Nominations for the fall elections of CaGIS officers

Every fall, the CaGIS membership elects new officers.  Nominations for the following positions were received:

• Vice President, to serve Jan - Dec 2008, then as president Jan - Dec 2009.  According to the bylaws, this year the candidate must be an academic.
• Two directors, to serve 2008-2010.

 

 

For CaGIS president                                                                                        pdf version of the ballots
Alan Mikuni

Incumbent Vice President. Succeeds to CaGIS President, January 2008- December 2008, and to Immediate Past President, January 2009- December 2009.

Alan M. Mikuni is Regional Geographer in the Western Region of the U.S. Geological Survey, and has responsibility for efforts to implement all aspects of the mission of the USGS’ Geography Discipline in the Region. In addition to broad overall executive leadership for USGS programs related to the management of the USGS’ Regional geographic science program, he collaborates with fellow Regional executives in ensuring the execution of all USGS programs in the Region. He received his B.S. in civil engineering from California State University at Fresno (then called Fresno State College) in 1970 and became licensed as a professional engineer in California in 1975. He began his career at the USGS as a civil engineering student trainee in 1966, working summers engaged in field survey and photogrammetric mapping operations. On graduation in 1970, he entered on duty as a civil engineer at the USGS engaged in all phases of topographic mapping. In 1995, he was selected as Chief of the Western Mapping Center. In 1996, the Department of the Interior recognized him with its highest honor award, the Distinguished Service Award, for career contributions to the Department. In 2001, he was appointed to the U.S. Federal Government’s Senior Executive Service as USGS Western Regional Geographer. He is Past President of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, having served as ASPRS National President during 2000-2001. In addition to his membership in ASPRS, he is a Fellow of the American Congress of Surveying and Mapping and is a member of the Cartography and Geographic Information Society. He is also a Fellow member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and is a member of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association, the National Society of Professional Engineers, Association of American Geographers, and the Senior Executives Association. He currently serves on the Geomatics Engineering Advisory Council for the California State University at Fresno. In addition to his involvement in professional society activities, he is President of the Fremont, California Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League. Alan and his wife Diane, and their two daughters, Cory and Kristy, reside in Fremont, California.

For CaGIS vice president
Scott Freundschuh

Scott Freundschuh is an Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Minnesota Duluth where he teaches and does research on map design, GIScience and spatial cognition.  He has published articles in The Professional Geographer, Transactions in GIS, Cartographica, Geographical Systems, and The Cartographic Journal, as well as chapters in various books.  In 2000 he co-published (with Rob Kitchin) the book Cognitive Mapping: Past, Present and Future.  He has served as guest editor for special issues of The Professional Geographer and Geographical Systems, has served on the editorial board of Cartographic Perspectives, and for the past seven years has served as Editor of Cartographic Perspectives.  He has served as Academic Director, Vice Chair and Chair of the Cartography, and Environmental and Behavioral Geography specialty groups of the Association of American Geographers.  He currently serves on the board of the North American Cartographic Information Society.  He has organized and chaired many special sessions at National Conferences, and in 1999 he organized and co-lead the NCGIA’s Varenius Project Specialist Meeting on Multiple Modalities and Multiple Reference Frames for Spatial Knowledge.

 

For CaGIS director
(vote for two)

Max Baber

Max Baber is an Associate Professor in the University of Redlands International Masters Program in Geographic Information Systems.  He holds Geography degrees from Georgia State University (MA 1993) and the University of Georgia (PhD 1999).  Prior faculty appointments at the University of Northern Colorado and Samford University stimulated interest in multidisciplinary GIS collaboration, which remains a growing interest.  Max has received funding from National Science Foundation and other sources for a number of pedagogical GIS grant projects.  His research interests include geographic visualization and spatial analysis, particularly in the exploration of urban, cultural, and historical landscapes.  He is a member of the U.S. National Committee for the International Cartographic Association (organizing U.S. entries to International Map Exhibitions in Spain and Moscow) and also serves on the North American Cartographic Information Society board of directors.  Max is a Fellow of the British Cartographic Society.

Michael P. Finn

Michael Finn holds a BS in Geography with a Minor in Cartography and Map Technology from Southwest Missouri State University and an MS in Civil Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University. He has worked as an IT Specialist and GIScience Researcher with the U.S. Geological Survey for the past seven years. He also has 17 years of experience with the U.S. Department of Defense; 10 years with the U.S. Air Force, and 7 years with the Defense Mapping Agency. He is Past President, Central Region, American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, and an active member of the International Cartographic Association Commission on Map Projections. His research interests are in geodesy, spatial coordinate systems, and map projections; in quantitative approaches to imaging in environmental modeling and GIS; in data integration and generalization for GIS; and in discrete mathematical and scientific applications for digital geospatial data.

Barry Bitters

Barry Bitters comes to CaGIS with over 40 years of production and research experience in various aspects of cartography, remote sensing, and GIScience. Prior to college, he started out in the topographic field performing cadastral, hydrographic, and construction survey. He then joined the military and served in various positions to include Cartographic Draftsman, Map Compiler, Cartographic Production Manager, Image Interpreter, Terrain Analyst, Topographic Engineer, Emergency Actions Officer, and Computer Programmer. After the military, Bitters moved to industry and spent 14 years in cartographic and software development positions as an Image Analysis Specialist, and Senior Software Engineer. He spent 8 years at the University of West Florida as an Adjunct Instructor and Senior Research Scientist investigating advanced data structures for use in future real-time simulation systems. He now works for a scientific and technical company performing research into techniques for the application of advanced geospatial data modeling to all types of situations. Bitters has a Bachelors degree in Public Administration and a Masters and Ph.D. in Geography. He has worked most facets of the cartographic discipline. He has performed all aspects of engineering contract coordination from bid packet development to overseeing contracts through to completion – from the point of view of both the contractor and contracting agency. He has also written, won, and executed multi-year research grants. He has over 15 years experience in government and private-sector software design, implementation, integration, testing, and software life-cycle management. He is happily married to Michele since 1971 and they have two daughters—one a Lieutenant in the Army and the other a contracting officer for a private company. The family has traveled extensively, living in Germany for seven years and in South Korea for three years. Barry and Michele Bitters enjoy traveling, restoring old homes, and applying exotic forms of landscaping to residential settings.