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Two Kentucky State University graduate students in the Masters of Environmental Sciences (MES) program took home awards from the Cumberland chapter of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (CCURISA) 2018 annual meeting in Richmond in January.

Jarod Jones won second place for his poster titled, “Identifying Potential Unmarked Burials in the Frankfort, Kentucky Cemetery: An Attempt to Determine the Correlation Between Subsurface Anomalies and Surface Topology Using GPR and LIDAR Data.”

Oguz Sariyildiz won third place for his poster titled, “Geospatial Characterization of Invasive and Native Plants for Agroforestry.”

Other MES graduate students also participated in the meeting. Saaruj Khadka presented his poster, “Exploring Ownership Size and Landscape Diversity in Whitley County, Kentucky,” and Aman Bhatta presented his research, “Comparison and Change in Land Productivity of Farm Parcels in Graves County Based on Net Primary Productivity.”

The students are mentored by Dr. Buddhi Gyawali, who presented highlights of Kentucky State’s Summer Apprenticeship Program and other ongoing university research projects that help create opportunities for high school students and Kentucky State STEM majors to participate in STEM-related experiential research and professional development activities.

CCURISA fosters excellence in Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) through its programs, guiding and supporting GIS professionals throughout their careers.