Letter From the Chair, Spring 2012

Harsh Prakash, Senior GIS Manager, Chair, APA Technology Division

As the division gets ready for the APA conference in Los Angeles later this month, I want to introduce the new membership to our Leadership Committee, and highlight their voluntary contributions of time and talent:

First up, meet a new Section Chair – Corey Proctor (@DrkNow00). Corey is our GIS Chair, and responsible for spreading awareness about the application of GIS and mashups by highlighting the spatial components of say, the division roster. He works as a Senior Planner for Forrest County, MS, where he is responsible for managing the county’s GIS system, administering grants and enforcing land development ordinances. He is also our acting Secretary/Treasurer and part of our Executive Committee.

Ayanthi Gunawardana is also a new Section Chair (@HoneyBadger88). Ayanthi takes on the role of our Social Networking & New Technology Chair, spreading awareness about the application of participatory and handheld technologies by administering our social media channels. She works as an Attorney Emeritus Program Coordinator with the Feerick Center for Social Justice, NY.

Crystal Wilson is our Vice-Chair and part of our Executive Committee (@PlaceVision). Crystal assists me in coordinating committee activities, and has helped customize WordPress on the division website. She is the President of PlaceVision Inc., FL, and helps planners and architects communicate more effectively.

Stephen Chiaramonte is our Newsletter (PDF) Editor. Steve’s contributions include the painstaking layouts of our newsletter PDFs. He has been a transportation planner with Parsons Brinckerhoff, for more than ten years, specializing in highway-corridor, and bicycle and pedestrian studies.

Robert Goodspeed serves the role of our Newsletter (group) Blog Chair (@RGoodspeed). Rob collects the bulk of the content for the newsletter and updates the division website and our APA-hosted webpages. He is a PhD student at the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, and a part time research consultant for the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, MA.

Finally, meet Jennifer Cowley, Professor, OSU (@EvansCowley). Jennifer is our Immediate Past-Chair. I also want to thank Amiy Varma, Associate Professor, NDSU, for his contributions as our past Secretary/Treasurer.

I look forward to meeting with the rest of you in Los Angeles, and brainstorming on new initiatives. As always, you can contact me directly at harsh@gisblog.org (@GISBlog).