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Congratulations to our U Geography alumni Josh Goreneveld, Julia Surkis, and Emma McFee

(L-R) Julia Surkis, Emma McFee, Esri President Jack Dangermond, and Josh Groeneveld pose for a picture following the presentation of the Special Achievement in GIS award at the 2022 Esri National Conference in San Diego, July 2022

Great news! Our Geographic Information Systems team won a very prestigious award from Esri. The Special Achievement in GIS Award was presented to GIS Section Manager Josh Groeneveld, GIS Specialist Julia Surkis, and Mitigation Specialist Emma McFee by Esri President Jack Dangermond at the annual conference. President Dangermond said only 1/20th of 1% of Esri users have ever received this award.

Josh's team won the award for creating a tool that allows us to collect and communicate damage and other incident information during and following a severe weather event. The tool is housed at a central location to gather self-reported damages from citizens, post guidance, tools and information for our local emergency management community, and share follow up webinars and training related to the FEMA public assistance process associated with an emergency incident.

Congratulations to Josh, Julia, and Emma! DEM greatly appreciates their hard work, ingenuity, and expertise in supporting our vision and mission and supporting the needs and objectives of our local level emergency management partners.

Last Updated: 10/14/22