• Eight courses (six core, two electives)
• Any waived course must be approved prior to commencing the program and replaced with another elective.

Our professional GIS certificate is awarded to those who complete the requirements within their certificate of study. Geographic Information Systems requires one software class, five core classes, and two electives. Please note: If you are taking the Geographic Information Systems program and have chosen a concentration, your elective courses will be prescribed. The GIS certificate must be completed within 36 months of the date the student begins the first class. The student must attend all sessions of each class for successful completion.

Certificate and non-certificate students are awarded 1 CEU (Continuing Education Unit) per ten hours of successful classroom participation in this program.

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• GIS 0100: Introduction to Geographic Information Systems
• GIS 0110*: Introduction to ArcGIS 9.3
  *GIS 0110 must be taken prior to any course except GIS 0100
• GIS 0200: Components of Geographic Information Systems
• GIS 0300: Introduction to Spatial Analysis
• GIS 0401: Introduction to Database Issues and Integration
• GIS 0600: Advanced Map Design and Cartography

• GIS 0210: Implementation and Management
• GIS 0220: Integration of Remote Sensing and GIS
• GIS 0230: Introduction to GPS and Photogrammetry
• GIS 0240: Raster Analysis and 3D Modeling
• GIS 0250: Spatial Statistics and Geostatistical Analysis
• GIS 0270: Human Terrain Analysis
• GIS 0310: Transportation Applications of GIS
• GIS 0325: Crime Mapping and Analysis
• GIS 0335: Crime Mapping Case Studies
• GIS 0337: Emergency Management with GIS
• GIS 0340: Environmental Applications of GIS
• GIS 0350: Defense and Intelligence Applications of GIS
• GIS 0360: Business Applications of GIS
• GIS 0370: Public Health Administration and Analysis
• GIS 0610: Geographic Knowledge Systems

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Students may request to waive GIS 0100 and/or GIS 0110, although most students benefit from taking these courses. Requests are to be arranged through the program office, and must be accomplished before taking any courses in the program. If either of these courses is waived, an elective must be taken in the place of each waived course. A total of eight courses must be taken in order to achieve the GIS certificate.

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Please click here to download the PDF brochure for the Geographic Information Systems Certificate program.

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Instructors

The instructors in the program come from government, private industry, and academia. They have extensive experience in working with spatial data and GIS. Each instructor brings a unique perspective to the program. The classes are kept small (18 is the maximum number) to allow the instructors to teach in a seminar environment.

Matthew Bechdol, MS
Matthew Bechdol has a BS in public affairs and environmental science from Indiana University; a certificate in public affairs from the Rijksuniversiteit, Leiden - The Netherlands; and an MS in geographic and cartographic science from George Mason University. Matthew Bechdol is a federal account manager at the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) in Washington, D.C. As an account manager for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, he assists in the integration of software, hardware, data, and personnel to solve agricultural problems ranging from precision farming to global crop forecasting. Mr. Bechdol provided GIS and remote sensing support as a NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Subcontractor, where he investigated hyperspectral imaging and GIS technologies for Precision Agriculture. He also worked on teams devoted to developing mobile/wireless GIS and remote sensing field data and imagery classification technologies via parallel processing systems. Mr. Bechdol teaches Introduction to GIS, Advanced Map Design & Cartography, and Business Applications of GIS.

Anthony Calamito, BS
Anthony has a BS in geography with a focus on GIS from The Pennsylvania State University, and is currently working as a defense technical analyst for Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) in Washington, D.C. As a technical analyst Anthony has experience working with many organizations in both the Defense and Intelligence community, providing technical support, product implementation, and creating product demonstrations for all parts of the ESRI product suite. Past experience also includes support to many other federal customers such as DHS and USDA, and teaching GIS to landscape architecture students at Penn State. He has been featured on stage as a speaker and presenter for several ESRI User Conferences. Mr. Calamito teaches Defense and Intelligence Applications of GIS.

Kevin M. Curtin, PhD
Dr. Curtin received his PhD in 2002 from University of California – Santa Barbara and an MA in 1996 from University of Illinois at Chicago. His BA in 1995 is from University of Illinois at Chicago. He is an associate professor of geography at George Mason University. He performs primary research in the field of Geographic Information Science with specializations in facilities location science, urban and environmental resource allocation, data modeling and database design, and transportation, logistics, and network GIS. He has geographic area specializations in Colombia and Sardinia. Dr. Curtin teaches extensively at both the undergraduate and graduate university levels, and has developed several classes including a series of GIS courses, as well as, a graduate course in network GIS that is offered nowhere else in the world. Professor Curtin uses his skills in facility location to determine the optimal locations for many types of facilities given a goal to optimize and a set of constraints. He disseminates his research through publication in peer-reviewed geographic journals (including recently Geographical Analysis, Networks and Spatial Economics, The Journal of Geographical Systems, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, and The International Journal of Geographical Information Science) in addition to conference presentations and articles in edited volumes. He has received grants from a variety of local, state, and federal agencies for both primary and applied geographic analyses. He serves on several administrative committees within the university and performs service to the discipline of Geography and the academy through peer-reviews of the research of others. Dr. Curtin teaches Components of GIS.

Lee De Cola, PhD
Lee De Cola has a BA in mathematics and a master of city planning, both from the University of California, Berkeley, and a PhD in geography from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He is a research scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey studying the landscape epidemiology of vector-borne diseases and multiscale space/time technologies for distributing public health information over the Internet. As a consultant or researcher he has published on spatial demand for health services, world urbanization, feature extraction from imagery, map generalization, multiscale spatial analysis, knowledge management, and health risk forecasting. Dr. De Cola has taught at the Universities of Boston, West Virginia, Ibadan, Southern California, and Vermont, and he is currently an adjunct professor at George Mason University. He is qualified to teach Public Health Administration and Analysis and Spatial Statistics & Geostatistical Analysis.

Mary Garrand, MS
Mary Garrand supervises the Crime Analysis Unit for the Alexandria, Virginia Police Department. Her duties include overseeing the tactical analysis of crime series and trends as well as the strategic analysis of crime within Alexandria's community oriented policing (COP) areas. As an analyst with Alexandria Police Department, Ms. Garrand has implemented new tactical and intelligence software. She has worked on several long term mapping projects within Community Support areas as well as on criminal investigations. Ms. Garrand was also instrumental in implementing a mobile crime analysis intranet page for officers to use in the field. By using mobile data browser technology, she was able to work with staff to implement this new method of distributing crime analysis information.

Ms. Garrand serves as the training representative for the Virginia Crime Analysis Network (VCAN) and is an instructor for National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center's (NLECTC) Crime Mapping and Analysis Program (CMAP). Prior to joining the Alexandria Police Department, she was a research associate for the Justice Research and Statistics Association (JRSA) as well as a crime analyst with the Fairfax County, Virginia Police Department. She holds a master of science in justice, law and society from American University and a bachelor of arts from Fordham University. Ms. Garrand teaches Human Mapping & Analysis as well as Crime Mapping Case Studies.

Barry Haack, PhD
Barry Haack has a PhD in geography from the University of Michigan, an MA in geography from San Diego State University, and a BS, also in geography, from the University of Wisconsin. He is professor of geographic and cartographic sciences at George Mason University where his primary teaching responsibilities and research activities are in aerial photo interpretation, remote sensing, and GIS. Among his principal research interest and experience has been the application of remote sensing technologies and geographic information systems in developing countries. He has conducted extensive basic and applied remote sensing research, including manual and computer analysis of data from conventional aircraft platforms and satellites and the integration of that data into a GIS. Dr. Haack teaches Integration of Remote Sensing and GIS.

Kevin Henry, PhD
Kevin Henry has a BSc in geography, and masters degrees in history and geography. He recently finished his PhD in geography at McGill University (Montreal, Canada) and has worked as a post-doctoral fellow in bioinformatics and epidemiology at the McGill University Health Center, Montreal. His current work includes an epidemiological study of the spatial distribution of a drug resistant strain of tuberculosis in Quebec, Canada, and DNA/RNA microarray analysis where he is using spatial statistics to examine the benefit of incorporating the expression results for neighboring genes in the assessment of the expression value for individual genes. Mr. Henry is also involved in a number of epidemiological studies of infectious disease in Montreal. His research specialties include the design and implementation of spatial-temporal objected-oriented databases and the use of GIS, spatial and multivariate statistics for examining relationships, interactions and clustering in biological, demographic and health data. Before moving to Montreal, Mr. Henry worked as a GIS specialist at the Center for Geographical Information Sciences at Towson University, where he gained experience training staff and students on using GIS software, establishing methods for contracts/grants, and providing quality assurance/quality control procedures. Mr. Henry teaches Introduction to Database Issues & Integration.

Kenneth F. Holbert, Jr.
Kenneth Holbert is the management analyst for the Town of Herndon, VA where he manages and supports GIS related projects. He holds a BA in geography specializing in GIS, from the University of Washington in Seattle. An authorized ESRI ArcGIS instructor, Mr. Holbert teaches Introduction to ArcGIS Desktop 9.3 at George Mason University. He has nearly two decades of GIS experience in both the public and private sector organizations including ADC Maps, WSSC, ESRI, U.S. Navy, and Fairfax County. He has worked on GIS projects ranging from utility mapping, cadastral automation, environmental analysis, Internet map publishing, and asset management. Mr. Holbert has been the president of the ESRI Mid Atlantic Users Group and is a member of the NOVA GIS Managers group and MWCOG GIS Committee. He is a competent toastmaster and has spoken several times at GIS conferences.

Susan Jampoler, MS
Susan Jampoler has an MS in geographic and cartographic sciences from George Mason University and graduate level training in business at the University of North Florida and San Jose State University, a cartography certificate from George Mason, and a BA in history from the University of Maryland. She is president of GeoKnowledge, Inc., an educational services company specializing in technical geographic education. Ms. Jampoler is also the executive director of the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS).

Swen Erik Johnson, PhD
Dr. Swen Erik Johnson (Principle Investigator) is the chief social scientist at SCIA, LLC, a company that specializes in socio-cultural intelligence analysis. Dr. Johnson conceived the Department of Defense’s first Human Terrain Analysis Team (HTAT) in 2005 and has gone on to form HTAT’s across the community. He lead the initial HTAT at the Skope program based at the Washington Navy Yard from 2005 – 2007; formed SOCOM's CT-PAS Human Terrain Analysis Team and served as its chief human terrain analyst in 2006 and 2007; formed CENTCOM J2X's Human Terrain Analysis Team in 2007 (and serves presently as a part-time consultant); formed NGA's Human Terrain Analysis Pilot Project in 2007 and 2008, serving as its chief of human terrain analysis; and, recently formed CENTCOM's Cultural and Human Environment Team in 2008 (where he also serves as a part-time consultant). Dr. Johnson was honored by the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation with their 2007 Academic Achievement Award for helping to found and lead Human Terrain Analysis Teams in the DoD. He holds a PhD in sociology and served in the US Army as a counterintelligence special agent from 1999 – 2002. He deployed to Kosovo as a tactical field HUMINT Collector, in support of intelligence operations relating to the USS Cole bombing and was based in Germany prior to and during 9/11. Dr. Johnson has also served as a DIA counterintelligence special agent and a counterintelligence analyst at the National Counterintelligence Executive. It is through the combination of his doctoral work in sociology and real world experiences in foreign areas of conflict that Dr. Johnson realized the need and capacity of the Department of Defense intelligence community to conduct human terrain analysis in support of operations worldwide.

Barry Kronenfeld, PhD
Barry Kronenfeld is assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Geoinformation Sciences at George Mason University. He received a BS in Economics from Cornell University in 1993 and a PhD in Geography from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 2004. His research interests include spatial data modeling, representation of gradation in area-class maps, point pattern analysis, distance-based density estimation and historical ecology of the eastern United States. Dr. Kronenfeld has published numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, and has reviewed papers for Ecology, Biological Conservation, Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing and COSIT. His current research on the presettlement landscape of Fairfax County is being funded by the Fairfax County History Commission and by George Mason University.

Justin Louis
Mr. Louis has undergraduate degrees in geography and history from Miami University and a master of science from George Mason University in geographic and cartographic sciences. For the past 15 years he has worked for the federal government promoting the use and application of geography, geographic information systems, and geographic data to issues of national security, diplomacy, and intelligence across government agencies. Mr. Louis has been an instructor with the George Mason University GIS Certificate Program since 2005. He is one of the instructors for the Defense & Intelligence Applications class.

Stephen Malys, MS
Stephen Malys is a senior geodesist in the Research and Technology Office of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency. He holds a BS from The Pennsylvania State University and an MS in geodetic science from The Ohio State University. For the last 15 years, he has contributed to advancements in the geodetic exploitation of satellite systems, including the Navy's TRANSIT system and the Navstar Global Positioning System (GPS). He has played leading roles in the implementation of refinements to the global coordinate system known as the World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS 84) and improvements to the GPS Precise Positioning Service. He is an active member of the Institute of Navigation (ION) and has been elected as land representative on the ION council (96-98) and secretary of the satellite division (98-99). He has authored or co-authored more than 19 technical papers dealing with accuracy analysis of GPS and geodetic applications of TRANSIT and GPS. Mr. Malys teaches Introduction to GPS and Photogrammetry.

Paul Salamonowicz, PhD
Paul Salamonowicz is a senior staff scientist in the Research and Technology Office of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA). He holds a BSc in engineering from Cornell University, an MEng in geodetic engineering from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, a MSc in mathematics from George Mason University, and a PhD in computational mathematics, also from George Mason University. He has over 24 years of experience in the mapping and geodesy fields, principally involving the mathematical modeling and analysis of data from airborne and spaceborne sensor systems. He worked from 1976-85 in the research office of the National Mapping Division of the U.S. Geological Survey where his work involved the modeling of electro-optical and radar sensors. From 1985-96 he worked in various offices of the Defense Mapping Agency, including the Geodesy & Surveys and the Digital Products Departments of the Hydrographic/Topographic Center, and later the Advanced Sensors Division of the Systems Center, where he specialized in sensor and product accuracy assessments. Since 1996 he has been at NIMA and is currently the lead for investigating mathematical applications in support of the agency's mission. He played a leading role in the development of the shuttle radar topography mission, a recently completed joint effort of NASA/JPL and NIMA to map 80% of the Earth's surface using an interferometric synthetic aperture radar (IFSAR) system onboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour. He is a member of the American Society for Photogrammetry & Remote Sensing, the Photogrammetric Society (Great Britain), the Mathematical Association of America, and the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications. He has published several papers on metric analysis of airborne and satellite imagery, modeling of sensor systems, and geodetic applications of SEASAT altimetry. He has also authored or co-authored numerous technical reports dealing with topics such as accuracy analysis of photogrammetric and radar systems, including the photogrammetric analysis for the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations. He was the recipient of the 1975 Bausch & Lomb Photogrammetry Award and the 1992 DMA Benjamin Lane Award for Technological Achievement. Dr. Salamonowicz teaches Introduction to GPS and Photogrammetry.

David J. Simms, GISP
David J. Simms is a technical program analyst with the Department of Fire and Rescue Prince William County Virginia, incorporating public safety applications of GIS to improve EMS, fire, and emergency management operations and services to the community. He spent the last 10 years integrating GIS and other technology to analyze system performance, and to support the development of a station location study and apparatus deployment model. Mr. Simms manages the County's Planning and Intelligence Group, Situation Unit during EOC (Emergency Operations Center) activations, and has established procedures using GIS during emergency or disaster events. He also has worked as head of GIS Development and Maintenance with Prince William County in 1988 and was instrumental in the initial development of the County's GIS, completing the three-and-a-half-year effort of parcel automation. Mr. Simms authored a technical paper entitled "Optimizing Fire and Rescue Services using GIS" published on the ESRI web site, four maps; "Unit Travel Time Zones," published in the "1998 ESRI Map Book" and "The ESRI Guide to GIS Analysis, Volume 1, 1999;" "Epidemiology and GIS," published in the "ESRI 2001 Map Book," and "Station Location Analysis," published in the ESRI 2003 Map Book. Mr. Simms has contributed to the completion of many foreign cartographic projects, and worked as manager of production and quality control for topographic products in 1983 during his eight years in the U.S. Army which started at the Defense Mapping School in 1977. He holds a certificate as a certified GIS professional from the GIS Certification Institute, and has more than 27 years of GIS and cartographic experience in the private sector and in local and federal government. Mr. Simms teaches Emergency Mapping with GIS.

Rebecca Somers, MA
Rebecca Somers has a BA and an MA, specializing in GIS, from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and post-graduate work in business management at the University of Calgary and the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She is president of Somers-St. Claire, GIS Management in Fairfax, Virginia. Ms. Somers is a leading geographic information systems consultant, specializing in GIS management and education. She has over 25 years experience in both the public and private sectors, and has served as a consultant to many local governments, state and federal agencies, and utilities and other companies. She is a columnist with Geo Info Systems and an editor of the URISA Journal. Ms. Somers teaches GIS Implementation and GIS Management.

Erwin Villiger, PhD
Dr. Erwin Villiger spent 10 years with the Central Intelligence Agency as an imagery analyst and remote sensing scientist before leaving to pursue a PhD in environmental science at George Mason University. While studying at George Mason, he ran the GIS and remote sensing computer labs for the Department of Geography and Earth System Science. He has a BA and an MS in geography, with specialties in remote sensing and geographic information systems. Dr. Villiger has taught geography and GIS courses for Johns Hopkins University and George Mason University, has developed a number of GIS education programs for professionals, and is the director of a master's program in GIS with the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He is an ESRI authorized instructor for ArcGIS and teaches a number of certificate courses including: Introduction to ArcGIS, Components of GIS, Raster Analysis & 3D Modeling, and Environmental Applications of GIS.

Paul Young, MA
Paul M. Young graduated from the University of Akron with a bachelor of science degree in geography/cartography in 1986. In 1990 he graduated from the University of Maryland with a master of arts degree in geography. The American Congress on Surveying and Mapping and the National Geographic Society awarded him scholarships. While in college, he worked at the U.S. Bureau of the Census Geography Division where he compiled and digitized maps. Since 1986, he has worked for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). His early career at USGS included compiling topographic and geologic maps. He then worked for several years developing new computer systems used for map digitizing, image analysis, and geographic information systems (GIS). He served as the director of the USGS Cartographic Technology Laboratory and then supervised the applications research section where employees worked on a wide variety of natural resource and environmental applications and GIS projects. He served for six years in the USGS Office of the Director, where he held a number of senior positions. For the next three years, Paul served as the program officer in the Office of Eastern Region Geography where he led long term planning including integrated science activities. He currently serves as the regional geographer for the USGS Eastern Region where he coordinates integrated science projects and USGS regional science with National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Land Management. The Department of the Interior awarded him its Superior Service Award in 1995. He wrote a chapter titled "Spatial Database Revision" for Basic Cartography Volume 3, published by the International Cartographic Association in 1996. Paul is a member of the Association of American Geographers and the Cartography and Geographic Information Society (a member organization of the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping) where he served for six years as the secretary-treasurer. He has taught continuing education and graduate level GIS courses at Northern Virginia Community College and George Mason University since 1997.

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Evaluation Comment

“Mason’s GIS program set me up for success by teaching the latest in GIS technology and how to apply it to my daily work...”

Robert J. Alberts
Imagery Analyst, Booz Allen Hamilton

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