Alex Reinwald Is NC State’s 2021 Esri Innovation Program Student of the Year

In Fall 2020, graduating Master of Geospatial Information Science and Technology (MGIST) student Alex Reinwald won the MGIST poster competition for his work, “Visualizing the Impact of Urban Renewal on Black Asheville.” Now Reinwald is also NC State University’s Esri Innovation Program Student of the Year.

Reinwald, a National Guardsman in North Carolina, began his MGIST program in 2017 while on active duty as an Army captain at Fort Wainwright in Alaska. For his MGIST capstone service-learning project, Reinwald partnered with the City of Asheville, developing web mapping applications to help the city advance a reparations resolution that addresses disenfranchisement of Black homeowners and businesspeople. The storymap he created for the project details the history of policies in Asheville that created injustices, as well as the results of his GIS analysis.

The Esri Innovation Program (EIP), formerly known as the Esri Development Center (EDC) Program for Higher Education, was established by Esri, the world’s top commercial GIS software company, to “cultivate innovation in GIS research and promote teaching excellence in spatial data science and analytics and GIScience in higher education institutions.” The Center for Geospatial Analytics was invited by Esri to join the program in Fall 2017. Each EIP worldwide can honor one student each year who has shown exemplary work in the area of GIS development and application.

The award comes with a $500 prize, a certificate of award and free Esri Press book. In addition, Reinwald’s name will be engraved on a plaque that resides at the Center for Geospatial Analytics, and he will be entered into the pool of all EIP student winners worldwide, from which one winner will be selected.

Congratulations, Alex, on your achievement!