Austin Peay's GIS Center hosts luncheon to celebrate GIS Day
By: Zoe Huffman November 28, 2023
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Austin Peay State University’s Geographical Information Systems (GIS) Center gave its clients and the community a chance to come out and explore the facility during its GIS Day celebration and luncheon, hosted from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. Nov. 17.
All Austin Peay students and faculty were welcome to the event, which featured a tour of the GIS building, a variety of lunch and dessert options and an appearance from the campus robot dog R2Peay2. The meal also offered a variety of fall foods, including chili, soups, sandwiches and themed desserts.
The GIS Center is located just off campus and focuses on providing clients with services including mapping, spatial data, mobile applications, desktop software and more. Its employees work closely with Austin Peay students to supply real-world, hands-on experience while providing quality assistance to their clients.
This event was part of the 24th annual GIS Day, a worldwide celebration aimed at highlighting the impact of GIS. Employees at Austin Peay’s GIS Center took the opportunity to showcase their accomplishments in the Clarksville area and demonstrate future possibilities.
By allowing students and clients to tour their workspace, the GIS Center hopes to create a better understanding of what they do each day.
“The GIS Center has been on the APSU campus since 1998, but many students and faculty are not familiar with us or our work,” said Mike Wilson, director of the GIS Center. “GIS Day is a great time for the center to raise awareness [of] our work, students and GIS in general, and we had over 125-150 people visit with us on GIS Day.”
To continue the institution's commitment to technological innovation and community engagement, the GIS Center is planning to host more outreach events in the future.
“We do a technology ‘Demo Day’ in the spring,” Wilson said. “We will have lunch and technology demonstrations from students, faculty and staff. Additionally, the GIS Center has been increasing our outreach to local schools via GIS, 3D printing and drones. These are opportunities for the center and APSU students to inspire young STEM learners.”
Students who are interested in learning more about the GIS Center and its research opportunities can contact Mike Wilson, APSU GIS Center Director, at wilsonm@apsu.edu.
For additional information about the GIS center, visit their website at https://apsugis.org/