New leaders at Center for Geospatial Information Technology commit to Virginia Tech's quest for cutting-edge technologies

Randy Dymond and Kathleen Hancock, both associate professors at the Via Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), are now co-directing the Center for Geospatial Information Technology (CGIT) at Virginia Tech.

As CGIT’s co-directors, both Dymond and Hancock have expressed their commitment to advancing Virginia Tech’s quest for excellence in research. “The university’s 2006-2012 Strategic Plan identifies Geographic Information Systems (GIS), our core research specialty, as a strategically important expansion area,” explains Dymond. “We have been particularly pro-active in bringing large scale GIS projects to Virginia Tech and delivering results at the highest quality standards. It is what we do best.”

Randy Dymond, who founded CGIT in 2003, has been with Virginia Tech since 1998. His expertise includes GIS (a technology that links physical features on the earth to a database of their descriptions, locations, and characteristics), water resources, civil infrastructure systems, land development, and land use change impacts.

Dymond is involved with a variety of projects at CGIT, ranging from FEMA floodplain delineation and hazard mitigation to storm water runoff management. “I thoroughly enjoy the process working with others to develop a promising idea and taking it through to completion. This is how CGIT came into existence four years ago,” says Dymond.

Kathleen Hancock joined Virginia Tech’s CEE department and CGIT in 2004. She had served the Center actively as associate director prior to her current appointment as co-director. Hancock has been involved in projects dealing with geospatial solutions to transportation problems, freight operations and planning, and transportation safety.

“CGIT is a very active research center, constantly searching for new projects and offering graduate students unique job opportunities,” says Hancock. “It is my pleasure to be part of this dynamic group.”

Virginia Tech’s Center for Geospatial Information Technology functions as a dual-campus, interdisciplinary research center that specializes in cutting-edge geospatial data analysis and applications. The Center’s staff and affiliated faculty provide expertise in a variety of areas, such as infrastructure and transportation, natural resources and hazard mitigation planning, environmental management, homeland security, wireless communications, and public health.