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University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS) is a nonprofit membership organization that partners with higher education institutions to create and support communities of practice for geographic information science (GIS) research, education, and policy endeavors, and serves as the the professional hub for the academic GIS community in the United States. UCGIS was founded in 1995 and is based in Washington, D.C. UCGIS's stated mission is to "advance research in the field of geographic information science (GIS), expand and strengthen GIS education, advocate policies for the promotion of the ethical use of and access to geographic information and technologies, and build scholarly communities and networks to foster multi-disciplinary GIS research and education."
UCGIS has five committees responsible for various aspects of its activities, including the Communications Committee, Education Committee, Membership Committee, External Relations Committee, Research Committee. UCGIS emphasizes the multidisciplinary nature of GIS and promotes cooperation with other related disciplines including cartography, cognitive science, computer science, engineering, land surveying, environmental science, geodetic science, geography, landscape architecture, law and public policy, statistics, remote sensing, and photogrammetry.
For its members, UCGIS hosts an annual symposium, as well as small conferences, summer schools, workshops, webinars, and TRELIS (Training and Retaining Leaders in STEM), a professional development program for women in the geospatial sciences in higher education. UCGIS provides its members with open educational resources for teaching and learning, as well as access to its digital platform, including a digital version of the Geographic Information Science & Technology Body of Knowledge (BoK), a community-produced authoritative collection of information about GIS. To recognize outstanding achievements in the field of GIS, UCGIS awards several honors, including the UCGIS Research Award, UCGIS Education Award, UCGIS Service Award, Carolyn Merry Mentoring Award, UCGIS Lifetime Achievement in GIScience Education Award, and UCGIS Innovation in GIScience Education Award.
Institutional members of UGGIS include American University, Arizona State University, Cornell University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Hunter College, City University of New York, James Madison University, Johns Hopkins University, Kansas State University, Louisiana State University, North Carolina State University, Northeastern University, The Ohio State University, Oregon State University, Pennsylvania State University, Rutgers University, San Diego State University, State University of New York, Syracuse University, Temple University, Texas A&M University, Texas State University, University of California, Santa Barbara, University of Colorado, Boulder, University of Connecticut, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Iowa, University of Maine, University of Maryland, University of Nebraska- Lincoln, University of Pennsylvania, University of Pittsburgh, University of Redlands, University of Southern California, University of Washington, University of Wisconsin- Madison, University of Wyoming, Washington University in St. Louis, and Yale University.
