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Are you Canada’s next Esri Young Scholar?

Published Date
Author Krista Amolins

Since 2012, Esri has been recognizing and rewarding the excellent work in geospatial sciences of students from around the world through the Esri Young Scholars Award. In Canada, the competition for the title of Esri Young Scholar and the trip to the Esri User Conference draws applicants from across the country and in a broad range of disciplines. Learn more about the 2018 competition and how you can enter.

Emily Acheson, Canada’s 2017 Esri Young Scholar (EYS), described her trip to the Esri User Conference, where she was one of nearly a dozen Young Scholars from around the world, as the best experience she’d ever had at a conference. Emily’s research on malaria control intervention differs greatly from the research of Canada’s other recent winners, but one of the things that she has in common with them is that they are all also Esri Canada GIS Scholarship winners. Emily thinks that helped her win the EYS award because it helped her learn how to improve her maps and posters.

Although winning a scholarship isn’t a requirement for applying for the EYS Award, many of the students who place in the top 10 each year are current and previous scholarship winners. This isn’t really a surprise, seeing as the Esri Canada GIS Scholarships are awarded to top students who are using ArcGIS in their coursework and research. But whereas each participating institution chooses its own scholarship winner, a panel of judges evaluates all of the EYS applications and determines the top student at the PhD, masters, undergraduate and college levels, as well as the overall winner.

Learn more about the past winners and runners-up in Canada’s Esri Young Scholars competition, who come from across the country and a range of disciplines.

Not everyone can win; however, simply participating in the competition has its benefits. According to Olympia Koziatek, top Masters student in the 2016 competition and now Associate GIS Analyst at Esri Canada, the EYS competition is an opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge and application of GIS to the community. “[It] allowed me to network with the GIS industry by showcasing my work and profile, which ultimately provided me employment.”   

The application deadline for the 2018 competition is 5 pm ET on Thursday, March 29.  Any full-time student or recent graduate from an undergraduate or graduate program at a Canadian college or university is eligible to apply.

Applicants must submit:

  • a poster that highlights the objectives, methods and results of a project or research where they used Esri technology
  • a summary paper that further explains the project or research
  • a personal statement describing their experience with GIS and why they want to attend the Esri UC
  • an academic transcript

For more information and the application form, visit the Esri Canada Scholars Web Portal. If you have any questions, leave a comment below or contact us at highered@esri.ca.

About the Author

Krista Amolins is a Higher Education Specialist with Esri Canada. Her career in GIS started when she came across the Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering program at the University of New Brunswick and thought it sounded interesting. She earned a PhD in Geomatics Engineering, focusing on lidar data classification, and now she supports teaching and learning with ArcGIS at colleges and universities across Canada. Krista particularly enjoys interacting with the students who receive an Esri Canada GIS Scholarship or apply for the Esri Young Scholars Award each year. She also enjoys playing with apps and doing a bit of coding when she has time.

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