ESRI and UCL announce its Student of the....

04 July 2010, 3:45pm

ESRI and UCL announce its Student of the Year award winner

James Cheshire wins accolade for spatial research project

ESRI, the market leader in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), has named James Cheshire as winner of the ESRI/University College London (UCL) Development Centre Student of the Year award.

James was presented his award by ESRI president and founder Jack Dangermond at UCL’s campus in London, for his dedicated GIS research into the spatial distribution of families’ via their surnames. Using UCL’s vast surname database spanning 26 countries, he began researching how surnames originally linked to careers, such as the surname Smith traditionally associated with the blacksmith trade, have been affected by migration trends.

When his research is completed in 2012, James’ work could support healthcare provision and guidance for medical staff admitting ethnic and cultural groups to hospitals by linking surnames to their families’ medical history, genetic history and chromosome research, settlement trends of ethnic groups, family migration history and even product marketing.

Commenting on winning his award, PhD student James Cheshire said:

“I am delighted that my spatial research has been recognised and praised by ESRI and UCL. I have collaborated closely with these two partners and I am hopeful that the project will be of great societal use when it is completed. I am keen to disseminate my surname research to a wider audience, and today’s award will support this.”

Richard Waite, Managing Director, ESRI UK, said:

“James’ project clearly highlights how location-based research can support many different societal challenges ranging from healthcare provision to researching family origins. His work demonstrates the important role GIS technology has in supporting learning for future generations. We would like to congratulate James on this award and are very pleased to offer our continued support to encourage GIS students to flourish now and in the future.”

www.esriuk.com

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