Achievement

As noted by NSF in the FY02 IGERT solicitation, globalization of research and career opportunities places importance on providing students an international perspective. In June 2008, our IGERT program supported the participation of 18 US Ph.D. students, 8 from the UB IGERT and 10 from around the USA, in the Vespucci Summer Institute in Geographic Information Science near Florence, Italy. This was the 5th year that we supported students to Vespucci, bringing the total supported to 69 students. The Vespucci Summer Institute includes instruction on specific GIScience research topics by leading experts, and a research proposal competition involving multinational teams. It also includes instruction on International differences between academic career paths and grant sources. We believe that Vespucci is an excellent introduction to international research and general cultures.