I am very interested in using the tools of GIS and science within the  comprehensive planning process.  During my employment with the Barrington Area Council of Governments I was involved with a project in which we studied groundwater recharge and capacity for 7 northwestern Chicago suburbs.  We projected current and future water consumption based on maximum development i.e., population and zoning.  Groundwater quality data also allowed us to recognize contamination "hotspots".  This project is very unique because it is allowing me to utilize all of my past work experience, as well as my current academic knowledge of GIS and science.  The data that we used was obtained from well drilling logs.  The soil data obtained from the drilling logs was used to develop a protocol to model the sub-surface groundwater input and outputs to derive a water budget.  I utilized Esri's Spatial and 3-D Analyst 8.3 extensively to analyze groundwater resources.  The result of this study will be used by all of the area municipalities in their comprehensive planning process.  More importantly, the study will provide guidelines for providing sustainable development practices and at the same time protecting existing natural resources.  This is one example of how science and GIS can be used for sustainable development in this day and age of diminishing and degrading natural resources.  A short abstract of the above mentioned projects can be found here. 

My other interest is bicycle and pedestrian route planning.  This may have nothing to do with my science background, but it is imperative to sustainable development.  Being an avid bicyclist since forever, using GIS to map bike routes has been a treat.  I am currently assisting the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin with there mapping and route analysis needs.  I am currently involved with a project to use GIS to map safe routes to schools.  A model is being developed that will determine the safest routes to all the schools in the City of Milwaukee based on accident rate data and feasible pedestrian access.  Another project I am working on is determining connections between existing bike lanes and routes against proposed bike lanes.  Currently there are varying levels of bike lanes throughout the City of Milwaukee based on Bicycle Level of Service (BLOS), although not all of them are connected.  I also developed an internet map viewer using ArcIMS 4.0 for the Bicycle Federation and for anyone interested in bicycling in Milwaukee,  County Wisconsin.  The map viewer is very easy to use and  provides a clickable hyperlink tool to allow the user to click on a desired bike route and see attributes ranging from the typical bike route environment to social amenities and parks!. More information related to my specific job duties can be found here!  In addition, more bicycle related projects, such as: bicycle crash analysis is available.

An additional area of interest is the application of remote sensing imagery and GIS for environmental monitoring, planning , and transportation.  I believe that remote sensing techniques, orbital paths, and high resolution of satellite imagery has become a significant component for many types of analysis.  Remote sensing imagery can now be applied to urban and planning analysis.  During my GIS certification process, I conducted a water quality study using ASTER remote sensing data and GIS. My study attempted to quantify and qualify the levels of turbidity along the nearshore environment of Lake Michigan.  Remote sensing imagery was obtained and processed using ERDAS Imagine and Idrisi and then further geoprocessed in Esri's ArcGIS.  Ground truth data was overlaid onto the imagery and correlations were derived.  It was concluded that the data was sufficient to generally assess the levels of turbidity.  To see a complete report on the methodology and conclusions that I arrived to, please refer to my paper; Remote Sensing and Water Quality Analysis.  In addition, I also have significant experience using Landsat ETM+ imagery.  As a result of an urban remote sensing seminar, I conducted a modified Anderson Level I analysis of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin.  The overall accuracy was unexpectedly low.  This was due to the pixel based training site method and its resulting low accuracy.  I have also conducted additional projects involving LULC and road detection using Ikonos, high resolution imagery