Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology is a crosscutting technology that has become indispensable for representing, analyzing, modeling and understanding the built environment and in fact all manner of spatially distributed phenomena.  Understanding GIS is fundamental for city and regional planners, urban designers, land developers and architects whether they work in government or in the private sector. At the same time GIS have become increasingly indispensable in other fields of research, professional practice and policy development including infrastructure systems, public health, ecological modeling, energy production and distribution and transportation and logistics. As a result, the analysis of spatial patterns, distributions and data is flourishing across a wide range of disciplines.  GIS has become a fundamental technology for research and practice across a wide array of disciplines.  This has created a strong demand for professionals with a robust understanding of GIS and spatial analysis and how they can be applied within particular substantive domains.

Who should apply

The Master of Science with a major in Architecture and a concentration in Geographic Information Systems provides an opportunity for in-career professionals or students with undergraduate professional degrees to conduct advanced studies in the area of geographic information systems. The program will focus on the development and integration of a set of established and emerging technologies, including geographic information systems, remote sensing, imaging processing, global positioning systems, location-based services, and Internet-based GIS.

In order to be admitted to the program a student must have either (a) an undergraduate professional degree (in a field such as engineering, architecture or landscape architecture), or (b) three-years of professional work experience.  In order to graduate the student must complete a research-oriented 4-credit professional paper.  The professional paper topic will be chosen by the student and his/her advisor.