Student Spotlight: James Bielenda

Student Spotlight: James Bielenda

Special Topics students completed their final lab, Module 3.1: Scale and Spatial Data Aggregation this week.  Students examined the geometric properties of hydrographic vector and polygon data at different scales to understand the importance of projecting data at the appropriate scale (shown above). The class then used Ordinary least squares (OLS) analysis to see how the compactness of a study area may impact the data. The real-world applications in this lab used OLS concepts to identify suspected areas of gerrymandering, or manipulating boundaries of electoral districts for unfair political advantages, in Florida. 

This week, we would like to highlight the outstanding work of James Bielenda! 

James is currently working as an Environmental Compliance Specialist for Santa Rosa County.  He is enhancing his career with GIS and has his sights set on a Computer Science Master's degree, as well.  We appreciate his curiosity and passion for GIS and problem solving, consistent effort, and engagement with instructors and students online. Congratulations to James on completing the final course of the Graduate GIS Certificate program!