Happy New Year, ASPRS Student Members!
On behalf of the
ASPRS Student Advisory Council (SAC), welcome back to a new semester! We would like to re-introduce you to the SAC. The SAC was created in 2006 to give ASPRS Student Members an opportunity to voice their opinions and discuss ways ASPRS as a Society can serve them best.
To ensure that the relationship between SAC and student members is as productive as possible, we encourage all of you to get involved. Student involvement can range from being a student volunteer at one of the semi-annual conferences to writing an email to a Student Advisory Councilor on a webinar topic that would be pertinent to student needs. Faculty involvement is also necessary for the formation of strong student chapters and the grooming of future ASPRS leaders. Professional involvement is welcomed as there is a consistent need for student mentors, volunteers, and participants in student-run conference activities such as the Student Employer Meet & Greet sessions and geospatial workforce panels at ASPRS conferences.
The goal for the 2012-2013 Student Advisory Council is to reinforce our commitment to ASPRS Student Chapters. Student Chapters are necessary for the formation of local geospatial communities where students can collaborate on projects and receive collective guidance on future steps in academia and the workforce. The SAC is interested in sharing what you do at your university with other student members through
our social media outlets. This sharing promotes learning from each other’s experiences. Thus, if there are local geospatial events at your school or in your area, I encourage you to contact us so that we can help promote these events.
If your college or university does not have an ASPRS Student Chapter, I encourage you to talk to your colleagues about forming one. The instructions can be found
here. Should any questions or concerns arise,
ASPRS staff would be glad to assist you with this process.
The SAC needs ideas from the student body concerning what benefits they desire from a professional society both in the short term and the long term. The SAC serves as national representatives for student members to make sure your experience within ASPRS is the most beneficial. Current SAC initiatives cover a broad range of areas including:
- Developing technical sessions for ASPRS annual and specialty conferences;
- Organizing student networking receptions at conferences;
- Reviewing geospatial books and software;
- Creating and maintaining a student blog on the ASPRS website;
- Stimulating information exchange among members of student chapters nationwide;
- Organizing a Summer Student Education Assembly;
- Creating and participating in GeoLeague Challenge competitions; and
- Providing career information for graduating students.
The Student Advisory Council has evolved and improved over the last 6 years to include the initiatives listed above. However, there are many more areas that we would love to get involved with. Please let us know where else the SAC could improve your student experience. As you become more involved in our ASPRS student efforts, we look forward to continuing this forward progress with you.
On Tuesday, January 29th, the Student Advisory Council will be hosting an open webinar to exchange ideas on current initiatives and to directly hear from you. An email invitation will be forthcoming with more details.
Lastly, if you are able to attend the upcoming conferences in Baltimore and/or San Antonio, please stop and say hello. We look forward to meeting you and hearing your ideas. You can find the list of SAC Councilors
online.
Regards,
Adam Benjamin
Chair, ASPRS Student Advisory Council (2012-2013)
abenjamin1 (at) ufl (dot) edu
