Latest Contributions by DawnWright

Thanks for asking that Mike and GREAT to have you join us! Yes, it's really an important and precious part of my experience at Esri to still be a faculty member at Oregon State University, where I have still been involved in advising students (a PhD student finished last year) and working with those faculty. My role at Esri also has me greatly involved with other universities, either on projects that we are doing together jointly (e.g., see Esri and the Scientific Community | Esri Insider  ) or with activities such as serving on the University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment Advisory Board. So with those kinds of activities, you feel as though you are part of that campus community too. I love it! ... View more

Day to day I'm on email and GeoNet!  But more seriously, the exciting thing about my job at Esri is that it is all about engaging and communicating. For instance, we have a new product manager for 3D mapping and analysis and we got together so that I could share with him the many projects going on under our science initiative and how best to connect him with my network of scientists using our software so that he can develop better use cases which will ultimately lead to improvements in our 3D products to serve scientists. In this meeting we were joined by Jack Dangermond (neat serendipity as he saw us and just sat down) who gave us both an overview of the history of how the company had approached 3D problems in the past, the data structures that had evolved, where we would like to go now given the various needs out there of our users and the disruptive technologies such as drones (in the air AND in the sea) that are game changers, etc. Later I ran into some colleagues who wanted to me show me some neat applications that they were developing for virtual reality mapping experiences (including a spin wearing an Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, and then discussing one of our new collaborations with the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project where we might develop a neat prototype with their estuary data. Another colleague wanted some advice as to where to publish an article based on some new spatial statistical approaches that his group had developed for interpolating data collected by a variety of mobile devices in the field. Of course, I SO spend large portions of every day doing email too! I was attending a panel discussion at a conference and as the distinguished panelists introduced themselves (“I’m XX and I’m a marine ecologist,” "I'm YY and I specialize in marine spatial planning," etc., etc.), this one panelist said, “My name is XX and I do email!”  ... View more

GREAT link! Thanks Joe! And I want to salute Joe here in this forum as the creator of the "Deepsea Dawn" lego minifig and Lego marine GIS lab. See this at the top of my Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/deepseadawn  ... View more

Hi Wetherbee! Great question as it speaks to how so many in our community may be feeling. These are interesting times. I think the best thing that business partners and non profits can do is to stay the course with the great work that you are already doing. Despite an onslaught that we may feel at the federal level, there is so much excellent work that is being done at the federal level (e.g., by NOAA, NASA, USGS and others who work with the business partner and non profit communities), but ALSO at the state and local level. For instance, it is heartening to see the cities and states that are moving forward with Paris Climate Agreement goals, principles, and milestones, making that commitment regardless. ... View more

Yes, great point Megan! A lot of the tips mentioned can apply to people of all ages. The Esri YPN is for people of all ages too. "Young Professional" can mean that you are "young" within the geospatial profession (maybe as a second or third career) but mature in age! ... View more

Another great question! Thanks Denise! This is another topic that could/should be an AMA in and of itself, but quickly I would say for young women to: - be confident in what they are doing and to KNOW that they are on the path to success in geospatial because it is such a hot field - join advocacy groups such as the Esri Young Professionals Network, Young Professionals Network (YPN) | Esri GIS Community  where there are so many great resources and meetups - try your best to find not only a great mentor but an ADVOCATE. I can explain more in subsequent posts - try your best to find travel resources to get to conferences such as the UC but also local GIS user group meetings, smaller geospatial tech or science conferences, and the like - get up the courage to PRESENT your own work at these conferences, which are also great places to get affirmation and good tips for improving your work - start a resume or CV NOW at this point in your career - get your own web presence (web site, blog) and business card much more but will stop now due to time  ... View more

Great! Thanks Donald and will get in touch later. ... View more

Amen sister!  ... View more

Hi Lisa! Wow! We would most definitely be interested in working with you! We can talk more about this offline but we would definitely love for your group to join our growing list of EMU use case projects as attached ... View more

Pieces of Eight by John Drake, Pieces of Eight: John Drake: 9780007268962: Amazon.com: Books   ... View more

Hi Jan! Great to see you here today! Yes, Arc Marine is still around and at http://dusk.geo.orst.edu/djl/arcgis . But this blog post may be even more helpful to you as to the way forward: Course Change for the Arc Marine Data Model | ArcGIS Blog   And we are now in the web GIS pattern moving beyond the desktop geodatabase, always sharing the latest and greatest beyond ArcMarine at the annual Esri Ocean GIS Forum, http://www.esri.com/events/ocean ... View more

Oh my goodness! What a great question! This is one that I'll have to think on and maybe post a more detailed answer later. But right now for the sake of time, I'll say that COMMUNICATING science is one heck of a challenge right now, and is so very important in this age where science is being questioned, challenged, put in the category of fake news, etc., all with the stakes so high for our planet. GIS makes a terrific contribution to science communication through story maps. So many great examples of this at http://esriurl.com/analyticalstories and https://storymaps.arcgis.com  ... View more

Hi Donald - no have not heard of this database but will try to look it up after the AMA and would be happy to discuss with you further. And regarding MGET, my colleagues and I remain super keen on that platform of tools. They continue to improve upon the existing ones, to add new ones, and their use of the ArcGIS platform pushes us to improve on this end as well. ... View more

Thanks Denise, for the opportunity to answer a question like this! My absolute top female role model is my own mother, an educator in speech communication, but always a beacon of integrity, grace, patience, and good humor. Others who have inspired me include Dr. Sylvia Earle because of her energetic, articulate, and passioned crusading for the oceans and for the entire planet. Her ability to communicate with beauty and passion, as well scientific accuracy, has inspired me. I could go on and on but would also like to salute to Dr. Rachel Haymon, now retired from UCSB as a geology professor who taught me so much about how to lead scientific expeditions at sea and in the lab, and how to be unrelentingly rigorous and careful in doing science. ... View more

Thanks Chris for these excellent questions, both that could be fodder for an AMA in and of themselves! But quickly, I would say the best way to engage science deniers is to first LISTEN to them and to their concerns. And then to try to find points of commonality, hopefully revolving around SOLUTIONS that we all need to seek, such as how do we ensure that we all have access to clean water and clean air, and enough food for our communities. That's a good starting point I think.  One of the greatest threats to research right now that also holds great potential, has to be the funding that is available, so that researchers are able to ask the proper questions to gain solutions, knowing that they can propose research projects that are properly resourced. ... View more