Google in Alaska

John Bailey - Univ. of Alaska Fairbanks

John Bailey grew up in Buckinghamshire, England with a usual kid's interest in space, dinosaurs and volcanoes. However, unlike most he never grew out of these interests. After graduating with a First in Physics and Space Science and Systems from the University of Kent at Canterbury he decided that space had limited fieldwork opportunities, so instead moved into the far safer world of volcanology. John received a PhD in Geology & Geophysics from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, specializing in Volcanology and Remote Sensing. In 2005 he moved to Fairbanks, Alaska for a 3-year postdoc position at the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center, working as part of the Alaska Volcano Observatory. As a geoscientist John is able to indulge both of his greatest interests; understanding the physical world about us and feeding an incurable case of wanderlust. He has visited 34 countries across six continents. His research and teaching activities involve a mixture of physical volcanology, geomorphology, remote sensing and other geospatial technologies, such as Google Earth. In his day job he is involved in daily satellite monitoring of the volcanoes in Alaska. In his other day job he uses virtual globes and KML to promote visualization of and education using scientific data, and teaches a 3-credit class on Google Earth and KML, as an adjunct member of UAF's Geography Department.

Anna Bishop - Google Inc.

Anna Bishop joined Google in August 2007 and has worked as a core member of the Geo Education 20% team time for most of that time. Anna graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in Anthropology and a deep interest in the use of technology to illuminate geographic and cultural concepts. Her professional background is in the nonprofit realm, where she worked before moving to Silicon Valley. Most recently, she worked as Program Manager at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business's Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship where she coordinated conferences, events, mentored students and community members, and coordinated internship programs in private equity and entrepreneurship. Anna's other role at Google involves serving as the administrative associate for the world-wide Product Management team that steers the product roadmap for Google Earth, Maps, SketchUp, Sky, Streetview, and the other Geo tools.

Jason Cain - Google Inc.

Jason Cain, Sr. Sales Engineer with the Earth Enterprise team, joined the Keyhole Corporation in October 2003 after completing his B.S. in Business Administration from CSU, Fresno, CA and began work on the Data Operations team, working on several vector and imagery datasets debuted to the online user base. Since joining the Google, Jason's primary focus migrated from an internal focus to working with external organizations to build custom versions of the Earth -- using their data and the Google Earth tools -- for use as a common visualization platform for end-users. Jason, a fan of geography and travel, has had opportunity to visit several countries these past few years in Europe and Asia as well as many USA states. He recently traveled in Alaska for a two-week holiday and aspires to visit New Zealand and Antarctica soon.

Katie Kennedy - Univ. of Alaska Fairbanks

Katie Kennedy is the Education and Outreach Coordinator for the University of Alaska Geography Program (UAGP), a position which combines her love of teaching and her interest in all things geographic. Katie heads up the UAGP's K-12 efforts which include several National Geographic Society initiatives such as the Alaska Geographic Alliance and the NGS Traveling Maps program. Other UAGP K-12 programs include MapTEACH, the AT&T Alaska GeoPortal, and GIS workshops with partner ESRI. Katie earned her first B.A. from Michigan State University prior to moving to Denali Park, Alaska in May of 1990. After spending some years splitting her time between the beautiful Denali landscapes and traveling the world with a backpack, Katie returned to school and received her teaching certificate in 1999. She has taught in both Fairbanks and Nenana, Alaska and recently earned another B.A. in Spanish. Katie has had the good fortune to learn quite a bit about KML and virtual globes from John Bailey and hopes someday to catch up with John on his country and continent count.

Eric Kolb - Google Inc.

Eric Kolb joined Google in September 2007 as a GIS Specialist on the Google Earth and Maps Team and specializes in image processing and analysis. Eric has had affiliations with the Arizona State University Planetary Geology Group, the United States Geologic Survey Astrogeology Section, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Planetary Geologic Mapping program. Current research activities include completing and publishing geologic maps of the polar regions of Mars as well as a new global geologic map of Mars. Eric is a graduate of Indiana University with a B.S. in geology, and from Arizona State University with a M.S. and PhD in geology, specializing in geomorphology and planetary surface processes. Eric is the proud father of two boys and a baby girl.

Megan Goddard - Google Inc.

Megan Goddard joined Google in August 2006 as a GIS Specialist on the Google Earth Team. Over the past two years, Megan has helped create exciting projects, such as the Crisis in Darfur, US Forest Service, UN Millennium Development Goals, Tracks 4 Africa and Fair Trade Certified layers featured on Google Earth. Megan received a PhD in Forestry and Natural Resources with an emphasis on water resources, and Masters of Environmental Engineering and Science. Both graduate degrees were earned at Clemson University in South Carolina. She did her undergraduate degree at UC Davis in her home state of California. Megan has always had a passion for travelling, and the travel bug really bit her a few years ago when she was invited to South Africa and Mozambique for vacation. Since then, she has almost made a career out of travelling, and has seen eight countries in Africa, New Zealand, India, and Europe all over the last year. She has two more continents to hit, South America and of course Antarctica has always been a dream.

Mike Sfraga - Univ. of Alaska Fairbanks

Mike Sfraga is Associate Dean, School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences, Director and faculty member, University of Alaska Geography Program, and Director, National Geographic Society/Alaska Geographic Alliance. He received his Ph.D. in Geography and Northern Studies in 1997. Sfraga's areas of academic concentration are in polar geography, exploration, geography of the circumpolar north, geography of Alaska and the history of field science. He is the author of "Bradford Washburn: A Life of Exploration" (2004), the first comprehensive biography of celebrated American explorer, Bradford Washburn. Sfraga has served in a number of administrative positions throughout the University of Alaska, most recently as Associate Vice President, University of Alaska System Office. He is currently the Chairman of the Denali Education Center and a member of the Cold Climate Housing Research Center Advisory Board. Mike sits on the board of the Alaska Geographic Association and is a member of Rotary International. He is Chair of the International Polar Year Community Outreach and Engagement Committee and a member of the International Polar Year Steering Committee.

Josie Wernecke - Google Inc.

Josie Wernecke is a senior technical writer at Google and has just finished writing The KML Handbook: Geographic Visualization for the Web, to be published by Addison-Wesley in November '08. A graduate of Stanford University with a B.A. in English and an M.A. in Education, she started out as a high school English teacher. One summer, she took a job as an editor for a high-tech startup in Silicon Valley, California, and she found the combination of computer programming and writing an irresistible challenge. She's been a technical writer for many years, writing for companies such as TiVo, Intuit, SGI, and AutoDesk. Google beats all the rest, both for intellectual challenges, the wackiness of her co-workers, and the caliber of its cafe food. She specializes in writing about application programming interfaces (APIs), loves 3D graphics, and has published three other books: The Inventor Mentor, The Inventor Toolmaker, and The VRML Handbook (all by Addison-Wesley). Josie's first job out of college was working as an editorial assistant for an acquisitions editor at Addison-Wesley, so she feels she's come full circle in the publishing world. She is the mother of two boys (her proudest accomplishment) and loves to hike in the Sierra, read, and quilt.

15-20 Sept 2008 Alaska, USA