UCGIS Committees

Communications | Education | Membership | External Relations | Research

Communications Committee

The role of the Communication Committee is to ensure timely communication between and among the Board, the Council and all affiliated members of UCGIS, and between UCGIS and individuals and organizations outside. This may involve the use of our website's blog, webinars, social media, and other forms of electronic communication. See here for a full overview of the Communications Committee. 

Committee Members:

  • Song Gao, University of Wisconsin-Madison (co-Chair)
  • Kate Vavra-Musser, University of Southern California (co-Chair)
  • Xiaokang Fu, Harvard University

Education Committee

"The education committee shall consider priority issues in geographic information science education and public service from which positions, policies, and strategies may be recommended for implementation by UCGIS and its member institutions at local, state, national, and international levels. Major issues might include trends in enrollments, adequacy of the number of graduates and their skills to meet marketplace demands, curriculum and courses, innovations in education, role of faculty and institutions, and other issues that affect education in geographic information science." (from the Bylaws)

Committee Members:

  • Forrest Bowlick, University of Massachusetts, Amherst (Chair)
  • Ola Ahlqvist, The Ohio State University
  • Patricia Carbajales, Clemson University
  • Paddington Hodza, University of Wyoming
  • Helmut Kraenzle, James Madison University
  • Steve Moore, University of Redlands
  • Miriam Olivares, Yale University
  • Eric Shook, University of Minnesota
  • Jennifer Swift, University of Southern California 
  • Laura Tateosian, North Carolina State University 
  • Marci Meixler, Rutgers University

Membership Committee

The Membership Committee receives and reviews new membership applications; makes recommendations for acceptance to the Council twice annually; defines criteria for emerging categories of membership; and advises and assists in recruitment of new members. See here for a full overview of the Membership Committee. 

Committee Members:

  • Jennifer Swift, University of Southern California (Chair)
  • Christopher Franklin, University of Redlands
  • Lucy Huang, Texas A&M University Corpus Christi
  • Nicholas Kruskamp, North Carolina State University
  • Seda Şalap-Ayça, University of Massachusetts - Amherst at Mount Ida Campus
  • (Siva) Ramachandra Sivakumar, Georgia Tech
  • Meagan Snow, American University
  • David Tulloch, Rutgers University

External Relations Committee

The External Relations Committee fosters and maintains relationships on behalf of UCGIS with academic, federal, state, private, and non-governmental partners in the national and international geospatial community. In this role, the committee will provide interpretation and communication to UCGIS membership about federal, state, and non-governmental policy and legislation initiatives; assist the Executive Committee and Board in providing feedback and communication to entities regarding ongoing national and international geospatial policy and legislation development initiatives; advocate on behalf of the UCGIS membership for UCGIS developed policy positions or other positions UCGIS supports; and develop and advance UCGIS-derived policy on geospatial research and education. (From the Bylaws).

See here for a full overview of the External Relations Committee.

Committee Members:

  • Linna Li, Cal State University, Long Beach (co-chair)
  • Bob Vos, University of Southern California (co-chair)

Research Committee

"The research committee will articulate ongoing research priorities for advancing theories and methods in geographic information science; assess the current and potential contributions of GIS to national scientific and public policy issues; track federal and state programs, accomplishments, and needs; foster multidisciplinary research in geographic information science, particularly in support of national needs; and engage in other related activities such as appropriate recognition of outstanding research by faculty and students at its member institutions." (from the Bylaws).  See here for a full overview of the Research Committee.

Current initiatives:

  1. CyberGIS and Decision Support Systems 
  2. Developing Open and Reusable GeoAI Tools for GIScience Research and Education
  3. Convergence Research of GIScience, Humanities, and Social Sciences
  4. Synergistic Integration of GIS and Public Health

Current Committee Members:

  • Wenwen Li, Arizona State University (Chair)
  • Jennifer Bernstein, University of Southern California
  • Somayeh Dodge, University of California Santa Barbara
  • Yingjie Hu, University at Buffalo
  • Yongmei Lu, Texas State University - San Marcos 
  • Shih-Lung Shaw, University of Tennessee
  • Daoqin Tong, Arizona State University
  • Ming-Hsiang Tsou, San Diego State University
  • Qiusheng Wu, , University of Tennessee
  • Jelena Vukomanovic, North Carolina State University
  • Chen Xu, University of Wyoming
  • Xinyue Ye, Texas A&M University
  • Enki Yoo, University at Buffalo
  • Ahoura Zandiatashbar, San José State University
  • Guiming Zhang, University of Denver
  • Zhe Zhang, Texas A&M University
  • Lei Zou, Texas A&M University
  • Devika Jain, Harvard University