Contact: Jim Laird
STARKVILLE, Miss.--More than 70 seventh- and eighth-graders from Columbus Middle School will spend Wednesday [Nov. 14] morning at Mississippi State using geographic information systems to examine the impact of tropical cyclones similar to those of Hurricane Isaac that hit the Gulf Coast in August.
Part of the university's ninth annual GIS Day activities, the 9:15 a.m.-noon program will introduce them to modern GIS technology and career opportunities in the field. Activities will take place at the High Performance Computing Collaboratory in the Thad Cochran Research, Technology and Economic Development Park, located across Highway 182 from campus.
GIS Day 2012 is sponsored by the land-grant institution's geosciences department and the Geosystems Research Institute.
The event is made possible by partnerships with the National Science Foundation-funded INSPIRE program at MSU. The program title is an acronym for Initiating New Science Partnerships in Rural Education.
The students will participate in hands-on, problem-solving activities that expose them to an advanced university engineering environment. They also will learn about the vital role that geography plays in understanding natural disasters by using GIS knowledge and technology to gain information about the impacts and planning associated with natural disasters.
GIS Day activities are scheduled nationwide Wednesday as part of Geography Awareness Week. The common goals include boosting geographic education and providing showcases for GIS technologies that are solving real-world problems.
For more information on the event, visit http://gk12.msstate.edu/gisday2012.html or contact INSPIRE project coordinator Sarah Radencic at 662-268-1032 ext. 229 or spr67@msstate.edu; or John Cartwright at 325-5447 or johnc@gri.msstate.edu.