Dr. Brian Waldron

Director

Email: bwaldron@memphis.edu

Phone: 901-678-3283

Dr. Waldron serves multiple roles: Director of the Center for Partnerships in GIS (CPGIS), Assistant Professor within the Herff College of Engineering and Associate Director of the Ground Water Institute. His expertise is in GIS application and development as well as ground-water flow and contaminant transport. Dr. Waldron has been the Director of CPGIS since its inception in the summer of 2007. He has used GIS as a tool for mapping community data and conducting spatial analyses since 1991. For four years (2006-2010), he was an ESRI Authorized Training instructor in Introduction to ArcGIS. His primary interest with GIS is in developing innovative solutions for solving complex problems and pushing the envelope in using advanced GIS capabilities.

AJ Robinson

GIS Project Manager

Email: ajrbnsn1@memphis.edu

Phone: 901-678-5110

Mr. Robinson joined CPGIS during its initial hiring phase in July 2007, as a GIS Technician.In 2008, he completed his undergraduate degree in International Studies. He was hired as the GIS Project Manager for CPGIS in 2009. During his tenure as GIS Project Manager, he has helped CPGIS never miss a deadline and remain in budget on many of the dozens of contracts and projects that keep the office environment buzzing. He has a passion for improving workflow efficiency, working in a fast paced team environment, and pioneering new areas of growth in spatial analyses. He has played a significant role in CPGIS’ endeavors including leveraging the power of GIS across multiple hardware and software platforms, interactive web mapping, real-time mobile field assessment, and developing partnerships with local government and businesses.
Andrew Carnegie: “Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision and to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.”

Nate Ron-Ferguson

Senior GIS Project Coordinator

Email: nfergusn@memphis.edu

Phone: 901-678-5110

Mr. Ferguson has worked at the Center for Partnerships in GIS since July, 2009, and has served as the GIS Project Coordinator since February of 2010. He received a Masters in City and Regional Planning from the University of Memphis in 2008, at which time he worked as a Research Associate at the Regional Economic Development Center. He assisted in the preparation of the Environmental Systems Enhancement Plan for the Mississippi River Corridor in Tennessee, a regional development strategy that leverages natural systems to promote both conservation and economic development efforts throughout the region. He has worked on a variety of GIS related projects including neighborhood mapping, community analysis, site selection, and numerous others. His interests in GIS lie in GeoDesign, participatory GIS, and developing mobile solutions. As a daily bicycle commuter, Nate is involved with a variety of cycling and pedestrian groups around town including Walk Bike Memphis and the Memphis Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC).

Jason Knisley

Senior GIS Web Programmer

Email: jknisley@memphis.edu

Jason began working with CPGIS in January 2010 as a full-time graduate student pursuing a M.S. in Applied Computer Science. His initial projects involved the development of several Silverlight-based web mapping applications, and recently he has begun development of GIS applications on the Android platform. His programming experience includes website development using ASP, JSP, and PHP as well as application development in C#, Java, C/C++, and Visual Basic. He joined CPGIS full time in April 2011 and received a master’s degree in Applied Computer Science in May 2011.

Senior GIS Technician

Email: melqudsi@memphis.edu

Jeanne Buckner Payne

Administrative Assistant

Email: jbpayne1@memphis.edu

Phone: 901-678-1194

Ms. Payne monitors CPGIS’ budgets, facilitates transactions within the University accounting, payroll and procurement systems and performs other administrative duties related to the daily needs concerning CPGIS’ responsibilities to the University of Memphis and its clients and employees. For 32 years, Ms. Payne worked in the corporate accounting office for the second largest airline catering company, retiring in 2005. She was enticed to come out of retirement to work and the University of Memphis and CPGIS by Dr. Waldron in 2007. She likes reading, bird watching, cooking, entertaining, college basketball -GO TIGERS GO-soccer, and NASCAR.

Andrew Cole

Project Coordinator

Email: amcole1@memphis.edu

Andrew assists the CPGIS staff on developing and managing data for the local Homeland Security Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI). His personal interests in GIS are in how spatial analysis can impact the political process through mapping demographic shifts in voting districts, improving canvass efficiency with network analysis tools, and mapping areas of improvement to be included in campaign platforms.

Eric Goddard

Project Coordinator

Email: egoddard@memphis.edu

Eric assists the CPGIS staff with collecting and managing mobile data collection. His personal interests in GIS relate to their application in archaeology including how to integrate various types of data such as geophysical, surface, and sub-surface and apply them towards a better understanding of past human settlement patterns, community organization, or evaluating formation and erosion processes on prehistoric earthworks.