Published: July 06, 2008 12:58 am            

HIGHER EDUCATION NOTEBOOK: NCCC moves toward geo-technology

Niagara County Community College announced this week it will be offering advanced technological education in geospatial technology with new funding from the National Science Foundation.

The funding will allow the NCCC to establish a GeoTech Center as a means to increase the number and quality of educated geospatial technicians for rapidly expanding fields among geospatial technology industries, which include Geographical information systems, global positioning systems, remote sensing and mobile- and location-based services. “Geospatial” is anything that can be referenced in space and time using the combination of spatial software and analytical methods with terrestrial or geographic datasets.

NCCC offers six different courses in geography and geospatial technology, varying from introductory geography courses to courses in remote sensing and even advanced geotechnology project-based courses. Students, in the fall 2008, will be able to earn a one-year certificate course in geospatial technology and be able to seek employment with 150-plus organizations using geotechnology in Niagara and Erie counties or almost 3,500 statewide organizations.

NCCC is partnered with seven other colleges and four universities across the United States, with the headquarters centered at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, Texas. Del Mar was awarded a $5 million grant and NCCC and its partners will share $1.8 million during the four-year grant period that runs through 2012.

Director of the National GeoTech Center: Northeast and NCCC professor Robert Lord hopes to able to retrain many adults with these in-demand skills and boost economic activity in Western New York over the next four years. The NSF grant is renewable until 2020 for these purposes. In the future, NCCC hopes to offer an associate’s degree in geospatial technology for students who wish to study for two years and then go on to either employment or a four-year school that has established a transfer agreement with NCCC.

        

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