USGIF Announces First-Ever Student Diversity Awards and Best Student Poster Award

The two new diversity awards, $500 each, were sponsored by Dr. Tim Walton, in honor of his wife, Elizabeth Walton, who passed in 2018 after having served as an analyst at the CIA for more than 30 years. She firmly believed that her education, a BA from Johns Hopkins, and a MA from George Washington were significant to her success. Walton helps carry her legacy through these awards presented to two female students.

The Most Promising Female GEOINTer Award was presented to Mia Poynor, University of Sothern California. This award recognizes qualities like hard and soft skills, community engagement, and an effort to build a pathway into a GEOINT career for female students. The GEOINT Woman of Color Award was presented to Alejandra Rubi Marquez, Fayetteville State University. This award recognizes a woman of African, Asian (including Asian American, Pacific Islander, Arab or Middle East Asian), Latin American, or American Indian (including African Native American or Alaskan Native) descent that demonstrates excellence in GEOINT skills. Students were selected based on nominations from USGIF accredited schools.

The 2020 Best Student Poster was also awarded at the GEOINTegration Summit. The recipient for this award was Yinan Wang, Johns Hopkins University for his poster on “Applications of Satellite Imagery in Paleontology.” The award was offered based on a popular vote from Summit attendees via the poster gallery.