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In addition to my standard lecture classes I recently co-taught a class that included a two-week study component in Oaxaca, Mexico. Oh, Mexico, my love for you never tires. Speaking of Mexico and Milwaukee, I am continuing my transnational ethnography into the economic and social ties between Milwaukee and a small village in Jalisco, Mexico. This summer, I will be researching the so-called “skills gap” between employment opportunities and workers in local industry, with a particular interest in the role Milwaukee’s burgeoning Latino and Mexican migrant population play in the city’s highly-segmented labor market.

I also had the opportunity to travel to Ethiopia last year to visit my (now) wife’s family. Our trip included a five day hike in the Ethiopian highlands complete with overnight stays at local tukuls (thatched-roof, adobe huts) where we danced and drank tej (honey wine) into the night. I hope to open up a new line of research on the Ethiopian “developmental state” in the future. But, for now, my feet are firmly planted in Wisconsin.

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Shortly after graduation, I had the opportunity to work in Madison, WI for about 1.5 years at Dane County Parent Council, Inc. as a Bilingual Family Outreach Worker (FOW) at the Preschool Enrichment Program (PEP) located at the East Madison Community Center. I worked with many Spanish-speaking families, improving my Spanish skills, and I learned how to better engage low-income and diverse communities. With a background in Environmental Geography and Urban Studies, I decided to complete a Family Service Credential to provide more effective social services to the Head Start Families. Working in Head Start as FOW had its challenges and rewards, but I rarely delved into the environmental realm. I really wanted to use my degrees I received at 51ÁÔĆć and follow my dream to mend and/or create sustainable regions.

To take a step towards the latter dream, I applied to the Peace Corps. Starting mid-March 2014, I will travel to Mexico to serve with the Peace Corps, participating in a project focusing on Environment and Natural Resource Management as a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) /Information Technology Specialist. After three months of training, the Peace Corps officials will place each volunteer to a specific urban or rural location in central or southern Mexico. I will establish relationships with the community and other important stakeholders and analyze the GIS needs of the host agency and provide assistance with these said needs to help empower the community/agency, among other tasks. In training, I will receive more specific guidance on the needs within the country in regards to the project.

I am excited to partake in a new adventure with Peace Corps. Along with other opportunities, the Geography Department specifically helped me prepare for international experiences via my undergraduate thesis, fieldwork, and multiple international immersions.

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After graduation, Pat worked briefly with Mark Hurd Aerial Surveys in Minneapolis, scribing digital terrain maps for the Department of Defense. After about a year, he moved back to Milwaukee and began his career working within the GIS industry and utility companies. For the next 13 years, Pat worked primarily as Consultant and Project Manager implementing Intergraph FRAMME projects.

In 1998, Pat moved away from working with the primary mapping applications to work with OMS (Outage Management Systems) and Mobile Workforce applications. With the advance in digital technologies, computerized customer records and streamlining work applications for field crews, it was an easy move into implementing new solutions for utility operations. Pat’s work has been dedicated to this field since the late 1990’s.

In 2008, Pat moved from Wisconsin to Florida to work with GE as an OMS/DMS Commercial Manager to work with GE’s Smallworld PowerOn application and its move to Smart Grid technology. After two plus years with GE, Pat left and has since gone back to working with Oracle products and applications.

When he isn’t on a plane traveling to customer locations, Pat enjoys personal traveling, promoting and supporting local eco-tourism activities, surfing, and an occasional round of golf. His work has taken him to Nepal, Australia, Brazil, Scotland, Costa Rica, Jamaica and various other countries. Over the next few years, he plans to increase his activities in supporting eco-tourism activities locally and internationally in the Americas.

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In Biophysical Applications of Satellite Remote Sensing, the authors describe major applications of satellite remote sensing for studying Earth’s biophysical phenomena. The focus of the book lies on the broad palette of specific applications (metrics) of biophysical activity derived using satellite remote sensing. With in-depth discussions of satellite-derived biophysical metrics that focus specifically on theory, methodology, validation, major findings, and directions of future research, this book provides an excellent resource for remote sensing specialists, ecologists, geographers, biologists, climatologists, and environmental scientists.

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