Geographic Information Sciences Commons^™

Food Deserts Debunked And Decentered: From Deficit To Relational Mapping For Food Justice In Worcester, Ma, Brenna Robeson

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

The mapping of food deserts has become a standardized component of food and health policy work concerned with expanding food access. These maps often follow a similar format of spatially identifying where grocery stores are absent in communities, thus suggesting a straightforward problem diagnosis and intervention blueprint. This paper questions the over-emphasis among many food and health policy practitioners on these technically engineered policy stories, specifically for their obstruction of histories of white supremacy and capitalism within the US food system and urban landscapes. A mixed-methods approach is applied to a case study of Worcester, MA which appropriates GIS to …

Analyzing Trends And Patterns In Adverse Birth Outcomes In Massachusetts From 2000-2014, Madeleine Haynes

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This study explores spatio-temporal trends and patterns in adverse birth outcomes (ABO) in the state of Massachusetts from 2000-2014. ABO include low birth weight (< 2500 g) and preterm deliveries (gestational age < 37 weeks). This research evaluates if there are areas in Massachusetts that have experienced statistically significant increases or decreases in ABO throughout the study period. Birth data was obtained from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and only singleton, live births were included for the analysis. The data were aggregated to census tracts, and the total number of births and the number of ABOs were calculated for each census tract for each year. In total, 1478 census tracts were included in this analysis. Births to non-Hispanic black mothers and births to non-Hispanic white mothers were separated to evaluate if trends in ABO are similar regardless of race as previous literature has identified a much higher rate of ABO in births to non-Hispanic black women. Trends and patterns of ABO were evaluated using the Space Time Cube and the Mann-Kendall statistic and a multivariate regression was conducted to identify potential correlations between socioeconomic factors and prevalence of ABO. Results of this study can be used to identify areas that are experiencing an increase in ABO to potentially allow for more effective, targeted intervention methods.

Assessing The Impacts Of Gold Mining Deforestation On The Giant Otter (Pteronura Brasiliensis) In Madre De Dios, Peru, Erica Carcelen

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Gold mining activity is highly prevalent in the Madre de Dios region, Peru. This activity poses large environmental impacts including deforestation, sedimentation of rivers, and pollution from mercury used during extraction. Mining activity is a major threat to the endangered giant otter as it destroys its preferred riverine habitat. Moreover, mercury used during gold extraction bio-accumulates in fish, which constitutes the entirety of their diet. In order to conserve the giant otter, it is necessary to identify conservation priority areas. In a reactive conservation planning approach, the objective of this work was to prioritize areas suitable as giant otter habitat …

An Evaluation Of Sentinel-1 And Sentinel-2 For Land Cover Classification, Aaron Meneghini

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This study evaluates Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 remotely sensed images for tropical land cover classification. The dual polarized Sentinel-1 VV and VH backscatter images and four 10-meter multispectral bands of Sentinel-2 were used to create six land cover classification images across two study areas along the border of the Bolivian Pando Department and the Brazilian state of Acre. Results indicate that Sentinel-2 multispectral bands possess a higher overall performance in delineating land cover types than the Sentinel-1 backscatter bands. Sentinel-1 backscatter bands delineated land cover types based on their surficial properties but did not facilitate the separation of similarly textured classes. …

U.S. Fish And Wildlife Service Summer Fellowship: Gis Study Of Threatened And Endangered Species In Colorado, Jeanie Lai

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This report provides a detailed account of my fellowship experience with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Region 6 Office in Lakewood, CO during the summer of 2017 made possible by the Student Conservation Association (SCA) sponsored by Directorate Fellows Program. The internship was completed in the Region 6’s Branch of Decision Support in Ecological Services under the direction of Spatial Ecologist John Guinotte. I was a GIS Technician tasked with work responsibilities involving listed threatened and endangered species relevant to the region. Those work responsibilities included refining spatial Area of Influence (AOI) ranges, updating databases, and creating a …

Creating Web Maps Of Forest Restoration Plots At Iracambi Atlantic Rainforest Research Center, Minas Gerais, Brazil, Daniel Lassila

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

The purpose of this report is to provide a detailed account, discussion, and analysis of my internship at Iracambi Atlantic Rainforest Research Center in Minas Gerais, Brazil during the summer of 2017, where I worked under the direction of GIS Supervisor Mr. Cliff Jones. The central focus of my work dealt with consolidating existing GIS data on the organization’s rainforest restoration effort into a single normalized database - based on the Atlantic Forest Restoration Pact, creating a structure for future forest restoration volunteers including enabling offline field collection using Collector for ArcGIS, then creating an ArcGIS Online web map based …

Mapping Energy Access In Rural Tanzania: 2017 Summer Internship With The World Resources Institute, Naramena Mccray

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This report details my 2017 summer internship experience; both the report and the internship being requirements of the GIS for Development and Environment Graduate Degree at Clark University. My internship was hosted by the World Resources Institute, an international non-profit organization in Washington D.C. As implied by my position title, “Energy Access-GIS Intern”, I spent the duration of my internship (14 weeks) applying my geospatial expertise to address the topic of energy access which is an issue effecting rural areas of many developing countries. I was given the responsibility of creating an interactive map application of Tanzania accessible by energy …

A Summer At Azavea Working With Nonprofit Organizations: The Summer Of Maps Fellowship, Sarah Gates

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This report details my experience as a Summer of Maps Fellow at Azavea during June 2017 to August 2017. As a Summer of Maps Fellow I worked with nonprofit organizations, the Fair Tech Collective and the World Resources Institute, on two geospatial analysis projects. For the Fair Tech Collective I analyzed data on refinery flaring pollution, air toxin concentrations, and sensitive receptor populations to produce a series of maps and infographics detailing the impacts of petrochemical pollution in the San Francisco Bay Area. For the World Resources Institute I used data-driven methods to analyze conservation efforts in the Central African …

Greening The Gateway Cities: Summer Internship With The Clark University Human Environment Regional Observatory (Hero) And Massachusetts Department Of Conservation And Recreation (Dcr), Zhiwen Zhu

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This report provides a detailed account of my internship experience with the Clark University Human-Environment Regional Observatory (HERO) and Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) in the summer of 2017. This internship concerns the urban tree health assessment in three ‘Greening the Gateway’ cities in Massachusetts. During the internship, I conducted tree survey field work, database management, mapping, tree survey data analysis and urban tree plantation benefits microclimate simulation. During the internship I worked with the professors and students at Clark University and University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and the staff from Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), Worcester Tree …

Gis Specialist 2016 Internship With Cdm Smith In Boston, Massachusetts, Suzanne L. Meek

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This report provides a detailed experience of my internship with CDM Smith during the summer of 2016. This was a formal 12-week internship that was extended an additional two weeks due to my success in the first few weeks. My title was listed as a GIS Specialist Intern. My responsibilities included applying GIS technologies to construction, water, and energy projects, digitizing various locations for cities and private clients, FEMA projects, and street light audits in two different towns in New England.

Financial Assessment Of Agricultural Lands At Risk To Coastal Salt Marsh Migration In Relation To Climate Change Induced Sea Level Rise In Dorchester County, Maryland, Jewell Porter

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

The increasing rate and effects of sea level rise is a major environmental concern in the Chesapeake Bay. This paper evaluates the impacts of rising sea level on coastal salt marshes and the surrounding agricultural lands at risk in Dorchester County, Maryland to build off existing environmental monitoring work performed by NOAA’s Sentinel Site Program. The results of the spatial analysis were used to estimate monetary benefits to incentivize farmers to protect these marshes by making their land available for marsh migration to occur. Looking at three scenarios of sea level rise and marsh migration, grain crops (corn, soybeans, and …

Sentinel-1 Slc Processing: Summer Internship With Clark Labs, Lei Tang

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

My summer internship with Clark Labs was mainly focused on technological and methodological exploration of Sentinel-1 SLC data, under the direct supervision of James Toledano. The main responsibilities of my internship were understanding theory and science behind Sentinel-1, utilizing the SNAP toolbox to determine the proper imagery processing steps in order to distinguish the land structure clearly. 36 testing on different combination of acquisition modes, speckle filters and time gap were conducted during that time.

I would highly recommend this internship to other GISDE students. The dynamic nature of the GISDE program provides students with the opportunity to be able …

The Fight Against Botanical Invaders: Summer Internship With The Montana Conservation Corps And The U.S. Forest Service, Bryan S. Buttigieg

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This paper aims to synthesize and reflect upon my internship with the Montana Conservation Corps, and the U.S. Forest Service during the summer of 2016. The primary responsibilities as an intern under the USFS’s Vegetation Manager included eradicating and monitoring invasive weeds within the Hebgen Lake Ranger District, in West Yellowstone, MT. I gained a wealth of knowledge on how invasive plants take control of landscapes throughout Montana specifically. This opportunity provided me with the chance to develop both hands-on and GIS-based conservation efforts. The following chapters review my summer internship by diving deeper into the structural organization of the …

Geoscientists-In-The-Park Summer Internship Mapping Shoreline Change With The National Park Service, Michael P. Endicott

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This project paper details the activities carried out as a Geologist/GIS Specialist in the Gateway National Recreation Area as a part of the Geoscientists-In-The-Park internship program. The focus of this position was on supporting the geomorphological monitoring efforts of the National Park Service. This was accomplished through a combination of field data collection, GIS analysis, report writing, and project work. By the end of the internship, substantial progress was made to the formation of Gateway’s Annual 1D and 2D report for 2015-2016, field data were collected for the 2016 summer season, changes in geomorphology were explored and summarized for the …

Public Health Applications Of Gis: A Spatial Analysis Of Tobacco Sales And Violations For The Worcester Division Of Public Health, Thomas M. Caywood

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Performed as part of an internship with the Worcester Division of Public Health in the summer of 2016, this spatial analysis examines the proximity of tobacco retailers to the city’s public schools and finds that those in low-income neighborhoods tend to have greater numbers of tobacco sales outlets in the immediate area than do schools in more-affluent neighborhoods. The analysis also finds that the racial composition of student bodies at individual schools is moderately correlated with the number of tobacco points of purchase located near those schools. Because proximity to tobacco sales outlets is known to be a factor in …

Location-Based Modeling And Statistics Internship With Location, Inc., Yixuan Wang

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

In the summer 2016, I had the honor to work as a GIS & statistics intern at Location, Inc. It is a Software as a Service (SaaS) private company that builds and delivers location-based big data, analytics, tools, and services. The company’s mission is to create the best location-based technologies to help businesses make well-informed decisions (Location, Inc.). I was chosen by the company’s CEO, Dr. Andrew Schiller, who is also a Clark Alumnus. During the internship period, I worked in the data science team supervised by Jonathan Glick, and my main responsibilities were handling geographical and statistical …

Aiddata Gis International Fellowship: Ghana West-Africa, Jason N. Ready

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

My internship, or fellowship as it was commonly referred to, was funded by a non-profit organization out of Williamsburg Virginia called AidData. This fellowship took place in in the country of Ghana, West-Africa beginning in May of 2016 and continued for 14 weeks with 40 hours each week. The objective of this internship was to provide in-depth training on the use of geographic Information Systems to Private and Public sectors within the country to allow for increased efficiency, and transparency through data visualization. In accordance with the requirement of Clark Universities GISDE master’s program this paper will delve into the …

Gis And Location-Based Crime Risk Analysis: Summer Internship With Location, Inc., Zhilan Deng

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

My internship with Location, Inc. took place from May 20th, 2015 to August 24th, 2015. I worked with one direct supervisor, Jonathan Glick, as well as the CEO of Location, Inc. Andrew Schiller. I have four main responsibilities during the summer: 1) collecting U.S. crime point data, 2) geocoding and processing crime point data; 3) collecting and processing Canada Crime statistics and demographic data; 4) updating school performance data and U. S. crime statistics. This report includes the introduction of Location, Inc., where I did my internship, the details of my responsibilities in Location, Inc., and my assessment to Location, …

Does Crime Correlate With Fear?: Analyzing The Spatial Relationship Between Perceptions Of Safety And Crime Using Sketch Maps And Geographic Information Systems (Gis) In The Main South Neighborhood Of Worcester, Ma, Marina Khananayev

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

The relationship between reported crime and residential perceptions of safety is understudied and inconclusive due to its highly complicated nature. This study seeks to narrow this gap by using sketch maps collected from residents about their safety and crime data. Two methods, one visual, the other statistical (Bivariate LISA), were tested using data from sketch maps drawn by about 95 survey respondents and crime data spanning three years (2011-2014). Data was disaggregated by gender, age, and length of residency. Visual analysis of results show that perceptions of safety occur at a fine scale. Respondents marked sketch maps at varying scales …

Remote Sensing Specialist Summer Internship At Geoadaptive Llc., Zehan Li

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This paper describes my summer internship experience during the summer of 2015, as a requirement toward my master's degree. I worked as a full-time remote sensing specialist at GeoAdaptive LLC., which locates at downtown Boston. My work covers a variety ranging from providing technical support like data collecting and visualization to other research groups at the firm, to conducting a pioneer project regrading the large scale drought monitoring using publicly available data. As someone who learnt a great deal and valued this experience greatly, I would love to recommend this internship to other fellow GISDE students when they take on …

2015 Summer Gis Internship In Archipelagos, Institute Of Marine Conservation, Mengyi Chen

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

My summer internship is in Archipelagos, Institute of Marine Conservation, starting from June to July of 2015. My work includes manipulating geospatial data, conducting analysis, and creating maps for the conservation work in Archipelagos. This report introduces the organization of the internship, the detailed content of work I have done for this internship, and the assessment of the internship.

Summer Internship At African Community Education, Stephen A. Chiavaroli Iii

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

My internship at African Community Education (ACE) took place from May to December 2015, where I worked with GISDE alum, Joshua Plisinski. My summer was split as a volunteer at ACE and GIS Analyst in partnership with a Worcester nonprofit Cultural Exchange Through Soccer (CETS). My duties at ACE included tutoring, mentoring, and leading the students in homework assignments and various recreational activities. I also completed several GIS tasks and instructed a GIS tutorial for the high school students of ACE. The other time during my summer was spent conducting a spatial network analysis of Worcester soccer fields for CETS …

Land Change Modeler Application:Summer Internship With Clark Labs, Siqi Cheng, Nan Ding

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This paper is a description of our internship with Clark Labs in the summer of 2015. We worked as research assistants in the Land Change Modeler Application (App) project. This project aimed to display the land cover changes in the United States from 2001 to 2010, show the vulnerability in 48 states and predict changes from the yaer 2050. Our responsibility was to extract eight variables (slope, elevation, surface water, roads, high intensity land, protected areas, county subdivisions, and cultivated crops) in TerrSet, and use them in several models to test the accuracy of prediction.

The internship is a great …

Land Change Modeler Application: Summer Internship With Clark Labs, Nan Ding, Siqi Cheng

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This paper is a description of our internship with Clark Labs in the summer of 2015. We worked as research assistants in the Land Change Modeler Application (App) project. This project aimed to display the land cover changes in the United States from 2001 to 2010, show the vulnerability in 48 states and predict changes from the yaer 2050. Our responsibility was to extract eight variables (slope, elevation, surface water, roads, high intensity land, protected areas, county subdivisions, and cultivated crops) in TerrSet, and use them in several models to test the accuracy of prediction.

The internship is a great …

Healthcare Facility Location: A Breast Cancer Alliance Case Study, Alexandra Knopf

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Community health is impacted by the location of a health advocacy agency. This commissioned report for the Breast Cancer Alliance of Greenwich, CT, consists of a location analysis to review potential cities in which they might locate expansion efforts. Such cities include Boston, MA, Chicago, IL, Greenwich, CT, Los Angeles, CA, San Francisco, CA, and Washington, D.C. This report will look at five ways (4 mathematical and one spatial) of conducting a location analysis that require specialized knowledge for interpretation. For this study, a Spatial Geographic Information System methodology is preferred because of the visualization component, which can ensure that …

Web Application Development For Election Polling Places In The City Of Worcester Area: Summer Internship With The City Of Worcester, Shuhong Yan

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

My summer internship is in the Technical Services, the City of Worcester, starting from June to August of 2015. My supervisor is Claire Brill who gave me guidance at each step of my internship. I devoted to customizing a web application for Election Polling Places in the City of Worcester. This application aims to provide citizens with the latest information about their related polling place and elected officials. For the project, I collected data for elected officials and transferred data for polling places, precincts, and others from the Geodatabse of the City of Worcester to a new Local Government Geodatabase …

Park Management Gis Intern In New York City Department Of Park & Recreation, Dongjun Zhou 3125032

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

My park management GIS internship with New York City Department of Parks & Recreation took place during June and August 2015, where I primarily worked under the guidance of Terese Flores, the park manager for the borough of Manhattan. My internship responsibility was assisting the Park Manager with park improvement project that primarily involved asset mapping for park properties, field data collecting and entry, budget devising as well as park staff coordinating. According to the requirement of GISDE program at Clark University, the content of this report mainly covers three aspects of this internship: the introduction for the mission and …

Monitoring Invasive Plant Species: Summer Internship At Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary, Belmont, Massachusetts, Holly M. Zanoni

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary, located in Belmont, Massachusetts is a dynamic suburban sanctuary that effectively upholds Mass Audubon’s three-part mission of advocacy, conservation, and education. Invasive plants threaten ecological integrity; however, proactive measures are taken to mitigate further encroachment. This is accomplished by surveying and taking inventory for presence of invasive species, then prioritizing them, and finally by incorporating high priority species into the immediate management strategy. Four invasive plants were formally analyzed using geographic information science during the 2014 growing season: Garlic mustard, Black swallowwort, Japanese knotweed, and Dame’s Rocket. The resulting density maps detected pattern changes from 2011, 2012, …