Campus & Community

Winners of Howard T. Fisher Prize announced

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The Committee of the Howard T. Fisher Prize in Geographical Information Science has named four students winners of the award for the 2007-08 academic year. The Howard T. Fisher Prize for excellence in geographic information science was established in 1999 by the Harvard University GIS Users’ Group to promote and reward student work in this broad and potentially interdisciplinary area, from both undergraduate and graduate students at Harvard University.

In the undergraduate category, prizes were awarded to Anjali Lohani ’08, a candidate for a S.B. in environmental engineering, for the entry titled “Effects of Changes in Land Cover on Water Quality” and to Jeremy Tchou ’09 for his submission “Wind Energy in the United States: A Spatial-Economic Analysis of Wind Power.”

In the graduate category, prizes were awarded to Amos P.K. Tai, a first-year graduate student in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), for his entry titled “Regional Differences in the Effects of Climate Change on Air Quality in the United States with a Focus on Particulate Matter Concentrations” and to Miwa Matsuo, a candidate for doctor of design at the Graduate School of Design (GSD), for her research “Identifying Employment Centers and Modifiable Areal Unit Problem.”

Howard Taylor Fisher, a geographer and mathematical cartographer, founded the Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis at GSD in 1965 where he developed the synegraphic mapping system. The initial endowment for the fund was provided by a generous contribution from Jack Dangermond M.L.A. ’69, president of Environmental Systems Research Institute Inc., a global leader in geographic information system modeling and mapping software and technology.

The 2008 Committee members were Stephen Ervin and Paul Cote of GSD; Yi Li, Harvard School of Public Health; Wendy Guan, Center for Geographic Analysis; Sumeeta Srinivasan, SEAS; and Lucia Lovison-Golob, Division of Continuing Education/Faculty of Arts and Sciences.