Susan Emery

Experience

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  U.S. Forest Service

  May 1992 - Mar 1996

  Reforestation Forester

  My job as a reforestation forester on the Hiawatha National Forest dealt mainly with making sure that all of the timber stands that were cut on the ranger district were adequately reforested with the desired tree species within five years after the timber sale had closed. I started by reviewing the NEPA document, made a site visit, and then wrote a reforestation prescription that would create the desired condition on the ground. In the spring, I scheduled work sites for the planting crews and the skidder. I developed a three year planting contract, and coordinated the tree stock orders. I completely rehauled the KV database, which tracks all KV dollars not yet spend and all projects not yet completed. I wrote KV plans and Salvage Sale plans. During the summer months I performed stocking surveys. I directly supervised two full time and one seasonal employee. Show less

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  U.S. Forest Service

  May 1998 - Sept 2004

  As a GIS Specialist on the Ottawa National Forest, I was an active member of the GIS team. I created and edited GIS layers and converted GPS data to GIS. I worked on projects for Forest Plan revision, like the Roadless Area Analysis, ATV Suitability, and mineral rights in the Wild and Scenic Rivers corridors. I also provided technical support to GIS users in the Supervisor's office and to the rest of the GIS team. When data standards changed, I updated AML scripts to keep them working. I ran the annual audit of our GIS data (Resource Management and Evaluation Tool), to check the compliance of our data against the national FS standards. Another project was loading all of the digital orthophotos quads into the SDE database on the server, to make them accessible to all users. to keep GIS users current, I created a forest GIS users mailing list. I also updated the GIS internal webpage with information on the latest software and user tips. Show less For ten years, I worked on the Hiawatha developing the GIS system from the ground up. I began with the initial development of GIS data from the Cartographic Feature Files and using the CMAP software. I accented that with scanning hand manuscripted data and using LT4X to convert them to digital files. From there, I advanced to PC ArcInfo, Workstation ArcInfo, and then to ArcView. I have extensive knowledge of how the Forest Service corporate data was created and why. This allows me to better understand the data and its quirks. I was responsible for editing and maintenance of GIS data for two ranger districts, including using advanced GIS topology like routes and regions. I developed a suite of tools used on the forest to automate GIS data processing. These were used daily by forest GIS personnel to create and maintain our GIS dataset. I also developer and taught a two day course in ArcView, and trained approximately 30 employees. I served as the primary helpdesk for ArcView on the forest. I took the lead for developing data standards, and documenting them in our data dictionary and GIS metadata files. Show less As a FERC Hydropower Inventory Specialist, I was on a temporary assignment to the Eastern Region. I inventoried all of the dams in the region, and determined which ones were used for hydropower. This involved coordination with the Army, EPA and other agencies. I converted data from a variety of digital formats into GIS to develop a point layer of all dams in the region. I also met with FERC specialists from the Washington office and around the region to develop a database to track information about the dams. I determined what information they needed to keep in a database, and the designed and created a set of Oracle tables to store this. I populated the tables with the correct information and distributed them to other users in the region. Show less

  • GIS Specialist (Resource Information Specialist)

    Aug 2003 - Sept 2004

  • GIS Specialist

    Mar 1996 - Aug 2003

  • FERC Hydropower Inventory Specialist

    May 1998 - Sept 1998
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  U.S. Forest Service

  Oct 2005 - Sept 2012

  Project Manager for Geospatial Interface (GI) team and GI Output development team. In this role, I participated in the annual NRM Program of work process, and developed a charter and scope document for each team. My duties included estimating and requesting resources for team sizes ranging from 5 to 12 people, verifying and controlling scope, and sequencing activities. Both of these projects were complex and cross many business areas. This required me to communicate with many program managers and account managers, including for Infra Range, Rangeland Inventory and Monitoring, heritage, FACTS, Roads, Trails, Water Rights and Uses, Aquatic Surveys, Watershed Improvement Tracking, and WCATT. In addition to project planning, I have guided the team through many successful software deployments and development of new GI products. Show less During this detail for the Natural Resource Manager (NRM) group, I was a member of the Geospatial Interface (GI) application development team. The GI application is the main output tool for NRM. It provides maps and queries for end users of GIS and database information. My duties focused on customer support. I was the main writer and editor of the GI User Guides. My excellent communication skills helped me to clearly communicate technical terms to beginning users. I also designed and taught several training sessions, both virtually and on site. I was a pioneer in developing effective virtual training methods using LiveMeeting. In addition, I was the lead tester of the GI software. My organizational skills ensured the thoroughness of our testing and helped the GI become a better product. Show less As the Forest GIS Coordinator on the Ottawa National Forest, I was the technical supervisor of a team of five people. I was responsible for updating work plans, and managing an annual budget of $150,000. I coordinated out year project planning, and prioritized projects to keep them in line with changing forest priorities. I balanced work assignments between team members and ensured that deadlines were met for critical projects. Each GIS team member's training needs were balanced with budgetary constraints and the skills needed on the forest. My cooperative management style involved each team member in GIS team meetings and conference calls. There regular gatherings were important because they kept the line of communication open between all members of the team. I stayed one step ahead of the team by learning new technology first, and then teaching them how to use it. This included learning each of the FS national applications, such as the Geospatial Interface, NRIS Water, TERRA, FAUNA, INFRA, FACTS and ALP and successfully implementing them on the forest. I have taught nine classes of ArcMap to forest and regional GIS users. I planned and executed the transition of our GIS database into ArcSDE. I led a regional team to convert the compartment maps we currently drew with ArcPlot into an ArcMap application called the GI. I was an active proponent for teaching resource specialists to use GIS themselves, and moving the role of the GIS team away from just providing maps toward doing more advanced analysis. I served as a technical expert in all areas of GIS including the ArcGIS 9.2 software. Show less

  • Project Manager

    Mar 2011 - Sept 2012

  • Project Manager

    Jun 2011 - Sept 2011

  • Resource Information Specialist

    Nov 2007 - Jun 2011

  • Forest Planner

    Jul 2007 - Nov 2007

  • Forest GIS Coordinator

    Oct 2005 - Jul 2007
• 

  U.S. Forest Service

  Feb 2015 - now

  Serves as Senior IT Project Manager in the Project Management Office of the Natural Resource Manager staff. I am manager of a Portfolio of software applications. I am responsible for the overall management, control, coordination and execution of information technology projects. Responsibilities include working with Washington Office Program Managers, Account Managers, software developers, and members of other NRM offices to define scope, requirements, deliverables, creating schedules and milestones, developing and implementing product release plans, determining dependencies with other projects and applications, and the entire product life cycle to ensure successful software deployment. Show less Temporary detail position as a software architect specializing in Output design. As a member of the Application, Development, and Maintenance staff of the Natural Resource Management office, the architect designs, and manages studies to improve the implementation of new systems for software architecture. This included work on Cognos reporting, use of the database replica, data warehousing and other emerging technologies. It also involved close coordination NRM Architects, architect support groups, application development teams, project managers, Customer Support staff, and Operations staff to support the development and maintenance of the NRM applications. Show less

  • Branch Chief

    May 2022 - now

  • IT Project Manager

    Sept 2012 - Jun 2022

  • IT SPEC Software Architect

    Feb 2015 - Jun 2015