Student Wins at Arkansas Academy of Sciences Meeting

Staff Writer

  
   A University of Arkansas at Monticello student submitted, presented and won at the Arkansas Academy of Sciences 93rd Annual Meeting. The meeting took place at the University of the Ozarks in Clarksville April 3.

   Dale Riggan, a graduate student, took home first place for his oral presentation on the graduate student level of the competition. Riggan’s award consisted of a $100 prize and a certificate signed by the president of the Arkansas Academy of Sciences.

   Riggan said his presentation covered a subset of his master’s thesis. Professor of Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing Robert Weih said if accepted, Riggans’ thesis will be published in the Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science in the 2010 issue. Riggan said his presentation entails land use and land classification data. He said his thesis involves three types of imagery, and can use these in many different combinations.

   Riggan said the goal is to find out which combinations work the best, are the most useful and the most accurate. Riggan said he also would like to figure out why the combinations work as they do.

   The competition included a first through third place winner for both an oral presentation and a poster presentation. Riggan said his presentation lasted 12 minutes with a three-minute question-and-answer time. Students who submitted papers with their presentations papers’ will be up for review by the Arkansas Academy of Sciences, for publishing in the 2010 issue.

   Riggan is obtaining his master’s in Spatial Analysis Systems. Riggan said he should be finished in about four months. Weih said the paper will go through a lengthy and extensive review process before a final decision determines if it will be published.

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