Biography

I am originally from Sterling, Virginia and attended Park View High School. During High School I had a passion for science and mathematics, particularly geometry. I excelled in every subject and worked hard to get into college. I am passionate about learning and never really feel like I am not a student of something.

After graduation I attended James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. I started my undergraduate studies in the College of Integrated Science and Technology, a unique program that blends top science fields with real-world technology applications. The program opened up many different possibilities for me in ways I could never imagine.

With the unique scheduling and elective system I was able to take courses from numerous different technical fields to "sample" majors in a sense before making a final decision. I originally thought I was interested in Engineering and Manufacturing but later came to realize I was more interested in computers than anything else. I ended up concentrating in the Information Knowledge Management sector, which is a blend of computer science programming courses with a number of related computer science discipline courses ranging from Modeling and Simulation to Artificial Intelligence.

Before I made my mind up about what I wanted to study, I learned about Geographic Information Systems from a guest lecture in my GEOG 200 general education class. I thought the field sounded so interesting, I looked up some of the offered courses on the subject and decided to pursue a minor concentration in the field from that point on. I took basic GIS courses, training on ESRI products and also used knowledge from my IKM courses to help with projects in my Internet GIS course, where I developed and customized GIS websites with ArcIMS. I finished up JMU with a thesis project that analyzed GSM cellular tower placement locations based on topography and penetration rates for the country of Cuba using Geographic Information Systems spatial analysis tools.

After graduating from JMU I decided to pursue a Master's program in Geographic Information Science from Northwest Missouri State University. They offered on online program, which worked out perfectly since I was still working for JMU at the time at a couple of part time jobs. I was able to move and work anywhere and still be able to work towards my Master's. The online program was challenging and rewarding. I finished up my days as a Northwest student with a thesis entitled "Open Source Technologies in Web-Based GIS and Mapping". I explored and researched many avenues in the open source software market that pertain to GIS, spatial and mapping applications.

In my spare time I enjoy jogging, basketball, bowling, listening to my iPod and swing dancing. To learn more about my experience and qualifications, click on the Resume button above.