The program is interdisciplinary in nature emphasizing community geography, community GIS, and citizen science through mixed methods, including sketch mapping, mobile mapping applications, focus groups, in-depth interviews, GIS, and spatial analysis. 

UCF is hosting a Facebook Live Event "Secrets to an Awesome Citizen Science GIS REU Application" on Wednesday, February 1 @ 3 pm EST. Join Dr. Hawthorne (REU PI) and Lain Graham (REU Senior Research Coordinator) as they give away the secrets to a successful application to the National Science Foundation (NSF) #REU Site in Orlando and Belize. Join the discussion at https://www.facebook.com/citizensciencegis

Research opportunities: Students will work in one of two research directions with community partners and mentors from University of Central Florida, University of Belize, Georgia State University, The Hopkins Belize Village Council, and The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History’s Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystems Program:

• Research Direction 1: Mapping disparities in flooding & disaster management
• Research Direction 2: Mapping marine debris & mitigating impacts on coastal communities

Compensation: Each REU student will receive a competitive funding package, including a $3500 research stipend, a meal allowance, free shared housing in Belize and Orlando, up to $750 in travel support to/from the REU Site, up to $750 for post-REU conference travel, and 2 research methods books.

Application process: The priority application deadline is Friday, February 17^th @ 5 PM EST.  Complete program information and application instructions can be found athttp://www.citizensciencegis.org/ucf-reu-site/.

Student reflections from the field: “Challenging, emotional, fun, collaborative, thought-provoking, interesting, real-life, and eye-opening.”  These are some of the words used by students to describe our previous research program.  Check out a short video from our REU Year 1 at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5zSFKw7F24&feature=youtu.be

Questions can be directed to:

• Dr. Timothy Hawthorne: Principal Investigator, Assistant Professor of Geographic Information Systems at University of Central Florida
  • timothy.hawthorne@ucf.edu
  • phone: 407.823.1030
• Dr. Christy Visaggi: Co-Principal Investigator, Lecturer of Geosciences at Georgia State University
  • cvisaggi@gsu.edu
  • phone: 404.413.5755