WyGISC News and Events:
Eight Teams to Compete in John P. Ellbogen $50k Entrepreneurship Competition April 22-23
Laboratory Inventory Management Systems (LIMS) is an end-to-end solution of software and hardware designed to contextualize samples first drawn from the field, as they get processed in the lab, and long after work has concluded. LIMS offers a safe, reliable and compliant way to collect, track, maintain and report data throughout a project’s lifetime. Team members are Shannon Albeke, a senior research scientist in UW’s Wyoming Geographic Information Science Center; and Nicholas Case, a UW graduate student from Laramie, who is majoring in geospatial information science and technology.
9-H SmartRanch - Drone Operations
In this internship/project, a team of four UW students will apply their collective education, training,
and experience in addressing research questions related to identification of weed species using drone-mounted sensors, image processing software, and machine learning techniques. Students will further explore the use of drones for precise herbicide application and mosquito breeding abatement. The team will be mentored by faculty from UW’s interdisciplinary Geospatial Information Science & Technology (GIST) Program.
UW Students Use Remote Sensing to Solve Family Land Issues
Two University of Wyoming agroecology majors are using free satellite images to help knock out musk thistle strangling rangeland productivity and to scrutinize the effects of damage into the future from a heavy rain-caused event washing away dry beans.
Traylin Bruegger, of Niobrara County, and Jordan Jochems, of Cody, used skills gained in a remote sensing class to solve problems on family lands. They’ll also earn certificates in remote sensing offered by UW’s Wyoming Geographic Information Science Center (WYGISC).
Driese Appointed Emeritus Lecturer
The University of Wyoming Board of Trustees recently approved WyGISC Senior Lecturer and former Geospatial Information and Technology (GIST&T) Program Director Dr. Ken Driese as Emeritus Senior Lecturer.
The title of Emeritus Senior Lecturer is awarded to faculty members who retire after long and meritorious service to the University.
Driese joined WyGISC in 2001 as a remote sensing scientist, where he established a remote sensing lab and began teaching the core of the remote sensing curriculum at UW. Following subsequent appointments in the Botany Department and Life Sciences Program, Driese returned to WyGISC in 2019 to help design, launch, and direct the Center’s new interdisciplinary GIST Program before retiring earlier this year.
“This is a well-deserved appointment, recognizing Ken’s many contributions to WyGISC and the UW community,” notes WyGISC Director Jeff Hamerlinck.
Congratulations, Ken!
WyGISC faculty member and interim GIST director, Ramesh Sivanpillai, will be speaking in Cody, WY on Saturday, October, 2nd.
In the burgeoning manufacturing and economic hub of Coimbatore, development encroaches on wildlife corridors. Now elephants raid crop fields, resulting in infrastructure and economic losses, and in human and elephant deaths. From his work with stakeholders, Dr. Sivanpillai will discuss the measures available to protect investment and minimize casualties.
Hodza Promoted to Senior Research Scientist
Congratulations to WyGISC faculty member Dr. Paddington Hodza (PhD, West Virginia University, 2007) for his recent promotion to Senior Research Scientist. Dr. Hodza joined the University of Wyoming in 2013 as an Assistant Research Scientist and WyGISC Assistant Director. He was promoted to Associate Research Scientist and WyGISC Associate Director in 2016, a position he held until 2021. Dr. Hodza is a certified GIS Professional, licensed FAA Drone Pilot, past recipient of a Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship and a Leadership Wyoming alumnus (Class of 2017). Dr. Hodza currently serves on the Board of Directors of the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science. His current research interests include unmanned aerial systems, multimodal GIS education, positivity GIS, immersive geovisualization, and spatial data science. Once again, congratulations to Dr. Hodza on this significant achievement!
Shannon Albeke, WyGISC Senior Research Scientist, faculty member, and Co-author of "Body size and digestive system shape resource selection by ungulates: A cross-taxa test of the forage maturation hypothesis" is highlighted in the UW News article "UW-Led Research Finds Body Size, Digestive Systems Shape Ungulate Foraging"
Research led by a University of Wyoming graduate student involving about 50 scientists from across the globe has provided new insights into the behavior of ungulates (hoofed animals) as it relates to forage conditions and water availability.
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