I'm running for the NACIS 2015 board
I am running for the 2015 NACIS Board of Directors student representative position.
Two years ago, I arrived at my first NACIS meeting 6 months pregnant and without knowing anyone. I wasn't sure what to expect: would I be able to meet people? Would the sessions be so boring that I'd be falling asleep? Would I feel out of place?
I came away from those 5 days feeling like I had just left adult summer camp. I'd had a blast and learned a ton. The people were laid-back and friendly, while at the same time knowledgeable and helpful. The conference was the perfect combination of professional and academic talks, mixed with nature strolls around Greenville, South Carolina, and fun evenings hanging out with fellow carto-nerds. At that meeting, I met with Rob Roth, who is now my advisor for a Master's in Cartography & GIS at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
At my first NACIS conference in Greenville, South Carolina, with some awesome cartographers.
Here I am, two years later, with another NACIS conference and my first year of grad school at UW-Madison under my belt. I am running for the board because I would love to give back to the organization that has given me so much these last couple of years.
If I'm elected, I hope to bring in students from a broader reach of universities that haven't traditionally sent students to the annual meeting. As an undergrad at the University of Georgia, I loved my cartography classes, but didn't actually know anyone who made a living as a cartographer. Bringing a wider variety of students to our conference would allow them to see the range of possibilities of what you can do as a cartographer. The conference sessions would expand on what they are learning in the classroom. They could make connections that could help guide them during and after school. NACIS already has a network of university cartography labs across the continent and student travel grants to help students afford travel to the conference. But we should do a much better job of outreach.
Below is my formal bio for the ballot. Vote here! Elections are open until September 16th.
...And if you're not a NACIS member, you should join now and come to the 2015 conference in Minneapolis!
I am a Master's student in Cartography & GIS at UW–Madison. Before returning to grad school, I directed a mapping lab at a non-profit think tank in Bogota, Colombia, working on cartography projects on everything from renewable energy to corporate social responsibility. My current interests are in interactive cartography and UI/UX design, though my secret desire is to someday learn old-school methods of mapmaking that no one uses anymore. As the student representative on the NACIS board, I would like to attract students outside of the normal reach of the organization. NACIS has existing connections with university labs throughout the continent, and I would like to take advantage of these connections as a starting point to bring students that might not otherwise know about our annual meeting. I enjoy working as part of a team and would welcome the opportunity to give back to the organization that I fell in love with at my first conference in 2013, when my underdog GeoDweeb Geopardy! team came back to win it all.