The MS program is proud to highlight our 2013 MS GIS graduate, Joseph Fox-Rabinovitz, as our Alumni Spotlight student for Fall 2022.

Name: Joseph Fox-Rabinovitz

Year of graduation: 2013

Current employment status: Employed Full time

Employer: Torc Robotics 

Position: Software/Algorithms Engineer

What is a recent project that you have worked on that you have drawn on skills from the MS program?

• I am currently developing localization algorithms as part of the mapping and localization team at Torc Robotics, which builds autonomous trucks. While I can’t say much about the details of my work, the GIS applications are pretty obvious. GIS concepts also came in handy at my previous position as an algorithm engineer at a defense company, for example when doing target location error computations. Most of the applications I've recently come across have been related to the mathematics surrounding map projection rather than the visual aspect.

How have the skills you have learned in the MS program helped you progress in your career?

• Almost every class I took in the MPS (now MS) program has been useful in my career in some way, despite the fact that most of the work I've done has not been focused on GIS. For example, the early classes introduced me to GIS and some of the satellite instruments that supply data. Knowing the available options, even at a high level, has changed the way I've approached problems during my stint in the space industry. The skills learned in project management class were directly instrumental in helping with the systems engineering aspect of my work. The python class (which I'm ashamed to say I didn't give the attention it deserved) eventually led to a significant amount of work in that particular software ecosystem. Since I was taking classes while working full time on a couple of projects, I was able to use my work for school and vice-versa throughout the entire program.

What drew you to the MS GIS program at Maryland?

• At the time, the MPS (now MS) program was new, and I was developing a very domain-specific GIS-like system for farming applications for Carr Astronautics called FalconScan. We would fly over some farmland with a DSLR mounted in a small private plane, like a Cessna, and stitch the resulting imagery together using a home-grown non-linear least-squares solver before geo-referencing it to a USGS base layer. The result was a centimeter-resolution image that would have some interesting spectral properties depending on the filters on the DSLR. I heard about the program from some acquaintances affiliated with UMD, and Carr Astronautics agreed to pay for me to take the program, since it promised to be very relevant to our work.

What advice can you give current and prospective students about the MS program?

• Most of the people I’ve met throughout my career, including myself, end up working in jobs that are at best only indirectly related to their educational background. The reason we get a technical education is because it has relevance to our current goals, and because it allow us to build the skills to do many other jobs. I’ve used my GIS degree tangentially for many tasks, from project management to contributing to open source projects in the python ecosystem such as numpy and matplotlib. Even though I’ve never been interested in having a career in GIS itself, my degree has paid for itself many times over in the doors it opened for me.

What recommendations would you make to current students for career and academic success after graduation?

• Use the skills you learned, both hard and soft. You probably have knowledge you are not aware of, simply because the opportunity to use it has not have presented itself yet. Don’t hesitate to take chances and create opportunities for yourself. As with everything in life, there’s a balance between doing what you like and having to put bread on the table. The nice thing about a degree in GIS is that it provides you with the tools necessary to balance both. GIS is tied to so many other disciplines that you can spend a lifetime pursuing your interests, secure in the knowledge that you have a much sought-after skillset.

What are some of your hobbies/interests?

• I like to run, read, and tinker with anything from electronics to relational databases (yes, MPS GIS actually got me started on that one). Now that I’m living in Texas, I’ve started getting into kayaking and paddle boarding.

Anything else you'd like to add?

• You might be surprised at some of the applications of GIS. It really is an incredibly versatile tool. There are medical researchers mapping the human body with GIS systems. During the time of my final project, I was implementing a Star Selection algorithm which was part of the navigation system for the GOES-R spacecraft. This inspired me to look upward rather than downward: my final project was an experiment in serving some popular star catalogs in ArcGIS which yielded at least one interesting video showing what interstellar travel might look like. There is really no limit to the new things you can create if you're willing to put in the time and effort.

Thanks Joe!  We sincerely appreciate your insight.  All the best to you for the future!