PhD in Informatics with Emphasis in Geospatial Informatics

Geospatial informatics is a field that focuses on the use of data science and artificial intelligence (AI) technology to collect, analyze, interpret, and visualize spatial data. Geospatial informatics plays a crucial role in understanding and addressing spatial patterns, relationships, and trends across diverse disciplines, including public health, environmental science, climate challenges, disaster management, homeland security, agriculture, and more. By leveraging geospatial data, professionals in these fields can help make informed decisions, plan and manage resources, and solve complex problems that have a spatial component. The geospatial emphasis area stresses skill sets and research of data science and informatics. A core curriculum provides all students with a foundation of knowledge and tools in data science, geospatial data engineering, and advanced geospatial AI. The integrated program assures broad exposure to the field and fosters new insights and innovative research concepts. Graduates go on to become tenure-track faculty, senior informaticians and data scientists in national laboratories, as well as private industry.

Degree Requirements

All students must have at least 72 credit hours at the graduate level, of which 15 credits must be at the 8000-level not including research, problems, lab rotations, or seminar. Transferring credits will be at the recommendation of the student's doctoral committee and the approval of the MUIDSI Education Committee.

Required Core Courses - Geospatial Informatics Area
DATA_SCI 7010Principles of Data Science and Analytics3
DATA_SCI 8520Spatial Analytics and Geostatistical Analysis3
Required Methods Courses (9 Credit Minimum)
INFOINST 8810Research Methods in Informatics3
DATA_SCI 7020Statistical and Mathematical Foundations for Data Analytics3
or STAT 7510 Applied Statistical Models I
Student must choose one additional 3-credit methods course with doctoral committee approval.
Lab Rotations and Seminar
INFOINST 8087Seminar in Informatics0.5-1
INFOINST 8088Lab Rotations in Informatics1-3
Research
INFOINST 8090Dissertation (pre-candidacy) Research in Informatics1-99
INFOINST 9090Dissertation (post-candidacy) Research in Informatics1-99
Emphasis Area Course Requirements (Must select at least 9 credits from the following list)
DATA_SCI 8510Geospatial Data Engineering and Geodatabase Development3
DATA_SCI 8530Geospatial AI and Image Analysis3
GEOG 7710Spatial Analysis in Geography3
GEOG 7740Location Analysis and Site Selection3
GEOG 7810Landscape Ecology and GIS Analysis I3
GEOG 7840Geographic Information Systems I3
GEOG 7940Advanced Geographic Information Systems (GIS II)3
GEOG 7860Advanced Remote Sensing3
GEOG 8840Seminar: Applied Remote Sensing3
Area Course Electives (Must select at least 6 credits from the following list)
AN_SCI 8633Molecular and Network Evolution3
BIOL_EN 7560Observing the Earth from Space3
CMP_SC 7380Database Management Systems I3
CMP_SC 7740Interdisciplinary Introduction to Natural Language Processing3
CMP_SC 8370Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery3
CMP_SC 8630Data Visualization3
CMP_SC 8725Supervised Learning3
CMP_SC 8735Unsupervised Learning3
DATA_SCI 7030Applied SQL for Database and Analytics3
DATA_SCI 7040Big Data Visualization3
DATA_SCI 8110Genomics Analytics3
DATA_SCI 8120Multi-Omics Analytics3
DATA_SCI 8130Data Science for Health Care3
DATA_SCI 8140Advanced Methods in Health Data Science3
DATA_SCI 8150Precision Medicine Analytics3
DATA_SCI 8160Population Health Analytics3
DATA_SCI 8230Streaming Social Media Data Management and Analytics3
DATA_SCI 8410Data Mining and Information Retrieval3
DATA_SCI 8420Cloud Computing for Data Analytics3
DATA_SCI 8430Parallel Computing for Data Analytics3
DATA_SCI 8310Advanced Visualization I3
DATA_SCI 8320Advanced Visualization II3
ECE 7270Computer Architecture4
ECE 7590Computational Neuroscience4
ECE 8320Nonlinear Systems3
ECE 8570Neural Dynamics and Communication3
ECE 8580Machine Learning in Neuroscience3
BBME 7410Introduction to the US Health Care System for Biomedical Informatics3
BBME 8435Information Security, Evaluation and Policy3
BBME 8437Data Warehousing and Data/Text Mining for Health Care3
BBME 8441Biomedical and Health Vocabularies and Ontologies3
BBME 8443Enterprise Information and Solutions Architecture for Strategic Healthcare Operations3
BBME 8571Decision Support in Health Care Systems for Biomedical Informatics3
BBME 8610Consumer Health Informatics3
INFOINST 8190Computational Systems Biology3
INFOINST 8450Precision Medicine Informatics3
INFOINST 8870Knowledge Representation in Biology and Medicine3
IS_LT 9410Seminar in Information Science and Learning Technology1-3
NURSE 9460Theories and Interventions in Health Behavior Science3
PTH_AS 7450Precision Medicine Informatics3

The following is a brief synopsis of the general degree requirements; please see the Informatics Institute web site for complete details:

  • Students must take required and area courses.
  • Students must pass a qualifying examination.
  • Students must present at least one institutional seminar annually.
  • Students are required to complete a comprehensive exam, which includes written and oral elements, within a specified time frame.
  • Students must pass a comprehensive examination at least 7 months before their scheduled defense.
  • Students must submit and defend a dissertation describing the results of successful and original research in one of the branches of informatics.
  • To show research progress, students are expected to be working toward presenting at conferences and publishing in peer-reviewed journals based on their informatics research.

Sample Plan of Study

A student’s own plan of study will vary depending on their pace in the program and individual choices where options are available.
First Year
FallCreditsSpringCredits
DATA_SCI 70103DATA_SCI 70203
DATA_SCI 85203DATA_SCI 85303
INFOINST 80871INFOINST 88103
INFOINST 80881INFOINST 80871
INFOINST 80902INFOINST 80881
 10 11
Second Year
FallCreditsSpringCredits
STAT 75203GEOG 79403
DATA_SCI 85103DATA_SCI 80103
DATA_SCI 70403INFOINST 80871
INFOINST 80871INFOINST 80903
INFOINST 80901 
 11 10
Third Year
FallCreditsSpringCredits
INFOINST 80871INFOINST 80871
INFOINST 80908INFOINST 80908
 9 9
Fourth Year
FallCreditsSpringCredits
INFOINST 80871INFOINST 80871
INFOINST 90903INFOINST 90903
 4 4
Fifth Year
FallCreditsSpringCredits
INFOINST 80871INFOINST 80871
INFOINST 90901INFOINST 90901
 2 2
Total Credits: 72