Applicable only to students admitted during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Master of Applied Geographic Information Science and Technologies (MAGIST)

College of Letters and Science

Graduate Degrees

The Department of Geography offers the Master of Applied Geographic Information Science and Technologies (MAGIST) degree.

Admissions Requirements

Master’s Degree

Advising

All academic advising for students in the MAGIST program will be coordinated and overseen by the Academic Administrator, who will be assisted by the administrative staff of the program. All students will be expected to meet with the Academic Administrator for a live online meeting (1) in the student’s quarter of entry into the program and (2) in the student’s expected quarter of graduation from the program. Ongoing individualized advising support is available to all matriculated students, and students are encouraged to meet with their assigned academic advisor at least once per academic quarter. Students will be assigned an academic advisor upon admission and will be able to choose a capstone advisor among available MAGIST faculty. Each student’s assigned academic advisor will also provide guidance in selecting courses and establishing a program of study, identifying an industry partner or research topic to facilitate completion of the capstone research project, and the steps necessary to complete the capstone project.

In addition, the Academic Administrator will coordinate and oversee the availability of course office hours, which will be available to provide course-specific student support and advising on a weekly basis. Office hours advising will be available in-person, online via video conferencing, and by telephone. Program staff will also regularly circulate announcements about employment opportunities and relevant extracurricular activities and opportunities.

Areas of Study

None

Foreign Language Requirement

None

Course Requirements

Students must complete courses to complete a minimum of 36 units. Students enrolling full-time can complete the program in three quarters of study; part-time students must be enrolled in at least one course per quarter. All nine required courses are core MAGIST 400-series graduate courses. Other graduate-level (200-series) and upper division (100-series) courses are not open to enrollment by MAGIST students and may not be counted toward degree requirements. All courses must be taken on a letter grading basis.

Full-time students will complete 36 units over the duration of one academic year as specified in the following sample study plan (note that students enrolled part-time may follow a different study plan):

Fall Quarter
GEOG 401: Applied Spatial Data Science (four units)
GEOG 410: Geospatial Databases and Data Management (four units)
GEOG 411: Geospatial Imagery Analysis (four units)

Winter Quarter
GEOG 412: Programming for Spatial Data Science I (four units)
GEOG 413: Applied Spatial Statistics (four units)
GEOG 498: Capstone I – Geospatial Research Methods (four units)

Spring Quarter
GEOG 414: Programming for Spatial Data Science II (four units)
GEOG 415: Spatial Data Science Futures (four units)
GEOG 499: Geospatial Research Project Seminar (four units)

Teaching Experience
Not Required

Field Experience
Not Required

Capstone Plan

A capstone research project will be required of all students. The capstone project must consist of an original written analysis that solves a real-world problem or advances existing knowledge and techniques in geospatial science and technology. The capstone project will be supervised by a faculty advisor, who will serve as the instructor of record for the capstone project courses as well as the chair of an advising committee consisting of the faculty advisor and at least two additional members appointed by the Department of Geography. Students will be required to complete a project proposal. The project proposal consists of a description of the problem, a summary of the geospatial technology methods that will be used in addressing the problem, and a preliminary project outline. The project’s primary form will be a written paper but significant elements of the project may include (but are not limited to) maps, data visualizations, geospatial data, Web content, databases, and computer code. All work will be completed in close consultation with the student’s academic advisor and, if applicable, a selected industry partner. In relation to the capstone project, students will be accountable at all times only to their respective advising committees; in cases where a capstone project involves work with an external partner, the capstone project does not establish or imply any form of employment relationship or internship.  Academic advising committees are solely responsible for evaluation and assessment of the capstone project.

Thesis Plan
None

Time-to-Degree
The normative time-to-degree is three quarters of full-time academic study. The maximum time-to-degree will be nine academic quarters (three calendar years; Summer quarters excluded). This maximum is established keeping in mind the slowest possible timeline to completion (one course per quarter; nine quarters total).

DEGREE	NORMATIVE TIME TO ATC (Quarters)	NORMATIVE TTD	MAXIMUM TTD
MAGIST	3	3	9

Academic Disqualification and Appeal of Disqualification

University Policy
A student who fails to meet the above requirements may be recommended for academic disqualification from graduate study. A graduate student may be disqualified from continuing in the graduate program for a variety of reasons. The most common is failure to maintain the minimum cumulative grade point average (3.00) required by the Academic Senate to remain in good standing (some programs require a higher grade point average). Other examples include failure of examinations, lack of timely progress toward the degree and poor performance in core courses. Probationary students (those with cumulative grade point averages below 3.00) are subject to immediate dismissal upon the recommendation of their department. University guidelines governing academic disqualification of graduate students, including the appeal procedure, are outlined in Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA.

Special Departmental or Program Policy
Recommendations for academic disqualification are made by the Master of Applied Geospatial Information Systems and Technologies (MAGIST) Steering Committee. The MAGIST Steering Committee does not enforce any additional academic disqualification standards beyond those specified by university policy, but students who fail to meet the above requirements for continuing graduate study will be referred to the MAGIST Steering Committee for review and possible academic disqualification.