Emergency Management Planner passionate about Transportation and GIS | Resilience, Sustainability, and Public Safety | Transit | Mapping | Technical Writing

I help people get from A to B.

I remember in elementary school, we had to take standardized tests. The tests were benchmarks to measure certain skills. They would consume the entire school day, were exhausting, and frankly, quite dull. However, one section always grabbed my attention.

This section would show a map of streets and boulevards of some imaginary neighborhood. Questions centered around how to help residents travel from these fictitious points, lines, and polygons. Mapping became more than an assignment to me.

I found myself wondering about this imaginary city or town. What do residents do for fun? Is the surrounding area near a beach or mountain? What kind of opportunities exists?

These maps got more complicated as I went through elementary school. Finally, in middle school, I remember an assignment that required mapping every country in Africa and selecting a country in which to develop a travel guide. Mine was Botswana.

Since those days, mapping, urban planning, and transportation have become closely linked in my career arc.

When the I-35W bridge collapsed in Minneapolis in 2007, I became more focused on sustainability and emergency planning. This bridge collapse focused my attention on the fact that the built environment in which we reside is changing. Finding solutions to make communities sustainable means developing deep spatial awareness.

I help people get from A to B.