GSD ANNOUNCES Student Prize in
GIS (Geographic Information Science)
Annual Award Will Recognize Excellence and Invention in Using Computers
to Create Maps and Analyze Spatial Data
November 10, 1999, Cambridge, MA — The GSD today announced the establishment of the Howard T. Fisher Prize in Geographic Information Science (GIS) to be awarded annually to students throughout Harvard University for excellence and invention in the field of GIS — the use of computers to create maps and manage and analyze spatial data of all kinds. Two $2,000 prizes will be awarded to GIS projects each year, one at the undergraduate level and one at the graduate level. The first prizes will be announced in spring 2000.
GIS is increasingly used throughout Harvard’s several professional graduate schools, as well as in courses throughout the undergraduate curriculum in Arts and Sciences. "Because GIS is so important in so many disciplines," says Lucia Lovison-Golob, a researcher in Earth and Planetary Sciences and founder of the University-wide GIS Users Group, whose efforts led to the creation of the prize. "We established this prize to spread awareness and foster training about geospatial technology in all departments of the University and to reward valuable and creative work being done with GIS here at Harvard. November 19th has been declared national 'GIS day' and so it is especially meaningful to be able to announce this prize today."
An initial endowment of over $10,000 has been contributed toward the prize by Jack Dangermond (MLA 69), founder and CEO of Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI). Previously, ESRI donated its ArcInfo and ArcView software to the Harvard University community. The prize is named after the geographer and seminal computer cartographer Howard T. Fisher who established the Harvard Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis (LCGSA) at the GSD in the mid 1960’s. The widely distributed mainframe computer program SYMAP developed at the lab, and other projects in the 1970’s and 1980’s, were the forerunners of what is now a flourishing industry and research area in GIS software, theories, and techniques. Dangermond was a participant in the LCGSA and after graduation from the Masters in Landscape Architecture program founded ESRI, now the world's largest developer and vendor of GIS software and services.
Stephen Ervin, Assistant Dean for Information Technology at the GSD and chairman of the committee that will award the first prize, says " GIS was originally developed and used by environmental scientists, planners and designers, but now there are so many disciplines in which the value of maps has been recognized -- from medicine to law, anthropology to zoology -- that it seems appropriate that this prize is open to students in all the areas of study at Harvard, not just the 'obvious' ones at the GSD."
Competition for the Howard T. Fisher Prize is open to students from all parts of Harvard University. Details about the prize and requirements for submission can be found at http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/prizes/gisprize
The GSD is the nation’s leading center for education, information, research, and technical expertise on architecture and the built environment. Its flagship graduate programs provide masters and doctoral degrees in three integrated departments: Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning and Design. In addition, the School educates a broad range of design professionals, policy-makers, government officials, business leaders, and the public through a rich array of conferences, exhibitions, professional development and executive education programs, and research activities. For more information, please see
www.gsd.harvard.edu.
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CONTACT:
Stephen Ervin
GSD
617-495-2682
servin@gsd.harvard.edu