A Message From Ryan Norton, 2023 NEURISA President:

NEURISA Community,

Welcome to 2023 at NEURISA!

As this year’s NEURISA President, I would like to thank our membership, sponsors, volunteers, Board of Directors, and the whole New England GIS community for coming together for a successful 2022 and we look forward to continuing that momentum into the following year.

Last year we hosted several successful events. It was wonderful being able to return to holding several in-person Mappy Hours throughout the region, and we hosted an amazing virtual Mappy Hour with Kate Berg and Sid Pandey of the URISA Vanguard Cabinet where we learned about GIS portfolios and how our Vanguard Cabinet serves young professionals.

NEURISA Day 2022 was once again held virtually, however it was very successful as we learned a lot about how we create community connections. Our keynote was Dr. Timothy Hawthorne, who told us about how he founded Citizen Science GIS, which uses GIS to connect scientists with other communities, and its GeoBus project that introduces GIS to K-12 students in Florida. We also had very insightful presentations from URISA President Ashley Hitt; our treasurer, Thad Dymkowski; Bill Johnson from AppGeo; and even internationally with Bruce McCormack from the European Umbrella Organization for Geographic Information (EUROGI). We also had a workshop taught by Doug Adams and Rebecca Somers. We look forward to returning to an in-person NEURISA Day in 2023, which will be held next fall in Worcester, Massachusetts!

It is an honor to be president this year. It is not lost on me that I am the first president to be younger than the chapter, albeit by only a year, but that just shows that we are always passing the torch to the next generation. I remember when I was 12 years old and I visited my hometown GIS specialist and learned about the wonderful world of GIS. For this reason I am always looking for the chance to inspire the next GIS professional; not necessarily a child but anyone who decides on a career in GIS. I was very young when I had my “a-ha” moment, but sometimes that comes later and we look forward to hearing your stories on when you decided a career in GIS was right for you!

Speaking of passing the torch, when I look for an analogy for how I view the NEURISA board I image a long-distance relay race like Reach the Beach in New Hampshire or 100on100 in Vermont because when you grab that baton, your team's position in the race is the result of what the previous runners accomplished during their legs and it's your job to keep it going before you pass the baton to the next runner. If you look at where this chapter is, our past presidents are the reason why we are doing the amazing things we are.

I would like to thank our outgoing board members. Jeff Olson, Jay Metzger, Pam Locke, Jodie Gosselin, Matt Deal, and Cynthia Gaines were involved with this board for longer than I have been, so it's hard getting used to having our board meetings without them. I also would like to thank Jess Cigna and Chester Cheng for their service as well. Their knowledge and insight will be missed! I'm happy to welcome Matt Franz back for another term, as well as Emily Pettit, Kate Walker, Lynn Carlson, Thad Dymkowski, and Tim Woodfield for the second year of their terms and thank them for their continued hard work. I also want to welcome James Armstrong back to the board. I'm excited to have him as president-elect because he brings a lot to the table. Let's keep this momentum going!

And finally, I welcome Craig Austin, Andrew Bartshire, Danica Cucchi, Rosemary Mosher, and Tito Sanchez to the board. We can't wait to hear what opinions, ideas, and insight you bring to us. I can't wait to work with each of you and can't wait to carry NEURISA into the next year!

We have great things planned for this year. We will continue to focus on education, but also increase our community outreach, add additional opportunities for professional networking, and plan our long-term chapter development. Stay tuned for more information on upcoming events, volunteer opportunities, and news and I look forward to seeing all of you!

Sincerely,

Ryan Norton

NEURISA President 2023