I am a PhD candidate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. I have a masters degree in Geographic Information Science from International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), the Netherlands and a bachelors degree in Computer Science and Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). I got my basic education from my home country, Nepal. I am fortunate to attend these diverse schools, each of which has uniquely contributed to enrich my educational experience and broaden my worldviews.
After receiving the masters degree, I worked for about 5 years in the design and implementation of computer-based information systems in Nepal. During this period, I experienced that the development of useful information systems is far more challenging than it first appears. This experience intrigued and eventually led me to the doctoral program in 2005.
My PhD dissertation work is focused on user-generated geospatial information through the peer-production process (also called Volunteered Geographic Information). For this as well as other works, I draw extensively from information science. I have, therefore, chosen to take two advisers for my dissertation: Zorica Nedovic-Budic from the Department of Urban and Regional Planning for the ‘geo’ part and Chip Bruce from Graduate School of Library and Information Science for the ‘informatics’ part. Other members of my dissertation committee are: Lew Hopkins, Caroline Haythornthwaite, and Muki Haklay. Working with this amazing team of people from different intellectual backgrounds has been one of the most useful experiences of my graduate school life. It has provided me with an opportunity to learn multiple worldviews and prepare myself for dealing with multidisciplinary problems in the future.
Contact Address:
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
111 Temple Buell Hall
611 Taft Drive, Champaign, IL 61820
Tel. Ph.: 217-333-3890
Email: nbudhat2@illinois.edu
