Gov. Mike Beebe named UALR Earth Science Professor Margaret ‘Beth’ McMillan to the Arkansas State Geographic Information Systems Board. The appointment is for four years.

The associate professor will serve on the board originally created in 1997 to support economic development and an improved quality of life for Arkansas citizens through the support and development of geospatial data and infrastructure. Board members representing city and county governments, the private sector and institutions of higher learning help coordinate geographic information activities. They create short- and long-term strategies that will result in improved decision making, effective asset management, and reduced costs.

McMillan has been involved in GIS from the perspective of a geologist for nearly two decades. She received her B.A. with a distinction in geology from Colorado College in 1991, and her Ph.D. from the University of Wyoming in 2003. She is currently the graduate coordinator of the Geospatial Technology Certificate program in the Department of Earth Science at UALR.

Among her faculty responsibilities at UALR, McMillan teaches classes in GIS and Remote Sensing, which use information technology to create digital smart maps that coordinate information with location. During the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that hit New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, McMillan served as a GISCorps volunteer, providing GIS maps for use by the Army Corps of Engineers, the National Guard, and other relief workers based at the Pearl River County, Miss.,  Emergency Operations Center.

At UALR, McMillan often uses the campus’ Coleman Creek as a living laboratory, teaching GIS students to create digital inventories of landscapes on campus.