August 15, 2012 -- Fayetteville State University (FSU) is pleased to announce that it has received a five-year $443,000 research grant from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) to support the development of a Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) certificate to be offered to students pursuing undergraduate degrees in Geography, Computer Science, and Intelligence Studies at FSU.

Fayetteville State University (FSU) is pleased to announce that it has received a five-year $443,000 research grant from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) to support the development of a Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) certificate to be offered to students pursuing undergraduate degrees in Geography, Computer Science, and Intelligence Studies at FSU.

The research grant provides funding for a two-year base period and three 12-month options for developing requisite courses for the GEOINT certificate , establishing the Geospatial teaching laboratory, getting the certificate accredited by the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF), developing an online component for the program, and expanding the certificate to include allied programs such as Political Science.

Key personnel for the GEOINT certificate project include Dr. Rakesh Malhotra, Department of Government and History, and Dr. Sambit Bhattacharya and Dr. Bogdan Czejdo of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science.

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is the nation’s primary source of GEOINT for the Department of Defense and the U.S. Intelligence Community.  As a DOD combat support agency and a member of the IC, NGA provides GEOINT, in support of U.S. national security and defense, as well as disaster relief.  GEOINT is the exploitation and analysis of imagery and geospatial information that describes, assesses and visually depicts physical features and geographically referenced activities on the Earth.  The NGA Academic Research Program (NARP) focuses on innovative, far reaching basic, applied and educational research in science, technology, engineering and mathematics that has the potential to advance the GEOINT mission.

FSU is the second-oldest public institution in North Carolina. A member of the University of North Carolina System, FSU has nearly 6,000 students and offers degrees in more than 60 undergraduate and graduate degree programs.

For further information, you may contact Dr. Rakesh Malhotra at Email Contact or 910-672-2628.