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S&T professors named inaugural fellows of the Taylor Geospatial Institute

<strong>S&T professors named inaugural fellows of the Taylor Geospatial Institute</strong>

Dr. Joel Burken. Photo by Michael Pierce/Missouri S&T

ROLLA, Mo. – Two professors from Missouri University of Science and Technology were recently announced as part of the inaugural class of fellows for the Taylor Geospatial Institute (TGI).

Dr. Joel Burken, Curators’ Distinguished Professor and chair of civil, architectural and environmental engineering at S&T, will serve as a fellow, as will Dr. Genda Chen, the Robert W. Abbett Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering. A total of five fellows were named.

Through this program, TGI institutions will be supported in recruiting and retaining high-achieving researchers in geospatial science fields, developing scientific leaders, and strengthening collaboration among the TGI members to accelerate the St. Louis region’s development as a world-renowned global geospatial center.

Fellows will receive support from TGI in several manners, such as discretionary funding, assistance from a TGI postdoctoral scholar, access to data analytics and computing resources, and guidance with grant proposal development.

Dr. Genda Chen. Photo by Sam O’Keefe/Missouri S&T

The three other inaugural TGI fellows include: Drs. Malia Gehan, principal investigator and assistant member at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center; Carmel Martin-Fairey, assistant professor of biology at Harris-Stowe State University; and Abby Stylianou, assistant professor of computer science at Saint Louis University.

The TGI consortium includes Missouri S&T, Saint Louis University, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, Harris-Stowe State University, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Missouri-Columbia, University of Missouri-St. Louis and Washington University in St. Louis. Collectively, these institutions encompass more than 5,000 faculty and 100,000 students.  

The TGI is housed at Saint Louis University. The institute’s mission is to advance geospatial science through collaborations to create innovative solutions to societal grand challenges. It supports a collaborative research and training environment, and its main focus areas include core geospatial science, food systems, geospatial health and national security.