IESA celebrates 20th anniversary

During his time as a student in UNG's Lewis F. Rogers Institute for Environmental and Spatial Analysis (IESA), John Dees, '15, learned to use the tools of an industry with evolving technology and multidisciplinary knowledge.

"IESA teaches a lot of important skills for 21st-century jobs," he said. "I learned to work with data, analyze results, model real-world problems, and work with code."

Dees has put his transferable skills to use. He works as a senior science analyst with Carbon Direct, a scientific advisory service and investment capital company that focuses on the carbon removal and utilization ecosystem. He also is completing his doctoral degree at the University of California at Berkeley.

Dees is one example of the many IESA graduates who become successful professionals thanks to techniques learned from experienced UNG faculty in a nationally accredited institution.

In fall 2021, IESA marked its 20th anniversary by moving into its new home in the Arts & Technology building on UNG's Gainesville Campus. From 4-7 p.m. April 21, the institute and its more than 100 students will celebrate the anniversary in the new building a day ahead of Earth Day.

IESA's course and section offerings have grown significantly over the years and today we offer classes on all five UNG campuses, including several sections of geology, geography, environmental science, and environmental studies courses that support the core curriculum.

Dr. Jeff Turk

Lewis F. Rogers Institute for Environmental and Spatial Analysis dean

With its 22 full-time faculty and staff and 10 part-time faculty, the institute has maintained high academic goals.

"Our faculty come in with different areas of expertise and typically collaborate with each other. They also devise research opportunities to fuel their passion and inspire our students," Turk said. "All of these elements provide our students various avenues to explore and allow them to learn and use state-of-the-art geospatial tools associated with their career."

IESA also is one of only 19 programs in the nation to have a geospatial intelligence certificate program accredited by the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF).

The accreditation is one of many for IESA. Other recognitions include:

• A three-year, $619,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2017 to develop a curriculum for a new associate degree in geospatial engineering technology and a land surveying certificate program.
• In 2021, NSF awarded the institute a three-year, $360,000 grant to improve undergraduate geoscience education in Georgia.

IESA also has developed three graduate-level certificates. One is in geospatial science and technology, which emphasizes theory while addressing practical problems in a variety of disciplines. The second is in geomatics, which includes graduate-level coursework required for the state of Georgia's surveying licensure. The third is the geospatial intelligence graduate certificate, which leverages geospatial science and technology with intelligence tools to develop skills that inform decision-making in disaster response, humanitarian relief efforts, and national security.

The development of IESA's academic programs has taken place strategically. Each curriculum, degree and certificate addition leads the way toward unique graduate degrees, which would distinguish UNG from many higher education institutions in these fields.

"There aren't a lot of graduate programs in the spatial sciences and particularly in spatial data science," Turk said. "If UNG receives approval for graduate programs in the spatial sciences, it would make us unique in this field and potentially draw students from across the nation."