Doctor of Philosophy in Geospatial
Information Sciences
http://www.utdallas.edu/epps/geospatial-science/
This degree program is jointly
offered by the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, the School of
Natural Sciences and Mathematics (specifically in the Department of
Geosciences) and the Eric Jonsson School of
Engineering and Computer Science, and is administered by the School of
Economic, Political and Policy Sciences.
Faculty
Professors: Carlos Aiken (Geosciences), Brian J. L. Berry (Economic,
Political and Policy Sciences), Denis J. Dean (Economic, Political and
Policy Sciences), John Ferguson (Geosciences), Daniel Griffith (Economic,
Political and Policy Sciences), James Murdoch (Economic, Political and Policy
Sciences), Edwin Sha (Computer Science), Robert Stern
(Geosciences)
Associate Professors: Tom Brikowski (Geosciences), Fang Qiu (Economic, Political and Policy Sciences),
Michael Tiefelsdorf (Economic, Political and Policy Sciences)
Assistant Professors: Yongwan Chun (Economic, Political and Policy
Sciences), Weili Wu (Computer Science)
Clinical Assistant Professors: Stuart Murchison (Economic, Political and
Policy Science)
Powerful technologies have emerged
in recent years to collect, store, manage, analyze, and communicate
information regarding the features of the Earth's surface and to combine these
with other types of environmental, social and economic information. These
technologies, which include geographic information systems (GIS), the global
positioning system (GPS), and remote sensing, are used in many ways,
including the production of digital maps in vehicles, the management and
maintenance of city infrastructure, agriculture and forestry, the
policing of communities, and the conduct of modern warfare. The PhD
in Geospatial Information Sciences aims to develop individuals capable of
advancing this field by developing new knowledge or capabilities relevant to
it.
The degree program is jointly
offered by the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, the School of
Natural Sciences and Mathematics (specifically the Department
of Geosciences) and the Eric Jonsson School of
Engineering and Computer Science. This unique structure reflects geospatial
information science’s origins as the confluence of multiple
disciplines including geography, computer science, engineering, geology, and
various social, policy and applied sciences. It is anticipated that many
students will enter the program with a bachelor’s or master’s degree (and/or
work experience) in an application area (such as public administration,
geology, or economics) or in a technical specialization (such as engineering,
computer science, or statistics). These students may choose to pursue
research projects that advance existing geospatial information sciences
practices within that application area. Alternatively, students may opt
to pursue research that expands the technological or theoretical base of all
the geospatial information sciences.
Mission and Objectives
The mission of the Doctor of
Philosophy in Geographic Information Sciences program is to cultivate
innovative researchers capable of advancing the frontiers of knowledge in the
geospatial information sciences through improved theories, new technologies,
innovative methodologies, sophisticated quantitative analyses, and integrative
applications. UT Dallas Doctoral graduates will find employment in research
departments of public and private organizations and in major academic
institutions. Specifically, program graduates will:
•
demonstrate their knowledge of the fundamental theories and concepts
underlying the geospatial sciences.
•
master the advanced methodologies and/or quantitative analyses
used in at least one of three geospatial specialization areas: [a] computing
and information management, spatial analysis and modeling, or [c] remote
sensing and satellite technologies.
•
produce innovative research that advances theory or methodology in
the geospatial sciences.
•
participate at academic conferences, publish in peer-reviewed journals
and find employment in research departments of public and private organizations
and in major academic institutions.
Facilities
Students have access to
state-of-the-art GIS computing facilities housed in
the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences and at the NASA Center
for Excellence in Remote Sensing in the Department of Geosciences. The
University’s extensive instructional computing facilities, including those in
the Eric Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer
Science, are also available. Facilities are open extended hours including
evenings and weekends. Enrollment in hands-on courses is controlled to ensure
that a computer workstation is available for every student. All major
industry-standard GIS and remote sensing software is available. The University
is an Oracle Center of Excellence for Spatial Data Management and a member of
the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS).
Admission Requirements
The University’s general admission
requirements are discussed here.
The PhD program in Geospatial
Information Sciences seeks applications from students with a baccalaureate,
Master of Arts, Master of Science or professional masters-level degree in any
field relevant to geospatial information science including, but not limited to,
computer science, economics, engineering, geography, geology, management
information systems, marketing, natural resource management, public affairs and
public administration, statistics, and urban and regional planning. Applicants
will be judged and evaluated by the existing admission standards as set forth
by the University in its Graduate Catalog and by the standards set forth here
by the Geospatial Information Sciences program. A bachelor’s degree from an
accredited institution or its equivalent and fluency in written and spoken
English are required. A grade average of at least 3.25 in undergraduate and
graduate course work, and a combined verbal and quantitative score of 1150 on
the GRE are desirable. An analytical writing score of at least 4.5 in the GRE
is considered desirable.
Students must submit transcripts
from all higher education institutions attended, three letters of
recommendation, and a one-page essay outlining the applicant’s background,
education, and personal objectives as they specifically relate to a Ph.D. in
Geospatial Information Sciences.
Prerequisites
The
following pre-requisites/co-requisites will also be required for admission to
the PhD program: (i) college mathematics through calculus, (ii) competence in
at least one modern programming language equivalent to GISC 6317 Computer
Programming for GIS, CS 6301 and CS 6311Computer Science I &
II, , MIS 6322 Developing Business Applications with Visual Basic,
MIS 6323 Object Oriented Systems, or their equivalents, and (iii) at
least one course in inferential statistics through to regression analysis
equivalent to GISC 6301 Geospatial Data Analysis Fundamentals,
EPPS 7313 Descriptive and Inferential Statistics, or GEOS 6313 Data
Analysis for Geoscientists. Graduate courses taken at UT Dallas to meet
these prerequisites may be counted as electives toward the 75 credit hours
required of students entering the Ph.D. program directly from a B.A. or B.S.
degree, but they shall not be considered substitutes for any other specified
course.
Because of the cross-disciplinary
nature of this doctoral program, to ensure adequate preparation and appropriate
course sequencing, every doctoral student is required to consult with the
student’s designated advisor and/or the GIS Doctoral Program Director prior to
registration in every semester. Students generally will not have a faculty
advisor when they first enter the Ph.D. program, but every student is required
to select (with consent of the potential advisor) an advisor from the advising
faculty before they complete 20 credits after admission.
Degree Requirements
The University’s general degree
requirements are discussed here.
To receive the PhD in Geospatial
Information Sciences, students must complete the Geospatial Science Core (15
SCH) to achieve a mastery of appropriate Geospatial Information Science
technologies and theory, have a Geospatial Specialization Area (15 SCH),
have a Specific Application area or Technical field (12 SCH), evidence
research skills through successful completion and defense of a Ph. D.
dissertation, and take related electives as necessary for a total of 75
semester credit hours. In addition, students must satisfy a set of exams and
qualifiers. Other courses may be substituted for those listed below with the
written permission in advance of the Director of the GIS Doctoral program.
Geospatial Science Core (15 SCH)
Students must earn a minimum grade point average (GPA) of
3.0 across the following five courses:
GISC 6381 GIS
Fundamentals
GISC 6382 Applied GIS
GISC 6384 Spatial Analysis and
Modeling
GISC 6385 GIS Theories, Models and
Issues
GISC 7310 Regression Analysis with
Spatial Applications
Geospatial Specialization Area
Students must select from one
of the following, with a minimum of 15 SCH. Courses selected must include at
least three at successively advanced levels.
I. Geospatial Computing and Information Management
CS 6359 Object Oriented Analysis and Design
CS 6360 Database Design
CS 6364 Artificial Intelligence
CS 6366 Computer Graphics
CS 6375 Neural Nets and Machine
Learning
CS 6378 Advanced Operating Systems
CS 6V80 Spatial Data Management
CS 6381 Combinatorics
and Graph Algorithms
CS 6384 Computer Vision
GISC 6317 Computer Programming for
GIS
GISC 6388 GIS Application Software
Development
GISC 7363 Internet Mapping and
Information Management
*MISC 6326 Database Management
Systems
II. Spatial Analysis and Modeling
CS 6312 Data Structures
*ECON 6309
Econometrics I
*ECON 6310
Econometrics II
*ECON 6314 Structural Equation and
Multilevel (Hierarchical) Modeling
*ECON 6315 (POEC 7370) Time Series Econometrics
*ECON 6316 Spatial Econometrics
EPPS 7364 Demographic Analysis and
Modeling
EPPS 7368 Spatial Epidemiology
*GEOS 6313 Data Analysis for
Geoscientists
*GISC 6311 (ECON 6311) Statistics
for Economists
GISC 7360 GIS Pattern Analysis
GISC 7361 Spatial Statistics
*EPPS 7313 Descriptive and
Inferential Statistics
*EPPS 7316 Advanced Regression
Analysis
III. Remote Sensing and Satellite Technologies
GEOS 7322 GPS Surveying Techniques
GEOS 7324 3-D GIS Data Capture and
Ground Lidar
GISC 6325 (GEOS 6325) Introduction
to Remote Sensing
GISC 7366 (GEOS 7366)/ Applied
Remote Sensing
GISC/7365 (GEOS 7365) Remote
Sensing Digital Image Processing
GISC 7367 (GEOS 7327) Remote Sensing
Workshop
EE 6360 Digital Signal Processing
EE 6363 Digital Image Processing
IV. Customized Geospatial
Specialization (15 SCH)
Identified by the student with
approval in advance by the Director of the GIS Doctoral Program.
* may not be used in conjunction with certain other courses.
Consult GIS Doctoral Program Director
Application Area or Technical Field
(12 SCH)
Twelve
semester-credit hours of specialized course work in an application area
or technical field relevant to GIScience. Normally, these will
derive from the student’s masters
degree. These hours may be transferred from another institution, or taken at UT
Dallas in an existing master’s program area and may be applied toward a
master’s in that area.
Application area examples: planning, public affairs, criminal justice,
health and epidemiology, geoscience, forestry, hydrology, marketing, real
estate, economics, civil engineering.
Technical field examples: statistics, computer science, software
engineering, management information systems, image analysis, operations
research/location science, instrumentation.
Research and Dissertation (Variable
SCHs)
All students must complete the
following two classes as part of the research and dissertation requirement:
GISC 7387 GIS Research Design
GISC 7389 GIS PhD Research Project
Qualifier
In addition, students must complete
sufficient additional research and dissertation credit hours to bring the total
number of SCHs they have earned within the UTDallas
doctoral program (or transferred into the UTDallas
doctoral program) to 75, the minimum required to earn a doctoral degree.
Additional research and dissertation SCHs above and beyond those required to
reach the 75 credit hour minimum may be required at the discretion of the student’s
Ph.D. advisor. Additional research and dissertation SCHs can be earned through
any of the following classes:
GEOS 8V29 Research in GIS
GISC 6387 GIS Workshop
GISC 6389 GIS Masters Project
GISC 7367/GEOS 7327 Remote Sensing
Workshop
GISC 8V29 Research in GIS
*EPPS 6310 & 6342 Research
Design I & II
GISC 8v99 or GEOS 8v99 or CS 8v99
Dissertation
Other Related Electives (0 to 24
SCH)
Students may choose up to 24 SCHs in
related electives with consent of their advisor or the GIS Doctoral Program
Director.
Exams
and Qualifiers
Doctoral students must complete GISC 7389 Geospatial
Information Sciences PhD Research Project Qualifier according to
uniform guidelines established by the GIS program.
After meeting
the Research Project Qualifier, doctoral students must (1) demonstrate through
a general exam his/her competency in the area chosen for their dissertation,
and (2) successfully present and defend a dissertation proposal through an oral
examination, according to uniform guidelines established by the GIS program.
Doctoral
students must have GPAs of at least 3.25, and preferably 3.5, in courses taken
at UT-Dallas at the time they register for GISC 7389 Ph.D. Qualifier, or they
must petition the GIS faculty for an exemption for extenuating
circumstances beyond the student’s control.
Defense of Dissertation
A dissertation must be prepared and
defended successfully following the procedures established by the Dean of
Graduate Studies.