GISEC Team
- Details
- Saturday, 06 August 2011 18:21 GISEC Staff Hits: 12482
Feel free to contact us at anytime regarding your questions or comments.
Staff
Suzanne Korey | Mono Simeone |
Instructors
Cyndy Comerford | Rick Kos | Jen McLaughlin | Mike Pogodzinski |
Suzanne Korey
Program Director
415.550.4420
Contact Me
Day job: Program Director, GIS Education Center & Director, Career Technical Education
GIS Focus: Growing the GIS Education Center to be a dynamic and responsive hub of GIS Education
As Program Director My Goal is: I have multiple goals for the Center, which include expanding the reach of our workshops so that more Bay Area residents know about us and participate in our classroom. As we expand our reach I would like the Center expand the range of workshops we offer to benefit people working in transportation, health, urban planning, business, homeland security, and multiple other disciplines. Along side working as Center director, I also work in San Francisco's public schools. My current passion is to see Geospatial technologies utilized in multiple curricular area and across a variety of grade levels. Teachers have successfully integrated Geospatial technologies with students from 3rd grade through high school and in a variety of curricular areas such as art, civics, earth and environmental science, English, geography, history, and outdoor education. Spatial literacy is as important a goal as traditional literacy is. The Center can play an important role in facilitating this technology and preparing teachers to develop modules of geospatial technology for students of all ages.
GIS is important to me because: Using maps to display information is a far more powerful tool then graphs and statistics. Maps provide something that narratives and statistics lack, and indeed demonstrate that "a picture is worth a thousand words". I find the multi-disciplinary nature of GIS and its broad application very exciting, and the students who come into the GIS EC classes represent this breadth of knowledge and experience.
You Should Also Know: I am a big champion of community colleges as a dynamic learning institutions that are directly responsive to local community. The GIS-EC is a good example of how a community college has capacity to address a broad range of disciplines and technologies, and to bring both graduate level and high school students into the same classroom.
Mono Simeone
Program Manager/ Faculty/Web Master/ Ice Cream Truck Driver
[415] 239.3988
Contact Me
Day job: GIS Coordinator for City College of San Francisco
GIS Focus: Facilities Management using GIS, GIS for Academic Administration
As Program Manager My Goal is: To build a robust and solid GIS program. Provide a service that delivers relevant knowledge, techniques and work-flows to those seeking jobs, students, organizations and community activists. To actively engage the GIS EC in community projects and build relationships with local organizations and private entities.
GIS is important to me because: I believe GIS can facilitate better communication within a community or organization. The ability to analyze data spatially can provide vital information for decision makers regarding policy. Maps are critical to understanding and improving our environment.
My Projects
- Facility Management and GIS for Campuses - City College of San Francisco
- GIS for Campus Administration - City College of San Francisco
- Crime Analysis, Homicides - San Francisco Police (SFPD)
- Utility/asset mapping, Oakland & San Jose Airports - Towill Inc.
- GIS database and feature creation, Hetch-Hetchy ROW - Towill Inc.
- LiDAR, Forest and Power Utility mapping - Towill Inc.
- Georectification and aerial time-series, Formally Used Defense Sites (FUDS) - Towill, Inc.
- CAD conversion, Towill Inc.
- Invasive species mapping, Tomales Bay - Pacific Coast Science & Learning Center, Point Reyes National Seashore
- Marine mammal stranding database, California - Point Reyes National Seashore
- Major Contributor to 'Thinking Globally, Acting Regionally' by Richard LeGates, SFSU Urban Planning Department (ESRI Press)
Organizations: BAAMA, BAR-GC, and about 8 committees of the shared governance at City College.
Cyndy Comerford
Instructor
Day job: Environmental Health Planning and Fiscal Policy Manager for the San Francisco Department of Public Health, Environmental Health
She holds a Master’s Degree in Resource Management and Environmental Planning and has comprehensive experience planning and developing public health programs to incorporate public health considerations into federal, state and local planning decisions. She directs the planning and fiscal functions of the Environmental Health Section and also facilitates the San Francisco Department of Public Health’s Urban Health and Place Team which develops research and expertise to assess environmental conditions and respond to urban health inequities.
Cynthia is currently managing a CDC funded project to develop public health capacity and adaptations to reduce human health effects of climate change. Her current research includes the development of an index to assess pedestrian environmental quality, understanding how green building design can improve health outcomes and developing indoor air quality policy.
Past work includes:
- The design of an evidence based healthy development measurement tool which is used to assess the health impacts of urban planning;
- Directing the Treasure Island Community Transportation Plan which promoted physical activity in community design;
- The development of a Retail Food Availability Survey to assess neighborhood food security; and the creation of a geographic sound propagation model to be used for emergency response planning.
Cynthia serves on several City advisory committees and currently represents the San Francisco Department of Public Health on the Municipal Green Building Task Force.
Rick Kos
Instructor
Day Job: GIS and Urban Planning Consultant; GIS Instructor at San Jose State University and City College of SF
GIS Focus: Introducing students to GIS technology and demystifying it.
GIS is Important to me because: In order to solve local, regional and global problems, we first need to know as much as possible about the topic to be solved. In almost every case, this information has a locational and relational component that can be represented on a map - this is why GIS becomes such a powerful tool to study and solve multi-faceted problems. Unfortunately, I feel that today's GIS software is clunky, confusing, unfriendly and off-putting to new learners, so I've made it my mission to promote GIS as a powerful tool that needs to be clearly explained and demystified for the benefit of present and future problem-solvers.
You Should Also Know: Proud to say I was born and raised in New Jersey, though I love California and the Bay Area!
My Projects
- City of Mountain View 2030 General Plan Update mapping
- City of Orinda GIS training
- Co-author: GIS for Economic Development
- Digital Cartographer: Worldlink
- Urban Planning and GIS instructor: San Jose State University
- Personal GIS tutoring services
My Groups: American Institute of Certified Planners, American Planning Association, National Trust for Historic Preservation, BAAMA (Bay Area Automated Mapping Association), Faculty, San Jose State University Urban & Regional Planning Dept.
Jen McLaughlin
Instructor
Day job: Environmental Health Planner for the San Francisco Department of Public Health, Environmental Health
GIS Focus: Health Impact Assessments using GIS
GIS is important to me because: It allows us to better understand the spatial distribution of our neighborhood resources which can inform planning and policy to address social and environmental inequities. It also helps paint a better picture of those communities with the most need.
You Should Also Know: I'm currently involved with the Mayor's Open Space Task Force and the San Francisco GIS User Group.
My Projects
- GIS mapping and spatial analysis for Healthy Development Management Tool, SFDPH
- Air Quality Model and Map for PM 2.5 in San Francisco, SFDPH
- San Pablo Avenue Air Quality Mapping and Spatial Assessment to Public and Retail Services, Human Impact Partners
- Treasure Island Bicycle Environmental Quality Index Map, SFDPH and SF Bicycle Coalition
Mike Pogodzinski
Instructor
Day job: Professor of Economics at San Jose State University
GIS Focus: Economic development
You Should Also Know: I'm interested in the econoimcs of education (K-12 performance and finance), economic development, and urban economic issues.
My Projects
- Co-author, GIS for Economic Development
My Groups: Association for Institutional Research
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