I’ve just completed my Master of Science in Geographic Information Science, and as such haven’t been climbing too much, and probably won’t for a bit of time to come as I transition to looking for the next step in my career.
My research interests (what I really enjoy working on while I have been here in Akron) include:
Spatial analysis on Environmental Health Issues, particularly with regard to heavy metal poisoning and groundwater protection;
Technical aspects of the development of Geographic Information Systems and how the technology is implemented in decision making processes. This includes the deployment of limited access resources in real time to front -line end users. I like the idea of being able to pass data stored in a geodatabase to a utility tech for instance, and allow that tech to update and edit changes made to the real world object directly to the geodatabase. This can also be used to help make the types of emergency planning decisions easier in a dynamic situation, and with the ability to implement disconnected editing, allow for rapid communciation of the emergency as it changes.
All I really do these days is work. Having just finished, I haven’t really quite adjusted to the much slower pace, not that i really want to do that. I believe that with the pace at which development in this field is occuring, without a stable position we need to stay as current and fresh as we can, and be able to turn on an opportunity at a moments notice. I know that a lot of organizations are still trying to catch up with the amount of software and tools available, so my latest work and study has been on web development, programming and customization of the tools we have available to us here at The University of Akron so that I can take whatever will become available to me in the future and make it robust enough to quickly and efficiently meet the challenges and demands of the work environment.
