EIU GIScience Center

About the GIScience Center

The Geographic Information Science Center is an initiative of the College of Sciences. Currently, 17 faculty members with doctorates, most of them with the rank of assistant professor to full professor, are affiliated with the center. They represent six academic units at the university, including Biological Sciences, Business, Geology/Geography, Economics, and Political Science. Their expertise encompasses a wide spectrum of disciplines, including geographic information systems, spatial statistics, remote sensing, geodatabase design, digital terrain modelling, GIS programming and algorithm development, wildlife biology and landscape ecology, land use and land cover change, biometrics and ecological genetics, disaster preparedness and recovery, environmental policy, and public policy.

The center is supported by an advisory committee of faculty members from the key participating academic units at the university and leading academics and professionals in GIScience and closely related disciplines. As growth ensues, the center acts to coordinate existing programs and develop new programs to expand and enhance its outcomes and mission.

GIScience Advisory Board

The GIScience Center advisory board is comprised of the Center's co-directors, additional members of the GIScience faculty at EIU, administrators, and most importantly, members of the GIScience community from outside the academic boundaries of EIU.

Working together, the advisory board will ensure that:

• the Center creates and promotes cutting-edge GIScience education and opportunities that foster a future-driven vision that will help guide the Center
• that the use of all GIScience-based technologies (software, hardware, etc.) is promoted across and beyond campus, and are freely and openly accessible to anyone involved with the Center
• that the Center function in a transparent, collaborative manner
• that all Center resources (facilities, software, hardware, budget, etc.) are all properly managed through the Center
• and that all curricular-based activities (course offerings, instruction, and classroom/laboratory facilities) are coordinated in such a way so that everyone involved - both students and faculty - are working towards similar, unified goals. 

Center Documents

• Official IBHE approval of Center (June 2012)
• 2021-22 Administrative Unit Assessment Profile