Welcome 2014!

 

The journey for our 2014 group begins here! Find the latest student work from this semester's GIS4043 Geographic Information Systems, GIS3015 Cartographic Skills, and GIS4944/5945 GIS Internship courses. Return weekly to meet our distinguished students in the Student Spotlight series.  The purpose of this blog is to share useful resources, tips, and most importantly, to showcase students' work, innovation, and achievements.

Cheers! To a new year and the start of a new journey in GIS to you from us:

SHRUG Regional Conference, Tallahassee, FL
 Brittney Markle, Deidra Krolikowski, Leah Lewis

What are Students Up to Now? 

The first few weeks of class ease students into ESRI ArcGIS 10.2 and Adobe Illustrator software to create visually pleasing, honest maps.  Expect to find some of the best maps made by beginners here and on their blogs! To find a particular student, look to the right-hand side of the page where students are listed alphabetically by last name.

What's New this Year?

We are pleased to announce that we now offer an Online GIS Masters degree!  The Graduate Certificate program serves as a pathway to the masters program by providing pre-requisite and core courses for the Masters of Science in Administration, Geographic Information Science specialization. To learn more, visit our website and expect to hear more in the coming months.


On student's personal blogs, expect to see more blog-like posts. That is, more details on the student's journey through this program and less details on specific steps taken to reach a final output.

There are two additions to our team who are too cute not to mention.  Please help us welcome our littlest assistants, Althea Mitchell (born 8/30/13 ) and Rain Bloechle (born 10/25/13).

Althea and Penelope Mitchell

Rain and Amber Bloechle

We'd also like to welcome our new Teaching Assistant, Pete Tereszkiewicz, and our new Technical Assistant, Deidra Krolikowski. Here are what they have to say about themselves.

Pete Tereszkiewicz

Hello, my name is Peter Tereszkiewicz, and I will be instructing Cartography Lab this upcoming spring semester. I grew up in Southeastern Alabama, and call this region home. Currently I am in my last semester of undergrad at the University of West Florida, pursuing a degree in Environmental Studies/Geography. Thus far my research interests have been closely tied to understanding the physical processes that govern the coastal environment. My senior thesis examines the influence varying wave energies have on sediment size and sorting along fixed geographic locations, along 20 miles of Gulf of Mexico coastline. I have been working with GIS for the past three years, and plan on using it in every facet of my academic pursuits. Besides coastal morphology, other research interests include: Paleoclimate Studies, Biogeography, Paleogeography, and benthic habitat mapping of Pensacola Bay. When not working in GIS, I have a number of activities to keep me busy. I am an avid outdoor enthusiast and love being where few have been before; climbing, caving, hiking, and camping enable me to get away. When I am not outside one can find me painting, home roasting, or home brewing. All of which are breaks from my full time job: research.

Deidra Krolikowski

Hello all! My name is Deidra Krolikowski, and I work in the office on various things for the program. You'll probably take most notice of me as the poster of the spotlight blog posts. I've been with Online GIS since September, but never got around to properly introducing myself. I have lived in the Pensacola are for most of my life, and consider this place home. I graduated the University of West Florida in December 2013 with my degree in Environmental Studies/Natural Science. I am going to finish my GIS Certificate this spring, and intend to become a graduate student at UWF in the fall. GIS wasn't something I fell in love with right away, but over the past year and a half, GIS has become something I do love to do. When not working or studying, you can find me curled up with a book, playing games, cooking, crocheting, or planning my next adventure.

A Note to Students: 

Students,
I'm excited to begin the year with a new group eager to learn GIS! As usual, we have a diverse group so, I look forward to learning about what brought you here, learning from your insight within our online community, and watching you progress through the journey towards earning your GIS Certificate.

Know that instructors and our staff of GIS gurus want you to succeed.  We are here to help with every concept, assignment, and related tangent along the way. We like to have fun too. The camaraderie built among classmates over a year of tackling weekly GIS projects is a benefit during the program and beyond.

Let's get to work!

Best,
Amber Bloechle
Director