GeoMentors Blog

How did you first learn about and/or use GIS?  A friend introduced me to GIS as I was a draftsman at a local electric utility in 2001. A year later, I quit my full-time job and took a part-time position with the City of Murfreesboro's Planning Department to learn GIS as a GIS Technician. Since 2002, I have been working in GIS

Name one thing you love about GIS and/or geography: Topology

Why did you want to volunteer as a GeoMentor? I love talking about GIS and introducing others to how they can solve problems.

What kind of GeoMentor volunteer opportunity and experience are you looking for? I enjoy talking to high school students about career opportunities in GIS. I've helped young people and even semi-retired folks change careers.

If someone asked you why they should learn about GIS and/or geography, how would you respond in one sentence? GIS allows my analytical and artistic parts of my brain to dance while solving problems.

Email: bhall1821@outlookcom or bhall@cudrc.com

Websites: LinkedIn

Twitter: @bhall1821

How did you first learn about and/or use GIS?  I was an undergraduate student at TN Technological University in Cookeville, TN studying Soil Science and my advisor said I should take “one of those computer mapping classes” as an elective. I haven’t stopped learning about GIS since then.

Name one thing you love about GIS and/or geography: I love the interdisciplinary nature of GIS, I have the opportunity to work with so many talented professionals and researchers to help them answer questions and solve problems that I otherwise would never know existed.

Why did you want to volunteer as a GeoMentor? I want young people in Tennessee to know that geography and GIS are a viable career path that lead to a lot challenging and engaging opportunities.

What kind of GeoMentor volunteer opportunity and experience are you looking for? My biggest goal right now is to help classroom teachers find ways to integrate GIS into their already existing curriculum… but that hasn’t stopped us from visiting schools with our augmented reality sandbox, our portable stream table, or our SimTable to help teach physical geography concepts.

If someone asked you why they should learn about GIS and/or geography, how would you respond in one sentence? Everything happens somewhere.

Email: mcampono@utk.edu

Websites: UTK GIS Lab; MEGA:BITESS Academy; Opioids in Tennesee storymap; Tennessee Geographic Alliance Open Data Portal

Twitter: @mcamponovo

How did you first learn about and/or use GIS?  I was a CAD Tech and used .shp files to start concept plans for laying out new subdivisions for rezoning applications. My GIS guy had to take a month off, so he taught me how to extract my own .shp files. I was hooked and eventually took over his job when he left for an Environmental Engineering firm. I followed him there a year later. We are still friends.

Name one thing you love about GIS and/or geography: I was fascinated by my Dad’s National Geographic magazines as a kid. I’d read every bit of every issue – and especially loved the maps. GIS is a way to “visit” a place without actually traveling there. Now that I am working this contract in Italy, I’m able to visit in-person some of the places I’d only seen in aerial imagery. Bonus: The famous Map Gallery at the Vatican is just an hour train ride away!

Why did you want to volunteer as a GeoMentor? My previous employer had an annual STEM program. The students spend a week with us and we teach them about our career paths – Architectural, Engineering…and GIS. Most kids walk in having no idea what GIS is. It was great to see their eyes light up as they realize they’ve been using GIS for years (navigating in their cell phones). Now they have a small idea of that process...as well as how data is collected using Trimble equipment and cellphone apps.

What kind of GeoMentor volunteer opportunity and experience are you looking for? I’m hoping once I get settled in here that we can start a STEM program for the local students.

If someone asked you why they should learn about GIS and/or geography, how would you respond in one sentence? Because EVERYTHING is SOMEWHERE! Let that sink in. Knowing what “it” is and where “it” is, is SO VITAL to keeping society running – emergency services, logistics, asset management, infrastructure….everything comes back to what and where. It is inescapable. To me, GIS is like putting together a huge jigsaw puzzle – all the data and geometry fits together to make an image of what really exists in the world.

Email: Deborah.Huber.STX@gmail.com

How did you first learn about and/or use GIS?  As part of my Masters curriculum, we had a project with an external client who was mapping all the scenic routes in the Southern part of the Acadiana region in Louisiana. We used MapInfo to do it.

Name one thing you love about GIS and/or geography: Data makes so much sense when you visually represent the same in GIS. And the same data can be sliced and diced and show the various changes to help understanding and critical thinking about it.

Why did you want to volunteer as a GeoMentor? My daughter and son are the main reasons I want to volunteer as a GeoMentor. I have seen how their eyes have lit up when I show them the GIS applicability of their school projects and how they can learn GIS as a skill.

What kind of GeoMentor volunteer opportunity and experience are you looking for? I want to volunteer to help others understand what GIS is, teach it and see how GIS fits with their requirements.

If someone asked you why they should learn about GIS and/or geography, how would you respond in one sentence? Because in order to make better decisions, they need to know the information correctly and understand it for their better future.

Email address: Madhuri.adapala@gmail.com 

Website(s): Presentation given for the Louisiana Association of School Libraries

How did you first learn about and/or use GIS?  Before it was widely called “GIS”, I learned about GIS in Penn State’s Geography Department in 1988 when they offered it as one of the four Geography specializations. Embarrassingly enough for this forum, I eschewed that track in favor of Planning & Applied Geography (aka Urban Planning and Regional Development), which is still my hobby.

Name one things you love about GIS and/or geography.  The foremost thing I love about geography (and what I always mention) is how applicable and pervasive geography is in today’s world. The field of Geography is so malleable that is can be applied to many, many, fields of study in the physical & social sciences, business, government & policy and anywhere folks apply ‘data science’. Global Navigation Satellite Systems, the open data movement and smart devices have really driven a resurgence in Geography in today’s world. The Internet of Things, Smart Cities, Data Science, Autonomous Vehicles and many societal issues & policies, all rely heavily on Geography, GIS, spatial and temporal data alignment and geospatial standards (go OGC!).

Why did you want to volunteer as a GeoMentor? I truly believe in the Geography Week & GIS Day program so I have been volunteering in my kids’ classrooms each year to be a guest speaker since 2012. Every year at our initial parent teacher meetings, I always ask if I can present during Geography week. I use a Geography topic or GIS to reinforce a current curriculum topic, which helps the teacher… I have never been turned away! We also have an analogous effort at work called “Partners in Education”, which is our geospatially-focused STEM outreach program. So, for me, it is a way to share my love of Geography, connect with my kids and their friends AND facilitate our agency’s STEM outreach mission.

What kind of GeoMentor volunteer opportunity and experience are you looking for? As a serial volunteer and having two jobs, I look for opportunities that I can afford with my work/life budget. One perfect fit has been to be a virtual mentor and virtual judge for the “My California GIS Mapping Showcase and Competition” run by the California Geographic Alliance. I feel that I am a good example that being a GeoMentor does not have to be an arduous time commitment.

If someone asked you why they should learn about GIS and/or geography, how would you respond in one sentence? GIS and Geography are foundational and pervasive throughout society and business today with the ubiquity of Global Navigation Satellite Systems, smart devices, open data and data science: Geographers and GIS experts are needed everywhere!

Email address: rwspacekraft@mac.com 

Website(s): LinkedIn; Geospatial San Diego

Twitter: @rwspacekraft

How did you first learn about and/or use GIS? 

I wasn’t too sure about what I wanted to major in my first couple years in college. My uncle worked as a city planner, and he would tell me: “companies are always hiring for people that know GIS”. So, one year, to avoid taking a chemistry class, I registered for physical geography, and the professor of that class repeated the same advice. The next semester, I enrolled in an intro GIS course and ended up getting my BA in geography.

How did you first learn about and/or use GIS?  I was in my senior year of undergrad, wondering what I was going to do with a geography degree.  I took my first GIS class my last semester of undergrad (it was the only GIS course offered at the time), then went on to grad school so I could work in the GIS lab and get experience.