Department of Geography Geospatial Scholars Program
Project Overview
The Geography Department at NMSU has received federal funds to help us determine the best approaches for teaching Cartography, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and Remote Sensing (Digital Image Processing). This project is designed to create a “model” curriculum for teaching these geospatial classes.
Project Period
This project began in October of 2008 and will end on October 31st, 2009. Future years of funding have been applied for but have not been received.
Scholarship Amount - $3,200
Each student accepted into the program it will receive a $3,200 Scholarship Award if they meet all program requirements shown in the “responsibilities” section shown below. These funds can only be spent on tuition and fees at the main campus of NMSU in Las Cruces. All students must already be or become a Geography major in order to be considered. Scholarship payments will be made in increments to the student’s NMSU account. Students who fail to successfully complete assigned tasks and duties will be immediately dropped from the program and all scholarship funds will be stopped at once.
Student Role
We seek a total of 30 new or existing Geography Majors to assist
the department with this project. These students will come from
all levels from 1st year students to seniors.
Students will be arranged in three levels of experience with geospatial
techniques, from beginners to advanced.
Mandatory Student Responsibilities
• Take Geography classes as advised by the department and complete them with a grade of “B” or better. These classes will count as part of the major as usual.
• Take Pre-Tests and Post-Tests of geospatial knowledge and skills. These are not grades that are part of your GPA. Their purpose is to assist us in seeing how well different teaching approaches work.
• Attend regularly scheduled Geography Geospatial Scholars work meetings that will be held approximately twice per month during the project period. These will be used to assist the Geography faculty in assessing how geospatial skills are learned. Your feedback will be very helpful. Times and dates of meetings to be arranged. Meetings will average about 1 hour.
• Each student will be assigned to a group of 10 students. There will be three groups: one with 10 Freshmen/Sophomores, one with 10 Sophomores/Juniors, and one with 10 Juniors/Seniors. Students must maintain your attendance and performance.
• Student scholars must participate in the summer 2009 Geospatial Scholars Labs. These will require the student to remain in Las Cruces for the summer and assist the faculty as we apply different teaching methods in Cartography, GIS, and Remote Sensing. Regularly scheduled summer classes may also be taken but they are not part of this program. Days and times of labs will be arranged. Labs will run about 2 ½ hours twice per week. They will not count for NMSU credit.
• Receive a written statement of “successful progress” at the end of each semester from the Department of Geography.
Application Process
1) You must become a Geography major at NMSU if you are not already
a major.
See Dr. Wright in Breland 104 (jowright@nmsu.edu) or any other Geography
faculty to sign up.
2) Complete the Application Form, sign the Statement of Commitment,
and write a
Statement of Purpose on that form.
3) Students who have their tuition paid for through the New Mexico
Lottery Program are
not eligible for this Scholarship.
4) Application Deadline. Friday, November 7th, 2008.
Your complete, printed, and signed application must be received
on or before this date in the Geography Department Office in 107
Breland Hall. Applications must be received at the latest by 5 P.M.
on Friday, November 7th, 2008.
5) Selection of Geography Geospatial Scholarship recipients will
be announced on
Monday, November 17th, 2009.
The NMSU Geography Department would like to hear from you. We welcome your comments