GIS Programming and Software Development

Hi, I'm Jim Detwiler. I've been an instructor in the Geography Department's online GIS program since 2000. Back then, we had just a one-year, non-credit certificate program with few electives. Today, we offer a Master of GIS degree with numerous electives that enable students to focus on application areas of interest to them. I'm very proud to be associated with this program, both in terms of the faculty involved and the adult professionals who enroll in it.

I got involved in GIS in 1993 but via a slightly different path perhaps to most people. A year earlier I'd been introduced to GIS at a university promotional event where it was described as "Computing and Environmental Studies." Intrigued at how the two could be combined, I went along, listened, liked what I heard and selected GIS as my undergraduate degree.

I have been working as a researcher and instructor at the Penn State Geography department, but a little while ago moved back to Germany where I am originally from. I am a computer scientist by training, with my master and Ph.D. both in Informatics. However, I have been working in the areas of GIS and GIScience for more than a decade now. In my residential courses at Penn State, I have been teaching introductory courses to GIS and GIScience, geospatial data management and spatial databases, and object-oriented programming for GIScience.

Sterling Quinn is an author and an instructor for GEOG 485: GIS Programming and Customization. He works as a product engineer on the ArcGIS Server development team at Esri and lives in the Olympia, Washington area. His interests include web map optimization, cloud computing, and technical communication. He has also experienced much online learning from the perspective of a student, having completed the MGIS degree from Penn State in 2009.