UCSB GEOGRAPHER ELECTED TO THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA

Michael F. Goodchild, professor of geography at UCSB, has been elected as one of this yearÕs two foreign fellows of the Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Academy of the Sciences and Humanities. The Royal Society now has only 23 foreign fellows of which nine are from the U.S.

The society is CanadaÕs senior national body of eminent scientists and scholars elected on the basis of rigorous peer review. Each year the society elects up to 60 new fellows. In addition, this year, four specially elected fellows and two foreign fellows were chosen and 11 distinguished Canadian scientists and scholars have been awarded society awards. There are approximately 1500 fellows in all.

This award follows on the heels of other honors presented to Goodchild. He was named University Consortium for Geographic Information Science Educator of the Year in July. Goodchild, a pioneer in computer-based geographical information systems, was lauded for his efforts to establish a curriculum for geographic information science and for his recent textbook, "Geographic Information: Systems and Science" (Wiley, 2001; written with

Paul Longley, David Maguire, and David Rhind).

In April, Goodchild was elected one of 72 new members of the National Academy of Sciences, the nationÕs most prestigious scientific organization.

Election into the academy is considered one of the highest honors an American scientist or engineer can achieve.

In January, Goodchild was named national associate of the National Academies to honor his contribution to the academies. The National Academies is a conglomeration of four academies including the National Academy of Sciences, The National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council.

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