James Varghese

JAMES VARGHESE
+1 (519)-465-2159 | [email protected]

Professional Profile
Results oriented GIS professional with over 5 years of experience and proven success in GIS and Remote Sensing Applications in Coastal Zone Monitoring/Management, Disaster/Emergency Management, Humanitarian Aid and Utilities. Completed a master’s degree related to GIS and Earth Observation in Applied Earth Sciences and Geoinformatics. Independent research interests involving Remote Sensing and GIS Applications in Agriculture, Vegetation Mapping, Land and Water Resources, Urban Studies, Renewable Energy and Change Detection.

Exemplary interpersonal, communication and time management abilities; succeeded in building client and team relationships. Strong analytical, problem-solving and troubleshooting aptitude; thrive on opportunities to learn and build on skills. Sincere and honest individual with a passion for helping people, organizations and the environment.

Technical Proficiencies
 Geographical Information Systems (GIS)  Remote Sensing  Microsoft Office  GPS Ground Surveys and Digital Mapping  Satellite Image Processing and Spatial Analysis  Remote Sensing/GIS Software – ArcGIS Desktop  ArcGIS Online  ERDAS Imagine, ENVI+IDL  Web App Builder and Collector for ArcGIS  eCognition  Drone2Map, Pix4D  Autodesk Map  MicroStation  MapInfo  QGIS, R  Python  ILWIS  Google Earth and Google Earth Engine (GEE)

Relevant Experience

1. Independent Researcher (on an as needed basis)
   December 2016 to Present
   • Had been pursuing two research topics in collaboration with international researchers from the Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Poland and ITC, University of Twente, Netherlands. Specific areas of research involved, scope of Landsat satellite imagery in Precision Agriculture and application of land surface temperature and emissivity in detecting geothermal anomalies using Remote Sensing and GIS techniques.
   • Actively participating in online discussions with users/researchers on ResearchGate.net in addition to answering questions related to Remote Sensing, GIS, Vegetation Indices, removal of clouds from satellite imagery, especially Landsat, spatial analysis, open source and commercial GIS software discussion, Change Detection, Google Earth, to name a few.
2. GIS Analyst – Project Assistant
   National Centre for Earth Science Studies (NCESS) – Kerala, India | April 2018 to January 2020
   Preparation of the Coastal Zone Management Plans (CZMP) of Kerala and parts of Maharashtra states in India based on the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification of 2011 issued by the Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF). Conservation & Mapping of Coastal Zones in India. Day-to-day activities included georeferencing, satellite image processing, GIS digital conversion, digitization, database management, spatial data analysis and its applications, Land Use Land Cover Classification, collation of layers into map composition for cartography and printing. Undertook extensive field-based GPS surveys in the coastal regions.
3. GIS Analyst – Public Safety Intern
   Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri) – Redlands, CA, USA | June 2016 to December 2016
   Assisting and shadowing GIS Analysts to support first responders manage disasters effectively and efficiently. Day-to-day activities involved creating Disaster Web Maps in ArcGIS Online, constructing & designing Time Enabled Web Mapping Application template, building Esri Story Maps, updating documentations for Public Information Maps, researching Web GIS applications in Emergency Management, Law Enforcement, National/Homeland Security, Wildfires. Creation of Land Surface Temperature (LST) model. Keeping up to speed
   with the ever-evolving ArcGIS technology. Attended the International Esri User Conference of 2016 and
   completed 9 Esri Training programs during the Internship period.
4. Disaster Management Intern
   Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) – Kerala, India | June 2014 to July 2014
   Reviewed Publications based on climate change scenarios for the State of Kerala in India.
5. GIS Executive
   Tata Teleservices Ltd – Pune, Maharashtra, India | January 2010 to July 2013
   Updated, maintained & managed the wireline and wireless network of a city (Pune) in India in GE’s Smallworld GIS Software. Provided Network related decision support to various departments within and outside the Company. Guided field teams for restoring disrupted telecom network services.

Education

1. Master of Science degree in Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation in Applied Earth Sciences
   ITC, University of Twente – Enschede, Netherlands
   September 2014 to March 2016
2. Master of Science degree in Geoinformatics (Completed 1 year out of 2 years)
   TERI University, New Delhi – India
   July 2013 to July 2014
3. Certificate in Geographical Information Systems
   MITCON e-School – Pune, Maharashtra, India
   June 2009 to September 2009
4. Bachelor’s Degree in Geology (Principal Subject), Chemistry, Physics & Botany as secondary subjects.
   Environmental Science and English as additional subjects.
   University of Pune – Pune, Maharashtra, India
   June 2006 to May 2009

Awards

1. Erasmus Mundus Mobility with Asia (EMMA) – Joint Partnership between EU & Third World Countries | April 2014 | Awarded with a fully funded Master of Science degree scholarship for the entire duration of the 18 months research-oriented post graduate degree program at ITC, University of Twente in Netherlands.
2. International Internship Program at Esri, Redlands, California, USA |March 2016 | Competitively selected for an International Internship Program as a GIS Analyst with the Environmental Systems Research Institute Inc. (Esri) located in Redlands, CA, USA.