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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

Geosciences Receives NSF Grant


Monroe Community College has been awarded an Advanced Technological Education grant from the National Science Foundation.  This award will support the "GeoTech Consortium of Western New York: Get the GIST (Geospatial Information Science Technology) Certificate," in the amount of $199,838.  GIST is considered by the U.S. Department of Labor to be a rapidly growing field, with over 40 companies and agencies established in western New York.  In addition, geospatial technology has a wide variety of applications, including law enforcement, shipping, planning, and business.  In western New York, there are currently an estimated 23 annual job openings in the region with 127 employed technicians approaching retirement (MCC Career Coach, 2014). 

This program will enhance MCC’s focus on the STEM fields as well as geospatial technician education.  The GeoTech Consortium includes MCC, Monroe County, the New York Geographic Alliance, Webster School District, Rochester City School District, Rochester BOCES2, and the Geographic Information Sharing – Special Interest Group.  The Consortium will bridge the gap between high school students, MCC’s program, and the geospatial workforce, commencing in July, 2015 with workshops involving high school faculty. The term of the grant is three years.

The Geoscience Department wishes to recognize the important contributions made to this proposal by the Grants Office (Remegia Mitchell in particular) working with Jonathan Little, the Principal Investigator, and Heather Pierce, Co – Principal Investigator.

Dan Robertson
Geosciences
06/04/2015