Support
Joan Lara Student Scholarships
The Joan Lara Student Scholarship Fund at the University of Iowa was established by family and friends in memory of Joan. Its purpose is to support outstanding and promising students as they travel to present their research, conducti research, or participate in courses at regional, national, or international venues.
Chad E. Smith Scholarship Fund
The fund was established by Seneca Environmental Services, Inc. and Chad Smith’s family and friends in memory of Chad E. Smith. Chad E. Smith received his B.A. degree in Political science and Sociology in 1992 and a B.S. degree in Geography in 1993. He was killed in a car accident in August 1994. He had been employed by Seneca Environmental Services, Inc. in Des Moines.
Donations
These and other kind donations provide undergraduate and graduate students opportunities to travel, present research findings, and add to their Geography experience not possible otherwise. To make a donation to these or other Geography funds please go to Geography under the University of Iowa Foundation's A-Z List of Online Giving Areas.
Alumni
To contribute additional news, information, or updates please email geography@uiowa.edu
Charles K. Huyck, Executive Vice President, ImageCat, Inc
Mr. Huyck is a geographer specializing in the integration of advanced geospatial technologies and emergency management. As Executive Vice President of ImageCat, Inc., he oversees a team of engineers, scientists, and programmers developing software tools and data processing algorithms for loss estimation and risk reduction. At the University of Iowa, Mr. Huyck studied GIS with Professor Marc Armstrong and Environmental Management with Professor Rebecca Roberts, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in 1993. More, if necessary- He has over 15 years of experience in GIS analysis and application development. He introduced GIS and Remote Sensing to EQE International, where he served as GIS Programmer Analyst on several loss estimation and research projects. At the California Governor's Office of Emergency services, he was responsible for geospatial analysis, database development, and mapping disaster information for the Northridge Earthquake, California winter Storms, and California fire storms. Mr. Huyck is proficient with several GIS and remote sensing software and has contributed to the development of several online and desktop programs, including: the HAZUS flood module, EPEDAT, J-EPEDAT, EPEDAT-LA, USQuake, InLET, DrillSIM, MetaSIM, RAMP, U-RAMP, REDARS, Bridge Hunter/Bridge Doctor, VRS, VIEWS, CatViewer, PDQ Disclosure, GeoVideo, and BetterDEMS. He has authored over 50 papers, many pertaining to damage detection and inventory development with remotely sensed data.
Craig Harvey, NVision Solutions
Craig Harvey is a 1998 graduate of the Geography program at the University of Iowa. His interest in Geography began with a work study position with the USGS Water Resources Division in Iowa City. Shortly after taking the work study position he declared his major in Geography. He continued to work at the USGS through his undergraduate studies and eventually started a career with the USGS that lasted more than a decade starting with titles such as Hydrologic Technician, and ending as a GIS Specialist. With the USGS, Craig continued to develop both his GIS expertise and desire to teach. He was selected as one of the USGS Senior GIS staff acting as both a national instructor teaching GIS and an a resource providing top level support to water resources scientists across the country. While working at the USGS, Craig acted as guest lecturer at the University of Iowa, Kirkwood Community College, and taught Introductory GIS at Drake University. Craig culminated his career with the USGS by commercializing the watershed model BasinSoft which is still in use today.
Craig left public service to join PixSell, a fledgling startup company located at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in 1999. Using his experience, education, and Hawkeye spirit he grew a nonexistent GIS program into nearly a million dollar program and balanced training and production while developing a first-rate technical staff in just under two years. As an early advocate of Web-based solutions Craig was intent on positioning his technical staff to capitalize on the Web-based evolution of Geospatial data processing and data delivery. In 2002 his experience and vision made him a natural candidate to lead startup NVision Solution’s operations where he developed a highly technical and eclectic award winning staff. Craig continues to maintain contacts at the University of Iowa and the Iowa City community viewing both as well defined resources that he has tapped many times having hired four Iowa alums during his entrepreneurial career for their well rounded education, expertise, and hard work. Still on a steep growth curve, NVision is a post 9/11 high tech start up company that has not only survived the “dot com era” and the ensuing “technological winter” but flourished. Now more than 5 years old, NVision Solutions projects revenues approaching 5 million per year in 2008. With 23 current employees NVision continues to seek qualified GIS and GIS/Programming candidates to fill existing positions on Craig’s team. Craig’s visionary work at NVision has lead to numerous awards: The 2006 Tibbetts Award for exemplary work in Small Business Innovation Research, Craig was selected as SBA’s 2006 Small Business Person of the Year recognizing hard work, innovative ideas, and dedication to community, two Special Achievement in GIS Awards from ESRI, and the ESRI 2005 New Partner of the Year Award to name a few. Craig attributes his success to his Marine Corp mentality and his well rounded Iowa Liberal Arts Education and experiences.
Jeremy Lind, GIS Analyst, British Petroleum
Graduation: May 2005 with a degree in Geography, emphasis in GIS
Currently I am employed at British Petroleum Corporate Headquarters in Warrenville, IL as a GIS Analyst working within their Pipelines and Logistics department. As one of the pipeline GIS analyst, my core duties include database and integrity management, update and deployment of new GIS pipeline alignment map sheets, preparation of old relational pipeline data, or QA/QC, to be delivered into the new oracle database, and implementation of our mobile GIS application for adoption into our field sector.
The education I received from the GIS department at the University of Iowa has helped make myself a better asset to my team, allowing me to appropriate diagnose and deal with most problems or new developments I encounter. Their focus on the principles of GIS rather than the use of GIS software has been extremely beneficial in real world scenarios. I do not know how many times I have already heard, “Why can’t we just use this data?” Garbage in, garbage out is usually my reply. Understanding how data interacts within a GIS and vice versa, how each can be utilized, and their strengths and vulnerabilities has allowed me to make more educated decisions and choose appropriate courses of action.
For example, a month ago our GIS team had a meeting with our mobile GIS developer and our oracle database specialist on how to best approach implementation of our mobile GIS application. Some of our major concerns were ease of use, mobility, data acquisition, integration and management, GPS accuracy, and data flow. After several hours of debate a consensus was reached on how to best approach and begin implementation of the mobile GIS program.
My understanding on how each concern may interact, or not interact, with one another, problems that may occur, such as data delivery issues and device restrictions, and integration into our current GIS, was all derived from my experiences and education received from Iowa’s GIS department. Without the support and expert knowledge garnered from the staff, I would not be where I am today.
Jeff Corns, GISP, Vice President of GIS, The Schneider Corporation
Jeff Corns is a 1997 graduate of the Geography program at the University of Iowa. His introduction to geography and GIS began with an undergraduate class discussing spatial patterns and their impact on economic situations. After graduating from Iowa, Jeff joined a small GIS consulting firm (ProMap Corporation) in the Iowa State Research Park focusing on Local Government solutions. As COO of ProMap, he used innovation to help grow the company from seven people to more than 30, serving clients across Iowa and the Midwest.
Using GIS and geographic principles to help solve problems and improve local governments has been a career long passion for Jeff. Today he is responsible for the GIS practice at The Schneider Corporation, a national geospatial and engineering consulting company based in Indianapolis, with offices in the Midwest and Southeast, including Ames, Iowa.
Jeff has helped over 100 organizations develop and utilize GIS and bring geography into the forefront of their decision making processes. These organizations include over 40 counties in Iowa, and well as state and local governments throughout the Midwest and Southeast. He has also worked with a number of Fortune 500 companies across the country. These projects have won a number of state and national awards, and continue to lead the industry in innovation and efficiencies.
In addition to work, Jeff has served on a number of industry and state boards including both Iowa’s and Indiana’s Geographic Information Councils. He is also currently serving on the Advisory Board for the Masters of Geography program at IUPUI, and as a member of the GIS Certificate Institute’s Review Board.
