Skip to main content

Geo-Information Science Graduate Student Jill Carr Awarded Research Grant for Drone Work

Geo-Information Science (GIS) graduate student Jillian Carr received the 2019 New England and Saint Lawrence Valley Geographical Society’s (NESTVAL) Graduate Research grant. The NESTVAL grant supports cutting edge graduate research in New England and Eastern Canada.

As part of her master’s thesis, Ms. Carr is working with Professor Stephen Young researching the use of drones in mapping eelgrass and other coastal underwater habitats off the Massachusetts coast. Ms. Carr is an eelgrass expert currently working for the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. This fall she will start working for the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM).

Drones/UAVs represent a new advancement in the geospatial field known as "remote sensing," which includes imagery collected from conventional aircraft as well as orbiting satellites. Because of drone technology's importance to the rapidly evolving geospatial field, beginning in fall 2019, the geography and sustainability department at Salem State will offer the course GPH343 Drones and Aerial Imagery Applications and Image Analysis in which students will learn how to fly drones, and how to acquire, analyze, and present the data collected.

Contact
Stephen Young
Back to top