Geographic Information Science & Technology
Advance research, development, and applications of geographic information and analysis systems to support the nation’s energy, environment, and security programs, from local to global scales.
The Geographic Information Science and Technology (GIST) Group at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been a pioneer in the development, implementation, and application of systems, science, and technology for geographic information since 1969 - well before the advent of commercial GIS. In the DOE national laboratory system, it is the only computational research group focused on advancing the theory and applications of geospatial science and technology. Today, the GIST group is an internationally renowned R&D organization of over thirty diverse scientific professionals who bring together a wide range of expertise ranging from GIS and remote sensing technologies to key domain sciences. We focus on developing innovative, knowledge discovery, solutions to solve multidisciplinary and complex problems for energy, environment, and national and homeland security missions. In addition, we actively partner with leading academic institutions to collaborate with faculty members and engage students to support the national priority of research, education, and workforce development.
Current research and development activities span across high resolution population distribution and dynamics, energy assurance including modeling and visualization of the electric grid and biomass and bioenergy resources, climate change science including climate extremes and integrated impact analysis, emergency and disaster management, critical infrastructure modeling and simulation, and earth science informatics. Our work has been supported by the U. S. Departments of Energy; Department of Homeland Security; Department of Defense; Department of Transportation; Environmental Protection Agency; Bureau of Census; National Aeronautics and Space Administration; National Institute of Health; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and a number of member agencies of the Intelligence Community.