5. Master of GIS for Sustainability Management Occasional Papers Series, August 2014

Abstract

The GEOG 569 GIS Workshop is designed as a capstone experience in which graduate students work in 2-3 person groups with a project sponsor mainly from the greater Puget Sound region. The objective of the workshop is to scope out an original and creative application, geospatial analysis, geodatabase, or other geospatial information product with a workshop project partner for practical use in modeling a social-ecological system for sustainability management purposes. Based on results from design and testing over just eight weeks, graduate student professional learn how to prepare a business case to a potential project sponsor or senior manager about why the organization should support the implementation of the group's idea, including how it will improve the organization's current work activities and core processes aimed at turning an existing situation (i.e., social-ecological system) into a more sustainable and resilient one. The main deliverable of the workshop course is the final report, presented in brief to workshop project sponsors, along with any results, proof-of-concept examples, or prototypes developed during design and testing. Each and every participant in this year’s capstone project distinguished themselves by successfully demonstrating how GIS can be used to describe, assess and manage complex social-ecological systems problems. We are pleased to present the final reports of the 2014 GIS Workshop in their entirety in this document.