JOIN US FOR GIS DAY AT NOTRE DAME
Learn to harness the power of geospatial data
Join us for our annual salute to geospatial technology and its power to transform and better our lives and the lives of those around us on Wednesday, November 19, 2025.
Learn more about GIS resources at Notre Dame.
2025 Organizing Committee
Matthew Sisk
Matthew Sisk is an Associate Professor of the Practice at the Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society where he focuses on the use of GIS and spatial tools in Data Science. He received his Ph.D. in Paleolithic Archaeology from Stony Brook University in 2011 and has worked extensively in GIS-based archaeology and ecological modeling. Much of Matthew’s current research is focused on assessing the spatial scale of urban lead exposure.
Tricia Bulson
Tricia Bulson is the GIS Specialist for University Facilities Information (UFI). UFI maintains the University master records of maps and building floor plans as well as baseline space data such as room number, room use, and office occupancy. The department processes over 200 floor plan updates a year from renovations, construction projects, and space verifications across more than 11 million gross square feet of campus interior space. A suite of GIS technologies is available to campus partners that leverage space and asset management data both indoors and outdoors to meet unique departmental needs.
Tricia received her Bachelor's degree in Geography from Western Michigan University and has worked in GIS for 16 years. Prior to joining the University, she worked with communities in Southwest Michigan as a consultant specializing in asset management and as a GIS analyst at S&P Global Platts.
Jacob Swisher
Jacob Swisher is a doctoral candidate in the Department of History with research interests in borderlands, environmental history, and the history of the North American West. His dissertation research follows circulating people, species, and objects into New Mexico’s Upper Rio Grande Basin to better understand how local entanglements between people and things shaped the historical development of the Anthropocene, a proposed geological epoch that accounts for how human activities have significantly affected elements of the Earth System since the Industrial Revolution. Jacob’s work draws on digital humanities tools, including geospatial analysis to examine relationships between people, places, and environments in the American West.
Julie Vecchio
Julie is Co-Interim Director, Navari Family Center for Digital Scholarship and Peace Studies Librarian. Julie also teaches introductory ArcGIS workshops and course instruction sessions at the Hesburgh Libraries.
CALL FOR PROPOSALS
The GIS Day planning team invites proposals for short presentations (either podium or poster) for our annual GIS Day symposium on Wednesday, November 19, 2025.
Presentations should be related to GIS in some way (tools, data, or visualization), but do not need to be directly methodological and are otherwise not limited by field. Podium presentations will be 5-10 minute lightning talks (length will depend upon the number of presentations). Work-in-progress presentations and posters will be accepted to help researchers receive methodological feedback.
To participate, please submit a brief abstract with title and all author affiliation(s) to Matthew.Sisk@nd.edu by November 1, 2025.
SCHEDULE
Register Now
| WORKSHOPS |
| 12:00pm – 1:00pm |
What in the World is GIS?
Presenter: Lucy Family Institute Civic-Geospatial Analysis and Learning Lab
Location: 246 Hesburgh Library
|
| 1:00pm – 2:00pm |
Getting Started with ArcGIS Online
Presenter: Lucy Family Institute Civic-Geospatial Analysis and Learning Lab
Location: 246 Hesburgh Library
|
| BREAK |
| 2:00pm – 2:15pm |
Break
|
| TALKS |
| 2:15pm – 3:30pm |
Talks
Location: 246 Hesburgh Library
Note: To participate, please submit a brief abstract with title and all author affiliation(s) to Matthew.Sisk@nd.edu by November 1, 2025.
|
| GIS DAY RECEPTION |
| 3:30pm – 4:00pm |
GIS Day Reception
Join us for GIS Day treats and coffee.
|
WORKSHOPS & TALKS
12:00pm – 1:00pm What in the World is GIS?
Presenter: Lucy Family Institute Civic-Geospatial Analysis and Learning Lab
Location: 246 Hesburgh Library, Navari Family Center for Digital Scholarship
GIS is a system of hardware and software for the storage, retrieval, mapping, and analysis of geographic data. It provides a system for organizing spatial and related information into a single analytical framework and is used in various academic and industry settings for understanding spatial relationships. This workshop will address the question, "What is GIS?", provide examples, and present an overview of campus GIS resources.
1:00pm – 2:00pm Getting Started with ArcGIS Online
Presenter: Lucy Family Institute Civic-Geospatial Analysis and Learning Lab
Location: 246 Hesburgh Library, Navari Family Center for Digital Scholarship
Learn how to make maps using ArcGIS Online and incorporate Geographic Information Systems (GIS) into your research.
This workshop provides an introduction to basic tools and workflows in ESRI’s ArcGIS Online platform. ArcGIS Online is a browser-based GIS platform that allows users to create, visualize, and manipulate spatial data. Whether you are interested in working with larger datasets or creating maps to add to a class project or senior thesis, ArcGIS Online offers an excellent workspace for researchers who are beginning to work with GIS. Experienced GIS users may also find ArcGIS Online to be a useful space for hosting data for collaborative projects and communicating research findings to public audiences.
This workshop is designed with the novice GIS user in mind.
After participating in this workshop, you will be able to:
- Gather, manage, and display spatial data in ArcGIS Online.
- Use the filters tool to answer questions with spatial data.
- Create data visualizations using the styles tool.
Please bring a laptop to this session.
2:15pm – 3:30pm Lightning Talks
Location: 246 Hesburgh Library
To participate, please submit a brief abstract with title and all author affiliation(s) to Matthew.Sisk@nd.edu by November 1, 2025.