Return to: U of M Home |
|
|
myU | One Stop | Directories | Search U of M | |
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
|
Expert Alerts |
|
|
|
U of M presents honorary degree to geographic information system pioneer Jack Dangermond
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL ( 3/13/2008 ) -- Jack Dangermond, founder and president of ESRI, the world's leading GIS software company, will receive an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Minnesota on Wednesday, April 2. Dangermond will receive the degree before delivering the inaugural John Borchert Lecture, in honor of the late John Borchert, University of Minnesota Regents Professor in Geography and member of the U.S. National Academy of Science. The award ceremony and lecture, "The Geographic Approach -- A Cross-Cutting Methodology," will begin at 4:30 p.m. in Memorial Hall, McNamara Alumni Center, 200 Oak St. S.E., Minneapolis. Dangermond is the ideal speaker to kick off the Borchert lecture series because of the influence Borchert had on Dangermond's vision to develop computerized mapping. Dangermond earned a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Minnesota in 1968, with a focus on landscape architecture and urban planning. He took courses from Borchert, who, Dangermond said, "was the first to introduce me to the concepts and theories of quantitative geography and the fascinating notion that we could use models to explain how things worked." From the U of M, Dangermond went to Harvard, where he earned a master's degree in landscape architecture in 1969 and then founded the Environmental Systems Research Institute (now known as ESRI), a company focused on developing and using computerized mapping to make better land-use decisions. Today, his company employs 4,000 staff and has users in more than 200 countries. The pioneering research and technology developed by ESRI has been used in such diverse areas as marketing, surveying, vehicle routing, economic development, cancer risk analysis, timberland management and hurricane response management. Dangermond also collaborates with academic and professional scientists in many fields and has become known in the science and GIS communities as a visionary and a teacher who has made a significant difference in responding to real-world problems. His ESRI User Conference has become one of the largest professional conferences in the world, now attracting 13,000 people from 120 countries. Dangermond works to build bridges between academia, government and environmental organizations, aimed at helping attain peace, prosperity and a more sustainable world. The presentation and lecture are free and open to the public. A public reception follows the lecture. ---------- |
|
||||
|
