The Institute For Geocomputational Analysis And Statistics (GeoCAS)

The GeoCAS Institute works with social, physical, biological, policy, demographic data that are tied to geographic location for research, policy, and management. GeoCAS is an active online repository for geographic, and other spatially-explicit data for the U.S. Virgin Islands and the broader Caribbean Region. The Institute partners with many U.S. Federal, regional, and local agencies to serve data and applications. Data may be accessed via the data access portal, or the WebGIS mapping portal.

GeoCAS also provides training in the use of geographic information systems (GIS) software, spatial, geostatistical and geocomputational analysis and provides a wide variety of additional services including large format printing. The GeoCAS faculty and staff also works closely with regional and local communities, governments and other key stakeholders on data acquisition and management projects of environmental and spatial importance.

Faculty and Staff at the Institute engage in active academic and teaching activities, including graduate and undergraduate education, cutting-edge and cross-disciplinary research and key community outreach activities.
Research includes spatial and geospatial analyses, hydrology, attitudes towards the environment, and the state of the environment.

Environmental Analysis Lab

The Environmental Analysis Lab is designed to improve the capacity of Virgin Islands scientists and students to conduct rigorous and highly complex laboratory-based research, thereby raising the standard of research across the Territory. It provides an unprecedented level of support for UVI, Territorial, regional and national agencies, organizations and collaborations. In doing so it helps VI-EPSCoR meet an important goal - helping resource managers and policy makers better use and integrate scientific information into their decision making processes. Some of the agencies poised to benefit from this opportunity include the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency.

The 5,000 sq. ft. Environmental Analysis Lab was initiated through VI-EPSCoR's Territorial program, funded by a Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII) grant from the National Science Foundation. A prep room, an instrument room, and water resource/microbiology lab help make up the multi-functional space. Environmental scientist Kevin Brown serves as Lab Director.

Current VI-EPSCoR investments include:

  • A new environmental lab and a new data facility on the UVI St. Thomas campus;
  • Upgraded seawater systems at the MacLean Marine Science Center on St. Thomas and VIERS on St. John;
  • Renovated boat dock, ramp, and storage at MacLean Marine Science Center;
  • New research vessels and equipment, including ocean observing platforms;
  • Broadband connectivity and Internet2 to UVI campuses on St. Croix and St. Thomas;
  • An environmental web portal to support local and regional environmental research, education, and outreach.