.

In creating the 3-D maps of the site, student interns in the GIS lab used computerized mapping software such as Google Sketchup and GeoWeb3D to convert geographic and archeological data into the 3-D maps. Historians are especially excited about how GIS systems can be used to create interactive maps of now-nonexistent historical sites. At the Pluckemin site, for example, the only surviving building is the Jacobus Vanderveer House, General Knox’s former headquarters.

“This cantonment was a remarkable accomplishment,” says John Seidel, who served as the Pluckemin Archeological Project leader in the 1980s and continues to head a consortium working on the extensive artifact collection. “And it is just as remarkable that the complex was abandoned after just one winter. It was used the next winter as a hospital, but after that it reverted to field and forest.” Seidel narrates a video about the site on the Cantonment web site.

Throughout the 1980s, a non-profit group supported surveying and excavation work that provided the foundation for the historical interpretation happening at the site today. The preliminary 3-D reconstruction of the Cantonment being presented on the 19th was commissioned by the Friends of the Jacobus Vanderveer House. It will help the Jacobus Vanderveer House Museum interpret the historic site for visitors and explain its significance in American history. The GIS Lab hopes this reconstruction might lead to a more detailed visualization in the near future and has submitted a proposal for continuing the project.

For more information about the 3-D reconstruction of the Pluckemin Artillery Cantonment or the Washington College Geographic Information Systems Program, please visit gis.washcoll.edu and www.jvanderveerhouse.com.