-------- Original Message --------
Subject: USGS Post doc extended deadline
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2006 21:43:06 -0500
From: Jane Read <[log in to unmask]>
To: MAPS-L
Dear UCGIS Community
The deadline for applications for the USGS-sponsored post-doctoral
fellowship position in Geographic Information Science has been extended
to May 1, 2006. Please distribute this annoucement widely to qualified
researchers.
Please direct inquiries to Dr. A-Xing Zhu, UCGIS Sponsored Programs
Committee Chair, [log in to unmask]
---
University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS)
Request for Application of a USGS Sponsored Post-Doctoral
Fellowship in Geographic Information Science
*Purpose:* To provide financial support for recent doctorates from the
University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS) member
institutions to conduct research at the United State Geological Survey
(USGS).
The USGS has provided funds to UCGIS to support a post-doctoral fellow
in GIScience for a period from July 1, 2006 to October 31, 2007. The
selected fellow will participate in the USGS Center of Excellence in
GeoSpatial Information Science (CEGIS) and be supervised by a CEGIS
scientist at the Rolla, Missouri USGS facility.
*Eligibility:* Individuals who received their doctoral degrees from a
UCGIS member institution after August 2003 or individuals who anticipate
receiving their doctoral degrees from a UCGIS member institution before
March 2006.
*Number of fellowships:* One fellowship (up to $80,000) is available for
2006-07.
*Duration of support: *July 1, 2006 to October 31, 2007
*How to prepare an application for the fellowship:* Please use the
following format in preparing the proposal and be sure to adhere to the
page limit requirements. In addition to the proposal, submit two letters
of recommendation, one of which must be from the faculty member who
served as dissertation research advisor.
*Proposal Format*
/Proposal Section Page Limit/
/ /
Cover page 1
Summary 1
Project Description 5
References 2
Biographical Sketch 2
*Where and when to send application materials:* Please send the complete
proposal in *a single file* in either MS Word or PDF format to: Dr.
A-Xing Zhu, UCGIS Sponsored Programs Committee Chair, [log in to unmask]
<mailto:[log in to unmask]>/, by *May 1, 2006*. Please place the
following in the subject line of your e-mail to assure correct
processing: USGS Post-Doctoral Fellowship. Recommendation letters should
be sent *directly* from the referees to [log in to unmask]
<mailto:[log in to unmask]>/, with a subject line: Reference
letter for “candidate name” for USGS post doc position, where “candidate
name” is the post doc applicant’s name.
*Selection procedure:* Members of the UCGIS Sponsored Programs Committee
and representatives from USGS will assemble a panel to review the
submitted applications. The panel will rank the applications (see
criteria below) and make their recommendations; UCGIS officers, the
UCGIS Sponsored Programs Committee, and representatives from USGS,
including the on-site USGS post doctoral research advisor, will make the
final decision based on the recommendations from the panel as well as
program needs at USGS. *A decision will be made by June 1, 2006*.
*Criteria for Evaluation*
1) Intellectual merit
2) Application to USGS mission and objectives
3) Clear statement of a research hypothesis or question that addresses
the need for the study. The statement should be supported by a short
literature review
4) Degree of innovation and clarity of the approach proposed to test the
hypothesis or answer the question
5) Clarity of the products, outcomes, and value of the research to
science and society
6) Perceived likelihood of success
7) Overall quality of the proposal including readability
8) Overall value to USGS for funds expended
*Suggested areas of research:* Based on the mission of the USGS,
proposals with a focus on one or more areas listed below are encouraged.
Proposals may tie to on-going projects in the CEGIS or may be new
projects based on the topics listed.
*Research in 2006 at the USGS Center of Excellence in GIScience*
GIScience initially involved, and still includes, the science behind the
traditional mapping disciplines of surveying, aerial photographic
interpretation, photogrammetry, remote sensing, and cartography. Today
it also includes a broader scope of issues related to the modeling and
representation of geographic data, phenomena, and processes; human
cognition of geographic information; the analysis and use of
uncertainty; spatial analysis and modeling, including GIS; scale;
geographic ontologies; visualization; and other similar topics.**
Researchers and managers in USGS geography related disciplines are
concerned with the need for and requirements of horizontal integration
of models (use in different regions) along with vertical integration
(use with other models and applications within a single region). More
specifically, many researchers are concerned with making models
certifiable for multiple users across unique regions and disciplines
(horizontal integration) in order to assure the integrity and
reliability of results. These concerns are linked directly to the
importance of correct formatting, content, scale, structure, and
parameterization of input geospatial data.
Research on spatial modeling, data discovery, pattern identification,
visualization, and spatial statistics will improve the value of USGS
data and provide a basis for assessments of land change processes. USGS
geographers must resolve theoretical questions about how to combine data
from different and possibly incompatible time periods, classifications,
semantics, geometry, resolution, and accuracy. Metadata, descriptions of
the data contained in geospatial products, will assist in the fusion of
the input data in an automated fashion, but these capabilities await
fundamental geographic research.
Important modeling research questions include:
• What models are best suited to creating value-added data layers that
have multiple uses, using data already served by USGS and /The National
Map/?
• How can models and their results be compared?
• Is it better to couple inputs and outputs from specialized models, or
to integrate models into a single operational framework?
• What methods best facilitate model calibration and validation?
• What mechanisms allow scientists to locate, share, and rapidly
implement models?
The CEGIS also conducts GIScience investigations related to intelligent
information access that support the USGS mission to develop a National
Spatial Data Infrastructure including topics such as the following:
· Geographic representation related to computer data models and
structures, and communication of uncertainty.
· Map and database projections.
* Design and symbol representation problems, including display of
critical data elements, for portrayal of /The National Map /data
on different display devices.
* Generalization research that deals with representing features at
different scales.
* Data mining algorithms for handling geospatial data, spatial data
access structures, and use of domain knowledge for improved query
processing and mining. **
* *
Specific projects currently underway in the CEGIS related to modeling
questions and information access include:
* *
/Resolution Effects on AGNPS Model Output/
/ /
This project is analyzing the effects of resolution on the output from
the Agricultural Non-Point Source (AGNPS) pollution model. The input
parameters were generated at 8 different grid resolutions from 3 to 1920
m and the 51 output parameters, including hydrology, sediment, P, and N,
from these resolutions from AGNPS model runs are being evaluated across
resolution and against the original input land cover, elevation, and
soils data.
/Web-Enabled Modeling/
Determine capability to use data from /The National Map /to seed models
both web-based (fire-model) and client-based (AGNPS) and interactively
execute the models from /The National Map /viewer interface.
/Soil Moisture Measurement from Remotely Sensed Images/
/ /
Field collected values of soil moisture from Theta probes are being used
to calibrate transformations of Landsat TM, ASTER, ALI, and Hyperion
images to create soil moisture values directly from the image radiances.
* *
/Automated Data Integration/
This project is designed to determine capabilities and methods for
automated integration of /The National Map/ layers using existing data
sources. The project will also determine limits based on resolution and
accuracy for integration and the ability to use metadata to achieve
automatic integration.
/Generalization for The National Map/
The objectives are to determine the problems of automated generalization
as applied to /The National Map /and to develop an overall approach that
can be implemented as a solution to achieving the visualization and
delivery of an integrated dataset at a specific resolution (scale) from
/The National Map/ data archives.
/Multi-Resolution Raster Data for The National Map/
/ /
The objective is to research and develop a Web implementation for fast
and accurate reprojection and resampling of raster data for /The
National Map./
/ /
/A Natural Language Interface for Geographic Information Access/
This project is investigating a means to allow ordinary users to use
natural language to access USGS data holdings to allow greater access to
geospatial information.
/ /
/Building an Onotology for The National Map* */*/ /*The current evolving
standards for the various themes of /The National Map/ and the historic
developments of DLG-E, DLG-F, and NHD formal specifications provide a
cohesive basis for a new ontology that can support /The National Map/.
The existing standards must be cast into the new environment of
multi-scale representation, near real-time and Web access, and on-demand
product generation. This can only be accomplished with a complete
ontology of all features at all possible representation scales as the
basis for feature and information retrieval from the multiple databases
that comprise /The National Map./ This project will be the initial step
to building such a comprehensive ontology and will use current GIScience
methodologies developed in the ontology of geographic information that
have evolved over the last five years.
/Restoration of Data from Lossy Compression/
This is year 3 of a research project to find ways to restore data
discarded during a lossy compression process. Uses include: data
distribution, archival, use of historic or other highly compressed data.
/Directed Edge Detection for Object Identification/
/ /
This project continues efforts to develop new edge detection and
vectorization techniques to extract features from imagery.
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