Welcome to Spatial Analysis: Multidisciplinary Applications, an e-conference of student projects for ANTH 3261/6261: Introduction to Geographic Information Science (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) (jump to e-project posts here) taught by Prof. Steven Wernke, with expert teaching assistance by James Zimmer-Dauphinee (graduate student, VU Anthropology) and computational support by the Vanderbilt University Spatial Analysis Research Lab. Throughout the semester, students conduct independent research, culminating in this e-conference.
The 24 projects presented here are very diverse in their topics and disciplinary orientations, including Anthropology, Earth and Environmental Science, Sociology, Economics, Environmental Engineering, History, Psychology, Biomedical Engineering, Communication of Science and Technology, Political Science, and the Peabody School of Education.
Though the topics and orientations of our students are diverse, they all share in common a distinctively spatial orientation. Throughout the course, we sought to move beyond spatial analysis as a mere methodological adjunct to traditional disciplinary research designs, but instead sought to consider spatial dimensions as integral to formulating a research project from the outset. We believe these projects embody that kind of innovative spatial thinking, opening up new questions and forms of inquiry.
Normally, students would present these projects in a poster conference, but this year we are adapting to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic by presenting them in virtual form here. Although we will not be able to visit with each other in person, this virtual format provides certain opportunities not possible in the ephemeral context of face to face interaction at a poster conference-especially by enabling thoughtful, written exchange between presenters and visitors in a blog-style format.
We encourage you to send comments and questions to the e-project presenters in the comments section below each of their project blog post pages, so that they can answer queries and build on any thoughts and insights you might have.
Without further ado, here are the e-projects…