Active Learning

Real-World Experience

Michele Rogers
Superior, Wis.
Geographic Information Systems minor

Mary Munn
Holyoke, Minn.
Geographic Information Systems minor

Dr. William Bajjali believes real-world experience is vital to students. That’s why everyone enrolled in his Geographic Information Systems courses complete an individual or team project using information drawn from real sources.

“In order to apply this science, you have to allow students to create a real-world project,” Dr. Bajjali says. “I don’t dictate the student projects. I challenge them to use GIS in their academic discipline.”

Geographic Information Systems is a relatively new computer technology capable of capturing, storing, analyzing, and displaying information identified according to location. GIS enables users to interpret that information and model scenarios to test various hypotheses and see outcomes visually. It’s useful in virtually all career fields, and a growing number of people -- including numerous UW-Superior graduates -- are finding careers as GIS specialists. UW-Superior offers a minor in GIS.

For Michele Rogers of Superior, Wis., and Mary Munn of Holyoke, Minn., enrolling in the GIS program enabled them to use their backgrounds in science to complete an important six-month study of a municipal landfill’s effect on groundwater. Using the latest GIS software, they gathered data from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and private databases and analyzed the information for city officials responsible for the landfill. Rogers and Munn also presented their study to fellow students and the public at UW-Superior’s annual research symposium as well as a research symposium that attracts students from the entire University of Wisconsin System.

“Our project not only gave us hands-on experience with GIS, but it also opened my eyes about the relationship between soil and water, how a landfill is built, and it taught me a lot about chemistry,” says Rogers, who is majoring in Computer Science and completing minors in Geographic Information Systems and Geography. “I also developed contacts with private companies and local government agencies.”

In recent months, GIS students also have tracked the flow of pollutants in a stream, analyzed the radioactivity of rainfall and assisted scientists at the Lake Superior Research Institute at UW-Superior. Others have completed projects in fields such as economics, political science and transportation.

“Projects like these show the strength of UW-Superior in teaching, undergraduate research and service to the community,” Dr. Bajjali says.

For Rogers, her project not only showed her how to use GIS, but also its potential for her future.

“GIS is the third-fastest growing career field in the country and the salaries area going through the roof,” she says. “You can use it in all disciplines, and I found that I really enjoy it.”