Rich M. Francisco '96
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE YOUR MAJOR?
"I've always loved the earth sciences. I chose Geography as my major mainly because of early interest in the subject. Now, it is helping me a lot in my job and in my field."
MEMORIES OF CALVIN
"All the late nights at Calvin. Wow, I can't believe I didn't sleep much then."
WHAT AT CALVIN PREPARED YOU FOR YOUR CAREER?
Geography degree..."but I really do think that Calvin should offer more GIS courses....I found myself taking more classes after I graduated."
LIFE AFTER CALVIN
- Worked for several companies
- Worked for City of Grand Rapids/Northrop Grumman IT as a GIS Technologist
- Worked for Ottawa County in Michigan as a GIS Technician
WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW?
I work for the County of Ottawa (MI) in the field of Geographic Information Systems, as a GIS Systems Analyst. I am responsible for maintaining the systems that house all GIS data. This includes Parcels, Aerials, Lidar, Zoning, Storm Utilities, etc.
ADVICE TO CURRENT STUDENTS
If you are interested in computer mapping and analysis, I suggest you take lots of other courses in computer science: databases, web courses such as ASP, programming courses such as VB or Java....
