Two win Fisher Prize in GIS User’s Group

The committee of the Howard T. Fisher Prize in Geographical Information Science (GIS) at Harvard has announced the recipients of the award for the 2004-05 academic year.

In the graduate category, Heather Lynch will be awarded a cash prize of $1,000 this month for her entry titled “The 1988 Yellowstone Fires: A Geospatial Re-Examination of Risk Factors.” Lynch’s entry described a project undertaken as part of her Ph.D. research under the guidance of Paul R. Moorcroft, assistant professor of biology in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology.

In the undergraduate category, Lee Murray ’06 will be awarded a cash prize of $1,000 this month for his entry “Spatial Analysis of Redistricting of Congressional Districts in New York State Following the 2000 Census.” Murray’s entry described a project undertaken at the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences (DEAS) at Harvard College.

The Fisher Prize was established in 1999 by the Harvard University GIS User’s Group to promote and reward student work in this broad and potentially interdisciplinary area. Fisher, a geographer and mathematical cartographer, founded the Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1965. The initial endowment for the fund was provided by a generous contribution from Jack Dangermond of ESRI Inc.