Summary of Changes in Requirements Effective for Fall 2008

The following summarizes the key changes to requirements for the geospatial sciences programs, effective Fall 2008. Full details are now available on the program web site and in the UTD Graduate Catalog. Under university rules, students have the option of graduating under the requirements in place in the semester they first enroll if they are continuously enrolled, or in the semester in which they graduate. By agreement of the UTD GIS faculty, students enrolled in one of these programs prior to Fall, 2008 may graduate under the previous requirements through Fall ,2009 even if not continuously enrolled.

Graduate Certificate in Geographic Information Systems

GISC 6383 GIS Management and Implementation is no longer be required. In its place, students select an options (elective) course (which can be GIS Management and Implementation if desired). With this change, the Certificate will consist of three required courses (GISC 6381, GISC 6382 and GISC 6387) and two options courses. This provides more flexibility.

Master of Science in Geospatial Information Sciences

GISC 6325 (GEOS 5325) Introduction to Remote Sensing replaces GISC 6383 GIS Management and Implementation as a Core Requirement. GISC 6383 GIS Management and Implementation becomes an Elective course.

A new course, GISC 5313 Geospatial Data Analysis Fundamentals, is required to meet the Base Requirement for a statistics course. (GEOS 5306 Data Analysis for Geoscientists or GISC 6311/ECON 6311 Statistics for Geospatial Science may substitute.) A prerequisite for any of these courses is at least one course at the graduate or undergraduate level covering descriptive and inferential statistics. (POEC 5313 Descriptive and Inferential Statistics will meet this pre-requisite but will no longer count toward the 30 hours needed for the MGIS degree.)

For students admitted to the Ph.D. program, GISC 7389 GI Sci. Ph.D. Research Project Qualifier may substitute for GISC 6389 GIS Master's Project to obtain the masters degree.

Ph.D. in Geospatial Information Sciences

GISC 5316 Regression Analysis with Spatial Applications (or POEC 5316 Advanced Regression) replaces GISC 6387 GIS Workshop as a Core Requirement. GISC 7387 GIS Research Design is now officially required as part of the Research and Dissertation requirement.