Enhancing Geographic Information Science Technology Education (eGIST)

随着更复杂的技术的发展，地理信息科学技术（GIST）正在许多行业中扩展。地理信息学是GIST中新兴的跨学科领域，它使用现代成像技术来测量和绘制自然和人为的地理特征，使其对国家安全至关重要，对解决美国和全球社会、经济和环境挑战的企业也具有重要意义。该项目旨在通过与区域公共和私营雇主、高等教育机构、国家ATE中心和相关ATE项目合作，提高STEM高等教育水平，为测绘学和其他gist相关领域培养多样化的技术工人。该项目结合了“现实世界”的实践练习，被证明可以在STEM领域招募和留住女性和其他代表性不足的学生，并扩大与行业和高等院校的合作伙伴关系，将这一新兴的STEM领域带到美国各地。该项目的目标是通过与政府、科学和工程公司的私营/公共合作伙伴合作，通过行业验证的一年无人机系统（UAS）证书和两年制地理信息学学位课程，创造一条职业道路，填补急需的现有和新兴工作岗位。在创建新的地理信息学学位的同时，该项目将地理空间概念、大地测量学和测绘嵌入到有针对性的现有工程技术课程中，以扩大对这些领域所需新方法的理解。该项目考察了行业合作伙伴通过合作修订课程、以工作为基础的学习和实习，参与提高学生技术技能的影响；更新实验室资源和同伴导师对改善学习环境质量的作用；以及更新的课程如何影响女性和其他未被充分代表的STEM群体的保留。采用定量和定性措施进行形成性和总结性评估，以确保达到项目的目标和目的，记录成果和有效性，并传播项目合作伙伴和更广泛的教育界的利益。该项目由先进技术教育计划资助，该计划侧重于为推动国家经济的先进技术领域培养技术人员。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Geographic Information Science Technology (GIST) is expanding in many industries as more sophisticated technologies are developed. Geomatics, an emerging interdisciplinary field within GIST, uses modern imaging technologies to measure and map natural and man-made geographical features, making it critical to national security and significant to businesses as they solve U.S. and global societal, economic, and environmental challenges. This project aims to improve STEM postsecondary education through collaboration with regional public and private employers, post-secondary institutions, a national ATE center, and relevant ATE projects to prepare a pipeline of diverse skilled workers in Geomatics and other GIST-related fields. The project incorporates "real-world" hands-on exercises proven to recruit and retain women and other underrepresented students in STEM fields, and expands partnerships with industries and postsecondary institutions to bring this emerging STEM field to regions across the U.S.The goal of the project is to create a career pathway with industry-validated curriculum in a one-year certificate in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and a two-year degree in Geomatics that fills critically needed existing and emerging jobs through collaboration with private/public partners in government, science and engineering firms. Along with creating the new Geomatics degree, the project embeds geospatial concepts, geodesy, and mapping into targeted existing engineering technology courses to expand understanding of new approaches needed in these fields. The project examines the impact of industry partners' participation in upgrading students' technical skills through collaboration on revised curriculum and work-based learning and internships; the role of updated laboratory resources and peer tutors in improving the learning environment quality; and how the updated curriculum affects retention of women and other underrepresented groups in STEM. Formative and summative evaluation using quantitative and qualitative measures will be conducted to ensure that the project's goals and objectives are met, outcomes and effectiveness are documented, and benefits to project partners and the wider educational community are disseminated. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program, which focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.