The University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS) is pleased to announce the 2013 Research Award to Luc Anselin of Arizona State University and the 2013 Education Award to Ken Foote of the University of Colorado at Boulder.

The Research Award is given to the creator(s) of a particularly outstanding research contribution to geographic information science. The main criterion for choosing the awardee(s) is impact of the research achievement on the theory and/or practice of GIScience, or on research using GIS, or on geographic information technology.

The Education Award is presented to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to GIScience education. The award is intended to recognize a career of professional contributions of both national and international significance to GIScience education.

Luc Anselin, the Walter Isard Chair and Director of the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State University (ASU), is one of the world’s leading scholars in spatial econometrics. Amongst a stream of influential articles, his book “Spatial Econometrics: Methods and Models” first published 20 years ago has been cited over 6,000 times. Almost single-handedly he has blazed the path of spatial econometrics through a succession of highly cited articles which deal with both theory and method and with relevant and timely applications to public policy such as crime, health care, pollution, economic development, and demography. Not only have his writings had made a major impact on the geographical sciences, the research groups which he has built up from his time at Santa Barbara to his current position in ASU have sustained this impact and have focused his research on the very best blend of theory and practice that exists in the social sciences. One of his principal academic achievements has been his contributions to moving the discipline of spatial econometrics which was marginal in 1988 to current acceptance in mainstream econometrics, thereby advancing the economic foundations of the geographic information sciences. The impact of his work is seen in his H index which is 64, the highest by far of any scholar in the geographical information sciences. He also founded and directs the GeoDa Center for Geospatial Analysis and Computation at ASU which develops, implements, applies, and disseminates spatial analysis methods.