Oregon Tech’s Geomatics program has received a 2021 NCEES Surveying Education Award from the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES). The award is a measure of a program’s success in inspiring its graduates to achieve their highest educational and professional aspirations.
The NCEES Surveying Education Award recognizes surveying/geomatics programs that best reflect NCEES’ mission to advance licensure for surveyors in order to safeguard the health, safety, and welfare of the public. Universities from across the U.S. apply and only seven were awarded prizes of $25,000 to $10,000.
Professor and chair of the Department of Geomatics, Jack Walker, shared, “Oregon Tech Geomatics has now received an NCEES program excellence award each of the five years of this program, which is very gratifying. Due to the national shortage of licensed land surveyors, which is increasing, the emphasis of the awards is to strengthen geomatics programs, which are small and typically find keeping up with advanced geospatial technology a challenge. The goal is that improving program quality will help attract students.”
At Oregon Tech, the Geomatics program has two options for students to specialize in: Surveying or Geographical Information Systems. Students focusing on Surveying use computer systems and equipment to find and define property lines; plan out subdivisions to make creative and effective designs; and map boundary limits and learn how to write deed descriptions relative to property boundaries and more. The Surveying option prepares students to pass the Fundamentals of Surveying (FS) examination and pursue licensure as a registered Professional Land Surveyor (PLS).
The Geographical Information Systems (GIS) option prepares students to design and construct workflows to collect, edit, analyze, store, and visualize geospatial information while preparing them to become certified GIS professionals.
Students graduate from Oregon Tech well-prepared for their careers, with 100% of graduates employed or enrolled in graduate school within 6 months of graduation. They also see a national average of $65,590 salaries according to bls.gov.
For more information about the Geomatics program, please visit www.oit.edu/academics/degrees/geomatics.
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