DAVE BERNSTEIN, CH, PLS GISP
Vice President of Hydrospatial Operations, NV5 Geospatial
Dave Bernstein is the Vice President of Hydrospatial Operations at NV5, with over 25 years of experience providing management, oversight and support to all aspects of hydrographic solutions. With formal education and training in Marine Geology, GIS and Hydrography, and a diverse record of practice, he manages the technical, operations, and strategy of hydrographic surveys from inland, nearshore and offshore waters. He holds a B.A. degree in Environmental Geoscience and GIS, and an M.S. in Marine Geology. Dave has a PLS license in North Carolina and is also a Certified GIS Professional (GISP), and an ACSM Certified Hydrographic Surveyor (CH). He is on the ACSM-THSOA Hydrographer Certification Board and is active in education, outreach, and career development of the hydrographic community.
CORA CHONG
GIS Specialist, CBRE
Cora Chong is a GIS Specialist on the Innovation team within the Location Intelligence group at CBRE, a global real estate services company. Her work focuses on spatial consulting for high-value, high-profile commercial real estate projects, which may include adaptive reuse, mixed use, entertainment, and placemaking components.
She graduated from the University of Southern California Spatial Sciences Institute with a M.S. in Geographic Information Science and Technology and is also a GIS instructor at Cuesta College.
COURTNEY FASSETT
Deloitte Consulting LLP
Courtney Fassett has been with Deloitte for four years, contributing her expertise to the Government & Public Services (GPS) practice within the Strategy and Analytics portfolio. Throughout her career, she has primarily served clients in the Federal Health and Defense sectors, focusing on developing strategic plans for digital transformation, and leveraging data analytics and visualization to drive impactful insights. Additionally, Courtney has facilitated strategy sessions aimed at ensuring customer success not only for her clients but internally as well. Currently, Courtney holds the position of Southern California’s Growth Leader. In this role, she oversees the internal Marketing, Business Development, Innovation, Culture, Financials, and Talent Experience teams, driving growth and fostering a collaborative and innovative environment for the SoCal Region. Courtney is a proud graduate of the Spatial Sciences Institute and is originally from Irvine, California.
EVELYN KIM, Ph.D.
Senior Research Scientist, HRL Laboratories
Evelyn Kim, Ph.D., is a Senior Research Scientist and a Group Lead at Intelligent Systems Center at HRL Laboratories. She received her PhD degree in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department from Carnegie Mellon University, MS in Computer Science from Yale, and BA in Computer Science from UC Berkeley.
Her research interests include human-machine teaming, human state sensing, and human factors in cybersecurity.
KATHERINE A. LESTER
Lecturer and Director of Masters Programs
As a medical geographer, she investigates the spatial relationship between suicide, mental illness and race and ethnicity. With a National Science Foundation graduate research fellowship, she developed a novel framework to identify suicide risk among minority populations. Dr. Lester also explores GIS applications to spatial patterns of disease and health. She employs numerous spatial statistical programs to conduct her analysis.
Prior to joining the USC Spatial Sciences Institute, she was at the University of North Texas, where she was a research assistant, collaborating on the production of a book on world regional medical geography and on a project analyzing Uber data to identify changes in traffic and spending associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the University of North Texas, Dr. Lester also was an adjunct faculty member and teaching assistant for courses in world regional geography, geohealth and environmental science.
AMANDA RAGO
AI & Data Operations Analyst, Deloitte Consulting LLP
Amanda Rago is an AI & Data Operations Analyst at Deloitte Consulting, working with a government client utilizing GIS, business intelligence and data analysis tools to provide insights, and enable informed decision-making for the client.
AVIJIT SARKAR, Ph.D.
Professor, Academic Director, Institute for Geospatial Impact, University of Redlands
Avijit Sarkar is Professor of Business Analytics and Director of the Institute for Geospatial Impact (IGI) at the University of Redlands. In his research, Dr. Sarkar studies the adoption and diffusion of information and communications technologies, especially the internet worldwide and their impacts on the creation of mature and inclusive digital societies. He also researches strategic adoption and innovation in the use of geographic information systems (GIS) and location-based technologies in various industries including the private sector. He has co-authored the books Global Digital Divides: Explaining Change (Springer) and Spatial Business: Competing and Leading with Location Analytics (Esri Press). His research has appeared in journals such as Decision Support Systems, Telecommunications Policy, and ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information. His research has been supported by the University of Redlands Spatial Business Initiative, a unique partnership with Esri, and the U.S. Department of Commerce. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Global Information Technology Management. Dr. Sarkar received his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Industrial Engineering from The State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo. At Redlands, he teaches business analytics and data mining and collaborates with colleagues across disciplines to integrate GIS and spatial thinking across the curriculum.
BORIS SKOPLJAK
Vice President for the Geospatial Sector, Trimble
As vice president for the geospatial sector at Trimble, Boris Skopljak is responsible for innovation in the company’s surveying, mapping and building construction field solutions, contributing to Trimble’s market leadership in spatial data collection, processing, and analysis.
Boris’ background is in land surveying with over two decades of experience working for companies in both Europe and the US. Boris joined Trimble in 2011 serving in a variety of product management, strategic marketing and business leadership roles before assuming responsibility for leading Trimble’s geospatial sector in 2023. He is particularly focused on how emerging technologies like AI, IoT, sensor fusion, and cloud integration are transforming data collection and processing in the industry. Boris is a strong advocate for making high-precision geospatial technology more accessible to engineering and construction professionals across many industries globally.
Boris holds a Dipl. Eng. Degree in Geodesy and Geoinformatics from University of Zagreb, Croatia, a MSc. Degree in Geodesy from the Ohio State University, and an MBA from the Daniels College of Business, University of Denver.
JOHN P. WILSON, Ph.D.
Founding Director and Professor, USC Spatial Sciences Institute
John P. Wilson, Ph.D., is Professor of Sociology and Spatial Sciences in the Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences at the University of Southern California (USC) where he founded and directs the Spatial Sciences Institute. He also holds adjunct appointments as Professor in the USC School of Architecture, in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering’s Departments of Computer Science and Civil & Environmental Engineering, and the Keck School of Medicine of USC’s Department of Population and Public Health Sciences. He founded the journal Transactions in GIS in 1996 and has served as editor-in-chief since its inception. He has served on the editorial boards of numerous journals and publications, and also served on the board of directors and as president of the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS). He currently leads the UCGIS GIS&T Body of Knowledge 2.0 project and is an active participant in UNIGIS. His research focus is the modeling of environmental systems and makes extensive use of GIS software tools, fieldwork, spatial analysis techniques, and computer models.
CAROLINE WU
Director of Research, placer.ai
Caroline Wu, Director of Research at placer.ai, brings expertise in retail, CRE, entertainment, media, CPG, and tourism, and specializes in synthesizing broad datasets into actionable recommendations for growth. As Director of Research at Placer.ai, she co-authors the weekly Anchor newsletter, represents Placer at conferences, speaks at industry gatherings, and provides consultative services to C-suite clients. She has held positions as the US Director of Consumer Insights at Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, VP of Retail Insights and Intelligence at Omnicom, and Senior Director at Kantar. She also led research at 20th Century Fox and National Geographic. Caroline holds an MA in Sociology from Stanford University and a BA in International Relations from Stanford University. She currently serves on the USCAA Board of Governors.
