SF State's department of geography and human environmental studies is launching a new masters program in geographic information sciences (GIS) this fall - the only one of its kind in the Bay Area.

"Working in GI science is one of the professions opening up now," Ellen Hines, associate professor in the department, said. "There's a job growth in the profession."
Launching the new program was discussed for several years, but faculty officially worked on it for two years.

"We didn't need any more resources," Hines said. "It's a program that students can do - we're just formalizing the title."

The new masters program in GIS will include courses in remote sensing, cartography and global positioning systems.

The program focuses on map analysis. For instance, with GIS, it is possible to map all hazardous waste sites in the Bay Area and see how far they are from different neighborhoods, then look at what populations are most at risk.

The program is currently admitting five students in the fall to avoid the risk of impact on other students at SF State. More students will be admitted in the future.

"We'd like to put SF State on the map for having this kind of expertise to attract more students and funding," Hines said.

She uses GIS and other tools to look at endangered marine species, map their habitats and model their habitat use. Lately, she's been looking at the effects of climate change based on sea level rise in Point Reyes.

"I've had students asking me if we have a program like this for twenty years," Jerry Davis, a professor in the department, said. "It's surprising that there's a new program on campus during the current budget crisis, but we already had the courses necessary to design this - we just put a degree program around it."

The program will deal with answering environmental questions such as the likelihood of the pollution of streams from soil erosion and modeling rare species occurrences in landscapes.

"It's going to attract students who work across disciplines to apply special analysis methods to questions," Davis said.

Students from around the Bay Area are already interested in applying.

"Working at a national park as a marine scientist, I've been using GIS in my field of work in Hawaii. I've been looking for work, but it's a bad time to look so I decided that this is a good time and looked into taking these weekend classes. It looks like I may get hired to do project at national parks in GIS. I thought I could use that as my thesis project and get my masters to learn more," Lisa Marrack said.

"I think that it's a really practical, applicable approach to GIS. I'm hoping it'll give me exposure to GIS and using it for specifically climate change issues. I'm going to be monitoring sea level rise in Hawaii. The specific project is modeling climate change," Marrack, 42, said. "I hope to get an in-depth understanding of GIS and I'd like to use it professionally after that - I'm excited."

The department already offers a masters degree in geography or geography resource management and environmental planning.

There are only two other California State University campuses that have something like this - both in southern California. There is one program in the University of California system.