Highlights of Fiscal Year 1996-1997

1. J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, Departments of Anthropology, Biological Sciences, Geography, and Geology

2. Dale Bumpers College of Agriculture, Food and Life Sciences, Departments of Agronomy, Rural Sociology, and Entomology

3. College of Architecture,Department of Landscape Architecture

4. College of Engineering, Departments of Civil Engineering and Industrial Engineering

A board of Associate Directors has been created to provide guidance to CAST from the various Colleges. Dr. Thomas Graff represents the Fulbright College, Dr. Don Scott represents Agriculture, and Professor Karen Hanna represents Architecture. Cooperative research or teaching efforts are also in place with off-campus faculty at the University of Arkansas, Monticello, the Arkansas Archaeological Survey, Arkansas State University, and Arkansas Tech University.

CAST staff have been involved in numerous and varied projects, programs, consultations, talks, workshops, conferences, etc. during the fiscal year, ranging from answering quick technical questions by phone to complicated funded projects lasting several years. A few selected highlights of the year follow (see Teaching(pages 6-10), Research(pages 11-21), and Public Service (pages 22-32) sections of this report for many more listings and detailed information about the following).

Teaching

1. Internship Program in Applied Information Technologies is established (see page 8).

2. New professional short-courses introduced (see page 7).

3. Cooperative educational program with Royal Jordanian Geographic Centre developed (see page 8).

4. New courses in GIS technologies added to UAF schedule (see page 6).

5. UAF course information placed on-line to provide easy student access (see page 6).

6. More than 80 computer accounts have been issued to UAF students (see page 6).

Research

1. Twenty research projects totaling $1,018,062 have been funded (see page 11).

2. NASA funds major research effort on geospatial data distribution (see page 16).

3. Two books, five book chapters, 26 software reviews, etc. published this year (see appendices A and B).

4. A comprehensive national database of more than 150,000 archaeological reports is maintained by CAST (see page 15).

5. Harris, Gisiger, and Limp publish major bibliography on Plains Area (see appendix A).

6. Gisiger, Cooper, Yuan, and Limp publish major monograph on photogrammetry with Sydney University (see appendix A).

7. Detailed vegetation map of Arkansas developed from Thematic Mapper is completed (see page 16 and map on page 17).

Public Service

l. Visitors to CAST's web site average 1,000 per day (see page 23).

2. Maps developed for Arkansas Secretary of State's office (see page 29 and maps on pages 30 and 31).

3. CAST provides services to aid in the Arkadelphia tornado recovery efforts (see page 24).

4. Staff member Shelby Johnson serves as chairman of the Arkansas GIS Users Forum (see page 22).

5. CAST's on-line interactive mapper used by the public to make maps (see page 25 and maps on pages 26, 27, and 28).

6. CAST's director serves on OpenGIS Board of Directors (see page 24).

7. Newsletter is distributed quarterly to 6,000 people (see page 22).

This year, CAST staff worked cooperatively with many local and state units. This year's list includes the following selected cooperative efforts:

Local City of Arkadelphia (see page 24), Benton County (see page 25), Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission (see page 25), Pope County (see page 25), City of Harrisburg (see page 25), Washington County (see page 25), City of Fort Smith (see page 29), Green County (see page 29), Clark County (see page 29), and Madison County (see page 29).

State Arkansas Department of Health Statistics (see page 18), Arkansas Department of Education (see page 10), Arkansas Department of Natural Heritage (see page 11), Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission (see page 11), Arkansas Department of Pollution Control and Ecology (see page 11), Arkansas Forestry Commission (see pages 18 and 20), and Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service (see page 4).

International Efforts

1. Cooperative efforts with the Royal Jordanian Geographic Centre, Amman, Jordan (see page 8).

2. Students from Mexico City and the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago attend Professional Short-Courses (see page 8).

3. Faculty from Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan visits CAST (see page 32).

4. Fulbright Institute of International Studies review completed (see page 24).

5. Faculty from Saudi Arabian universities visit CAST (see page 10).

6. Technical Director Jim Farley interviewed by major Japanese paper (see appendix B).

7. Director Fred Limp interviewed by the Financial Times of London (see appendix B).