Beth Ellison - Southern Illinois University

Name: Beth Ellison

Family: Been together with fellow-UWEC Geography Alum, Blake Christenson for 3.5 years and we are expecting our first little one this July!

Major & Minor: Comprehensive Geography Major in International Studies

Year Graduated: 2008

Current Employer: Southern Illinois University - Carbondale

Length of Employment: 2 years

Interests and Hobbies: What aren't I interested in?  Down in Southern Illinois there is fabulous hiking (believe it or now we are VERY hilly down here - we are approximately 12 hours from Eau Claire), wineries (30+ within 30 miles of my house), and biking.  Basically if I can get outside, I will (at least on the days where we are not 100+ heat index).

What helped you decide what route to take after graduation (i.e. graduate school or type of job)?

Immediately after graduation I attended Miami University (OH).  I had a research assistantship (RA) with MU- Geography Dept. and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.  For my RA, I developed a historical flow synthesis for Ohio Reservoirs to understand fish populations.  This work was heavily GIS-based and hydraulic modeling, currently a paper is in review for publication.  Currently, I work for Southern Illinois University as a Staff Researcher and Project Manager.  I work specifically in hazards, more or less flooding.  I have the fortune of working with some fantastic individuals across the state: from local community members, state politicians, the US Army Corps of Engineers and with some of the heads of FEMA in DC.  My current project is working on proactive flood mitigation activities in Alexander County after the 2011 Mississippi River flooding.

What do you think gave you to edge to get your current position? My expansive research history, both undergraduate and graduate work.  Also, my willingness to network and ask questions. 

Describe your typical day at work: Depends on the season and the current projects.  Right now, our focus is proactive mitigation on the Mississippi River.  I am project manager for a major flood recovery effort to relocate residents off the floodplain and determine best-practices for floodplain management within this given community.  Check out our project website at https://sites.google.com/site/alexcomitigation2011/.  When I'm not working on this project, I'm busy working on Hazard Mitigation Grants across the state and doing various research/consulting on the side.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Good question.  During my time at SIUC, I will be working on my PhD in Environmental Resources & Policy.  After we finish, Blake and I hope to find great post-doctoral opportunities and eventually find a school, similar to UWEC to begin teaching and research.  (Blake is working on his PhD in Criminology and Criminal Justice focusing on spatial analysis of crime and how to effectively use this information for policing, etc.)

What advice can you give to those who are still in school?  Get in all the opportunities you can, including some level of student research.  The experience is fantastic and it is amazing how those skills will help you in any career path.  My biggest tip would be to have exceptional communication skills.  The varieties of mass-communication sometimes can confuse and halt the progress of work-related tasks.  Make sure you can use these various communication lines to efficiently and effectively communicate what you want to say.

Please feel free to contact me at the information below.  We are also always looking for graduate students.  Please shoot me an e-mail if you are interested!

Beth Ellison

Staff Researcher and Project Manager

Southern Illinois University

(618) 453-7349

beth.ellison@siu.edu

Darin Mertig - Applied Data Consultants

Name: Darin Mertig  

Family: Ruger( my Dog)

Major & Minor: Geography Resource Management (Comprehensive, No Minor)

Year Graduated: May 2010

Current Employer: Applied Data Consultants

Length of Employment: August 2011-Present

Interests and Hobbies: Hunting, Fishing, Shooting, Football, Baseball, Beer Tastings

What helped you decide what route to take after graduation (i.e. graduate school or type of job)? I had contemplated Grad school after graduation, and even looked into a career in the Military, but after seeing the number of entry level position’s in the GIS field all around the country, I decided that joining the work force and gaining professional experience was the best decision at the time.

What do you think gave you to edge to get your current position? My knowledge of the GIS programs and the ability to be very flexible in what I was able to do with the program. Also, having strong recommendations from the Geography department was a big help. I also think the relationship between ADC and the Geography department helped in the end, they know what UWEC Geography students have for GIS abilities and it makes it easy for them to take students who graduate in the same city as the employer.

Describe your typical day at work: My typical day of work varies quite a bit, I can go from making maps for the delivery of telephone books, creating the information that is needed to start creating the maps, even to working for the Army Corp of Engineers doing various projects. All of variation gives me a lot of different knowledge and job skills, it also helps keep the day from becoming monotonous.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? I can see myself working as a project manager or a division manager, but still in the GIS field and dealing with technology, the more it changes the more there is to do and the more people they will need to run different positions.

What advice can you give to those who are still in school? I would say to take any classes which GIS, LIDAR, GPS and any other technologies offered. You can never have enough knowledge of one program and the more that you know the better off you are. I would recommend choosing projects that challenge your ability and present them at multiple conferences and events as possible. You can never get your name out there enough.  Also, I would recommend that you build your resume early and update it often.

Sarin Strobush - East View Geospatial, Minneapolis, MN

Name: Sarin Strobush

Family: N/A

Major & Minor: Environmental Geography

Year Graduated: 2011

Current Employer: East View Geospatial, Minneapolis, MN

Length of Employment: 6 months

Interests and Hobbies: scuba diving, travelling, motorcycles, saving money, island cuisine, and renovating my house

What helped you decide what route to take after graduation?

The reason I chose to find a job instead of continuing my education is because I wanted real-world experience using GIS. I enjoyed learning about different applications of GIS in mapping and problem solving, but I wanted a chance to apply the knowledge I gained. I decided a career would allow me to implement things I knew as well as continue learning new processes.

What do you think gave you the edge to get your current position?

Having a simple, organized resume is the easiest step to getting a job. I am by no means an expert on getting hired, but I think I got my job because of my solid resume, flexible availability, and genuine interest in the company during my interview.

Describe your typical day at work

I work in the special project section of the company with less than ten other people. We are a contracted group that works on many types of cartographic or GIS projects. One thing that attracted me to this job is the occasional change in work assignment. I have been involved in two projects since starting in July. The first consists of high-resolution feature extraction in one geocell, and the second project deals with updating data in more than 50 geocells. I am constantly learning new tools and procedures in Arc 9.3 and 10, while applying different sets of geographic standards. I have to execute quality control by using batch checks, PLTS tools, and other software in addition to ArcGIS. My group is often working 10 hour days to complete assignments on time.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

I hope to still be working at East View.

What advice can you give to those who are still in school?

The most important thing to do is decide what you want to do after graduating. If you want to work, decide what type of job you want and the skills needed to attain it. 

Ryan Robert - St. Mary's University. Master's in GIS

Name:  Ryan Robert

Major & Minor:  Geography, History

Year Graduated:  2009

Current Employer:  GeoSpatial Services – Winona, MN

Length of Employment: 1 year

Interests and Hobbies:  disc golf, swimming, camping

What helped you decide what route to take after graduation (i.e. graduate school or type of job)?    Christina (and the job market) encouraged me to pursue a graduate program.   I’m glad I listened.  I studied GIS at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. 

What do you think gave you to edge to get your current position?  I left UWEC with a firm foundation in GIS concepts and techniques, but I strongly believe that my graduate experience opened new networking opportunities for me.  I was introduced to Geospatial Services, my current employer, during my studies at Saint Mary’s. 

Describe your typical day at work:  I work on National Wetland Inventory projects for the USFWS and the WI DNR.  The job includes several processes including: orthorectification of images, raster to vector conversions, data attribution, geodatabase management, and topology validation.  I work with very talented people with great personalities!!!

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?  My goal is to continue working in the GIS field.  Ideally I would like to be working for the city police department as a crime analyst.  I’m at an exciting point in my life!!!  I will be getting married in September of next year and my Fiancé and I just purchased our first home.  Kids next?!?!?

What advice can you give to those who are still in school?  I would mention three things:

1.        Database design and management skills are extremely valuable.  I would also recommend being comfortable with SQL.

2.        The web page development and/or web application development seems to be increasingly linked with GIS and its capabilities.  Agencies/organizations/employers seem to be moving more and more toward publishing interactive maps on the internet. 

3.       Learn a programming language.  I would recommend Python as ESRI is moving in that direction.