This Penn State GIS Day focuses on a “World of Possibilities.” This year’s event connects with the American Association of Geographers’ (AAG) theme for Geography Awareness Week – “World of Possibilities: Geographers at Work.” Participants in this year’s event will have multiple opportunities to learn from individuals working in the geospatial field about how geography, geographic information systems (GIS), and geospatial technologies are being applied daily to address organizational and societal needs.
Monday, November 14, 2022
11:15-12:05pm: Career Panel: Recording
Career Panelists: Frank Desendi (PennDOT), William Johnson (AppGeo), Chris Gabris (Blue Raster)
102 Foster Auditorium Paterno Library/Zoom
Career Resources: Careers in GIS, GIS Heroes (ArcNews),Explore Careers in GIS (partnership of Esri and VirtualJobShadow.com)
1:25-2:15pm: Career Panel: Recording
Career Panelists: Tony Yates (Langan Engineering), Frank Desendi (PennDOT), Chris Gabris (Blue Raster)
102 Foster Auditorium Paterno Library/Zoom
Introductions to the Career Panelists
Frank DeSendi is the manager of the Geographic Information Division in PennDOT’s Bureau of Planning and Research. Frank has a BS in Geography from Penn State University and has over 25 years’ experience with GIS. The Geographic Information Division publishes nearly 2,000 maps, develops GIS analyses and applications, and supports GIS operations PennDOT wide. Additionally, Frank was twice the chair of the American Association of Transportation Officials (AASHTO) GIS-T Task Force. Finally, Frank is a voting member of the PA State GeoBoard.
Tony Yates graduated from Penn State with a B.S. in Geography in 2009, and is currently a Senior GIS Manager at Langan Engineering. He has been working for Langan since 2010, and obtained his GISP certification in 2014. His current responsibilities include managing a team of GIS Analysts who focus on developing and maintaining GIS solutions for campus environments across the country.
Christopher Gabris is a Senior Project Manager and GIS Team Lead at Blue Raster LLC. Chris graduated from Penn State in 2009 with a B.S. in Geography (GIS) and Minor in Information Sciences and Technology (IST) for Earth and Mineral Sciences (EMS). Blue Raster delivers award-winning interactive web and mobile mapping applications for Global Organizations, Federal, State and Local Governments, non-profits and private companies. Chris received his GISP in 2013 and has been at Blue Raster since 2014; currently managing a portfolio of over 20 customers and a skilled team of Designers, GIS/Python Analysts, and Application Developers.
Bill Johnson, Carpe Geo Evangelist, AppGeo. Learn more about AppGeo.
2:30-3:20pm: 5 Forces, 5 Trends, 5 Skills Important in GIS Navigation: Recording
What are the 5 forces acting to bring us to a key moment in spatial thinking and GIS? What are the 5 trends that are most important in GIS in the 2020s? What are the 5 most important skills to nurture as you journey forward in your career? This presentation digs deep into these 3 sets of 5, and why it all matters to you and to society. The content will be delivered via StoryMAP.
Presented by Ridge Waddell, Education Lead Account Manager at Esri, and Geri Miller, Director of Education at Esri
102 Foster Auditorium Paterno Library/Zoom
Geri Miller is Director of Education at Esri’s Global Business Development division. Her mission is to work with Esri teams and international distributors to support the global Education community in the applications of teaching, research and administration, and to help academic institutions stay on the cutting edge of geospatial technology. Ms. Miller has worked extensively with many universities to support and enhance the geospatial footprint on campus, in the capacities of advisor, lecturer, and curriculum developer. In the last two decades, she has taught geospatial technology courses at University of Delaware, West Chester University and Community College of Philadelphia, and has helped many others stay on the leading edge of GIS technology.
Ridge Waddell is a Lead Account Manager on the ESRI Education team. He manages Higher Education accounts in the Northeast region of the USA. He works collaboratively with Esri Industry solutions teams to help disseminate the value of GIS across both Academia and Operational Administration in Higher ED and k-12 industries. He is responsible for making sure educators are developing the next generation GIS professional workforce and bringing to them the value of Esri’s Geospatial cloud.
3:45-5pm: Penn State GIS Day Mixer and Penn State Geography Department Lab Tours
Location: 2nd Floor Walker Building
Technology demonstrations and information from Geography student clubs will be presented.
Tuesday, November 15, 2022
10am-5pm (EST) Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) GIS Conference:
The third annual BTAA GIS Conference features Tanya Ruka and Rudo Kemper from Native Land Digital as the keynote speakers. Register here for this free virtual conference!
6-8pm: OpenStreetMap Mapathon
Location: 114 Deike Building (Fletcher L. Byrom Earth and Mineral Sciences Library
OpenStreetMap Resources:
Check out the GIS Day Digital Swag, including many e-resources!