Wayland, MA, USA, December 17, 2002 – The Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC) today announced a new resource to link those interested in working on interoperability issues with those who need personnel to do so. The OGC Internship Project ( http://www.opengeospatial.org/univ/ ) provides an electronic bulletin board where students can post their areas of interest and organizations can post their needs. The ultimate goal is to match up these two groups to help move interoperability in the geospatial domain forward.
The Project will make it easier for students seeking a professional career in the geospatial industry to find internship opportunities where skills may be gained and developed by tackling geospatial interoperability topics. At the same time institutions and companies who want to grow interoperable geospatial applications within their organizations will find it easier to locate qualified interns with specific interests and backgrounds.
Prospective interns will fill out an online form with information about interests, skills, availability, and contact information. Institutions and companies seeking interns will submit information describing open positions and the skills required. Once a student submits his or her information, they will gain access to search the available open positions. When an institution/company submits details of an internship vacancy, it is granted access to the intern candidate database.
“This will be an extremely valuable resource for students and scientists,” said Roberta Balstad Miller, Director, Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. “There is a rapidly growing need for people with a working knowledge of interoperability in both hardware and software, and this program will give students an opportunity to work on the cutting edge of geospatial interoperability.”
Robert Corell, Senior Fellow, at the Atmospheric Policy Program of the American Meteorological Society, Senior Research Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and a member of the OGC Board of Directors describes the new program as an exciting development and an important investment for the OGC. “This program is an effective way to invest in our future. The Interoperability Internship Project will nurture the next generation of professionals with substantive knowledge and bring outstanding young scientific and technical talent to the members of OGC.”
OGC member organization may participate in the Internship Project at no charge. Non-members are charged a processing fee. There is no charge for students to post their information and search through open positions.
OGC is an international industry consortium of more than 230 companies, government agencies and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available interface specifications. OpenGIS® Specifications support interoperable solutions that “geo-enable” the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT. The specifications empower technology developers to make complex spatial information and services accessible and useful with all kinds of applications. Visit the OGC website at www.opengeospatial.org .– end —
“
