Some info about me: I enjoy the natural sciences, geography (especially GIS), programming (especially in Python), web development, and grapic design. I'm also a minor gearhead and a major DIYer. I like working on projects, fixing things, cooking, and the outdoors.
I grew up in Ithaca, NY where as a high school student I became interested in Environmental Sciences, which I went on to study in college at the State University of New York at Fredonia. Through courses in GIS I became interested in Geography and spatial data analysis and after graduating I worked as a research technician at the Cornell Lake Erie Research and Extension Lab studying techniques for measuring and mapping Concord grape vine canopy density in local vineyards.
I then moved out to the west coast and took another research tech. position with the Citrus Research Board in Riverside, CA where I worked with a small team to develop a field rearing method for tamarixia radiata—a parasitic wasp used as a biological control against the invasive Asian Citrus Psillid that is currently threatening citrus crops in the United States.
The following year I started a master's degree program in Geography and Geographic Information Systems at California State University Northridge where I further developed the GIS and programming skills I had initially learned during my time at SUNY Fredonia. Since then Python had replaced Visual Basic as the language of GIS and I immediately took to it. I also learned the basics of web devleopment and javascript through classes in Web GIS using leaflet. In addition to the technical skills I learned, I studied a wide range of topics including remote sensing techniques for mapping coral reefs, road network and traffic collision patterns, the urban heat island effect and techniques for mapping surface temperatures, and 3D mapping of landscapes using UAVs before writing my thesis on a method for mapping fire risk in Los Angeles County.
I currently live in Santa Barbara, California and work remotely as a Data Engineer / Scientist for Clique Brands, a media, marketing, and consumer brands firm based in West Hollywood, California, building data pipelines and machine learning models that help automate reporting and analytics.
I hope you like what you see.