giscience certificate program requirementsUndergraduate certificate. Must already be an undergraduate student at OSU (in good standing), in any major, any degree program. Contact the undergrad certificate advisor, Dr. Dawn Wright, Geosciences, about declaring for the certificate and starting the curriculum.
Best time to catch Dr. Wright: Check this page for her current,drop-in, first come, first served office hours in Wilkinson 114: dusk.geo.orst.edu/teaching.html.
< checklist for ADVISING >
Graduate certificate (on-campus students). Must already be a graduate student at OSU (in good standing), and in any major, any degree program. Upon consultation with the Certificate Program Director Dr. Dawn Wright, Geosciences, you may declare for the graduate geographic information science certificate by listing 19 credits of certificate courses on your graduate program form (the one that is submitted to the Graduate School). You must list the GIScience core and elective courses under "MAJOR," on the left side of that form. Please also send a copy of your graduate program form to Dr. Wright for her records. Declaring for the certificate does NOT require that a GIScience faculty member be on your committee (this is a main difference between a certificate and a minor). Upon completion of the coursework, she will also ensure that an appropriate code (CG03) and credential are assigned to your student record, and that a paper certificate is issued.
Best time to catch Dr. Wright: Check this page for her current,drop-in, first come, first served office hours in Wilkinson 114: dusk.geo.orst.edu/teaching.html.
< checklist for ADVISING >
NEW in 2009-'10: Graduate certificate (online version). This option is for people seeking to obtain our 19-credit graduate certificate WITHOUT already being in a full-time, degree-seeking graduate program here at OSU. In other words, you do not have to complete an entire 45-credit graduate degree course sequence or a thesis. This option is therefore aimed at off-campus, in-career working professionals, or other kinds of continuing-education students seeking a credential in geographic information science. Individuals interested in this certificate may apply to OSU only to obtain the certificate and nothing else, or to obtain the certificate as part of their post-baccalaureate status. Courses taken for the certificate may enhance and expand existing skills, or help prepare participants for a completely new career that involves working with GIS, remote sensing, or other geographic technologies.
Courses for credit taken previously at OSU may used to satisfy the requirements for the graduate certificate. Courses for credit taken for the online graduate certificate may also be transferred to a full OSU graduate degree program at a later date, should the student decide to pursue a full graduate degree at OSU.
Applicants must possess a baccalaureate degree (in any field) from a college or university. The undergraduate GPA must be at least a B (3.0) for coursework in the major field and at least a B- (2.67) for all coursework as a whole. Students should expect and be prepared to complete graduate-level coursework toward the certificate. Applicants must have basic computer literacy (high comfort level with Microsoft Windows file and disk management, as well the Internet). Applicants must have in their record the equivalent of a basic statistics course (including rudimentary data processing), a basic cartography course, and the equivalent of high school algebra before starting the core courses in the certificate. Prior experience with relational databases or spatial analysis is not required, but will be extremely helpful. Prior experience with GIS or remote sensing software is not required.
If interested, please contact the Certificate Program Associate Director, Ms. Kuuipo Walsh, Institute for Natural Resources.
< Grad School Policies Governing Graduate Certificates >
< OSU ECampus Online Grad GIScience Certificate Web Site >
Main Elective Tracks
About Cartography
About GIS
About Remote Sensing
About Geomatics (Land Surveying)