A faculty member at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point is working to expand student perspectives in geography and mapping and expose them to career opportunities with Geographic Information Systems (GIS), a modern-day digital system that links information to maps.
Doug Miskowiak, chair of UW-Stevens Point’s Department of Geography and Geology and program director for the GIS Graduate Certificate pays forward his passion for geospatial sciences to his students as an instructor, and the greater community through educational events.
From a young age, Miskowiak had an interest in translating the world around him to paper through landscapes. With a background in landscape architecture, he was introduced to GIS as a college student. He would later pursue his passion at UWSP as a GIS instructor, exposing students to the multitude of career applications using GIS skills.
Though born out of an effort to inventory natural resources efficiently, GIS has applications in a variety of disciplines. From transportation and utilities, the Department of Defense, to tourism and even fictional storytelling, digital mapping skills can have boundless applications. For example, if you have seen the movie Zootopia, you have interacted with a fictional world mapped using GIS.
One of Miskowiak’s priorities has been introducing GIS Day to the UWSP campus. A nationally recognized event, GIS Day started more than 20 years ago and was first introduced by software vendor ESRI to inform students and the public about the importance and prevalence of GIS careers.
“Many students don’t have an understanding of what GIS or the geospatial sciences are until they take their first course in geography, and this is a way for us to share a little bit more about it and its great career outcomes,” Miskowiak said. “This year we had our second formal celebration of GIS Day, where we brought in geospatial science professionals to talk about their careers to students in the program. We hope to inspire them to continue either with a GIS certificate, a GIS and spatial analysis minor or a full major in the geospatial sciences.”
This year, students heard from Paul Braun vice president of geospatial operations at a company called NV5, which develops GIS software and remote sensing products. In addition, they had the opportunity to practice networking and interview skills with assistance from Braun and the Academic and Career Advising Center. Rylee Lutz, a senior majoring in geospatial sciences with a GIS minor, found this year’s events helpful as she plans her next steps post-graduation.
“GIS day was not only a great way to meet fellow students who are interested in GIS but was an excellent place to learn about job opportunities and connect with working professionals who give great advice about careers in the field,” Lutz said.
Beyond planning GIS Day, Miskowiak works with the GIS Center to give student interns opportunities for hands-on mapping and analysis work with external clients. The work done by the center has been used to create policy changes at the state and organizational levels. Research using GIS for farmland preservation led to changes in the farmland preservation law. In another impactful project, the Center’s work helped inform improvements for care of rural cancer patients.
“In 2010 we worked with Marshfield Clinic, and they started to change the way they managed patients with a breast cancer diagnosis,” said Miskowiak. “It turned out that the distance between a patient and where they lived had a direct relationship with health care outcomes, so GIS helped to reveal patterns that shaped policy change at Marshfield Clinic.”
With touchpoints to several areas of our everyday lives, GIS has seen steadily increasing career outcomes and applications. Lutz, who aims to become a city planning professional, hopes to use the skills learned in GIS to work with communities to improve public transportation systems and address affordable housing concerns.
“GIS is so versatile and can benefit people in so many majors and career paths, which is what I think makes it so valuable,” Lutz said. “The program at UWSP has courses that give students a well-rounded education in GIS, remote sensing and other related skills. I recommend picking up a GIS minor or certificate for any student because it is a growing field and can be used by people who are going into so many different career paths.”
Miskowiak has seen this development first-hand and wants his students to know that a career in GIS can be a great fit for professionals of various personalities and interests.
“Careers in GIS have been growing faster than the average occupation for decades, and it looks like that trajectory continues,” Miskowiak said. “It is for people that are introverted and would like to spend their careers behind a desk, the extroverts who would like to sell GIS and develop solutions for people and those who want to be out in the field collecting data. There is a role for nearly anyone in this industry.”
Lutz, who has worked with Miskowiak as an instructor, is grateful for his mentorship and first-hand experience in navigating career outcomes.
“He was very helpful and encouraging while offering challenging coursework, and ensuring students make progress and are really learning GIS concepts,” Lutz said. “I like working with him because he is truly passionate about the field of geospatial science. I have talked with him numerous times about potential job opportunities, internship options and advice on graduate schools, and he has always been willing to help me navigate those situations.”
What makes geospatial sciences special to Miskowiak? Having the tools to further engage with and explore the world around you is powerful.
“The world that we live in and engage in is geospatial in its nature,” he said. “Understanding those relationships without being able to see the entire world in front of you is sometimes difficult to discern. A geographic information system takes a world of information and puts it in front of us in a way that we can engage with, and allows us to see things that sometimes are otherwise invisible without the map.”
If you are interested in hearing from the Department of Geography and Geology’s 2025 GIS Day Celebration, visit youtube.com/live/lz-go7c6TWk.
UW-Stevens Point provides opportunities for students to advance their knowledge of GIS technology through the Geographic Information Systems Professional Certificate in the School of Behavioral and Social Sciences. This certificate is now available at the graduate level and is currently accepting applications. For more information on GIS at UW-Stevens Point visit uwsp.edu/programs/certificate/geographic-information-systems-gis/ or the Geospatial Science Degree visit uwsp.edu/programs/degree/geospatial-sciences-university-of-wisconsin-stevens-point/.