We are excited to announce the winners of the 2023 Geographical Sciences MS Qualified Tuition Scholarships!

This scholarship was created as part of a collaboration between Esri and our Master of Science program. It is awarded to one exceptional Esri employee who has been admitted to the MS program. In 2023, the Department of Geographical Sciences is sponsoring one Esri employee and Esri is sponsoring the other. 

Esri-Sponsored Recipient: Stephanie Wacker 

Wacker works in the Professional Services department at ESRI directly on customer sites to help implement ESRI technology to meet their needs. Her team is developing a situational awareness application for a law enforcement agency. Her role is primarily frontend configuration and data management. 

Why MS in GIS at UMD?

“I was attracted to the University of Maryland’s program for its accelerated program and its focus on real world application of GIS technology.”

GEOG-Sponsored Recipient: Jillian Rizzo 

Rizzo is a support engineer on the Support DevOps team in Esri Technical Support. She  frequently works with customers to resolve operational issues in its SaaS offering, ArcGIS Online. Her role at Esri also includes identifying ways to improve ArcGIS Online. 

Why MS in GIS at UMD?

“I was attracted to this program because of the advanced courses that cover topics related to web GIS like programming, big data analytics and spatial modeling.”

Images courtesy of Rizzo and Wacker