Growing up in Canada with a life-long fascination for Canadian geography, I have always been interested
in returning to the country. Although my family moved to the US before I entered high school, I have
always kept my eyes turned north, especially in recent years as I began to read journal articles about
research conducted on John Evans Glacier, located about 80 N latitude. Graduating next semester with
a B.S. in computer science and engineering and a minor in geographic information systems, I am
interested in attending the University of Alberta for graduate study. Geographic information systems
(GIS) is a field especially suited to investigating spatial patterns, modeling diverse scenarios, and
overlaying spatial data. This semester, in my advanced GIS course, Spatial Data Structures and
Algorithms, I am part of a team developing a temporal database and program for tracing historical
trading data. My computer science skills have also been put to use in two summer internship projects,
where I acquired proficiency with using LIDAR (light detection and ranging) technology, now favored by
NASA in its current 10-year study of Greenland and changes in the ice cap extent. Through my
coursework and project experience, I have also accrued skills in using Arc/Info, ArcView, Microstation,
and RDBMS software packages, and I am equally comfortable programming in Visual Basic, C++, and
Java. For my graduate research project, I would like to investigate methods for improving current GIS
data models to better incorporate time as a variable in studying climate change. Changes in glaciers and
polar environments occur rapidly, and these changes become important indicators of broader,
potentially catastrophic, global changes. By developing and applying temporal GIS methods to
glaciology, I can contribute to improved spatio-temporal analysis techniques for studying the polar
environment and glaciers. Also, I can discern which temporal methods serve as the best predictors and
provide benefits to the GIS research community that apply to areas other than glaciology. My long-term
