ESRI Canada has selected McMaster University’s School of Geography and Earth Sciences (SGES) as a Centre of Excellence in Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

SGES has a long history of teaching and research using the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) suite of products. McMaster was one of the first universities in Canada to sign an annual license agreement with the Institute, was the first Canadian university to collaborate with a college to offer a certificate in GIS, and was the first Canadian university to earn the designation of ESRIsri Development Centre for Universities (EDC) due to researchers continued software application development on the ESRIsri platform.  The GIS Laboratory also hosts hundreds of high school students every year at its annual GIS Day in December.

Currently, the School offers a popular Minor in GIS and has over 15 undergraduate and graduate courses that make use of GIS as part of training and research, prominently featuring EsriSRIsri’s ArcGIS software as part of its core curriculum.  The inclusion of McMaster as an EsriSRIsri Canada Centre of Excellence will further enhance and facilitate the use of GIS in education and research at McMaster by providing access to scholarships, competitions and conferences for both undergraduate and graduate students.

EsrSRIsri Canada is a privately held Canadian-owned company that provides world-class enterprise GIS solutions. Five other Canadian universities (University of Victoria, Simon Fraser University, University of Waterloo, McGill University, and Nova Scotia Community College-Dalhousie University) will comprise the initial network of excellence in GIS.

“Critical thinking and spatial analysis skills are vital to understanding today’s economic, environmental and social issues,” said Alex Miller, president of ESRIsrisri  Canada.  “The EsrSRIsri Canada GIS Centres of Excellence are an important catalyst in preparing students as they enter the workforce whether they choose careers in business, science or government.”

More information can be found here.