Not Teaching Next Year?

I received some intriguing news today: Jim and Marcus have written me into their grant to do GIS work on a project they will hopefully be beginning next fall. It was kind of funny how I found out, because Marcus flat out asked me if Jim had told me: I had only vaguely indicated I was interested in the project. I guess that was enough for them to decide I was "the one" who would do it. I don't know too much about the project, but it involves some time and space analyses with human populations and ecological hot spots. I'll get to learn GIS, and add that to my intellectual tool box. GIS stands for Geographic Information Systems.

I'm not sure if being "written into the grant" means I'll get some funding for working on it, but I sure hope so. If that's the case, perhaps I can cut back on the amount of time I end up teaching during my PhD. Anything to reduce the amount of mindless grading would be nice. I already have a large amount of teaching experience on my CV from this year and from throughout my master's. A little variety would be a good thing. This will be amazing, because GIS is a tool I can use for my own purposes, and it would be nice to get to work on a project with people, especially one that sounds so interesting.

Next step, see if there is an introductory class I can take on GIS this spring to get a jump on next fall.