GIS Day 2013 at the University of Oklahoma, Nov 20th 2013
Summary
The second annual campus wide GIS Day Expo was held November 20th, 2013 at the Oklahoma Memorial Union located on the University of Oklahoma Norman Campus. The event was coordinated by the OU GIS Day Organizing Committee which included representatives from a wide variety of campus entities. The event featured a GIS exhibition, student poster contest, exhibits, student flyer design contest, and K12 activities. A followup scientific workshop on land use land cover change in Oklahoma was held on November 21, 2013. Volunteering effort from many faculty, staff and students in the campus, including the Center for Spatial Analysis (CSA) and the Earth Observation and Modeling Facility (EOMF), made the event very successful.
Participation
Participation in OU GIS Day was free and open to the campus and public. Participants included students, faculty and staff from across campus, representatives from government agencies and private industry, K12 students and others in the local GIS community. The event was attended by more than 250 faculty, staff, students, researchers, exhibitors and visitors.
Participation
Funding for OU GIS Day was provided by 18 partners from across campus, government agencies and private industry. Sponsors are listed below.
Oklahoma Biological Survey Oklahoma Geological Survey Oklahoma NASA Space Grant Oklahoma NSF EPSCoR OU College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences OU Center for Applied Social Research OU Department of Biology OU Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability OU Department of Microbiology and Plant Biology OU Earth Observation and Modeling Facility OU Graduate College OU IT Store OU/NOAA Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies OU School of Computer Science OU Vice President for Research USDA ARS Grazinglands Research Laboratory Weather Decision Technologies, Inc.
Exhibitors
Booth space for exhibition at OU GIS Day was open to the campus and the public. A total of 25 exhibitors hosted booths at the event representing academic departments and research centers, government agencies, private industry and more. A list of participants is provided below.
- OU research and outreach centers:
- Center for Spatial Analysis
- Earth Observation and Modeling Facility
- Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing Laboratory
- OU academic departments:
- Geography and Environmental Sustainability
- Regional and City Planning
- Microbiology and Plant Biology
- OU Health Science Center Biostatistics and Epidemiology
- OU Libraries
- OU/NOAA Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies
- State and local government participants:
- Oklahoma Geological Survey
- Oklahoma Biological Survey
- City of Norman
- City of Oklahoma City
- Tribal government participants:
- Chickasaw Nation
- Muscogee Creek Nation
- Federal government participants:
- DOI South Central Climate Science Center
- NOAA/National Severe Storms Lab
- USDAARS Grazing Lands Research Laboratory
- USDA NASS
- Private industry participants:
- Esri
- Weather Decision Technologies, Inc.
- Other participants:
- Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences Oklahoma South Central Arc User Group
- OU Information technology
- OU GIS Club
Speakers
OU GIS Day featured a welcome and introduction by Chris Maxon, Director of Development and External Relation, College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences. The keynote address entitle ‘GIS: Dynamic Weather Content Integrated into GIS’ was given by Mike Eilts, President and CEO of Weather Decision Technologies, Inc. Award presentations and closing remarks were made by T.H. Lee Williams, Dean of the Graduate College and Regents’ Professor.
Student Poster and Flyer Contests
With support from the University of Oklahoma Graduate College and Shell Energy, OU GIS Day featured a graduate student poster contest and flyer design contest. Twentytwo students from seven academic departments under four different colleges at OU participated. Entries for each contest were judged by faculty panels from the OU GIS Day committee and a total of nine prizes were awarded to undergraduate and graduate participants.
K12 Participation and Activities
The OU GIS Day committee worked with the University of Oklahoma Prospective Student Services (PSS) Diversity Enrichment Program to involve area high school students in the event. The students attended a presentation by PSS and a demonstration of geospatial information science technologies by University of Oklahoma Libraries and the OU IT Store. After browsing the GIS Day Expo, the students had lunch at a campus cafeteria. Fortyone high school students from two schools attended.
Scientific Workshop on Land Use Land Cover Change in Oklahoma
In conjunction with the OU GIS Day Expo, this workshop brought faculty, researchers, students from the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences together with representatives of federal, state and tribal government agencies to present findings on land use land cover change and address the needs of the research community. Participants included twentythree faculty, researchers, students and government representatives.
OU GIS Day Organizing Committee
Committee Chair: Xiangming Xiao (xiangming.xiao@ou.edu, 405-325-8941)
Event Coordinator(* contact person): Melissa L. Scott * (mscott@ou.edu, 405-325-4871)