2024 Presenter Biographies
Jing Gao
Assistant Professor – University of Delaware
Jing Gao is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography & Spatial Sciences and the Data Science Institute at UD. Her research investigates large-scale human-environment interactions, especially the relationship between global urban land use, population, and climate change. Trained in Geography and Computer Science, she approaches interdisciplinary scientific inquiries by integrating diverse data, quantitative and computational methods from spatial statistics, machine learning, big data mining, geo-visualization, and remote sensing, with narrative-based scenario analyses of societal development. Her research is generating new insights and datasets on global, long-term, spatially-explicit changes in urbanization and population characteristics, extending the SSP-RCP scenario framework used by the IPCC and the research community for understanding global environmental change impacts, spearheading creative data-science practices in long-term spatially-explicit modeling of socioeconomic processes, and developing new methods for evaluating the uncertainty and the success of such practice.
Jay W. Hodney
PhD GIS Technician – Public Works and Water Resources Department, City of Newark, DE
Jay resides in the Public Works and Water Resources Department at the City of Newark, DE, where he does all things GIS, including ArcGIS platform administration,application development, and general GIS map and data support. He has been with Newark for six years. Prior to Newark, he worked in the Kent County, DE Public Works Department for about a year, after 25 years in the private sector where he mapped soil and groundwater contamination at sites all over the world. Jay earned a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and Geography from the University of North Dakota, and a Master’s degree in Geography and PhD in Climatology, both from the University of Delaware.
Pinki Mondal
Associate Professor, Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences – University of Delaware
Pinki is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences at the University of Delaware and a Resident Faculty at the UD Data Science Institute. She holds a joint appointment in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences at UD. She is an interdisciplinary scientist trained in environmental remote sensing and Geographic Information Science (GIS). Her current research focuses on climate change impacts and adaptation in multifunctional landscapes. At UD, she serves as the Director of the Environmental Science undergraduate program. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in remote sensing and GIS. Pinki also serves as an Editor for “Earth Interactions” (an American Meteorological Society journal), and as an Editorial Board Member for the interdisciplinary journal “Environmental Research: Food Systems”. She was named a 2023 American Association of Geographers Elevate the Discipline scholar in Climate & Society. She is a Lead Author for the monitoring assessment (2024-2026) for the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
Daniel Peart
Data Services Librarian, University of Delaware Library
Dr. Daniel Peart received his PhD in Anthropology from the Ohio State University. In his career, Daniel has participated in pan-disciplinary ecological and social research funded by the National Science Foundation. Daniel has trained researchers on data management strategies, data analysis techniques, and the integration of qualitative and quantitative data into analytical computer models. Daniel enjoys working with researchers to overcome data challenges. His education agenda emphasizes best practices for data management and data ethics to promote information literacy.
Eric Reid
Planner, Delaware Department of Agriculture
Eric is a Planner and GIS Coordinator for the Delaware Department of Agriculture’s Aglands Preservation Program. His primary responsibilities include creating maps for agricultural and forestland easements purchased by the program and maintaining their GIS database. He also assists other departments of the DDA (Delaware Forest Service, Pesticides, etc.) with GIS-related issues in an effort to support agricultural initiatives. Eric gained his first experience with GIS outside the classroom when he took a seasonal position with the University of Delaware’s Saltmarsh Habitat and Avian Research Program (SHARP), where he used Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) technology to evaluate saltmarsh elevations along the East Coast. He seeks to apply his GIS education and experience to the field of conservation in his professional life.
Manan Sarupria
PhD student – University of Delaware
Manan obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from BITS Pilani Goa campus, India in 2019 with final year thesis at the National University of Singapore. He received his Masters’ degree in Water Resources Engineering from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium in the summer of 2021. Manan has experience in performing statistical analysis of extreme hydrological events, hydrological modeling, multispectral remote sensing imagery, geospatial analysis, and climate change impact assessment. Inspired by the beauty of the natural world and its ability to sustain a human society in a balanced way, Manan is motivated to study how climate change is affecting this delicate balance today. Starting from Spring 2022 at the EASEL Lab, Manan is working on a NASA-funded project to evaluate the impacts of saltwater intrusion on coastal ecosystems under the changing climate and delivering real-time satellite-derived big data for environmental change research. If not working, you’ll find me drumming, cooking, cycling, hiking, or in a vinyl shop.
Olena Smith, GISP
Lead Geospatial Information Consultant, IT Research CyberInfrastructure, University of Delaware
Olena supports the UD Geospatial Research community as a technological leader and facilitator to campus GIS projects in research and administrative realms. She develops and maintains internet mapping applications, supporting data for research, instruction, and administrative infrastructure projects. Olena provides UD geospatial cloud services along with a variety of other GIS applications support. She provides consulting, training, documentation, and outreach for the GIS community locally and nationally. Over the years Olena has worked in developing and managing servers and databases; developing and teaching geospatial courses at Esri. She has 20 years of experience in the GIS field.
Jason Vogl
Principal Planner with the Office of State Planning Coordination (OSPC)
Jason is a Principal Planner with the Office of State Planning Coordination (OSPC) and is the GIS Coordinator for the State of Delaware. In his role with OSPC Jason is responsible for supporting his fellow Principal Planners with Plan of service reviews for Municipal Annexations, State Strategies Analysis, Preliminary Land Use Service, Development Trends, Downtown Development districts and other Geographical needs for statewide consumption. Additionally in his role for OSPC he is tasked to working with other agencies for GIS solutions and larger scope efforts where multi-agency coordination is warranted. As the GIS Coordinator Jason is charged with the responsibility of Chairing the Delaware Geographic Data Committee (DGDC) where he is responsible for coordinating quarterly meetings, facilitating multi-agency collaboration, and informing the community of statewide efforts.
Eric Wagner
Product Engineer – Learn ArcGIS, Esri
Eric Wagner is nothing short of a geography nerd (and proud of it)! Currently, he works at Esri as a Product Engineer creating educational videos. He also volunteers with several non-profit organizations in the region focusing on international development and environmental conservation. If he’s not mapping something, he’s probably out for a run, hiking, or working on his Jeep. Eric graduated from Villanova University with a BA in Geography and an MS in Geography from West Chester University.