Graduation: May 2005 with a degree in Geography, emphasis in GIS

Currently Lind is employed at British Petroleum Corporate Headquarters in Warrenville, Illinois as a GIS Analyst working within their Pipelines and Logistics department. As one of the pipeline GIS analyst, his core duties include database and integrity management, update and deployment of new GIS pipeline alignment map sheets, preparation of old relational pipeline data, or QA/QC, to be delivered into the new oracle database, and implementation of the mobile GIS application for adoption into the field sector.

The education Lind received from the GIS department at the University of Iowa has helped him to be a better asset to his team, allowing Lind to appropriate diagnose and deal with most problems or new developments encounters. The Department of Geography's focus on the principles of GIS rather than the use of GIS software has been extremely beneficial in real world scenarios. Lind did not know how many times he already heard, “Why can’t we just use this data?” Garbage in, garbage out is usually my reply. Understanding how data interacts within GIS and vice versa, how each can be utilized, and it's strengths and vulnerabilities has allowed Lind to make more educated decisions and choose appropriate courses of action.

For example, a month ago the GIS team had a meeting with the mobile GIS developer and the oracle database specialist on how to best approach implementation of the mobile GIS application. Some of the major concerns were ease of use, mobility, data acquisition, integration and management, GPS accuracy, and data flow. After several hours of debate a consensus was reached on how to best approach and begin implementation of the mobile GIS program.

Lind's understanding on how each concern may interact, or not interact, with one another, problems that may occur, such as data delivery issues and device restrictions, and integration into the current GIS, was all derived from his experience and education received from Iowa’s GIS department. Without the support and expert knowledge garnered from the staff, he says he would not be where he is today.