Course description: This course will familiarize students with the basic knowledge of geographic information systems (GIS) and their application to social work practice and research. The course is organized around three primary areas: 1) conceptual; 2) technical; and 3) data management. A conceptual overview of GIS is presented to provide students with foundational knowledge about the theory, purpose, function, and applicability of GIS in practice and research settings. Students will develop critical thinking skills necessary to devise research questions appropriate for a GIS, to develop a GIS, interpret the findings, and to evaluate the spatial relationships between variables.
If you created a poster before Spring 2015 and would like to make it openly available (Unrestricted) online, please submit the linked Consent Form to digital@wustl.edu.
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Law Enforcement and Language Access: Target Areas for Language Access Pilot Programming for Immigrant Crime Victims
Courtney Roelandts
12-12-2014Legal Services of Eastern Missouri (LSEM) is a nonprofit agency in St. Louis that is committed to providing high quality legal assistance to those who would otherwise be unable to obtain legal counsel. This project is intended for their Immigration Law Project, which assists clients at a variety of proceedings related to immigration status applications and petitions. LSEM most commonly works with immigrant victims of crime, for which the primary form of victimization is domestic violence.
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Spatial Relationship between Alcohol Outlet Density and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) in the City of St. Louis, Missouri
Eri Sakaguchi, Taeyoon Kim, Catherine Woodstock Striley, and Linda B. Cottler
12-12-2014Over many years, the city of St. Louis has been ranked high in rates of STD diagnoses among other cities of its size in the U.S. In 2004, the city of St. Louis ranked 2nd with 4130 reported Chlamydia cases, 1st with 2440 reported Gonorrhea cases, and 5th with 47 syphilis cases. All rates are 3-7 times those of the State of Missouri and 3.4-6.7 times those of the United States (U.S. Department of Health City of St. Louis, 2005), which show significant pervasive and chronic conditions of STDs in City of St. Louis. A high density of alcohol outlets in the community may increase the level of heavy drinking and intoxication of residents, which may in turn increase the risk of engaging in risky sexual behavior. This project examines whether high density of alcohol outlets is related to a high probability of residents with Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) in St. Louis City.
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Watering the Food Deserts: Revisiting the SNAP Policy in South Texas
Laura Sandoval
12-9-2014Food deserts are defined as either urban or rural neighborhoods or towns lacking access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food. The Rio Grande Valley region of Texas along the U.S.-Mexico border is comprised of approximately 400,000 people, 86% of them Hispanic. Nearly 40% of the residents of the Rio Grande Valley receive assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Hidalgo County in the Rio Grande Valley is among the 10 poorest counties in the country. Due to a demand for low-cost housing in this area, more than 2,000 colonias have boomed. Colonias are considered rural Mexican-origin settlements often lacking basics such as paved roads, streetlights, and running water. Hidalgo county has one of the highest populations of colonias. Food insecurity is a major concern for the residents of South Texas. While there are plenty of convenience stores and mobile food vendors contributing to the snacking habits of the Hispanic population, only 30% of the items sold are nutritious fruits and vegetables. This project asks where are the retailers accepting SNAP benefits in Weslaco, Texas within Hidalgo County in South Texas, and based on that where are potential locations providing access to healthier foods? How can the SNAP policy be improved to better serve Hidalgo County in South Texas?
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Gateway City Gayborhoods: Examining Residential Patterns of Gay and Lesbian Households in St. Louis, Missouri
Laurel Sariscsany and Samuel Taylor
6-30-2014This project aims to better understand residential patterns of gay and lesbian households in St. Louis. It asks how gay and lesbian St. Louisians construct urban space through analysis of community anchors and identifies most resided-in neighborhoods for gay and lesbian households.
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Moving Towards the Future: Complete Streets Policy in the U.S.
Sarah Sayavong and Moses Okumu
12-12-2014Complete Streets (CS) policy is a commitment to creating streets that safely and conveniently accommodate not only motorists but also bikers, walkers, and those who use public transit. The distribution of this policy over time follows the Diffusion of Innovation theory. This project aims to assess if CS policy adoption reflects a pattern consistent with diffusion of innovation theory; determine if modes of transport to work differ between stateswith CS policy differ and states without CS policy.
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Incorporating Geospatial Data into Analysis of Webcam Data
Melody Schaeffer and Abby Stylianou
12-12-2014The Archive of Many Outdoor Scenes (AMOS) is a database of approximately 30 thousand outdoor webcams. These cameras are currently used to observe how individuals interact with their environment at a large scale. The images from these cameras however are not useful without context such as the type of environment they observe or their proximity to landmarks. This project aims to integrate spatial analysis with webcam data.
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Mapping Missouri Dental Access: GIS Analysis of Drive-Time to Dental Offices in Missouri and St. Louis Area
Nick Schulte
5-4-2014This project examines what geographic areas of Missouri have the lowest accessibility to dental services and how do the racial populations of these areas compare to the entire state.
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Intersection of Home-Based Child Care Centers and the Child and Adult Food Care Program (CACFP) and Food Deserts in Missouri, USA
Sharada Shantharam
12-9-2014Home-based child care centers are a prime location for the growth of a child. With the proper resources, they can improve child development, physically and cognitively. However, these resources are not always accessible, and thus adhering to regulations becomes difficult.
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Evaluating Hospital-Community Linkages Project in East Missouri
Lin Shao and Jaehyun Nam
12-12-2014The Hospital Community Linkages (HCL) Project is designed to improve care coordination between hospitals and community behavioral health service providers throughout Missouri’s eastern region. The project helps get patients quickly and effectively linked with a community-based behavioral healthcare home upon hospital discharge, so they can continue their path to recovery.
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Locating New Community Service Centers in ChongmingIsland, Shanghai, China
Lijia Shi and Shuangyu Zhang
6-30-2014By utilizing GIS, this projects aims to identify potential locations for future community service centers. These centers could serve more elder people while providing resources and training to the migrant worker population.
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Startups, Startup Support Organizations, and Concentration of Employment in St. Louis, MO-IL MSA
Ismail Siyam
12-9-2014Venture capital investments usually help new promising startups to grow and expand their business. Venture capital investments are typically defined as the investment by professional investors of long-term, unquoted, risk equity finance in new firm. Venture capital investments are key to the growth of startups. Any of the venture capital startups in St. Louis could be the next company that will achieve great growth in business, the economy, job creation, and innovation. At the same time, organizations that support startups are very important to provide different ways of support to startups. Organizations such as universities, accelerators, and incubators provide space for startups, networking, mentorship, and guidance. The St. Louis Regional Chamber is tracking startups that received venture capital in the St. Louis, MO-IL Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which includes 15 counties in Missouri and Illinois. This project explores the current distribution of startups that have received venture capital versus the startup support organizations (Universities, accelerators, and incubators), and the current concentration of employment in the St. Louis, MO-IL (MSA).
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Predictors of Infant Mortality in Haiti: A Geospatial Analysis
Rachel Smidt
5-4-2014This project examines whether areas with higher rates of birth in a health facility have lower rates of infant mortality.
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Walkability and Crime in St Louis City, MO
Carson Smith
5-4-2014This project looks at the correlation between walkability and crime in St Louis City.
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Determinants of Nutritional Status for Children Under-3 in Léogâne Commune, Haiti
Andrea L. Spray
12-12-2014High child mortality in Haiti can be attributed to a high burden of infectious disease, widespread malnutrition and lack of infrastructure enabling access to clean water, sanitation and health services. Léogâne was the epicenter of the 2010 earthquake, and prior to which had one of the highest under-5 mortality rates. Less than 40% of the population in the Ouest has access to basic health care services In rural areas, 13% of the population lives more than 15 km from the nearest health center. The objective of this research was to determine where the Children’s Nutrition Program of Haiti (CNP) should place monitrices (community health workers) in order to optimize efforts to improve the health situation of children in Léogâne Commune, Haiti who are at greatest need.
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Gang Movement in a Changing City: The Case of St. Louis’s Dark Side
Amanda Stoermer and Anna Ravindranath
12-12-2014St. Louis neighborhoods have experienced quite a bit of social and economic change in recent history, namely rapid depopulation, a decline in the city’s industrial base, aging housing stock, and chronic unemployment (Decker & Van Winkle, 1996). All of these had a direct effect on the increase in poverty levels among St. Louis city residents and subsequently the rise in violent crime and gang activity (Decker & Van Winkle, 1996). Over time, pockets of crime and poverty, such as McRee Town, became eye sores to city officials and middle-class residents, and as a result large housing projects were demolished and more low-income neighborhoods began to see initiatives for development. This research project examines the effect the Botanical Heights development project had on the Dark Side gang by mapping the crime patterns of the gang during a span of nine years.