Mei-Po Kwan (UCSB PhD, 1994), Distinguished Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences at The Ohio State University, Editor of the Annals of the Association of American Geographers, and Chair, AAG Geographic Information Science and Systems Specialty Group (GISSG), just sent the following announcement:
The Award Committee of GISSG is pleased to announce the selection of Michael F. Goodchild, Department of Geography, University of California Santa Barbara, as the recipient of the Robert T. Aangeenbrug GISSG Distinguished Career Award.
The Award is given to honor a senior scholar for sustained and effective research contributions in geographic information systems and science. It is bestowed based on a record of published research and/or other accomplishments that extends over a period of several decades. To be selected as a recipient of this award, the research of the scholar must be deemed of great importance and relevance to geographers, and this research must be largely concerned with or applicable to Geographic Information Systems and Science.
Michael Goodchild is Professor of Geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He received his BA degree from Cambridge University in Physics in 1965 and his PhD in Geography from McMaster University in 1969. He moved to Santa Barbara in 1988 and was Director of NCGIA from 1991 to 1997. He was elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and Foreign Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2002. He has received honorary doctorates from Laval University, Keele University, McMaster University, and Ryerson University.
Michael Goodchild’s career spanned the last three decades. As a member of the Award Committee commented, “No one has done more to project a positive impression of GIScience than Mike. His stature in the field has played an important role in helping GIScience take its rightful place within the AAG. His membership in the National Academy of Sciences and service to numerous NRC committees cannot be overstated. The students he has mentored will form the basis for the next generation of GIS experts.”
Goodchild has undoubtedly made “sustained and effective contributions” to research and education in GIScience. His career achievements are mainly in his contributions to: (a) the transition from GIS as a tool to GIS as a science; (b) GIScience research; (c) GIScience research infrastructure; and (d) the dissemination of spatial thinking to researchers in a wide variety of disciplines (from environmental sciences to social sciences and humanities).
