Experience

International Travel & Freelance Projects 

September 2016 to Present

For the last two years my wife and I have traveled domestically and internationally. During this time I’ve pursued freelance & personal projects and self-study in a variety of fields.   These include both physical accomplishments such as the Camino de Santiago as well as intellectual and artistic pursuits related to GIS, mapping and graphics

San Francisco Bay Conservation & Development Commission (BCDC)

GIS Specialist –  August 2010 to September 2016

• Led mapping and graphics efforts for state agency of over 40 employees.  Role required curation of agency wide data, publication of maps and communication materials as well as development of web tools for agency workflows.
• As part of Planning department led Sea Level Rise GIS analysis as part of Adapting to Rising Tides climate change adaptation program, requiring collection, curation, editing and analysis of multi-sector, multi-asset datasets.
• Coordinated consultant efforts for data management and webtool development of Suisun Resource Conservation District webtool – GeoMarsh

GMAC Mortgage, Inc.

Community Relations Specialist – May 2009 to August 2010

• Engaged in local and regional events to pursue home retention under federal initiatives; personal efforts focused on Spanish speaking market, including education, consultation and referral toward solution
• Initiated & developed relationships with public and private agencies to build efforts to assist homeowners in foreclosure prevention and neighborhood preservation

San Francisco Bay Conservation & Development Commission (BCDC)

GIS Intern –  September 2008 to May 2009

• Redeveloped WebGIS tool under guidance of Planning & Geographic Information Systems department; led efforts in the data collection, map preparation and map publishing of agency web-mapping resource
• Assessed Beta group use of test application to discern needs and requirements for data, map display and functionality and completed comprehensive guidance document for future tool development

University of Virginia

Research Assistant –  January 2007 to June 2007

• Researched community planning and resiliency under Professor Timothy Beatley for report delivered to National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Coastal Services Center
• Completed literature review on emergency planning and community resilience, contributed to annotated bibliography of report through collection and compilation of journal articles

University of Rhode Island

Research Fellow – May 2005 to January 2006

• Led stakeholder surveys and key informant interviews as member of planning team for the revision of Metro Bay Special Area Management Plan; principal objectives were community research and outreach to Latino population
• Final report informed area governing institutions on stakeholder use patterns and contributed to final plan

Blue Frontier Campaign

Program Assistant – July 2005 to January 2006

• Supported networking efforts of environmental nonprofit by contacting potential partners and contacts among NGO’s, academia and local, state and federal governments and coastal managers
• Performed research, fact checking and editing for publication of The Ocean and Coastal Conservation Guide 2005 -2006  (Island Press, 2005)

Education

University of Virginia – Charlottesville, Virginia

Masters in Urban & Environmental Planning (MUEP), May 2007

Focus on Coastal Planning.  Coursework included principles of classical land use planning, environmental planning and sustainable development with a focus on environmental & economic sustainability as well as real-estate development & dynamics.  Extensive GIS coursework and work-study.

University of Rhode Island – Kingston, Rhode Island

Masters in Community Planning, May 2006 – transfer to UVA

University of Texas – Austin, Texas

Bachelor of Arts – Economics, May 1999;    Minor – Ecology

Skills

GIS – ArcGIS; Q-GIS, mobile GIS hardware & applications

3D modeling – Google Sketchup, Maps & Google Earth  

Design – Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver & Acrobat. Web & document publishing experience

Languages – Spanish – Fluent, spoken and written

Misc. Applications – Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access