REU Site: Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for Disaster Resilience Spatial Thinking

该项目由SBE理事会的本科生研究经验(REU)站点计划资助。因此，它兼具科学和社会效益，并将研究和教育融为一体。这个在罗切斯特理工学院(RIT)举办的为期十周的前沿跨学科REU网站将是第一个专注于地理信息系统(GIS)以进行灾难恢复空间思维的网站。项目目标是(1)使学生能够研究、创建和评估用于灾难恢复空间思维的严肃的地理信息系统游戏，以及(2)在地理信息科学、灾害管理、信息技术(IT)、社会科学和游戏开发的交叉点创建和评估跨学科的STEM研究环境。该网站将招收地理、社会科学和IT专业的学生。预期的影响是为未来的科学家创造智力、方法和沟通的基础，以便在地理科学、灾害管理、信息技术和游戏开发的交叉领域进行跨学科研究。RIT REU网站将通过满足下一代科学家迫切的国家教育和培训需求，促进发现和理解，同时促进教学、培训和学习，这些下一代科学家能够进行侧重于地理信息系统和社会灾难恢复能力的跨学科、面向空间的STEM研究。该网站还具有几个社会效益，例如(1)通过注重空间计算技能发展的REU网站工作，满足地理空间技术能力模型中确定的紧迫的国家地理空间软件开发劳动力需求，(2)传播REU学生灾难恢复能力场景、数据集和用于灾难恢复能力教育、培训和能力建设的严肃游戏智力产品，以及(3)向早期职业科学家展示地理信息系统、空间思维、严肃游戏和灾难恢复能力的重要性，以潜在地在灾难发生时拯救生命。REU网站尤其强大，它通过与RIT的国家聋人技术学院整合，扩大了未被充分代表的群体的参与，该学院将招募和吸引聋人和重听学生和教职员工参与研究。将鼓励所有学生探索围绕特殊需要人群的抗灾能力问题。该网站将加强研究和教育的基础设施-该网站被设想为一个为期10年的关于地理信息系统、空间思维和灾害管理的国际计划的开始，该计划将利用PI现有的国际NSF研究资金和网络。灾害的基本空间性质要求对地理信息系统如何促进灾难恢复空间思维有更深入的科学理解。严肃的游戏在灾害管理训练和模拟方面广为人知，但在空间思维研究方面使用不足。拟议中的REU网站将是通过三个尚未回答的科学研究问题探索灾难复原力、空间思维、地理信息系统和严肃游戏之间的新联系的第一个研究环境：(1)哪些空间思维组成部分与灾难复原力相关，(2)哪些地理信息系统工具和视觉表现最好地将灾难复原力与空间思维联系起来，以及(3)将空间思维地理信息系统工具和灾难复原力的视觉表现结合起来以实现学习成果的最佳严肃游戏设计实践。指导学生的活动包括通过识别、设计和创建灾难恢复能力空间思维严肃的地理信息系统游戏来进行中心假设检验。拟议的REU网站将为本科生提供大量机会来推进这一研究议程，同时他们自己也将受益于研究经验。

This project is funded from the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Sites program in the SBE Directorate. As such, it has both scientific and societal benefits, and it integrates research and education. This cutting-edge ten-week interdisciplinary REU Site hosted at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) will be the first to focus on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for disaster resilience spatial thinking. Project objectives are to (1) enable students to research, create, and evaluate serious GIS games for disaster resilience spatial thinking, and (2) create and evaluate an interdisciplinary STEM research environment at the intersections of Geographic Information Science, disaster management, Information Technology (IT), social science and game development. The Site will recruit Geography, social science and IT students. Intended impacts are to create intellectual, methodological and communication foundations for future scientists to conduct interdisciplinary research at the intersections of GIScience, disaster management, IT, and game development. The RIT REU Site will advance discovery and understanding while promoting teaching, training, and learning by addressing pressing national education and training needs for next-generation scientists capable of conducting interdisciplinary, spatially-oriented STEM research focused on GIS and societal disaster resilience. The Site also has several societal benefits such as (1) addressing pressing national geospatial software development workforce needs identified in the Geospatial Technology Competency Model through REU Site efforts focused on spatial computing skill development, (2) disseminating REU student disaster resilience scenarios, datasets and serious game intellectual products for disaster resilience education, training and capacity building, and (3) demonstrating the importance of GIS, spatial thinking, serious games, and disaster resilience to early career scientists to potentially save lives when disasters occur. The REU Site is particularly strong with broadening the participation of underrepresented groups through integration with RIT's National Technical Institute for the Deaf that will recruit and engage Deaf and Hard of Hearing students and faculty in the research. All students will be encouraged to explore disaster resilience issues surrounding special needs people. The Site will enhance infrastructure for research and education - the Site is envisioned as a start to a 10-year international program on GIS, spatial thinking and disaster management that will leverage the PI's existing international NSF research funding and networks.The fundamental spatial nature of disasters necessitates deeper scientific understanding of how GIS can advance disaster resilience spatial thinking. Serious games are well known for disaster management training and simulation but underused for spatial thinking research. The proposed REU Site will be the first research environment to explore the novel linkage between disaster resilience, spatial thinking, GIS, and serious games via three unanswered scientific research questions: (1) Which spatial thinking components are relevant to disaster resilience, (2) Which GIS tools and visual representations best connect disaster resilience with spatial thinking, and (3) What are the best serious game design practices that incorporate spatial thinking GIS tools and visual representations for disaster resilience to achieve learning outcomes. Mentored student activities involve central hypothesis testing by identifying, designing and creating disaster resilience spatial thinking serious GIS games. The proposed REU Site will provide undergraduate students numerous opportunities to advance this research agenda while themselves benefiting from the research experience.