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Yale’s Esri Innovation Program (EIP)

The Esri Innovation Program (EIP) encourages educators and students to advance geospatial science in research and education, aligned to industry trends and workforce needs. The program aims to cultivate growth in GIS research and promote teaching excellence in spatial data science, analytics, and GIScience in higher education institutions. EIP institutions and their students gain technical expertise, resources, and support provided by Esri and a community of peers.

Yale was selected to join the Esri Innovation Program (formerly Esri Development Center) in August 2018. As part of the EIP membership, Esri offers the opportunity for the member institutions to organize a campus-wide competition to select the EIP Student of the Year during the spring semester.

Yale’s EIP Student of the Year (* Nominations are open!)

Yale’s Esri Innovation Program (EIP) Student of the Year recognizes outstanding student achievement in developing novel tools or techniques for geospatial analysis using Esri’s ArcGIS platform. Yale’s winners have gone on to compete globally — in 2022, Yichen Yang (Yale School of the Environment) was named Esri’s International EIP Student of the Year for his work mapping urban heat extremes using cyclist-mounted sensors. You can see what a winning StoryMap looks like here or Winners’ Gallery. 

How to Nominate:

Submit your nomination using the form. Self-nominations are also welcome—students may nominate themselves. 

The form takes approximately 5 minutes and asks for: 

  • Basic nominee information (name, NetID, department, affiliation) 
  • A brief statement (3–5 sentences) on why you are nominating the student
  • Responses to the evaluation criteria (see below) 
  • Images or a link to supporting work  
Submit your nomination by February 27, 2026
Requirement:

Kindly note that if your nominee wins Yale’s EIP Student of the Year, they will be requested to create an ArcGIS StoryMap showcasing their work using Esri technology. This StoryMap will be submitted for consideration in the global EIP Student of the Year competition.

Eligibility:

To be considered for Yale’s EIP Student of the Year Award, student must be enrolled in at least one Yale credit course in the current academic year.

Evaluation criteria:

Nominations will be evaluated on five criteria.

  1. Potential Impact: What problem does the work address? Who might benefit from its results or methods? Focus on real-world significance and scale of benefit.
  2. Innovation: How does the work push beyond standard GIS workflows? Describe the novel application of ArcGIS tools or methods.
  3. Originality: What makes the concept or approach distinctive? What sets it apart from similar work in the field?
  4. Implementation: How was the project built, and what Esri technology was used? Include ArcGIS platform components and any integrations.
  5. Organization: How clearly is the work communicated?
What the winner receives:

Yale’s EIP Student of the Year receives from Esri: a $500 cash prize, one Esri Press book, and a certificate of recognition. In addition, the Yale Center for Geospatial Solutions (YCGS) will support the recipient’s nomination for Esri’s global EIP Student Competition. From the set of all EIP student awardees, Esri president Jack Dangermond selects a most outstanding student for special recognition at the Annual Esri International Users Conference in San Diego.


For questions, please contact geospatialhelp@yale.edu.

Yale’s EIP Student of the Year

Winners’ Gallery