Geographic Information Systems have become a common information management and analysis tool used across many academic disciplines, government agencies and businesses. Students from diverse backgrounds may advance their career potential by building knowledge in this area. Practitioners in business, industry and government may be interested in acquiring base skills in this area to keep up with changing information technology in their work environment. The graduate certificate program is designed to provide a foundation in key aspects of geographic information systems.
The Graduate Certificate in Geographic Information Systems requires completion of a minimum of 15 credits of coursework within the Department of Spatial Information Science and Engineering. The fifteen credits of coursework must include the following three core courses:
SIE 509 - Introduction to Geographic Information Systems
SIE 550 - Engineering Databases
SIE 510 - GIS Applications
The remaining 6 credits may be selected from among the following set of courses:
SIE 505 – Formal Foundations for Information Systems
SIE 507 – Information Systems Software Engineering
SIE 512 - Spatial Analysis
SIE 515 – Human Computer Interaction
SIE 525 - Information Systems Law
SIE 555 – Spatial Database Systems
SIE 556 – Information System Architecture
SIE 560 – Spatio-Temporal Data Modeling
SIE 565 – Reasoning w/Uncertainty in Spatial Information Systems
Only courses in which the student obtained a grade of B or higher count towards the completion of the Geographic Information Systems Graduate Certificate.
GIS Graduate Certificate Admission
Students to be admitted into the Geographic Information Systems Certificate must hold an undergraduate degree and have a cumulative undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or higher. Candidates must submit a transcript of their undergraduate degree, essay, and one reference letter. Students can apply to transfer up to 3 credits of graduate course work into the GIS Graduate Certificate, except for the three core courses, which must be taken at the University of Maine. The GIS Certificate Coordinator must approve such transfer credits after assessing whether they are appropriate or not.
Continuation of GIS Certificate to M.S. in Spatial Information Science and Engineering
Upon completion of the GIS Graduate Certificate, students may apply for the Masters in Spatial Information Science and Engineering. They must meet all the masters requirements for admission which include: GRE scores of 1000 verbal/quantitative and 4.0 or higher on analytical; if applicable, TOEFL scores of 550 (paper-based) or 213 (computer-based); and three reference letters. Students can transfer from the GIS Graduate Certificate only those SIE courses in which they received a grade of B or higher.
Additional Information
Course Descriptions http://gradcatalog.umaine.edu/content.php?catoid=24&navoid=339
Application for Admission http://www.spatial.umaine.edu/graduate-info/admission-aid/