Dillon Schmidt, a senior environmental systems science and sustainability (ESSS) major, was awarded an Outstanding Student Award by the Illinois GIS Association (ILGISA) at its annual conference held October 19-21 in Lisle.

In addition to completing the GIS (geographic information systems) curriculum in the Department of Geography, Geology, and the Environment, Schmidt is working on an independent study this fall semester that focuses on his interests in utilizing GIS for cutting-edge applications in agriculture. The project explores the use of geospatial artificial intelligence (GeoAI) for detection and automated mapping of weed species in corn and soybean fields in Illinois.

Schmidt recently completed a prestigious Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program this past summer with the Integrated Pennycress Resilience Project (IPReP) funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). For the project, Schmidt used QGIS, an open-source GIS platform and R, a complex data analysis platform, to assess whether low-altitude drone imagery can be used to model pennycress yield.

The Illinois GIS Association (ILGISA) is a statewide organization of GIS/geospatial professionals in Illinois with over 500 members from government, higher education, and private industry. The ILGISA Outstanding Student Award is presented to an undergraduate student of any major who has included GIS in their course of study, and has demonstrated exemplary proficiency and understanding of GIS, potential contribution to the GIS Community, and general success in school.