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Physics professor Valeri Petkov (left) accepts the President's Award from CMU President Michael Rao (right) on March 19, 2008. The President's Award is CMU's most prestigious research award, recognizing the career achievements of senior faculty members. Petkov is a leading international expert in the emerging field of nanocrystallography. His findings have laid the groundwork for a new discipline in physics.

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Achievements and Awards

CMU dominates statewide GIS competition

MEDIA CONTACT: Kristi DePaul Ries, (989) 774-1072
PROGRAM CONTACT:Bin Li, (989) 774-1165

February 26, 2008

A group of CMU students recently proved their technological prowess by sweeping a statewide GIS competition with projects such as mapping a cloud forest in Peru, monitoring wolf habitats in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and piecing together the migration patterns of African-Americans.

Sponsored by Michigan-based professional organization Improving Michigan's Access to Geographic Information Systems, the annual event includes competitions for research posters and papers in undergraduate and graduate categories. CMU students took home first and second place in the graduate research paper section and first, second, and third places in the undergraduate research poster section.

Bin Li, chairman of CMU's geography department, is pleased but not surprised by his students' achievements.

"I was very excited and extremely happy - not just about the number of awards but for the recognition our deserving students received," Li said. "I think we have the strongest GIS program in Michigan. This objective evaluation from people in the industry testifies to that."

Maxwell Field of Petoskey won first place in the graduate category with his research on the modeling of loon habitats. Heather Stricker of Mason City, Iowa, took second place with her poster, titled "Monitoring Wolf Recovery in Michigan's Northern Lower Peninsula: Can Human Densities Predict Wolf Presence?" Field and Stricker are biology graduate students with research interests in GIS applications.

Erika Espeland, an accelerated master's candidate in the geographic information sciences program, won first place in the undergraduate competition with the poster, "3D Mapping for the Cloud Forest in Chanchamayo, Peru."

Senior Joseph Pomerville of Brighton and junior Ken Robertson of Pinckney took second and third place, respectively, in the undergraduate poster competition. Pomerville's research involved the identification of suitable habitats for Florida panthers, while Robertson focused on the migration of the African-American population in the U.S. Pomerville is a geography major with concentrations in GIS, while Robertson is double-majoring in GIS and computer science.

Two faculty members lent their support as advisors on the projects. Xiaolan Wu was the faculty advisor for the graduate projects as well as for Erika Espeland and Joseph Pomerville. Dave Patton served as the faculty advisor for Ken Robertson.

	CMU honors Douglass with Woman of the Year Award
	CMU honors McNaught with Excellence in Teaching Award
	CMU professor's textbook receives national award
	CMU SAE chapter named best in class
	CMU research team earns top honors at conference

2007

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