Here we go with another installment of 10 questions. Dawn Wright was appointed Chief Scientist of Esri in October 2011 after 17 years as a professor of geography and oceanography at Oregon State University.
In her role at Esri, Dawn aids in formulating and advancing the intellectual agenda for the environmental, conservation, climate, and ocean sciences aspect of Esri’s work, while also representing Esri to the national/international scientific community. Dawn also maintains an affiliated faculty appointment in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State. Other interests include road cycling, 18th-century pirates, apricot green tea gummy bears, her dog Sally, and SpongeBob Squarepants!
And so, a few rapid fire questions for Dawn:
Q: PC or MAC?
Mac
Q: Coffee or Tea & Beer or wine?
Tea
Q: ArcGIS or QGIS (or other)?
ArcGIS
Q: iOS or Android?
iOS
Q: ESRIUC or FOSS4G?
Esri UC but would like to attend FOSS4G some day too
Q: If I was to look on your bed table or coffee table, what are you currently reading?
Pieces of Eight by John Drake
Q: On the job front, is your company hiring or have you recently made a hire? Also, are there any challenges you face in hiring Geotech talent?
We always seem to be hiring and there is more information at http://www.esri.com/careers/main . Challenges include choosing among so many great candidates. Sometimes for geographers challenges include finding those who have had a lot of coding experience in Python, Java, JavaScript, Silverlight, and/or C++.
Q: I’m a College student wanting a career in “GIS” what words of wisdom can you give me? Also, I often get people asking what courses or prof. development can I suggest. Is there a short course through Coursera or code academy etc… that you would suggest for a geogeek?
This short interview for our Esri interns might help, https://shar.es/1stRlP, as well as other articles in the Esri Careers blog at http://blogs.esri.com/esri/careers/
For those in the ocean/coastal realm try http://marinecoastalgis.net/careers
Some great MOOCs include Maps & the Geospatial Revolution at https://www.coursera.org/course/maps; Going Places with Spatial Analysis at http://www.esri.com/landing-pages/training/spatial-analysis; and the Location Advantage.
Q: I’m a bit of a skeptic regarding the economy at the moment and don’t view things as being completely rosy. How do you see the current business climate unfolding?
I don’t have a crystal ball, but am very encouraged by how our economy has actually been recovering over the last. There always seem to be good opportunities in the geospatial world, but I think one has to be willing to search nationally for a good position, not just in one’s own backyard.
Q: Can you share a snippet of what’s on the horizon for your company?
Our evolving program for the scientific community, including great new support for R – see http://esriurl.com/scicomm
Thanks for taking part Dawn!
If you;d like to follow or contact Dawn: Follow her on Twitter at @deepseadawn.
On the Web see http://dusk.geo.orst.edu or http://about.me/deepseadawn
From the Editor (@gletham) I’m a fan of Dawn’s and the work that she and her team does, this mainly the result of myself residing on the Pacific coast and living in an area loaded with talent, including geographers, bio-geographers, marine scientists, that are extremely interested in preserving the environment and learning more about the interaction between man and the environment. If the environment, conservation, climate, and ocean sciences are of interest to you then be sure to follow Dawn for loads of interesting information and tips!