MSGIS Student Jose Garcia Named Esri Innovation Program Student of the Year

Each year, the Esri Innovation Program (EIP) celebrates students who demonstrate excellence while creating innovative applications using ArcGIS technology.

As a member of the Esri Innovation Program (EIP) network, the Master of Science in Geospatial Information Sciences (MSGIS) program at the University of Maryland has nominated one of its students, Jose Anza Garcia—who won the 2025 UMD EIP Student of the Year. 

Garcia, a graduate student in the MSGIS program, earned this recognition thanks to his standout capstone project: “A 3D Tour of the UMD Library.” His project takes GIS indoors, allowing users to pinpoint exact locations within the library’s map collections. By applying GIS tools at the scale of individual buildings, Garcia highlights an emerging frontier in geospatial technology.

"Generally we think of using GIS at a much larger geographic scale–city, county, state, country, or even the entire globe," Garcia explained. "But there’s so much potential for using it indoors, especially with the growth of interactive space management. I wanted to show that GIS can do more than we traditionally expect."

In addition to his coursework, Garcia has worked across three major GIS user groups at UMD: the Department of Geographical Sciences, University Libraries and Facilities Management. These hands-on experiences shaped his academic focus and helped him carve out a niche in indoor GIS. He credits his mentors—including Taylor Keen at Facilities Management and Milan Budhathoki at the UMD Libraries—for helping him discover how powerful applied GIS can be.

"The UMD GIS community as a whole has been the single biggest influence on my academic and career goals," he said. "I have collaborated on a variety of projects and assignments across a vast breadth of application fields, which has exposed me to various new and different use cases for GIS."

MS Program Director Jack Ma, who nominated Garcia for the award, praised his consistent excellence and innovative approach. “Jose’s capstone project is on the leading edge of this field,” Ma noted. “He is a perfect example of our students who are creative and innovative while pursuing excellence in geospatial technology.”

As part of the EIP award, Garcia will receive a $500 cash prize, an Esri Press eBook and a certificate of recognition. As UMD’s selected recipient, Garcia will now be considered for the overall EIP Student of the Year Award, a global recognition awarded to one standout student across all participating institutions.

For Garcia, the award is more than a milestone—it’s a reflection of the support and collaboration he’s experienced at UMD. “It’s a very nice recognition for the time and effort I’ve put into both my academic and professional work,” he said. “I encourage students to reach out around campus for opportunities to apply the GIS skills you're learning in the classroom; there is no better way to reinforce concepts and techniques than by directly applying them in a project!”

Image courtesy of Jose Anza Garcia

Published on Thu, 04/24/2025 - 15:47