Student Success
Curious about the achievements of our students and alumni? Learn more about their impact and where they work after graduation.
Master of Geospatial Information Science and Technology (MGIST)
Since 2010, our professional master’s degree program has been training students to tackle geospatial problems and leverage new technologies.
What partnerships have MGIST students formed?
Before graduation, each professional master’s student works directly with a community partner on a capstone project to solve a real-world challenge through experiential learning. Over 120 partners have worked with our students, from local public works departments and small startups to national nonprofits, federal agencies and international companies.
Where do our MGIST alumni work?
Graduates find employment in a range of fields, from environmental services to government administration.
Examples of MGIST alumni employers
- Esri
- Duke Energy
- City of Charlotte
- US Army
- NC Department of Transportation
- NC Department of Environmental Quality
- Timmons Group
- Geo Owl
- National Geospatial Intelligence Agency
- National Park Service
- and many more…
300+
MGIST alumni
120+
MGIST capstone partners
95%
of students report securing a new job or a promotion or salary increase at their current job upon graduation
Ph.D. in Geospatial Analytics
Since 2018, our unique doctoral program has supported students pushing the boundaries of geospatial data science and addressing grand challenges through original research. Ph.D. students have won prestigious fellowships and grants to support their work and published their findings in respected peer-reviewed journals, garnering media attention.
National fellowships and grants received by Ph.D. students
- American Geophysical Union (AGU) Thriving Earth Exchange Fellowship
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Pathways Program
- Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINESST)
- Geological Society of America Graduate Student Research Grant
- Great Lakes Summer Fellows Program (in partnership with the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory)
- Joint Fire Science Program Graduate Research Innovation Grant
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences K.C. Donnelly Externship Award
- Nature Conservancy NatureNet Fellowship
- NSF Graduate Research Fellowships Program (GRFP)
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Distinguished Graduate Research Program
- Rachel Carson Council Fellowship
- Stu Shea USGIF Endowed Scholarship
- Yale Environmental Fellows Program
Journals with first-author Ph.D. student publications
- Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
- Atmospheric Measurement Techniques
- BMC Public Health
- Computers, Environment and Urban Systems
- Drones
- Ecological Indicators
- Ecosystem Services
- Environmental Research Letters
- Environmental Science & Technology
- Fire
- Frontiers in Veterinary Science
- International Journal of Mass Emergencies & Disasters
- International Journal of Remote Sensing
- ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information
- Global Environmental Change
- Global Geochemical Cycles
- Journal of Environmental Management
- Journal of Geographical Research: Biogeosciences
- Land
- Landscape and Urban Planning
- Landscape Ecology
- Landslides
- Regional Studies in Marine Science
- Remote Sensing
- Remote Sensing of Environment
- Risk Analysis
- Scientific Reports
- Transactions in GIS
- Water Research
- Water Resources Research
Ph.D. student dissertations
- Synthesis of Radar-Observed Characteristics, Storm Structures, and Surface Snowfall Rates in 10+ Years of Northeast US Winter Storms (Laura Tomkins, 2024)
- Assessing Spatio-Temporal Variability in Watershed Nutrient Loadings Using Statistical-Mechanistic Modeling (Kimia Karimi, 2023)
- Does Chilling Explain the Divergent Response of Spring Phenology to Urban Heat Islands? (Xiaojie Gao, 2023)
- Advancing Real-time Deforestation Monitoring via Multi-source Remote Sensing Data, Landscape Processes, and End-User Contributions (Ian McGregor, 2023)
- Computationally Efficient Approaches to Modeling Flood Risk and River Discharge at Scale (Elyssa Collins, 2023)
- Linking Forests and Freshwater Across the Southern Appalachian Forest Landscape (Katie McQuillan, 2023)
- Disaster Nonprofit Relief and Housing Recovery Using GIS Techniques
(Byron Ifediora, 2023) - Facilitating Civic Engagement in Rapidly Urbanizing Regions through Geospatial Participatory Modeling (Corey White, 2023)
- Estimating and Forecasting the Spatio-temporal Hypoxia Dynamics in Northern Gulf of Mexico (Venkata Rohith Reddy Matli, 2022)
- Estimating and Modeling Structural Characteristics of Trees within Aerial LiDAR Data (Vishnu Mahesh Vivek Nanda, 2022)
- Quantifying On-farm Reservoir Dynamics: An Earth Observation and Hydrological Modeling Approach (Vinicius Perin, 2022)
- Mapping Forest Host Species Distributions And Understanding Their Effects On Forecasts Of Disease Spread (Nicholas Kruskamp, 2021)
- Analytical Approaches for Plant Pest Management Across the Biosecurity Continuum (Kellyn Montgomery, 2021)
- Temporally Dynamic Viewscapes for Modeling the Past and Future of Visual Landscape Amenities (Nicole Inglis, 2021)
- Eyes in the Sky Lend Support for Water Quality Monitoring across Inland and Coastal Environments (Megan Coffer, 2021)
Media outlets covering Ph.D. student research
- Association of Flood Plain Mappers
- Aspen Daily News
- CBS 9 (Greenville, NC)
- CBS 17 (Raleigh, NC)
- CNN
- Colorado Public Radio
- CTV News
- Futurity
- H2O Radio
- Law 360
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
- Mirage News
- Nature World News
- NBC 9 (Denver, CO)
- OBX Today
- Phys.org
- PiPa News
- Science Daily
- Scientific American
- Tech Explorist
- The News & Observer
- Verve Times
- WUNC Public Radio (Chapel Hill, NC)
Where do our Ph.D. alumni work?
Our doctoral program prepares students for a range of careers in industry, academia, government agencies and more.
Examples of Ph.D. alumni employers
- Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
- Environmental Protection Agency
- Harvard University
- Karen Clark & Company
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- NextEra Analytics
- Planet Labs
- RTI International
- SAS
- Spectrum Enterprise
- UNC Chapel Hill
- University of Nevada Reno
- USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
- Virginia Tech
$143K+
Average annual salary of a Ph.D. holder in data science, according to Glassdoor
100%
Employment rate after graduation
100%
of Ph.D. alumni say they would choose the program again