Less of Our Light for More Star Light:
Join the 5th worldwide Globe at Night 2010 campaign: March 3-16!

What: The Globe at Night Campaign
When: 8pm to 10pm local time, March 3-16, 2010
Where: Everywhere
Who: You! Your kids! (Everyone!)
How: See http://www.globeatnight.org
Why: With half of the world’s population now living in cities, many urban dwellers have never experienced the wonderment of pristinely dark skies and maybe never will. This loss, caused by light pollution, is a concern on many fronts: safety, energy conservation, cost, health and effects on wildlife, as well as our ability to view the stars. Even though light pollution is a serious and growing global concern, it is one of the easiest environmental problems you can address on local levels.

Globe at Night is an annual 2-week campaign in March that helps to address the light pollution issue locally as well as globally. This year the campaign is March 3-16, 2010. You are invited along with everyone all over the world to record the brightness of your night sky by matching its appearance toward the constellation Orion with star maps of progressively fainter stars found at http://www.globeatnight.org/observe_magnitude.html. You then submit your measurements on-line at http://www.globeatnight.org/report.html with your date, time and location. A few weeks later, organizers release a map of light-pollution levels worldwide. Over the last four 2-week Globe at Night campaigns, volunteers from over 100 nations have contributed 35,000 measurements.

To learn the five easy steps to participate in the Globe at Night program, see the Globe at Night website at
http://www.globeatnight.org. You can listen to our 10-minute audio podcast on light pollution and Globe at Night at http://365daysofastronomy.org/2010/02/03/february-3rd-the-globe-at-night-campaign-our-light-or-starlight/

For activities that have children explore what light pollution is, what its effects are on wildlife and how to prepare for participating in the Globe at Night campaign, see the new activities at http://www.darkskiesawareness.org/DarkSkiesRangers.

Monitoring our environment will allow us as citizen-scientists to identify and preserve the dark sky oases in cities and locate areas where light pollution is increasing. All it takes is a few minutes during the March 2010 campaign to measure sky brightness and contribute those observations on-line. Help us exceed the 15,000 observations contributed last year. Your measurements will make a world of difference.

Constance E. Walker, Ph.D.
director, GLOBE at Night campaign
www.globe.gov/globeatnight
associate scientist & senior science education specialist
www.noao.edu/education
National Optical Astronomy Observatory
Tucson, AZ
520-318-8535, cwalker@noao.edu

Bizarre Map Challenge
"Bizarre Map Challenge" (BMC): A National Map Design Competition Hosted by the National GeoTech Center (http://www.geotechcenter.org/) and San Diego State University.

Goal: To promote spatial thinking and geospatial technology awareness in high schools, community colleges, and universities in the United States. To inspire curiosity about geographic patterns and map representation for students and the broader public.

Awards:
1st prize: $5,000 cash
2nd prize: $1,000 cash
3rd prize: $600 cash
4th - 10th prizes: $200 cash for each

Competition Rules
1. Competition participants must be full-time students in high school, community college, or a university (undergraduate students only) in the United States. The cartographic work and map design must be the original work of the entrant.
2. "Bizarre", in this competition, refers to maps that are strikingly out of the ordinary. Though all maps must use real-world data, successful entries might employ unusual techniques, illustrate bizarre topics, or exhibit striking patterns. This competition will not accept imaginary maps, hand-drawn maps, or video game maps.
3. All entries must be submitted in a static PDF format (no interactive or animated maps) using the on-line registration form. The complete map should be no larger than 8.5 x 11 inches (letter size) with a minimum of half-inch margins. A summary description, 500 words maximum, will also be required at the time of submission. The summary should describe why this map is bizarre, how it was created, the tools used, data sources, coordinate systems, projection methods, etc.
4. Each student can only submit one entry. Each map should be created and designed by one student only (no teamwork).
5. Each student needs to provide one teacher's contact information (name, email address, school name, phone number, etc).
6. There are two rounds of judging. The first round will be handled by five world-renowned cartographers who will select the TOP TEN entries. Judges will consider a variety of criteria, including but not limited to topics, techniques, and design. Students, among the TOP TEN entries, may be asked to provide proven documentation of their full-time student status. The second round will consist of public voting. The TOP TEN entries will be posted on the competition website with public voting open for two weeks (one vote per person). Entries will be ranked according to the number of votes received by the end of the voting period.

Timeline:
. March 1st - March 22nd, 2010 :
Accepting map entries (on-line form) from the BMC website (URL to be announced on March 1st, 2010)
. April 12, 2010: Announcing the TOP TEN bizarre map challenge design finalists
. April 12 - April 26, 2010: Two week on-line voting on the BMC website
. April 27, 2010: Announcing the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prize winners.

Contact (Q&A) email address: bmc@geography.sdsu.edu

Rocky Mtn. Region Scholarship Winners Announced!

Congratulations to the winners of the 2010 ASPRS-RMR Scholarship Competition!

First Place Winners (each to receive $1,000):
Mr. Joseph Hoover, University of Denver
Ms. Kristen Hestir, New Mexico State University
Mr. Marques Munis, Colorado State University

Second Place Winners (each is eligible to receive imagery/DEM data):
Mr. Gabriel Bellante, Montana State University
Mr. Jeremy Dunjn, University of Denver
Ms. Elizabeth Paulson, University of Colorado at Boulder

2010 Rocky Mtn. Region Board of Directors

Congratulations to all new and continuing members of the ASPRS-RMR Board of Directors for 2010:
President - Trent Casi
Vice President - Ramesh Sivanpillai
Treasurer - Linda Meyer
Secretary - Eric Vossenkemper
National Director - Jeff Young
Regional Director (Newsletter/Communications) - Kristi Edwards
Regional Director (At-Large) - Clyde Hubbard
Regional Director (General, MT) - Alex Philp
Regional Director (GIS in the Rockies) - Matt Cross
Regional Director (GISITR) - Niki Noon
Past President - Jeff Liedtke

See the Officers page for contact information.

BOULDER, Colo., - December 4, 2009 - ASD Inc. is proud to announce the recipients for the Alexander Goetz Instrument Support Program for the 2010 calendar year. The annual program encourages novel, unconventional and/or fundamental research. The Goetz Program is co-sponsored by ASD Inc. and the Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS), a member organization of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE).

Four very worthy project proposals were chosen from those submitted. The recipients are Sabrina Carvalho, Ph.D. candidate, International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), Netherlands; Jack Gibbons, Masters candidate, Colorado School of Mines, United States; Kimberly Casey, Ph.D. candidate, University of Oslo, Dept. of Geosciences, Norway; Indrie Miller, Ph.D. candidate, University of New South Wales, Australia.

Now in its fourth year, the Instrument Support Program offers temporary use of ASD field instruments (FieldSpec® 3 and FieldSpec® HandHeld) to a maximum of ten recipients each year. The program provides field instrumentation for students in graduate-level research programs affiliated with an accredited University in the US or any country which accepts Carnet shipping documentation. Additionally, recipients are eligible to receive up to $500 (US) toward publication charges for resulting findings if accepted for publication in a recognized journal, and/or toward reimbursement of travel and production charges for presentations accepted at an approved scientific conference.

"For the past 20 years ASD has been a leading provider of high-performance analytical instrumentation solutions used in the field and labs around the world. The Goetz Program allows us to support graduate students to do research with up-to-date equipment as part of their degree programs," said Dr. Alexander Goetz, co-founder and Chief Scientist of ASD. "As in prior years, the range of research topics of this year's recipients is a testament to the broad application of our instruments. We are very excited to have one of our past winners presenting at the upcoming Art, Science, and Applications of Reflectance Spectroscopy Symposium in February."

About ASD
ASD Inc. is unsurpassed in solving some of the world's most challenging materials measurement problems. We collaborate with industrial professionals, analytical researchers, and remote sensing scientists to provide the most reliable, high performance analytical instrumentation solutions for real-world applications. Established in 1990 and based in Boulder, Colorado, USA, ASD Inc. has customers world-wide.

For more information, please contact Amanda Griffin, Marketing Communications Manager, ASD Inc., 2555 55th Street, Suite 100, Boulder, CO, 80301; 303/444-6522, 303/444-6825 (fax); www.asdi.com.

Save the Date and Call for Abstracts: VISualize 2010
May 19-20, Washington, DC

Please make plans to join your fellow IDL and ENVI users at VISualize 2010 in Washington, DC on May 19-20.
VISualize is designed to bring together IDL and ENVI users to provide opportunities for networking, sharing ideas,
and working on strategies that advance our scientific data analysis and visualization community.

Abstracts are now being accepted for VISualize 2010. If you have an interesting application, want to report success in
furthering your research, or want to demonstrate a creative approach using ENVI or IDL, VISualize 2010 is the perfect
opportunity to share it with your peers or to get feedback from other users in the community.

Suggestions for topic areas include, but are certainly not limited to:
Atmospheric & Climate Applications
Data Analysis & Visualization
Astronomy, Astrophysics & Planetary Physics
Remote Sensing, GIS and Geospatial Applications
Medical/Biologic Applications

Abstract submission deadline is April 8, 2010. Your abstract submission should include the title of your presentation,
your name and contact information, the organization you are representing, a short informal description of your
proposed presentation, and a short biography. Please submit your abstract via email to hcline@ittvis.com.

When 05/19/10 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Where VISualize 2010
World Wildlife Fund, 1250 24th St NW #6, Washington, DC 20037

Society for Conservation GIS Announces Annual Conference
July 8-11, 2010

The Society for Conservation GIS would like to invite you to the 13th Annual Conference
that will be held from July 8th to 11th, 2010 at Asilomar Conference Grounds in Monterey
(http://www.visitasilomar.com), California.
The conference theme will be "Building Community".

Online Registration will begin on January 18th 2010.
Online abstract submission will begin on January 18th 2010.

For more information go to the conference web site at https://www.scgis.org/Lev3Page.aspx?Page3ID=21

Two useful resources:

Matt Artz at ESRI operates a new site containing news, resources, commentary, and interviews on the use of GIS for science, on: http://gisandscience.com

A new resource called GIS Pathway is on: http://gispathway.com
Its goal is to “help guide you to success in the world of GIS.”
The whole site is operated by a community college student!

Attention Students!!

Signatures, the new edition of the ASPRS Student blog is now available online at http://asprssignature.blogspot.com. The blog allows you to take advantage of electronic media which includes RSS subscriptions and links to other sites that hold additional information.

Check it out for yourself and do not hesitate to leave comments and ideas for us to use in the future. Also, you may subscribe to Signatures to stay up to date with the latest articles and information made to the site.

Also, check out the ASPRS Student Network in Yahoo Groups! This forum is designed to give student members an opportunity to network with each other on a wide range of topics such as job opportunities, personal achievements, and general industry news. ASPRS student members are welcome to join this new network by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/asprs_students/.

If you have any comments or suggestions regarding articles or materials for future newsletters, please contact me at jellerbe@asprs.org.
Jerrard Ellerbe
Membership Services/ASPRS Newsletter Staff

NEW JOB OPENINGS:

Navigate to JOBS to see the latest job openings.
Visit this site often if you are looking for new employment opportunities; the page is updated on a regular basis.

Check out latest news and imagery at NASA's Earth Observatory Web Site!

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/

We Invite You to Get Involved

To suggest new activities, offer compliments or feedback, or help with the various activities
underway in the Region, get in touch with a member of the Board.
Contact information is on the Officers page.

ASPRS offers certification in GIS, Remote Sensing, and Photogrammetry,
in six categories.

We were the first professional organization to offer certification in these disciplines.

For more info., see http://www.asprs.org/membership/certification/

Membership Recruitment Presentation in PowerPoint

This information is now available at http://intranet.asprs.org under “Region Support”
Membership Recruitment PowerPoint Presentation (36 Mb Zip file - Right click and "Save" to download)

Rocky Mountain Region Board Meeting Schedule for 2010

The proposed dates are usually the third Wednesday of the month, but they are subject to change. Check back here for updates.
If you would like to attend, contact a board member for directions or teleconference instructions.

Feb. 10
March 17
April 21
May 19
June 23
July 21
Aug. 25
Sept. 22
Oct. 20
Nov. 17
Dec. 15

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Newsletter Submission Deadlines for 2010:

- Spring Newsletter (published in March): Deadline is Friday 3/12/10

- Summer Newsletter (published in June): Deadline is Friday 6/11/10

- Fall Newsletter (published in September): Deadline is Friday 9/10/10

- Winter Newsletter (published in December): Deadline is Friday 12/10/10

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GIS PRODUCTS ONLINE STORE

For a fun and time-saving way to share our love of mapping with others,
visit the GeoStore of one of our Rocky Mtn. Rogues, Tina Cary, at: http://www.caryandassociates.com/geostore.html.
Did you know you can get a GPS unit specifically for a motorcycle?
And that jewelry can fit a geo-theme?