Geographers without Borders

Maggie Cawley is a geospatial professional focusing on sustainability and urban planning. Maggie began in the urban planning world and started her company, Boomerang Geospatial, a geospatial consulting company specializing in education and conservation in 2013. This is where her journey with open geospatial started, including QGIS and Open Street Maps (OSM). With her company she led mapping education programs in places like Botswana and the United States, focusing on open source GIS. In 2019 Maggie was asked to join the board of OSM as Executive Director, and also serves as vice chair of the National Geospatial Advisory Committee. Maggie has a Master of Arts in Urban and Regional Planning from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Bachelor in International Studies from the University of Richmond.

Michelle Williams, also known as the Survey123 Jedi, is a passionate geospatial professional specializing in, what else but Survey123!

Michelle is a graduate of the University of Redlands, with a Bachelor of Science in Business and a Master of Science in Geographic Information Science and Cartography. Michelle came to the GIS realm a bit later in life and uses her knowledge and experience to teach and influence young people, supporting their successes. Michelle regularly provides free Survey123 training to people, and also consults on solutions for geospatial challenges. In addition to her passion for all things geospatial, Michelle is passionate about sharing her experience with post concussion symptoms, from a concussion she experienced in 2022. She shares her story of this experience so that people will better understand what it is like to suffer from a concussion long term, as well as to help those who have and are still suffering from this invisible affliction.  

Sam Dinning, who was on a previous episode of the podcast, is the current President of Women in GIS. Sam is currently part of the URISA Vanguard Cabinet, and is here to talk about accomplishments for the group in the past year, benefits of being a member, and her recommendation for young people entering the industry.

For more about Women in GIS, visit our website at: https://womeningis.wildapricot.org/

Naz Ali is the Senior GIS Manager for CBRE Canada with almost 18 years of experience working in GIS. She specializes in commercial real estate applications offering market analysis across sever commercial property types. Naz will discuss using massive mobile data in site location analysis, and how the data from your cell phones helps to shape the world around you in terms of real estate decisions. Naz is the Committee Chair of Map Development for Women in GIS, and is a Board Member of the GIS Program Advisory Committee at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Naz received the Vancouver Corporate Distinction Award in 2010, the National Corporate Distinction Award in 2012 both issued by CBRE, and was recognized with an EXRI Canada Award of Excellence in 2017. Naz is a GISP, and attended the University of the South Pacific and British Columbia Institute of Technology.

Dr. Rebecca Lave is a professor at Indiana University. She has done work in advancing the research and visibility of Critical Physical Geography, or CPG. CPG combines critical attention to power relations with deep knowledge of biophysical science or technology in the service of social and environmental transformation. Her research includes CPG, historical landscape and hydroscape change, stream restoration, political economy and ecology, and Science and Technology Studies. She has published works such as Interactive Dynamics of Stream Restoration and Flood Resilience in a Changing Climate, The influence of the human element on the outcomes of riparian restoration in the southwestern US, and The Emerging Commodity of Restored Streams: Science, Policy, and Economics in New Markets for Ecosystem Service Commodities. Dr. Lave has been invited to speak for events and organizations such as Cambridge University Geography Students, Hong Kong University, the New Zealand Geographic Society, and is currently a Distinguished International Visiting Fellow at the Department of Geography, Sheffield University, England. Dr. Lave has a PhD in Geography from UC Berkeley, a Master of City Planning with Certificate in Urban Design from MIT, and a BA in Interdisciplinary Art History and Political Science from Reed College.

Geo Rutherford is an adjunct lecturer at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee teaching 2D concepts. In the summers, she is the Art Director at Bue Lakes Fine Arts Camp. She co-chairs the whyyoumatter non-profit. She also has more than 1.5 million followers on TikTok, her educational content under the name geodesaurus has more than 55 million likes, and more than 380k followers on Instagram. She is here to discuss being an educational content creator, her most popular series: Haunted Hydrology, and how she happened on the creator lifestyle, including unexpected pitfalls and wins.

Wilma is the Geographic Information Officer for the State of Idaho. Wilma began her geospatial journey as a crop consultant, and has also owned a consulting firm in Canada. In 2013, she joined the Office of Information Technology knowing that she was there to make a difference. In November of 2022, she became the GIO for Idaho. Wilma has a masters degree in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences from Wegeningen University.

Join us as we discuss what it's like to attend the ESRI UC for the first time with members of Women in GIS Madyson Bradford and Sara Thompson.

Madyson Bradford graduated from Texas A&M University in 2022 with a BS in Geographic Information Science & Technology with a focus on Computation, Design, and Analysis. As a Data Scientist for the Town of Gilbert, Arizona Office of Economic Development, Madyson specializes in data collection, modeling, and analysis, while providing expertise in economic impact assessment and GIS for business development, redevelopment, and tourism. Madyson is active in professional geospatial organizations like the Arizona Geographic Information Council and Women in GIS, and also professional economic organizations like the Arizona Association for Economic Development and C2ER: The Council for Community and Economic Research.

Sara Thompson is the Geospatial Analysis Section Manager for the Arizona Department of Transportation's Multimodal Planning Division. Her team manages the characteristics of Arizona roadways in GIS and supports ADOT with maps and data. She graduated from Arizona State University with a GIS certificate, a BS in Biology, and a minor in Business. Sara is the incoming chair of URISA's Vanguard Cabinet, a group of young GIS professionals working to provide resources, mentoring and networking to other young professionals.

In this episode we talk with Katie Grillo, Geospatial Connector.

Katie is a GIS Web Technology Specialist. Her mission is to empower data owners to understand how they can visualize their information through maps and digital storytelling. She provides hands-on trainings, presentations, live demos and support, all designed to help educate both GIS and non-GIS users on how to do more with their spatial data.

By day, Katie works full time for the City of Cambridge, MA. During her nights she teaches at the University of Richmond, Virginia and also runs her own GIS Consulting Business, called Geogressive.

Katie is heavily involved in the GIS Community in the Northeast. She spent many years volunteering on the Board for the Northeast ArcGIS Users Group (NEARC). During her 2020-22 Presidency, she launched the NEARC Community Events program, where she has organized dozens of virtual and in-person events to help bring the GIS Community together on important topics. In early 2023 she founded the Women in GIS Northeast Chapter with the goal of creating more space for women in GIS to thrive.

In a statement: Katie is a passionate GIS Professional striving to create meaningful impact through mapping, storytelling, and community engagement.

Fran Curtis is the Director of Digital Solutions for Pennoni, located at firm headquarters in Philadelphia, PA. Pennoni is a multi-disciplinary engineering firm, and ran is responsible for their portfolio of digital solutions with an emphasis on geospatial. Fran guides clients in their digital transformations, crafting solutions to help with a variety of workloads, implement solutions to extend the longevity of infrastructure, and to help them plan and forecast capital expenditures. Fran has more than 20 years experience in providing digital solutions to federal, state, local governments and Fortune 500 companies. Fran is a PA native of West Chester, with a BA from West Chester University of Pennsylvania.

Sam Dinning is a GIS Analyst at Douglas County, Colorado, member of Women in GIS, and volunteer. Sam is passionate about GIS data, and has a BS in Geospatial Sciences and Community Planning, and a MS in Applied Geospatial Sciences from Northern Arizona University.

Kara Utter is the owner and founder of Dynamic Visions GIS, a consulting company offering services to local government, international entities, business case consulting, feasibility studies, data development, analyses and more. She also is an instructor for Geospatial Training Services, an active member of Women In GIS and URISA, and her experience is varied throughout the world. Kara recently founded Dynamic Visions, venturing out to independence after working for various companies, governments, and other entities for many years. Kara has a BS in Biology and Marine Science from the University of Wisconsin and a MS in Environmental Science and Geospatial Analysis from the University of Colorado Denver.