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Featured Alum

Ellen (Lin) Knapp already knew in the late '60s when still in high school that she wanted to work with computers. In her senior year she attended computer science classes at a local university on Saturdays throughout the academic year. She went to a large northern university the following year, beginning as a math major and thinking that math would be the road to learning more about computer science. She soon discovered that it was the application of computers to real world problems that interested her most. By that time (early 1970s), USCÕs Geography Department was using computers and quantitative methods to investigate interesting demographic and spatial phenomena. She transferred to USC in her junior year to complete her degree work in Geography and graduated in 1974 with a Bachelor of Science. Today, Lin is Vice Chairman and Global Chief Information Officer (CIO) of PricewaterhouseCoopers, the worldÕs largest professional services firm (165,000 employees in 150 countries).

After leaving USC, Lin went to work for Computer Sciences Corporation at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in an R&D role. Her early work with NASA concentrated in the areas of computer cartography and image processing. Over the course of her seven years at Goddard, she took on responsibility for a number of additional advanced technology groups including the massively parallel processing group and the interactive computer graphics group. In the early 80's, Lin joined the consulting firm of Booz-Allen & Hamilton to establish an Advanced Technology Practice. Two years later, she was wooed away by Coopers & Lybrand to establish an Advanced Technology Practice within C&L's management consulting group.

Lin's practice evolved to specialize in technology strategy consulting, primarily for large multinational clients of the firm. In 1992 the chairman of Coopers & Lybrand asked Lin to do for the firm what she had been doing for their clients, and she was named Vice Chairman, Technology, for C&L. Between 1992 and 1998, Lin's executive responsibilities grew to include knowledge management, marketing and communications, and learning and education. She was a member of the firm's Management Committee and Board of Partners. With the merger of Coopers & Lybrand and Price Waterhouse in 1998, Lin was appointed the Global CIO and Global Chief Knowledge Officer for the newly formed PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Lin travels extensively in her Global CIO role, as was pointed out in a January 9, 1999 profile of her in The Economist. She travels over 200,000 miles a year, primarily outside the U.S. To get away from it all, Lin travels even more. She is an avid scuba diver and says that her hobby takes her to the only places left where she can "disconnect" and people can't reach her. The Galapagos Islands are a favorite dive spot where she often goes with her two children, one of whom was born in Columbia while she was still a student.

Among her many extracurricular activities, Lin serves on the USC President's Advisory Board and Harvard University's "Global Women's Leadership Initiative." A frequent speaker, her recent keynote address at the Critical Infrastructure Assurance Conference, sponsored by the White House, was titled "Technology (20012020), The New Economy and the Next Economy."

Where Are They Now?

1970s
Steve Durham (MA, 1972) is COO of C-Cubed Solutions, which is headquartered in LA and has most operations in Bangalore, India. After USC, Steve earned an MBA (1975) from Harvard Business School (with classmate George W. Bush). Steve, his wife Sharon, and his two daughters live in Anaheim Hills "five miles east and 800 feet uphill from Disneyland."

1980s
Andy Baffes, Vice President and co-founder of EGS Technologies Corp., lives in Bloomingdale, IL with wife Carrie Egan Baffes. The Baffes, who are expecting their first child this fall, are into scuba diving and running. abaffes@egstech.com

Gordon Berry (MS, 1986) and Megan Lembach (MS, 1986) live in Catonsville, MD with sons Duncan (7) and Graham (4). Gordon does market research for Baltimore Gas & Electric and Megan is the Web Content Manager for Allfirst Bank. gberry@pcbank.net and mlembach@radicus.net

In 1999 Roddey Caughman (BA, 1984) moved to Buenos Aires, where he lives with wife Rebecca and sons Rion (7) and Ellis (5). Roddey and Rebecca are serving as missionaries to the deaf through the Presbyterian Church in America. rcaughman@mtwsa.org

As reported in an Atlantic Monthly article, Leo Dillon (MS, 1984) works for the U.S. State Department in the Office of the Geographer and Global Issues.

Mark Gustafson (BS, 1984), who works for Sperry Rail Service, drives an ultrasonic rail flaw detector in Scandinavia and the Baltics.

Matt Johnstone (BS, 1988) earned an MS in Botany (1993) at Michigan State University and now works for the State of Michigan overseeing the soil erosion and sediment control programs for 34 Lower Peninsula counties. Matt and wife Cyndi, both avid birders, plan to retire in South Carolina. anhinga@tm.net

David Lanter (Ph.D., 1989) has left Rand McNally and is now a Group/Practice Leader for the Information Management Services of CDM - Camp Dresser & McKee - in Philadelphia. His new email is lanterdp@cdm.com. You can visit the company website at: www.cdm.com.

Brent Moll (MS, 1985), who works in Atlanta in the airline/travel industry, is also a webmaster for several country music celebrity websites. bwmoll3@worldnet.att.net

1990s
Doug Baumgartner (MS, 1994) is a Regional Partner for RealtiCorp in Charlotte. dougb@realticorp.com

Paul Beaty worked for ERDAS until 1999 and is now a Research Scientist at Georgia Tech's Center for Geographic Information Systems in Atlanta. paul.beaty@arch.gatech.edu

Judith Berglund works for Lockheed Martin Space Operations at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. jberglund@mindspring.com

After graduating in 1991, Daryl Brackett worked as a contractor to Intergraph Corp. in Huntsville for about 3 and a half years. He then moved to the Raleigh, NC area where he was hired by AT&T (which later became Lucent Technologies), for a GIS project. After that project ended he remained in the Telecommunications field. Currently, Daryl is working for Catapult Communications (still in the Raleigh area). He is very involved in geography, travelling all over the world for his job.

After stints with the Center for Conservation Research & Technology and PlanGraphics, Mark Bramer(MS, 1997) is now implementing post-sales software solutions for ESRI's Professional Services Division in Washington, DC. mbramer@esri.com

Pat Bresnahan (Ph.D., 1995) is Geographic Information Officer for Richland County, SC. Pat and wife Amy pursue their scuba diving interests with annual trips to Hawaii and other Neate Places. patrick@bresnahan.com

Gwen Ford Carter(MS, 1997), who works in GIS Services for the Metropolitan District Commission in Hartford, CT, is working hard to get her candle business going. gwens_candles@hotmail.com

Mark Corson (Ph.D., 1997), a geography professor at Northwest Missouri State University, is spending the entire summer in Kosovo on active duty with the Army Reserve.

Pat Curley (MS, 1995) now lives in Marietta, GA and is a GIS analyst with Brown and Caldwell, an Atlanta environmental consulting firm. pcurley@brwncald.com

Parveen Darbar (MS, 1992) lives in Farmington Hills, MI and is a Senior GIS Analyst with Orchard, Hiltz and McCliment, Inc. She is married to an allergist and currently on family leave taking care of new daughter Nisreen. abahrain@pol.net

Eric Dobson (Ph.D., 1998), a Remote Sensing Specialist with the Technology Planning and Management Corp. at the NOAA Coastal Services Center in Charleston, is an adjunct faculty member of the University of Charleston's Marine Biology Program. eric.dobson@noaa.gov

Fernando Echavarria (Ph.D., 1993) lives in Washington, DC and works for the State Department's Space and Advanced Technology Staff. f.echavarria@state.gov

Geoffrey Ehler(MA, 1993, Ph.D., 1997) is a Chief Technologist and GIS Practice Manager with Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems and Solutions in Fairfax, VA. geoffrey.b.ehler@lmco.com

After graduating from USC, Tracy Fehl (BA, 1995) earned a Masters at the University of Waterloo, spent a year traveling in England, enrolled in Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment, and now works for the National Park Service as a National Program Analyst. tracy_fehl@nps.gov

Matt Florio (MS, 1994) works in Oakland, CA for Kivera, Inc., a firm specializing in spatial data manipulation. mflorio@kivera.com

Kevin Fraleigh (BA, 1999; MSTM, 2006) is a Geospatial Analysis Engineer for Harris Corporation in Melbourne, FL. At Harris, Kevin directs the production of Source Validation in support of the U.S. Bureau of the Census (BoC) Master Address File (MAF)/Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (TIGER) Accuracy Improvement Program (MTAIP). Kevin earned his Master of Science in Technical Management (MSTM) degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. His thesis, "Community Emergency Response Team Force Readiness in Brevard County, FL", was based on his work with the Brevard County Emergency Management office and as President of Central Brevard CERT, Inc.
trailblazer2001@yahoo.com

After spending the last two years in Hawaii working in a Topographic Engineer Battalion, Mike Hendricks (MS, 1994) has moved back east to begin work on a Ph.D. in Spatial Information Engineering at the University of Maine. Mike will eventually return to West Point to teach in the Geospatial Information Sciences program. hendrickm003@hawai.rr.com

Sean Matthews (MA, 1999), who was recently promoted to Planning Administrator for the City of Columbia, is teaching a world regional geography course at Benedict College. twosixx@excite.com

Seth Marcus (MA '99) is serving on the Board of Directors of the Applied Geography Specialty Group, AAG. He is employed as a research analyst and project manager for HUD in Washington, DC.

President Bush has appointed Michael Miller (MA, 1992) Director of African Affairs for the National Security Council at the White House.

Sean O'Halloran (MS, 1997) has just opened his own business, GeoMarketing Research which specializes in location strategies for businesses.

Dave Patton (Ph.D., 1993) decided to leave his planning position in Phoenix and join Mark Francek at Central Michigan University. Dave will primarily teach cartography-GIS.

Rob Rishchynski (MS, 1993) is in charge of Geospatial Data Management for Land Information Toronto. rrishch@city.toronto.on.ca

Jack Shacker (BA, 1996) is GIS Manager for the Upper Savannah Council of Governments in Greenwood, SC. jshacker@uppersavannah.com

We have confirmed that Alex Shepherd (MS, 1999) is enjoying life in Perth, Australia while working on his Ph.D. shephera@geophy.curtin.edu.au

Matt Sposato (MS, 1996) and Alisa Ramirez Sposato (MS, 1995) left Atlanta and returned to Alisa's hometown of Charlottesville, VA. Matt works as a Senior Application Developer for Musictoday, while Alisa, a GIS programmer/analyst, still telecommutes to the Atlanta office of CH2M HILL. In June 2003, they had a new addition to their family - a baby girl named Emily. Emily joins big brother Evan who was born in 2000. Their new email address is sposatos@blueridgemail.net.

In 2002, David Stone (BA, 1990; MA, 1994) started his own Aviation Sales and Management Company: Stone Aviation International. His primary business lies in the brokering or resale of medium to heavy corporate jets to various individuals and companies worldwide. Acting as an aquisition agent, he is hired to find the right airplane for his clients. David also provides V.I.P. Charter Service for a select group of foreign heads of state when they visit the United States. Of course, working logistics and security with the Secret Service is what makes this very exciting, on top of the fact that these are African Heads of State, which dovetails into the Africa/Aviation component of his MA studies under Dr. Stanley at USC. While he still holds a commercial pilot certificate, David's job is mainly non-flying. He and his wife, Laura, do travel quite a bit and have made Jamaica their second home. They are expecting their first child in June.

Suzette Suddeth Sprinkel (MAT, 1997) is a Master Teacher at Providence Christian School in Savannah. sprinkel@bellsouth.net

After four years with the USC baseball team, Derick Urquhart(BA, 1998) was drafted by the Montreal Expos and then traded to the Anaheim Angels. Derick played for the Angels last year and then spent the off-season in Florence, SC. urq01@aol.com

Bob Wilson(IMA, 1990) is a cartographer at RR Donelly/Mapquest.com/AOL in Lancaster, PA and also teaches geography part-time at Harrisburg Area Community College. bwilson@mapquest.com

2000s
Rick Bunch (Ph.D., 2000) has accepted a faculty position at SIU-Carbondale.

Richard Deal (MA, 1995; Ph.D., 2000) has accepted a tenure-track assistant professor position at Western Kentucky University. red@isealumni.com

Chuck Fahrer (Ph.D., 2001) is an Assistant Professor of Geography at Georgia College & State University. He recently co-authored the 3rd edition of Political Geography with Martin Glassner.

Jarrett Laughlin (MS, 2001), a GIS Coordinator for Ontario's Provincial Ministry of Education, lives in Toronto and is engaged to be married in Fall 2002. jarrett.laughlin@edu.gove.on.ca

Jennifer Meisburger (Ph.D., 2000) is a Senior Consultant for Booz-Allen and Hamilton, Inc., a management and technical consulting firm based in McLean, VA. Jennifer's work as a hyperspectral imagery expert supports the National Imagery and Mapping Agency's Commercial Imagery Program. meisburger_Jennifer@bah.com

Laura Fischer Schmidt (BS, 1998 and MS, 2001) is putting her GIS and cartography skills to work as Resource Coordinator for the North Inlet-Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve site near Georgetown, SC. lschmidt@belle.baruch.sc.edu

Melinda Young (MS, 2000) is a Senior GIS Analyst with Applied Geographics in Boston. melinda_h_young@yahoo.com

Curtis Wursten (MS, 2003) was hired as a GIS Analyst with Utah County in Utah. He is working with the public works department in a GIS team of five. curtis_wursten@hotmail.com

Scott Zibell (Ph.D., 2001) has loaded his recently completed dissertation on a CD for mailing to mission flight programs in more than 20 remote locations around the world. Scott, who has been invited to speak at this year's Mission Aviation Technical Conference, is seeking employment related to mission aviation.

This and That
Marty Roberge took second place in the Nystrom Award competition. Mark Corson is president of the Military Geography Specialty group. Rex Cammack was elected Vice President of the AAG's Cartography Specialty Group, which means that he'll be President of the SG next year. David Truly was elected Treasurer of the Recreation, Tourism, and Sport SG.

In Memoriam

Cindy MacCharles-Medina (MS 1994), along with her husband Larry Medina, died in a traffic accident in Palm Springs, California on December 28th, 2000. We know that those of you who remember her sunny presence in Callcott Hall, join the department in extending our deepest sympathies to the MacCharles and Medina families. Please visit the Porter Loring funeral home's web site (—click on Life Legacy, then type in Medina).

SBC Communications, Inc.,Cindy's employer, is establishing the Cynthia MacCharles-Medina Memorial Fund in her honor within the USC Educational Foundation.