2001: 18^th Surveying and Mapping Educators Conference

Penn State Wilkes-Barre, Lehman, Pennsylvania

July 15 to 19, 2001

Professor Charles Ghilani, Conference Chair

Theme: 2001: A Spatial Odyssey

The conference was held in July 15-19. The conference’s chair and coordinator was Professor Charles Ghilani. The theme of the conference was “2001: A Spatial Odyssey,” inspired by the 1968 Stanley Kubrick movie “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

The keynote speaker was congressman Paul Kanjorski from Pennsylvania’s 11^th congressional district. In his presentation, congressman Kanjorski addressed national needs for increased education in geographic information sciences. The conference included over 35 presentations, which were published in the conference proceedings. Some of the paper topics included: program development, student retention, integrating new surveying technologies in course work, student team skills, industry needs, distance education, and other topics.

Over 50 people attended the conference, with representation of faculty coming from multiple states, but also international faculty coming from Canada, Denmark, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, and Australia, giving an international tone to the conference. In addition, there was representation from FIG and ASCE.

The conference included four social events, including a night at Pocono Downs Raceway, an afternoon cookout at Ricketts Glen State Park, an evening at Steamtown National Historic Site, and a closing banquet. An interesting story is that during the Ricketts Glen event some attendees were lost twice, as the state park includes multiple trails of several miles long. 

References

Bolkas, D., Olsen, M. J., & Ghilani, C. D. (2022). SaGES and the National Surveying Educator's Conferences: History of Surveying Education and Future Challenges. Surveying and Land Information Science, 81(2), 97-126.