Graduate Student position @ University of Calgary

PlanYourPlace: a geospatial cyber-infrastructure for sustainable community planning

Graduate Opportunities@ the University of Calgary

We are recruiting graduate students at MSc and PhD levels for a new research project, starting April, 2011. The successful candidates will work on one or more research projects related to cyberinfrastructure implementation, web GIS, urban planning, spatial analysis and modeling, and participatory GIS applications that promote the fundamentals of responsible and ethical sustainable practices for urban development. The proposed work plans to address this objective in three ways: (i) through development of a rich web-based tool to help citizens, developers and elected officials visualize possible scenarios and their anticipated effects (analysis focus); (ii) by developing sketch friendly tools to create alternative plans and then estimate the fiscal, environmental, and social impacts, etc. (design focus); and (iii) extend participatory GIS to support a two way dialog between citizens and planners about communities and their future.

Applicants should have a recent degree in Geomatics, GIScience, Computer Science, Geography, or a related field. Knowledge and experience in advanced Web technologies, geovisualization, or web processing service chaining are desirable. Applicants should provide evidence of an outstanding work ethic; strong written- and oral-communication skills; and demonstrated research excellence or potential.

Successful candidates will collaborate on forefront research within a multidisciplinary research team.  Graduate stipends for this project will be inline with NSERC funding guidelines.  Additional funding will be available through Teaching Assistantships within the Department of Geomatics Engineering and funding opportunities through the University’s Open Scholarship competition.  Students will be provided additional support for attending national or international scientific conferences, and will be required to participate in all project-sponsor meetings.

Interested applicants are requested to send a cover letter summarizing their relevant background / skills, CV, unofficial transcripts, and contact details for three referees to Dr. Andrew Hunter via email (ahunter@ucalgary.ca).  Successful candidates will be contacted and asked to apply officially to the Geomatics Engineering Program.