COMMUNITY COLLEGE & K-12 SECTOR (2)
Scott Ermer
Professor, Agriculture Business Management, Hawkeye Community College
Scott has taught the geospatial technology courses at Hawkeye Community College since 1999. He teaches courses in GPS and GIS for students in the Ag Business Management, Horticulture, Natural Resources and Police Science programs. Scott also conducts workshops in the geo technologies for high school Agriculture Education instructors yearly and has led workshops for various groups from Pioneer Hi-Bred, NRCS, Americorps, and ASI. Scott co-hosted the Eastern Iowa GIS Conference held annually in Waterloo and currently serves on the IGIC Board representing the Community College sector.
Terry Brase
Associate Professor, Agricultural GPS/GIS, Kirkwood Community College
Terry has taught applications of geospatial technologies since 1993, currently teaching introductory courses in precision farming and ArcView, Geospatial Data Collection and Agricultural Spatial Analysis. He has assisted the integration of GIS into Kirkwood’s business and emergency services programs. His involvement in IGIC includes serving as treasurer and organizing the ESRI statewide education license. Terry is also the Principal Investigator (PI) of AgrowKnowledge, The National Center for Agriscience and Technology Education and recently named a Co-PI of the National Geospatial Education Center Planning Grant. He has recently authored a textbook “Precision Agriculture”, published by Delmar Publishing, which covers the process of agricultural spatial analysis.
COUNTY GOVERNMENT SECTOR (4) Micah Cutler
GIS Coordinator, Harrison County
Micah has been the GIS Coordinator in Harrison County for nearly 6 years, since the creation of the county GIS Department. She is very active in GIS issues in Iowa and has been an IGIC member since 2002, currently serving as the Secretary for IGIC. Micah is also the Past-President for the Iowa Counties Information Technology (ICIT) organization, an ISAC affiliate. She has a M.S. in Geography from the University of South Carolina and a B.A. in Geography and Earth Science from the University of Northern Iowa. Go Panthers! She lives with her husband, Brad, and their two sons in Harlan.
Lawrence Hartpence
GIS Coordinator, Jasper County
I have been in the GIS field since 1992 beginning in Idaho at the Department of Fish and Game. While in Idaho, I was associated with their statewide GIS Council, the Idaho Geographic Information Advisory Committee (IGIAC). I moved to Iowa in 1999 at which time I began working for Jasper County. I have been involved with IGIC since that time.
Ray Weiser
GIS Coordinator, Scott County
Ray is a lifelong resident of the Quad Cities having returned there after receiving a B.S. in Community and Regional Planning from Iowa State University. He has worked in the GIS field since 1995 in both the private and public sector including work experience in the utility industry, consulting, and both regional and county government. This diversity exposed him to a broad range of GIS functions and user perspectives. Ray's current position as Scott County GIS Coordinator involves the ground-level development of GIS based on ESRI software products and tools.
Ron Koch
GIS Cadastral Technician, Woodbury County
Ron works on GIS for Sioux City/Woodbury County, where his duties include the maintenance, analysis and Q.C. for 58,000 parcels. He has been an active member of IGIC since 2000 and the SiouxLand Users Group (SLUG) sine its inception. During his first term on the IGIC Board, Ron played an active part on the Conference Committees, By-Laws/Strategic Planning Committee, and also participated in the Education and Membership Committees. Ron cross-trained from Architectural Design into GIS in 2000. Honors include ESRI Critical Data Infrastructure and Mobile Government Grants, selection as an Intelligent Land Records Management reference site and the 2004 ESRI Special Achievement in GIS award.
Paula Lemke
GIS Coordinator, Cerro Gordo County
Paula earned an A.S. in GIS from Iowa Lakes Community College, a B.S. in Community and Regional Planning with a GIS emphasis from Iowa State, and will soon have an M.S. in Transportation from Iowa State. She has been working with GIS over 8 years – at the Iowa DOT, CTRE and as GIS Coordinator in Cerro Gordo County the past 2 years – while involved with the IGIC, MAGIC and ICIT organizations. She teaches continuing education classes in GIS at North Iowa Area Community College and enjoys assisting smaller counties, businesses and individuals get started with their own GIS program.
FEDERAL AGENCY SECTOR (2)
Gregg Hadish
State GIS Specialist, USDA-NRCS
Gregg has been involved with IGIC since its inception in 1998. He has served on the IGIC Board of Directors for the past three years. He is a member of the Remote Sensing and Natural Resources Committees. He also served on the 2005 IGIC Conference Committee. Gregg is the State GIS Specialist for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in Des Moines, a position he has held since 1997. From 1992 to 1997 he was the GIS/Project Director for the Golden Hills Resource Conservation & Development office in Oakland, Iowa. He graduated from Iowa State University in Landscape Architecture in 1992.
Robert Lemen
Cartographer, USGS
USGS Geospatial Liaison for Iowa
Bob has been with the USGS for nearly 30 years and is located in Rolla, MO. He has served in many positions and has been assigned to various details throughout his career. In his current position as State Liaison he works with Federal, State, and local government organizations and the private sector to carry out the mission of the Geospatial Information Office by promoting and implementing NSDI. This is accomplished in part by partnering with the wide variety of organizations that develop and work with geospatial data. Developing and sustaining long-term partnerships for the acquisition and maintenance of geospatial data along with working with other organizations to develop web services to display this data are primary goals.
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT SECTOR (3)
Herb Kuehne
Crime Analyst, Sioux City Police Dept.
Crime Analyst - 2001 to present; applying CIS in law enforcement. Member of IGIC since its beginnings. Formerly Board representative in the university category. Current Board representative in local government. Secretary (2001-03); currently IGIC Vice-Chair. Conference committee member for 2001 and 2003 conferences. Presentations at 2005 IGIC conference: "Using GIS to Catch the Bad Guys" and "GIS Tricks Learned by a Crime Analyst." Presenter in short course at 2006 MAGIC Conference "Using GIS in Law Enforcement." Offering "GIS for Law Enforcement" workshop for the ISU Geospatial Technology Program, May 9, 2006. Active member of Siouxland GIS User's Group.
Steve Cooper, GISP
Infrastructure Management Specialist III, City of Cedar Rapids
Steven is in his sixth year with the City of Cedar Rapids. He has a bachelor's degree in Community and Regional Planning from Iowa State University and almost 15 years experience in both government administration and private consulting. Steve previous served as an IGIC Municipal Sector representative from 2002 to 2004. In addition to his responsibilities in developing the GIS for his city, he is active in state-wide GIS advancement and education efforts such as serving on UNI's GeoTREE Advisory Board and spearheading participation between IGIC and the Iowa League of Cities.
Dave Croll
GIS Coordinator, City of Johnston
Dave holds a B.A. in Civil Engineering from the Universityof Iowa. Recently, David joined the City of Johnston as the GIS coordinator and has been actively building Johnston’s GIS from the ground up. Prior to working for Johnston, Dave spent 4 years as a Civil Engineer/GIS Specialist for the City of Ames. His responsibilities included creating and maintaining GIS data primarily of urban infrastructure. Early in his career he worked as an Engineering Technician for a private consulting firm for 4 years. This led to an interest in GIS. When not at work, Dave enjoys spending time with his two young children and wife in and around Urbandale.
PRIVATE SECTOR (4)
Michael LaRosa
GIS Consultant
Mike has 15 years of experience in GIS. He received his B.A. and M.A. in Environmental Studies, concentrating in Environmental Planning. Twelve years of his experience came from his position as Sr. GIS Specialist with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, serving as GIS Coordinator for the Bureau of Water. Mike now manages his own GIS consulting company. He provides GIS and IT services to engineering/surveying companies and the public sector. Mike is a public member on the Delaware County GIS Committee. He believes the next revolution in GIS will be at the local level; Iowa can benefit with our leadership.
Lang Deng
Information Management Leader, Pioneer Hi-Bred International
Lang has over 17 years of experience in GIS, with a B.S. in Geography and Remote Sensing, a M.S. in GIS, and a Ph.D. in Urban Planning. He has taught GIS/Cartography at the college level for four years. Lang has also worked as a GIS Manager in New York City, a GIS Manager/Consultant for private companies in Iowa for three years, and was a county GIS Coordinator in Story County. Lang is now an Information Management Leader at Pioneer Hi-Bred International, coordinating/managing/developing GIS related projects.
Anne Packard
GIS Specialist, Fox Engineering
Anne has been working with GIS for more than 8 years and joined Fox Engineering in fall of 2004. She worked for the City of Ames Planning Department when they started using GIS and was a member of the joint Ames/Story County GIS Committee. Recently she worked as the GIS Coordinator for Story County. While there, she was a member of the Data Repository group. She is a member of ICIT and IGIC and participates in the Education Committee. She is interested in promoting the use and understanding of GIS in Iowa and collaboration among agencies.
Joe Eckmann
Account Manager, ESRI
Joe has served two terms as an active member of the IGIC Board of Directors. He has over fifteen years of experience in Geographic Information System consulting, implementation and application development. He is currently the Kansas City Satellite Office Manager for Environmental Systems Research Institute and serves as the ESRI Account Manager for clients in Western Iowa. Joe joined ESRI in March of 1992 as an ArcInfo Technical Specialist. His responsibilities have included GIS application development and prototyping, ESRI Rent-A-Tech consulting, System Administration, Technical Marketing, and Technical Support of clients within an eight-state region.
Gail Brown
It/GIS Specialist, Hertz FarmManagment
I am not longer a newbie! I have been on the IGIC board, representing the private sector, for two years. At present, I chair the IGIC Education Committee, and work to “Promote education and training in GIS and related technologies within all levels of education.” (IGIC Bylaws) I have also created a database of all past speakers at the IGIC Conferences in order to better track topics and areas of presentations. I am the IT/GIS specialist at Hertz Farm Management, in the Mount Vernon, IA office. I digitize farmland, calculate CSRs, and map soil test results. I create CSR and aerial maps for real estate and appraisal brochures. I volunteer my GPS/GIS skills at an area nature center, working with summer programs as well as home schooled students. At present, we are mapping oak saplings and studying plant diversity to determine the success of re-establishing the 200-acre prairie.
Chris Solberg, AICP
Planner/GIS Specialist, The Schemmer Associates, Inc.
Chris has been working with GIS for 6 years. He developed the Southern Iowa Council of Government's (SICOG) GIS from scratch, introducing many cities and counties in an eight county region in southern Iowa to GIS. During his employment with SICOG, Chris served temporarily on the IGIC Board as a Regional Organization Sector representative's replacement. Chris currently manages all ESRI-based software for the Schemmer Associates and works with many entities to expand the knowledge and use of GIS.
Tracy Troutner
GIS Project Manager, The Schneider Corp.
Tracy has been working with GIS for over 10 years as a city planner, regional planner, project and airport planner, planning director, and currently as a project manager for ProMap, a division of The Schneider Corporation. Tracy is certified by the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) as a professional planner, has a B.S. in Community and Regional Planning from Iowa State University, and a Master of Public Administration from Drake University. He has a wide range of experience in both the public and private sector. His resume of clients includes cities, counties, and an Indian reservation. Hiis experience with implementing geographic information systems in Iowa and surrounding states gives Tracy unique perspectives and experiences that can be valuable to IGIC and its members. As a point of contact for The Schneider Corporation, Tracy can also be a resource in regard to other issues such as customized tools and programming, web hosting, processes and methodology, and other surveying/engineering issues
REGIONAL ORGANIZATION SECTOR (2)
Brad Cutler
GIS Project Specialist, Golden Hills RC&D
Brad is the GIS Project Specialist for Golden Hills Resource Conservation & Development, Oakland, Iowa. Golden Hills RC&D is a grass-root directed nonprofit organization dedicated to the sustainable use and protection of natural resources for the economic and social betterment of the people of western Iowa. He has served as a Regional Sector representative on the IGIC Board for the last four years, and has served as the IGIC Board Secretary, Vice-Chair and Chair during the last three years. In his time working with IGIC thus far he has been involved with several committees in furthering IGIC’s goals but would like the opportunity in the next several years towards accomplishing some objectives that specifically address coordination, cooperation and collaborative issues facing Iowa’s geospatial community. Brad, his wife Micah, and two sons currently reside in Harlan.
Jake Ironside
GIS/Mapping Specialist, Bi-State Regional Commission
Jake has 5 years of experience working for a regional council of governments. He got his start in 2001 as a Transportation/GIS Planner for the East Central Intergovernmental Association (ECIA) in Dubuque, Iowa. In 2003, Jake moved south to the Quad Cities to work for the Bi-State Regional Commision as a GIS/Mapping Specialist. His main duties at Bi-State involve helping local governments meet their mapping needs for planning, land use, zoning, as well as transportation. He was also involved in the coordination of the multi-jurisdictional purchase of aerial photography and mapping for the Bi-State Region. Jake has a B.A. in Geography and a Certificate in GIS & Cartography from the University of Northern Iowa.
Ben McConville
GIS Specialist, Muscatine Area Geographic Information Consortium (MAGIC)
Ben is the GIS Specialist for a unique entity formed through a 28E agreement between the City of Muscatine, Muscatine County, Muscatine County, and Muscatine Power & Water. Affiliate members include the Muscatine School District and the City of Wilton. MAGIC provides a diverse range of quality GIS services to its Consortium partners and the citizens of Muscatine County. Ben is a graduate of Northwest Missouri State University with a B.S. in Geography with minors in GIS and Computer Science. He later earned a Graduate Certificate in GIS from Northwest Missouri State University. Prior to his position with MAGIC, Ben was employed as a GIS Specialist for a Rhode Island-based environmental consulting firm. He has been an IGIC member since 2002 and most recently served as alternate IGIC Secretary. Ben is married with two great daughters (2 & 3 years) and is originally from Pella, Iowa.
STATE AGENCY SECTOR (4)
Chris Ensminger
Environmental Program Supervisor/GIS Coordinator, Iowa DNR
Chris has a B.S. in Biology/Ecology from Winona State University and a M.S. in Resource Analysis from St. Mary's University of Minnesota. He worked for Geospatial Services in Winona, MN before starting with the Iowa DNR in 2000. He was a GIS Specialist for the IDNR non-point source pollution program before becoming the GIS Section Supervisor/GIS Coordinator in 2005. Chris is currently an IGIC Board member.
Jon Paoli
GIS Coordinator, Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division
Jon has worked at the Iowa HLSEM since the fall of 2001. He has over 8 years of experience in GIS and remote sensing with the Federal Government and the State of Iowa. He now serves as the GIS Coordinator/Specialist for HLSEM. Jon has served two terms on the IGI Board.
Eric Abrams
GIS Technical Coordinator, Iowa DOT
Eric has worked at the Iowa DOT since 1990. For the last 12 years he has worked in the IT division and assisted in the design and implementation of Geographical Information Managment system (GIMS). Eric is currently involved with the Iowa DOT Spatial and GIS Coordination along with LRS implementation and multiple other spatial projects like runway PCI, culvert inventory and snow route optimization. He has 11 years of Oracle, Oracle Spatial, project management, and GIS software experience.
Adam Kiel
GIS & Environmental Specialist, Iowa DNR
Adam began working for the Iowa DNR in the fall of 2005. Prior employment has included GIS positions with Northeast Iowa RC&D, the National Park Service in Yellowstone National Park, and the State of Wisconsin. Adam holds a B.S. in Geography from the University of Iowa. He now serves as a GIS Specialist for the DNR's Watershed Improvement Section where he specializes in mobile GPS and GIS applications for stream and watershed assessments. In addition to his position at the Iowa DNR, Adam will be teaching Introduction to GIS and Applications of GIS at Drake University, starting in the Fall 2006.
UNIVERSITY SECTOR (4)
Patrick Brown
GIS Analyst, Iowa State University
Patrick has worked for the ISU GIS Facility as a GIS Analyst since 2000. At ISU he teaches courses in various geospatial technologies and provides support and other GIS services to the ISU GIS community. He has been an IGIC member since 2000 and has served as an IGIC board alternate for several years. As an IGIC member he has been involved in the Natural Resources Committee, IGIC conference planning, the IGIC website and the Iowa Geospatial Data Clearinghouse.
Chris Seeger
Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture and Extension Landscape Architect, Iowa State University
Chris has worked as the ISU Extension Landscape Architect for the past three years where he has utilized GIS mapping and GPS tools to better understand the role the built environment plays in community health. Chris serves on the ISU GIS Graduate Certificate Committee and teaches GIS workshops and courses that focus on 3D GIS Visualization, Online Mapping and Public Participation in GIS. Chris has served on the IGIC board for the past 3 years and is just completing a 3 year term as President of the Iowa Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects.
Dr. Ramanathan Sugumaran
Assistant Professor of Geography, University of Northern Iowa
Dr. Sugumaran is Associate Professor of Geography and Director of GeoTREE project at the University of Northern Iowa. He has over 15 years of experience in remote sensing, GIS, GPS spatial decision support systems (SDSS) applications for natural resources and environmental planning and management, He is and has been working with federal, state, local and tribal government agencies (FSLT) for the past 10 years and developed several geospatial techniques and tools. The methodologies developed for FSLT agencies by Dr. Sugumaran was widely published in IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing, PE & RS, Geocarto, Geographical Systems and Canadian Journal of Remote sensing journals. Dr. Sugumaran has served as PI or Co-PI on over $5 million worth of research grants funded by NASA, Raytheon, NOAA, USDA, DOT, US Fish and Wildlife Service. He has also published more than 15 journal articles related to remote sensing, GIS and Spatial Decision Support Systems. Dr. Sugumaran has two PHDs; a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh in the UK and the University of Baroda, India.
Dr. U Sunday Tim
Associate Professor of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Iowa State University
Dr. Anya Butt
Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, Central College
GIS Instructional Laboratory Administrator Position
Eastern Iowa GIS User Group
9th Biennial Iowa GIS Conference
