Student Spotlight: Hunter Fishback

Student Spotlight : Hunter Fishback

From Bartender to GIS Professional

We’re excited to spotlight one of our recent Graduate GIS Certificate completers, Hunter Fishback, and celebrate his successful career transition into the geospatial field.

Before starting the program, Hunter earned his degree in Environmental Science from the University of Florida. Like many recent graduates, he weighed career options and chose bartending for the reliable pay. But after several conversations with regulars who saw his potential, he was encouraged to look into GIS. That advice ultimately led him to our online GIS Certificate program, which fit his schedule and career goals.

Just two semesters into the program, Hunter landed his first GIS position this past March—an impressive milestone while still working toward completing the certificate. This summer, he finished strong by completing the GIS Internship course with his new employer, officially graduating with the Graduate GIS Certificate.

As part of the internship, students build their professional online presence. Hunter’s LinkedIn profile is an excellent example of how to showcase transferable skills, highlight relevant GIS experience, and present a polished, professional image. His thoughtful approach to his profile, combined with his active engagement, reflects both his dedication and enthusiasm for his new career path.

We’re thrilled to celebrate Hunter’s success and look forward to seeing where his GIS journey takes him next.

Click the Land Use and Land Cover Map above from Hunter's Blog Site to link to his blog and see entries from his Graduate Certificate journey.

 Connect with Hunter here: Hunter Fishback on LinkedIn

Student Spotlight: Maha Habbal

GIS 5103 Module 6: Working with Geometries

GIS Programming students in this summer's session of GIS 5103 Module 6 recently tackled Working with Geometries.  This important module introduces concepts for using ArcPy to access a feature's geometry object. ArcPy provides a variety of classes which allow scripts to access geometry components such as SHAPE, LENGTH, XY coordinants and more. As part of this lesson, students wrote a Python script that generates a formatted text file otuputting each river feature within a feature class. 

This week, we would like to highlight the outstanding work of Maha Habbal!  Maha works as a GIS Analyst for the City of Tampa Mobility Department where she collaborates with engineers, planners, AutoCad Technicians. Her expertise is appreciated as she helps fellow students answer their questions and participates regularly in class discussion forums. She is an excellent student and we enjoy her well written blog posts, as well. 

Read Maha Habbal's complete GIS Journal blog here! 

Student Spotlight: Jennifer Melcher

GIS 5007 Module 5: Choropleth Mapping

GIS5007 Computer Cartography Module 5 tackled the subject of Choropleth Mapping. Choropleth mapping is used to visualize data such as population density, health statistics, or economic statistics using color and shading to represent values throughout a geographic boundary. This module asked students to map population densities along with total wine consumption among European countries.  They chose color schemes, data classification schemes as well as proportional symbols to effectively communicate the data. 

We would like to highlight the excellent work of Jennifer Melcher on this assignment! She is a Graduate Certificate student and an experienced Archaeologist with the UWF Archaeology Institute. 

Jennifer went the extra mile by designing a custom picture symbol with open source resource https://www.svgrepo.com/.  She also took additional steps to customize a color palette with palleton.com to get the look she needed to best represent the data. Jennifer applied her SQL skills to filter records and dynamically adjust the size and color shades of annotation for maximum readability and visual impact.  Melcher's attention to detail and extra efforts on this Module were greatly appreciated and we love the results! 

Click on the map above for a closer look and to read Jennifer Melcher's blot post about this module.  You may also see more about her GIS journey at Jennifer's GIS Blog. 

Student Spotlight: Michaela Klinkhamer

Module 1: Python Environments and Flowcharts

GIS 4102 & 5103 Module 1: Python Environment and Flowcharts lab guided students through steps that would enable them to run a script with Python IDLE (Integrated Development and Learning Environment), interact with Python ArcGIS Notebooks, and begin thinking algorithmically by designing flowcharts. 

This week, we would like to highlight the outstanding work of Michaela Klinkhamer! Although she was new to the course, she went above and beyond to explain the readings and flowchart associated with the code. She added her own take on the assignment, as well, which we enjoyed reading. 

Click here to see her blog on this lab and read more about her GIS Journey at her blogspot! 

Student Spotlight: Domani Turner-Ward

GIS4043 Lab 4: Vector Analysis

The current term of Introduction to GIS (GIS4043) recently completed Module 4, a Vector Analysis session that introduced some very useful tools. Students gained experience with the commonly used Buffer and Overlay geoprocessing tools. They also explored how to analyze vector data with spatial queries and distinguish between different types of layers.  These skills were used to find and map the potential campsites in De Soto National Forest  located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. 

This week, we would like to highlight the outstanding work of Domani Turner-Ward! 

Domani is an engaged student who asks great questions and is committed to genuinely understanding the GIS concepts they are learning.  Please click the image about to see their blogspot for a more detailed description of the assignment and more examples of Domani's quality work. 

Student Spotlight: Ander Anderson

GIS 4043/5050L Final Project - Transmission Line Impacts

The introduction to GIS (GIS 4043/5050) Final Project gave students a chance to showcase the skills they've acquired throughout the course. The scenario presented students with a letter from FPL power company proposing an electric transmission line that would effect a large span of land in South Florida.  Their job was to do a GIS analysis to assess the impact the line could have on conservation lands, national wetlands, schools, and homes within proximity of the transmission line. Data analysis and interpretations were expressed in the form of maps, graphs, tables, and write ups. 

The student we would like to spotlight for the Final Project is Ander Anderson! 

Anderson's story map deliverable for this assigment titled FPL Transmission Line Impacts was both visually appealing and well written, which characterizes Ander's work throughout the course. Please click the above image to view the entire blog for more examples of entertaining and informative write-ups and  map deliverables. 

Student Spotlight: Michael Lucas

Module 3 Lab: Introduction to Projections

Spring semester is flying by and our GIS 4043/5050 Introduction to GIS first term has recently ended. We are impressed with our students' progress and hard work!  This weeks' spotlight focuses on the Lab 3 Module Introduction to Projections.  Students were asked to create a map exploring the differences between projections Albers, UTM 16, and Florida State Plane North.  These projections were contrasted visually and quantitavely using Layer Properties and Geoprocessing tools. 

This week, we would like to highlight the outstanding work of Michael Lucas! 

Michael is a software developer by trade, and his attention to detail shows in his work.  His maps are well designed as seen above in the lab deliverable displaying the differing looks and area calculations for Alachua, Escambia, Miami Dade, and Polk counties in Florida. Click on the image above to view his blogspot for more maps and write ups from the course! 

Student Spotlight: Alex Nitzman

Student Spotlight: Alex Nitzman

Recently in our GIS 4035/L Photo Interpretation and Remote Sensing course, students learned techniques for image classification. Their goal was to learn how to convert a group or cluster of spectrally similar pixels into an information class such as Land Use or Land Cover. Tasks included creating classified images in ERDAS, practicing reclassification, evaluating signature histograms, and preparing maximum likelihood classifications. 

This week, we would like to highlight the outstanding work of Alex Nitzman! 

Alex is detail oriented as seen in the above image reflecting a well designed map of the final results of a Land Use/Land Cover created with Supervised Image Classification. He is active in office hours and offers insights that are helpful to the class. Click here to check out his blog The GIS Road to Fruition to see more of his work! 

Student Spotlight: James Bielenda

Student Spotlight: James Bielenda

Special Topics students completed their final lab, Module 3.1: Scale and Spatial Data Aggregation this week.  Students examined the geometric properties of hydrographic vector and polygon data at different scales to understand the importance of projecting data at the appropriate scale (shown above). The class then used Ordinary least squares (OLS) analysis to see how the compactness of a study area may impact the data. The real-world applications in this lab used OLS concepts to identify suspected areas of gerrymandering, or manipulating boundaries of electoral districts for unfair political advantages, in Florida. 

This week, we would like to highlight the outstanding work of James Bielenda! 

James is currently working as an Environmental Compliance Specialist for Santa Rosa County.  He is enhancing his career with GIS and has his sights set on a Computer Science Master's degree, as well.  We appreciate his curiosity and passion for GIS and problem solving, consistent effort, and engagement with instructors and students online. Congratulations to James on completing the final course of the Graduate GIS Certificate program! 

Student Spotlight: Jason Wenzel

Student Spotlight:Jason Wenzel

Special Topics students are continuing their series of modules on Data Quality Assessments by becoming familiar with Triangulated Irregular Networks (TINs) , Digital Elevation Models (DEMs), and Surface Interpolation.  Module 2.1 practices using ArcPro to drape images over terrain surfaces and exaggerate the images for further exploration of data.  Multiple geoprocessing tools were utilized to symbolize, analyze, and compare and contrast TIN and DEM datasets. These terrain analysis skills were then applied to the creation of a Ski Run Suitability Map (shown above). 

This week we would like to highlight the outstanding work of Jason Wenzel! 

Jason has a PhD in Anthropology with a specialization in Historical Archaeology.  His research and long standing love of maps is highlighted in his personal storymap. We enjoy the inclusion archeology as a topic in many of his labs and projects.  Jason's progress through the Graduate Certificate program has been a great example of how GIS has the potential to enhance careers. 

Please check out his blogspot on Module 2.1. TINs and DEMs here!  

Student Spotlight: Robert Richardson

Student Spotlight: Robert Richardson

This week in Special Topics Module 1, students learned the importance of creating and identifying the quality level of spatial data. The fundamental concepts of accuracy, precision, and bias were defined in lecture Fundamentals of Spatial Data Quality. These error metrics were further examined in the lab, Calculating Metrics for Spatial Data Quality where students were asked to map a set of GPS coordinate waypoints, then calculate and demonstrate the accuracy and precision of the points. 

This week, we would like to highlight the outstanding work of Robert Richardson!

Robert's lab work, graphics, and blogspot for this Module reflect his professionalism and attention to detail. Robert is a GIS Administration Graduate student who creates enjoyable blogspots that often include extra screenshots and analysis. He has extensive career experience in construction, CAD, and GIS that allows him to provide valuable unique perspectives and solutions to the discussion boards and when helping other students in the lab. 

Student Spotlight: Kelsey Yoder-Ostroski

Student Spotlight: Kelsey Yoder-Ostroski

This week, we would like to highlight Kelsey Yoder-Ostroski for her work on the Application for GIS Coastal Flooding and Storm Surge Analysis module! 

In this module, students explored coastal flooding models and were asked to prepare their own storm surge analysis. 

Kelsey has created an excellent blogspot about the Coastal Flooding and Storm Surge module which highlights how LiDAR datasets may be compared for analysis to help with both storm damage mitigation and preparation. The design and content of the maps and graphics in her project are both visually appealing and well written, a testament to her background in education as well as her work as a mother and volunteer. In addition, Kelsey has been an engaged and dedicated student throughout her journey in the GIS Administration Graduate program. 

Please check out her blog here: https://yostroski.blogspot.com/2023/07/coastal-flooding-storm-surge-analysis.html

Student Spotlight: Marquis Pickett

Student Spotlight: Marquis Pickett

This week, we would like to highlight Marquis Pickett for his outstanding leadership, work ethic, and positive influence in the online GIS courses he has taken with us this year.  

Marquis regularly offers his time to help his classmates on the discussion forum and during office hours with sound advice, encouragement, and tips. Multiple students have shared with instructors how helpful Marquis has been to them. In a recent post, he reminded his classmates to trust in themselves and their abilities while sharing his experience working through a lab assignment.  Marquis works diligently to understand the course materials and any questions he asks are backed by research on his part. There have been several instances where Marquis will revisit/rework an assignment he has already submitted to ensure he understands the topics and processes before moving on. The blog posts below is key points that are examples of Marquis' determination. Overall, Marquis is a standout student who is both professional and passionate about GIS. We're glad to have you; keep up the great work, Marquis!

Check out his blog here: https://mdpickettgis.blogspot.com/

UWF Student Has Map Featured for Thousands by ESRI's President

UWF MS in GIS Administration Student has Work Featured During ESRI's Users Conference

University of West Florida Master's of Science in Geographic Information Sciences online student Amanda Clayton's map was featured during the 2021 ESRI User Conference in San Diego. Jack Dangermond, President of ESRI, showcased Clayton's map on "European Wine Consumption" during the Plenary Session. The ESRI UC is a showcase of all things related to geographic information science and GIS professionals from all over the globe, with more than 50,000 people attending the annual conference. The conference runs from July 12-15.

Clayton created the "European Wine Consumption" map while enrolled in UWF's online Computer Cartography course. "It is crazy how far my GIS skills have come in the last two years," said Clayton. "UWF offers a top-notch program in MS GIS Administration."

Clayton worked at the university as a graduate assistant on several projects, including a Marine Science mapping project for Washington Hight School (funded by Gulf Power's Amplify Grant) and work with UWF's Alumni Relationtions and Development Office. Clayton recently accepted a full-time internship with ESRI in their Professional Services Division. 

Everyone at UWF's Earth and Environmental Sciences Department is extremely proud of Amanda and wants to congratulate her for this big achievement!

GIS 4035 - Remote Sensing and Photo Interpretation - Student Spotlight

Module 10: Supervised Classification

The blog postings for Week 10 illustrated that a number of students had a good understanding of how to use Erdas Imagine to perform a supervised classification on multispectral satellite imagery.
However, Ashlee Malone's blog was especially good and stood out from the rest.  This week, we would like to highlight her excellent work!

In this lab, students were instructed to create spectral signatures and AOI features, produce classified images from satellite data, and recognize and eliminate spectral confusion between spectral signatures.  

Ashlee's blog description was well written, easy to read and outlined all the steps . She covered all the crucial steps required to conduct a supervised image classification in Erdas Imagine, including the development of training sites (using AOI layers), evaluating the training sites to limit the amount of spectral confusion, and ultimately the choice of spectral bands to include. She also included  an excellent description of both (a) the spectral distance file, which can be used to evaluate the accuracy of the classified image, and (b) the chosen classification method (maximum likelihood).  In addition to her well written blog description, Ashlee's map was well designed and easy to interpret (we especially liked her color choices for the different LULC classes). She also included the distance image itself as an inset so readers can evaluate the effectiveness of her classification. Her resulting classified image, was also once of the best we have seen. Differentiating "roads" and "urban" from using images with this level of spatial resolution (30 meters) is very difficult but her final map does an excellent job differentiating these often confused classes.  Overall, Ashlee's blog posting was excellent!

GIS 5935 - Special Topics in GIS - Student Spotlight

Module 8: Surface Interpolation

Lab 8 in Special Topics had students carrying out different surface interpolation techniques in GIS, including the Thiessen, IDW, and Spline. Also required was a critical interpretation of the results from surface interpolation techniques where students had to compare and contrast different surface interpolation techniques. This lab and the subjects is one of the more analytically rigorous topics that we cover. Comparing multiple interpolation techniques is an intermediate-to-advanced topic in GIS. Most of the student did great in this lab and were able to interpret comparative results within the context of map interpolation techniques.

In this spotlight, we would like to recognize Stuart Boyd! We have recognized Stuart’s work before, and he continues to set an example for his fellow students in the quality of work he produces.  One of the students’ final deliverables was to create a map layout of the difference between the two DEMs derived by the spline and IDW surface interpolation methods. Stuart’s map highlights his careful cartographic design choice and ability to capture/represent the analytical rigor of the methods utilized.  Notice the effective use of map insets and hue in his thematic mapping here.  Great work, Stuart!

GIS 4930 - Special Topics in GIS - Student Spotlight

Module 3: Analyze Week

This week's blog spotlight is from Special Topics in GIS.  For Module 3's Analyze Week, students were to perform Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression analysis on various independent socioeconomic variables for West Virginia in an attempt to define a statistical model that could help law enforcement agencies identify areas of potential meth lab locations (the dependent variable). 

This week, we would like to highlight the outstanding work of Adam Edumundson!

His blog post, in clear, cogent language, defined the complex methodology of this week's efforts while adding in some humor to make it a very approachable fun read for GIS and non-GIS professionals alike.  Adam has always turned in work that had light-hearted comments that gave insight into his various methodologies, and this blog post is no different!  Great job, Adam!

GIS 5935 - Special Topics in GIS - Student Spotlight

Module 8: Lab 3

Lab 3 in Special Topics (GIS5935) had students comparing the quality of two different road networks. They used standard methods determine the completeness of road networks according to an ad-hoc methodology. There is no standard for completeness, but the methodology used here is like the one used in several of the assigned readings (e.g. Haklay, 2010). One of the students’ final deliverables was to illustrate their findings within a single map, which required some creativity and advanced cartographic techniques such as a diverging color ramp.

This week, we would like to recognize Joanne Starr! Joanne comes to UWF GIS with a BA in archaeology from the University of Evansville and an MA in anthropology from the University of Arkansas. Along with the effective use of a divergent color ramp, Joanne’s map also utilizes two different insets to highlight and give context to her map. Follow her progress on her blog at http://joannesgisblog.blogspot.com/.

GIS 4035 - Remote Sensing & Photo Interpretation - Student Spotlight

Module 3 - Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) Classification 

For Week 4 in GIS 4043, students were instructed to locate and identify features using Google Maps street view, construct an unbiased sampling system, and calculate the accuracy of Land Use/Land Cover classification maps.  

The blog postings for Week 4 illustrated that a number of students had a good understanding of how to conduct an accuracy assessment on a LULC classification. However, this week, we would especially like to highlight Daniela Sabillion!

Her blog post is easy to understand, provides an excellent overview of the accuracy assessment techniques learned in this week's Module, and demonstrates a high level of understanding of the material. Daniela provides a brief review of the two main types of accuracy assessment: in-situ and ex-situ.  Despite not having the highest accuracy (which has a lot to do with the differences in scale of the imagery vs the scale of the ground truthing), her blog post provides a good description on how she developed a stratified random sample using a fishnet grid created in ArcGIS. In addition to the description, she also provided graphics of both (a) different sampling methods and (b) her table of sampling points with accuracy assessment (yes or no) with notes. These additional graphics greatly assist with interpreting the process she used for conducting the accuracy assessment.  

In addition, her map demonstrates a keen design. It is easy to read, the map elements are extremely well balanced, and the colors she chose make it very easy to distinguish the different LULC classes.  Overall, Daniella's blog posting was very good!

F2F GIS 4043 Lab - Introduction to GIS - Student Spotlight

Module 4: Sharing GIS Maps and Data

In this week's face to face GIS 4043 Lab "Sharing GIS Maps and Data", attention is shifted to designing for web maps vs paper maps.  Specifically, students learn how to share GIS maps and data with others as a KMZ file accessible through Google Earth and as a map package viewable on ArcGIS Online or Desktop.  Both results can be easily shared with others via email or similar.  Students were asked to develop their own "Top 10" list/rank of locations of their choice, map, and then share.

This week, we would like to highlight the outstanding work of Adam Gustafson! 

We liked how Adam researched his top ten list topic and chose a topic that hits close to home. He provides background information and methods on his blog post so others could duplicate the project if they wanted. Pensacola is ranked #8 on water quality scale. Check out his post to learn more.