What's Happening with Alumni

Gary Haynes, MA ’74
I am an instructor of geography at OU Chillicothe and Lancaster campuses offering introductory courses in human, physical, and environmental areas. During the past year, I was selected to represent the Chillicothe campus as a faculty participant in the Athens campus directed Kanawha Environmental Education Project. This project’s goal is to enhance environmental literacy of undergraduates by revising course content to include environmental themes. Additionally, I have voluntarily become the point person in developing an environmental land lab at a 250 acre farm that was donated to the University. My family and I continue to make improvements to our house and farm and make a point to take one good geography-type vacation each summer—the mountains, the coast, cultural enrichment, and all of the above. My e-mail address is haynes@ohio.edu.

Joe Moore  BS '74
I am about to "retire" as state soil scientist in Alaska after 34 years with the USDA. We have come a long way in Alaska from simply mapping soils to studying and mapping the interaction of the various physical and biotic elements of ecosystems. An OU Geography education provided the background to implement these changes and our emphasis is now to recruit employees who have a good understanding of physical geography. It has been a great 'ride' and an opportunity to experience over time the impacts that climate change is having on the physical environment and cultural infrastructure of northern latitudes. Alaska has become home and my wife Sandy and I plan to remain here with our two sons and three grandchildren. I am planning to keep busy as an adjunct instructor of physical geography and volunteering in resource management activities.

Frederick Siekkinen, MSES ’74
I have been employed by the Department of Environmental Protection, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania since 1986. I started out as a solid waste specialist and was promoted to an environmental protection specialist in 1992. I currently hold that position within the Bureau of Investigations, which is the investigative section of the Department. Working on the civil side of the law, our section supports the various programs of the Department through investigations, conducting training, acquiring samples, conducting interviews, and surveillances. On the criminal side, I support the Environmental Crimes Section of the Office of Attorney General in a capacity very much like a crime scene specialist. I also conduct training and lecture at the Northeast Environmental Enforcement Project on crime scene documentation and response. I have also acquired a background in responding to clandestine labs and acquiring evidence for environmental prosecutions.

Dhawatchai Tangsanga, MS ’74
I attended OU from 1972–74 in a newly established Department (branched out of School of Architecture) called Regional Planning—a two-year multi-disciplinary program leading to a master’s degree. Head of the department was Charles Leach. Another lecturer was William Hoyt. There were 12–14 students in the program. No new students in the second year so the Department was discontinued and only one class graduated.

After graduation, I returned to Thailand and started working in the public sector at the Ministry of Industry where I spent nearly my entire working life. At the ministry I was mainly responsible for international relations and played a role in Thailand’s bilateral and multi-lateral trade and investment agreements including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Free Trade Area (AFTA). I retired from public service as an inspector general and became head of the National Productivity Institute from 2001–2005.

In 2004, I had the pleasure of visiting OU in commemoration of its 200th Anniversary. It was truly a memorable experience. Sadly, none of the staff at Admin Department or Alumni Office knew anything about the existence of the Regional Planning program.

Regrettably, I have lost contact with my professors and all my classmates. Any help from alumni office or any alumni to revisit the memory of the Regional Planning Department or to renew contacts amongst its graduating class shall be most appreciated.

John R. DeMuth, BS ’75
I recently “retired” as deputy director at the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission via an early retirement incentive program. To date, my satisfying 32-year career has focused on aspects of community, regional, and environmental planning at three employers: Cuyahoga County Regional Planning Commission, Madison–Madison International, and Cuyahoga County Planning Commission. I intend to reactivate my career after some summer time off. My wife, Marilyn, and I have three children and five grandchildren. I recently visited the OU campus for an eye-opening tour (the first in almost twenty years) with my youngest son who is considering attendance next year. I continue to maintain that the four years I spent at OU were filled with THE BEST OF TIMES!

Deborah Phillips King, BS ’75
I continue to teach at The University of Akron Department of Geography and Planning. Courses include cartography, maps and map reading, and field research methods. We are always looking for good graduate students! My husband, Tom, is the community development director in Hudson, Ohio where we live and our three children are all in college. I’m happy to report that one is a Bobcat in Athens!

Mark Hardenberg, MA '80, graduated with an MA in 1980, went to work for the Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory as a technical editor, and retired early in February 2007. While there, he was the chief editor for his last seven years and even got to work on some geographical things. He was part of the team that put the Formerly Used Defense Sites (FUDS) Management Integration System (MIS) into the public’s hands via the Web. These are abandoned US Army sites all over the US, the fates of which he found fascinating. Now that he is on a pension he enjoys selling military surplus and antiques on eBay and in the local flea market. His oldest daughter, Wendy, is finishing up a dual masters at Indiana U., while his youngest daughter, after a bumpy teenhood, is at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts as a music major.

Mike Kukral, BS ’82. It is an exciting year for students at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology because they have the opportunity for field studies in Europe with him. Mike will be directing and leading 17 engineering students to Austria and the Czech Republic for two weeks in June—the first such credit program directed by him in an attempt to get Hoosiers (and others) out into the world and appreciative and aware, or at least wary, of other cultures and places. He was given the go ahead last year and started from the ground up in planning this excursion. OU geographers facilitated Mike’s plans because of the excellent training in field experience gleaned from Porter Hall days with professors Wilhelm, Bloemer, Bernard, Bain, and Isaac. He well remembers our sojourns to Amish land, the Denver AAG (by station wagon with Ron Isaac and Doc Dougherty), Pomeroy salt mines, the Athens porch couch tour, and too long gone tipples, barns, and pits of “yellow dog.” Mike’s students will be taking in the sights and sounds of Vienna, Innsbruck, Carlsbad, and Prague. Being the lone geographer at an engineering college does has its advantages and he feels fortunate that his three courses each quarter are always filled to capacity. Much of that success he recognizes and owes to the excellent classroom pedagogy he came to appreciate (but not as a freshmen!) during his various times at OU. Athens is a great place when you are in college. He thinks he’ll retire there someday. Contact Mike at kukral@rosehulman.edu.

Andy Bagas, MA ’83, has been employed by the Town of Bridgewater, MA as the highway superintendent for the past 22 years. He is responsible for all roadway maintenance and improvement projects. His education at OU was valuable in preparing him for many facets of his work including land use planning, drainage engineering and design, and meteorology (yes, we plow snow in Bridgewater). On a personal note, his youngest daughter will attend U. of Massachusetts this September. His eldest daughter will graduate from U. of Massachusetts and attend Mass College of Pharmacy. He and his wife hope to vacation in Ohio in July with a possible visit to Athens. He looks forward to hearing from “old” friends from OU.

Vince Mazeika, MA ’84
Since graduation, I’ve been employed with Ohio EPA’s Division of Surface Water where I apply geography skills on a daily basis–the watershed concept.

Yet some of the most fulfilling work I’ve done has been teaching Geography 121 (Human Geography) at the Lancaster campus. (The Department faculty on main campus provided many fine examples to emulate.)

Last August, I made a three-week trip into the Baltic states. Partly a search for long forgotten relatives and partly driven by intense curiosity for this little known (to Americans) and less understood corner of northeast Europe. Surprises abounded: a near pristine and accessible Baltic Sea coast; very well developed tourism information centers; and a fierce pride in unique languages and cultural history. My next visit will be a cycling tour—the region’s glacial legacy-left landscapes similar to northern Wisconsin and Minnesota studded with lakes and wetlands. I very much look forward to teaching another class of Geography 121 this coming winter quarter and will incorporate some “Baltic elements” in the class.

Margaret Seebald, BS ’85
In May 2009, I graduated with honors from Frederick (Maryland) Community College’s School of Nursing as a registered nurse.

Our daughter Laura is a freshman at Ohio University majoring in Political Science. Margaret and Bob reside in Middletown, Maryland.

Bob Seebald, BS ’85
I graduate in June 2009 from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces with a MS in National Defense Resource Management. I am the associate deputy director of the International Affairs Office at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency where I have worked for the past 24 years.

Tony Lafferty, MA ’86
Living and working in Northern California. I have been with ESRI for the past 12 years. Active in the running community–“ran” into Jonathon Bernard at the Miwok 100k Ultra Race near San Francisco. Busy, preparing for my one shot at running Western States 100-mile Endurance Race scheduled for June 2010.

Tom Harner, BS ’88
I have been the GIS coordinator at the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission (MVRPC) in Dayton, Ohio since 1999. Using GIS in a planning context has been a very rewarding and challenging experience. Prior to joining MVRPC, I also worked for Clermont County, Ohio as GIS manager and Woolpert where I first started using GIS.

I am an adjunct faculty member at Sinclair Community College in Dayton teaching an introductory GIS class in the Geography Department.

Married with three children, teaching is sometimes a welcome break.

Fritz Kessler, BS ’88. As an associate professor at Frostburg State U. Department of Geography, he has been teaching a mix of geography and cartography courses for eight years. The third edition of a textbook he co-authored entitled Thematic Cartography and Geovisualization has just been published by Pearson Prentice Hall. He is also the current editor of Cartographic Perspectives, a peerreviewed journal focusing on a variety of cartographic themes.

Richard Gassan, MA ’88, since 2005, has been an assistant professor of history at the American U. of Sharjah, which is about five miles from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Between semesters, he returns to his house in Amherst, MA. His first book, The Birth of American Tourism: New York, the Hudson Valley, and American Culture, 1790-1830, is to be published in August, 2008, from the U. of Massachusetts Press, and he is working on a follow-up that takes that history to the Civil War.

Gregory Marinic, BS ’91
(I was one of the first student design coordinators of the Geogram! It’s great to see the publication is still in production nearly 20 years later.)

I am professor of architecture at CUNY, New York City College of Technology and visiting assistant professor of Interior Architecture at Pratt Institute in New York City where I teach undergraduate advanced architectural design studios and undergraduate/graduate thesis in interior design. I frequently participate as a guest jury critic at Pratt Institute and Fordham University. I am co-founder and director of the d3 Gallery in Brooklyn, an organization that promotes innovative transdisciplinary approaches in art, architecture, urbanism, and design. I am co-principal in the New York City-based architectural practice Studio Marinic Nguyen.

My design portfolio includes multiple winning competition entries for affordable housing in Manhattan, a competition finalist entry for a high-rise residential tower in Dubai, and a competition finalist proposal for a skyscraper in Chicago. Additional large-scale projects include a campus master plan and residence hall for George Washington University, a terminal expansion for Manchester International Airport, a proposal for the jetBlue Airways Terminal at JFK Airport, and a residential tower and boutique hotel in Las Vegas.

I received my Master of Architecture from University of Maryland where I graduated with honors and was awarded the School of Architecture Thesis Citation. My thesis proposed a new international airport for Ljubljana, Slovenia through exploration of regional and modernist themes in aviation architecture. I am a recipient of both the Leonard Dressel Scholarship and Jack Kerxton Internship & Scholarship. While attending Ohio University, I studied under the guidance of Dr. Nancy Bain.

Erin Smith Hite, BS '92. I am now working as an Environmental Health and Safety Engineer for Cree Inc. in Durham NC. We manufacture LED’s for energy efficient lighting solutions. My responsibilities have shifted more to health and safety in the past five years, but I still dabble in air and water permits and other environmental projects as they come up. I miss Athens, it has been almost 10 years since I was there last, much has changed, but the department looks good. I miss working for Dr. Bloemer in the Cartography lab, but that was back when we did everything with pens and paper! I am married with two step-children, one of whom is in her second year of college at UNC. I continue to ride and compete my horse and my husband is co-owner of a Café/music establishment in downtown Durham.

John Maximuk, BS ’92. Since leaving Athens, his ventures have taken him to Amherst, Wilmington, Washington, DC, and Boston. Since 2003, he has been living and working in Atlanta. He settled in the Candler Park neighborhood, an older area that was Atlanta’s second streetcar suburb. It’s a curious location—a rare east/west site of the Eastern Sub-Continental Divide! Though his surroundings have changed, he is still the city planner that he set out to be as an OU Geography student. His current work involves smart growth advocacy with the Livable Communities Coalition (www.LivableCommunitiesCoalition.org). His interest in design-oriented planning has lead to a two-year term as chair of the American Planning Association’s Urban Design and Preservation Division. But the biggest news for him recently has been parenthood. He and his wife, Lily, welcomed their daughter Stella in March 2006. All the best to friends from the Class of 1992 and to everyone in the department. It would be great to hear from you (maxjohn9@yahoo.com).

Tim Greenleaf, BS ’94, is back at National Geographic managing the Internet operations for the Expeditions division. Prior to that, he spent over five years at Environmental Working Group developing information activism strategies and introducing elements of Web 2.0 to EWG’s interactive projects about protecting public health and the environment. He lives in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, DC with his fianceé, Katie. Contact him via e-mail at tim@timgreenleaf.com.

J. Randall Engwert, BS ’95
I received a Juris Doctor from University of Toledo, College of Law in 1999 and went on to work as an assistant attorney general in the Ohio Attorney General’s Office Environmental Enforcement Section where I represented the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Division of Air Pollution Control. I entered private practice in 2004 and am now a Partner with Anspach Meeks Ellenberger LLP in its Toledo, Ohio office. While my career has strayed from its environmental roots, I continue to apply the practical problem solving skills I learned in the Department of Geography at OU in my representation of clients ranging from individuals to large corporations.

Ken Curry, MA ’96
I married fellow Ohio U alum Lynn Zanski and we now celebrate each day with three wonderful children—Milah, Maeve, and Bennett. Besides the obvious of keeping busy with family life, I have a GIS company with two partners. We provide GIS services and products to government and private sector clients with a focus on rural GIS implementation and Web mapping applications. I still find time to traverse the northwoods in Canada trekking by canoe and backpack into the shield region in search of solitude and simple living for at least a week! Lynn and I don’t travel as much with the kids, but we look forward to returning to Athens and the many other places we traveled as the kids get older.

Kristina (Michelson) Tridico, BS ’96
I practice mergers and acquisitions law at Ice Miller LLP in Indianapolis, Indiana, and am a partner in the Business Group. I am chair of Ice Miller’s sustainability and climate change practice focusing on renewable energy, carbon trade, and green development matters. My husband, Andy, and I welcomed our second Bobcat, Gus, in 2008 and he has a proud big sister, Anna Sophia.

Mark Fonstad, MA '97, now an associate professor of geography at Texas State U., has been selected to become the new Environmental Sciences editor of the AAG Annals!

Cary Sanders, BS ’97
I work as a senior cartographer doing GIS work at Wiser Company in Murfreeesboro, Tennessee and am married with one 13-month-old son, Noah.

Jeffrey McKee, BS ’98
I have worked for Abbott Nutrition, Abbott Laboratories since October 2002. In March 2009, I was promoted to scientist within the Technical Services, Product Research & Development Group and am now a project leader for formulation development within this team.

John Waldron, MA '98, received the Henry Cowles Award for Publications in Biogeography from the AAG Biogeog SG. John is currently Assistant Prof in Environmental Studies at the Unv. of West Florida.

Kristen Allore, BS ’99
I graduated from OU in 1999 with a BS in Environmental Geography with the Certificate in Environmental Studies. I currently am the program director at New Pond Farm in West Redding, CT, a non-profit Environmental Education Center and working farm.

Jeff Leonhard, BS ’99
I am the district manager for Pictometry International Corporation. I manage the government sales in Indiana and Illinois for our Geospatial products including geo-referenced oblique aerial imagery and lidar. Pictometry is the world leader in Intelligent Oblique Aerial Photography. I currently reside in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Jeffery Tremelling, MA ’99, moved to Cary, NC in October 2007 after four years of living as an expatriate in Bangkok, Thailand. He is currently an associate director for Family Health International’s Product Quality and Compliance laboratory.

Trevor Walsh, BS ’99
After spending many years in non-formal Science Education, I am now working as an educational sales consultant for Nystrom Social Studies­—one of the largest providers of maps and globes to schools in the country. I currently reside in Oregon, Ohio and work with over 1,400 schools in 28 counties in Ohio. My wife and I are also expecting our first child in November.

Matthew Fasig, BS ’00, is a data analyst for National City Mortgage in Dayton, Ohio. He spends his spare time with his wife and active two-year-old, Kaitlyn.

Ryan Phillips, BS ’00, continues to work for Miami NBC affiliate WTVJ as their weekday morning meteorologist. He will marry Kathryn Cassens (Seattle, WA) June 7, 2008 in Fort Lauderdale.

Andy Pressman, BS ’00, has been farming organically for the past eight years. During this time, he received a Masters degree in Sustainable Systems from Slippery Rock U. Although he is still a farmer, he is currently an agriculture program specialist with the National Center for Appropriate Technology. He works with projects involving sustainable agriculture and renewable energy. He feels that he owes this career path to Dr. Anderson and Dr. Jokisch!

Jim Maczko, MA ’01
I became the warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service (NWS) in Jackson, Kentucky in late April 2009 after spending June 2007­–April 2009 as a senior forecaster at the NWS in Louisville, Kentucky. I am responsible for managing inter-agency communications, public education programs, and weather safety awareness campaigns. I am currently working closely with the Kentucky State Emergency Management Agency to designate 32 Kentucky State Parks as StormReady. I can be reached anytime at James.Maczko@noaa.gov.

Tony Mathys, MA ’01, works at the U. of Edinburgh, for EDINA, a national data centre for UK academia. His roll at EDINA includes activities in research and support for geospatial metadata, geo-data portals, and Ordnance Survey data released to UK academia via EDINA. In addition, he also sits on the UK GEMINI Working Group, which was organized to create, publish, and support an ISO 19115-compliant geospatial metadata standard. This standard serves the UK geographical information community. Prior to this, he worked several years as an information officer (geospatial metadata) at the UK Data Archive at the U. of Essex. Previous experiences include work as a GIS/remote sensing specialist in the private and public sectors in Minnesota. He has continued to excavate and conduct research for an international team of archaeologists at an archaeological site in northeastern Syria. All these opportunities have provided an opportunity to present and publish papers and articles in areas of geospatial metadata and archaeology. None of these experiences and achievements would have been possible if he had not taken an MA in Geography at OU.

April Luginbuhl Mather, MA ’02, is in the last stages of writing her dissertation in Geography at Ohio State U. and hopes to be finished by December 2008. She and husband Steve just moved to the Cleveland area where Steve accepted a position as GIS Manager for Cleveland Metroparks. The couple are expecting their first baby early this summer.

Jeff Whitman, MA ’02, recently completed an MBA from Johns Hopkins U. Jeff accepted a position with the Department of the Navy in Mechanicsburg, PA as an Environmental Protection Specialist. Jeff is the team leader for Navy Pollution Prevention Department programs that strive to reduce pollution and waste from Navy ships.

Jay Boshara, MA ’03, is teaching Geography at California State U. in San Bernardino. He is also working on his Geography Ph.D. from the U. of Iowa (coursework and dissertation research complete, taking comps in summer of 2008). He and his wife (Ece Algan, 2003 OU Ph.D. graduate in Communication Studies, and assistant professor of Media Studies at CSUSB) are also raising a two-and-a-half-year-old son Alex in Redlands, CA (the home of ESRI).

Kelly Cornell, BS ’03
I graduated from OU in 2003 with a BS in Environmental Geography. After graduation I attended George Washington University in Washington, DC and received my MA in geography with emphasis on Urban/Environmental Geography. I am currently working as a Transportation Planner for Arlington County, Virginia and also teach Geography at Marymount University.

Abigail Porter Ertel, MA ’03
Patrick Ertel, MA ’05
After Athens, Abby and Patrick have found themselves traveling and completing natural resource protection projects in New Brunswick, North Carolina and now northern Michigan.

Both Abby and Patrick are involved with regional not-for-profit environmental organizations. Abby serves as an AmeriCorps member with the HeadWaters Land Conservancy (HWLC). Her position is geared towards working with private landowners to promote conservation through permanent land protection agreements. Throughout the process, Abby completes baseline assessments, monitoring visits and evaluations of private lands for potential conservation. It is her goal to complete ten baseline assessment visits during the 2009 field season. This work is in conjunction with HWLC’s Au Sable River Watershed Program and Pigeon River Habitat Initiative and will be a major stepping stone in the organization’s effort to permanently protect 6000 acres of land within the Pigeon River Country State Forest by 2012 and 10 miles of river frontage on one of Michigan’s most prestigious trout streams, the Au Sable, by 2011.

Working for Huron Pines, Patrick spends his days managing multiple projects geared towards improving the region’s natural resources. Coordinating these large-scale projects includes: writing grant proposals and fundraising, organizing partners, budgeting, designing conceptual plans, preparing permit applications, presenting restoration options to the public, guiding field crews, working with contractors, and updating stakeholders. As he prepares for his fourth year with Huron Pines, Patrick is currently launching watershed-wide restoration projects that aim to reduce non-point source sediment and thermal pollution of small groundwater-fed tributaries, improve passage for native coldwater fish species, and remove small dams that interrupt the natural flow of stream resources.

Abby and Patrick live in an old farmhouse south of Grayling, Michigan with their two dogs. While Abby trains for her next marathon or tends to their 38 chickens, Patrick tries to outwit the weather and sandy soils in their organic garden.

Grant Gibson, BS ’03. Grant is the President/Founder of GIS Dynamics located in West Chester, OH. GIS Dynamics, a geographic information systems services company, currently employs seven OU graduates who focus in different forms of geography. From urban, engineering, business, computer science to government, our OU grads work in a diverse range of geography applications. We are proud of each one and hope to hire additional OU grads in the future. Here are the seven. . . Tim Price (BS ’02, MS ’04); Bill Sabo (BS ’04); Anne Hockman (BA ’04); Mike Kaczmarek (BS ’03); Larry Rover (BS ’06); Drew Gibson (completing BS in GIS at Miami after transferring from OU); Ryan Lane (BS expected ’08).

Tim Mayle, BS '04. Tim has been the GIS Coordinator for Hardin County since 2004. In 2008, the Hardin County GIS program was recognized by the Ohio Geographic Reference Information Program (OGRIP) with the 2008 OGRIP Best Practices Award. Tim is also the chairman of the Rhodes State College GIS Advisory Committee. Tim is also a content contributor for the GIS program at Northwest State Community College. In each role Tim has the following responibilites: collaborate with faculty during the development of the course; provide insight from professional or academic experience to enhance course design; lend expertise, specifically with outcomes, activities, and assessments; help align the course to students' preparation for professional practice or for future studies; communicate on a regular basis with the developer as appropriate during the development of the course. Tim has also worked on several projects with Grant Gibson '03 from GIS Dynamics. GIS Dynamics hosts the Hardin County GIS Web page, www.hcgis.com.

Timothy Price, MA ’04
After a short stint teaching GIS and other geography-related classes at Indiana University–Southeast, I moved to the Cincinnati area when a former student during my TA times at OU offered me a position with his newly-formed company. I’ve now been with that company, GIS Dynamics of West Chester, Ohio, for over four years and have since found myself doing things with my career that I would have never imagined.

In fact, GIS has taken me to far-off regions of the world, including trips to Nigeria, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Working alongside United Nations Peacekeeping Forces in Kinshasa, DRC, one of my recent projects involved implementing an enterprise GIS system to produce Topographic Line Maps (TLM50) of various regions using satellite imagery. Other African projects included assisting Nigerian government officials to realize the benefits GIS has to offer not only regional governments, but also communities and businesses as well.

Soon, I hope to return to Africa to continue working with the people whose only hope is to bring a better life to their country.

Scott F. Snider, MA ’04
I am in my fifth year with the Knox County Map Department in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. The last two of which I have served as GIS supervisor. As supervisor I am in charge of a two-person staff and oversee daily operations of the Department. I also perform all GIS analyses for the county and prepare custom maps for other county entities as well as the general public. I received my GISP certification from the GIS Certification Institute in the fall of 2008, which is based on a combination of professional experience, education, and contribution to the profession. I have also been elected as the vice chair of the Ohio Chapter of URSIA and serve as the president of the Howard Township Zoning Commission. I also got married in March of this year.

Ashley Dailey, BS ’05, is currently working at a GIS company called Technigraphics, Inc. in Wooster, OH. She is a team leader for other GIS technicians. Technigraphics is always looking for new technicians with geography backgrounds, so if anyone is interested please go to www.tgstech.com, click on company, and then employment to see what positions we currently have open. Carrie Runser-Turner (MA ’05) is a regional planner and rural transportation coordinator at Land-of-Sky Regional Council in Asheville, NC. Carrie was the lead planner on the Madison County Recreational Facilities mapping project, which received the 2007 Excellence in Regional Transportation Award from the National Association of Development Organizations. She and her husband, Brian Turner, became proud parents to their first child, a daughter named Isadora Marie, on August 4, 2007.

Patrick R. Denbow, BS '05. In April of 2006, I was hired by the Muskingum County GIS Department in Zanesville, OH as a GIS Analyst. In early 2008, I was appointed to serve as the assistant director of the Muskingum County Planning Commission. I held this post in addition to my GIS position. In late September of 2008 I left my two positions with Muskingum County to become the city planner and zoning administrator for the City of Zanesville, Ohio. In this role, I serve as administrator to four city boards, (Board of Zoning Appeals, Design Review Board, Downtown Design Review Board, and Planning Commission), as well as administering the Planning and Zoning Code. On a personal note, in July of 2008 I got married to Kelly Richardson (BS '05) who is a math teacher at West Muskingum High School in Zanesville.

Eva Montgomery, BS ’05
After leaving Athens, I spent two years as a weather observer at Cleveland Hopkins Airport and one year at Port Columbus Airport. While working at both airports I began graduate school at The Ohio State University. I graduated in December 2007 with a Master in Atmospheric Sciences. Three months later, I was offered a position with Gamesa Energy U.S.A. as a wind resource engineer. For the last year and a half, I have been researching new sites for future wind farms as well as performing wind resource studies. My responsibilities also include designing layouts for Wind Farms across the U.S.

Jennifer Rich, BS ’05
I am currently working for The Nature Conservancy in Virginia as the state’s volunteer coordinator. I manage over 700 active volunteers and supervise stewardship projects such as trail maintenance, invasive species removal, and seagrass restoration. I also participate on the prescribed burn team. If you are in Virginia and interested in volunteering, don’t hesitate to contact me at jrich@tnc.org.

Mike Ferian, BS '06, MA '08
Following graduation in 2006, I decided to continue my studies in the field of Geography-Meteorology at OU, assuming the role of associate director of Scalia Lab. Upon finishing my thesis, pertaining to global temperature increase and its impact on lake-effect snowfall, I received an MA in Geography in the fall of 2008. In November of 2008, I accepted a job with a renewable energy consultancy, Garrad Hassan, and relocated to San Diego. I currently serve as a meteorologist in the short-term wind energy forecasting arena.

Meghan McGuire, BA ’06, set off her geography career with an GIS internship with Pioneer Rural Electric in Piqua, Ohio. This experience was followed by another internship with National Geographic Digital Media (Web page). Specifically, I made the maps for the black rhinoceros, emperor penguin, koala, lion, orangutan, tiger, wharthog, eagle, gray wolf. After a brief stint with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) as a GIS analyst and an administrative assistant position with the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, Meghan returned to Pioneer Electric to serve as the current energy advisor.

Jessica Meyer, BS ’06
After graduation, I worked for Cuyahoga Valley Environmental Education Center at Cuyahoga Valley National Park as a field instructor intern teaching environmental education to mostly children ages 4–14. Currently, I am in the Peace Corps Masters International program as part of my Master in Rural Development from University of Alaska–Fairbanks. I have been in the Republic of Macedonia since the end of September 2008 and my service will go through fall of 2010. My thesis will be about solid waste management (garbage, recycling, and composting) in rural areas and will include a lot of GIS. I hope to graduate in Spring 2011 and eventually go on to pursue my doctorate in geography.

Sagar R. Mysorekar, MA ’06
I started working for the Nature Conservancy in 2005 when I joined as GIS intern at the Arkansas Field Office (ARFO). I was then offered the GIS specialist position at ARFO where I primarily worked to develop ArcSDE, ArcGIS Server and ArcIMS systems, and provide IT support for the Arkansas Chapter.

I joined Great Lakes project team in mid-September 2008 as a GIS manager in Chicago. I am currently working on mapping and analyzing aquatic invasive species from the Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio region and am actively involved in database development, spatial analysis, and Web GIS development to support various Great Lakes conservation projects. My wife, Manasi, is completing her Master of Landscape Architecture from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. You can reach me at smysorekar@gmail.com.

Curtis Carman, BS ’07. In June, he will be moving to Estes Park, CO to begin work in Rocky Mountain National Park as an Olson fellow.

Mike Fein, BS ’07. Since August 2007, he has been and is currently working for Garmin International (Garmin’s worldwide headquarters) in Olathe, KS which is located in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. He is a cartography technician in the Recreational Cartography Group working mainly with topographic and hydrographic data that goes into Garmin’s mapping handheld GPS units.

Michael Gregorio, MA ’08
I have moved to Washington, D.C. and am a geographer working for the U.S. Census Bureau in the Public Information Office, Media Relations Branch. I create maps for the upcoming 2010 Decennial Census and population profiles for natural disasters.

I presented my thesis, “Effects of Channelization at Athens, Ohio, on the Downstream Planform of the Hocking River” at the 2009 Association of American Geographers Meeting in Las Vegas along with Dr. Dorothy Sack.

Dan Laubenthal, BS ’08
Following graduation, I relocated to Chicago and have been working at Sargent & Lundy—an engineering firm specializing in consulting, engineering, design, and analysis for electric power generation and power delivery projects worldwide. My position is in permitting and licensing and I enjoy the opportunity to work on everything from wind turbine farms to nuclear power plant applications.

Kenny Ling, MA ’08
I recently started working at ESRI in Redlands, California, joining other OU Geography grads–KT Koerner (BA, 07?) and Chris Tartoni (MA, 08). I work as a cartographic product engineer in the Mapping Center team (mappingcenter.esri.com/), helping with the development and delivery of cartographic techniques, especially with online mapping. In the few months I have been at ESRI, I have already had the chance to design numerous online mapping tools with the ArcGIS Javascript API. I love what I do and hope to see more OU folks over here!

Sam Pepple, BS ’08
After graduating in June 2008 and subsequently enjoying the summer riding my bicycle with two great friends from Athens to the Pacific Ocean (bikists.blogspot.com), I began an internship at the National Geographic Society in the Cartographic Division. Upon completion of the internship in December I was given a job as a production cartographer. I am currently working with Chief Cartographer Allen Carroll on the Thematic Section of the 9th Edition of the World Atlas, which should go to press late summer of 2010. Although I can’t realistically take the summer off again for a long bike ride, I do plan on taking a few weeks to either do a tour around Lake Michigan with my dad, or venture south to Colombia with some friends from Athens.