Olufunmilayo Eniolorunfe Thontteh
GISDE/M.A. '04
 
1. Please describe your present professional position? Please include the URL of your organization.
 
I currently work as a lecturer in the Geographic Information Systems Unit in the Regional Center for Training in Aerospace Surveys (RECTAS). I also coordinate the joint postgraduate (PGD/MSc) program between RECTAS and the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC). As a lecturer, I teach subjects like GIS, Spatial Data Infrastructure, and participate in many consultancy positions at the center involving the application of GIS and remote sensing in African-centered geospatial projects. As coordinator, I liaise with the academic unit at ITC, which is directly responsible for the aspect of the postgraduate program in which we collaborate.
 
As a requirement for advancement, scientific publishing and contribution is mandatory for professional advancement.
 
2. What do you find satisfying about your position?
 
This position is unique because it is a bilingual environment with student participants in the institution's various geoinformatics programs, representing many of the African countries. This position is interesting because it exposes me to the opportunity of transferring up-to-date geoinformatic education far into the African subregion. It is also a great avenue to keep constantly in touch with development in geoinformation through this organization's collaboration with ITC. Being a coordinator of this program somehow gives me a gateway opportunity to these updates and advancement.
 
3. How did the GISDE program at Clark University help to prepare you?
 
Simply put, I could not have been chosen for this position without exhibiting the knowledge and wealth of wisdom and experiences I gained from Clark University. Firstly, the high tech education in geoinformation and remote sensing with lots of practical assignments and self driven projects in the GIS seminar and other courses in the GISDE program gave me a lot of experience in taking on projects with minimal supervision and getting good results. Secondly, my experience with the development part of the program provided me with a rare combination of professional accomplishment. In an environment, such as here in Nigeria, nearly everyone that knows about GIS as a field of study finds it difficult to comprehend the possibility of its combination with community development. The GISDE program at Clark University equipped me with the knowledge to prove the practicability of this combination every time the opportunity presents itself and the response has been very encouraging.
 
4. Why should prospective students enroll in the GISDE program at Clark University?
 
There are so many reasons! Here are just a few that I have benefited immensely from:
 
The experience and exposure of the members of the IDCE faculty. Usually IDCE faculty are selected from amongst excellent professionals in academics who have experience in the practical application of their field of research in many different environments across the world, both across cultural and environmental landscapes and who usually teach the results from these practical experiments as part of an academic package. In other words, the faculty members provide the students with both academic concepts and practical life experiences. This is an efficient way to gain knowledge especially in a program that is offered at the postgraduate level where most of the students in the program require skills that can be practically applied in real life in as short a time as possible after their graduation from the program.
 
Clark University generally provides many other great opportunities such as the writing program and the career/career search guidance program. The skills I acquired from this program, has helped me seek the right resources in a career search, package proper applications and understand the dynamics of an interview and recruiting organizations, which has help me both personally and in counseling others.
 
The most beneficial part of this program to me has been its close relationship with the International Development and Social Change program. I think that this will continue to be a winning combination for a long time, especially with participants from developing countries.
 
5. What was the topic of your research while at Clark University?
 
Verification of Vegetation Index predictions using Multiple-Scale map comparison for real variables.
 
6. Is there anything else you would like to add?

I will for all my life be thankful to God for the opportunity to have attended the GISDE program at Clark University at the point in time in my career when I did.