Rising Star: Kevin Rosapep
Working as an analyst at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Rosapep developed a method to deliver situational awareness products.
Kevin Rosapep
Age: 26
Organization: National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, detailed to the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security
Title: Geospatial-Intelligence Analyst
Nominated for: Developing a systematic way to deliver situational awareness products that address unique geospatial problems and help ensure the safety of users, who are often operating in austere and remote environments.
First IT mentor: Mandeep Singh, a fellow geospatial-intelligence analyst who taught me when I first came in as a college intern.
What you're most proud of accomplishing on the job: Traveling to Pakistan to provide geospatial support to the U.S. embassy and consulates there. I was able to revamp the way they were getting geospatial intelligence utilizing GeoPDF and Google Earth as the primary vector.
Career highlight: Traveling to Uganda this summer, where I was able to apply lessons learned from field work in Pakistan and South Africa to harness field-collected data into the existing IT infrastructure across many platforms.
Your advice for a government IT wannabe: If you see an underserved section of government, immediately work to serve that segment, no matter how mundane it might appear. You will be able to have a blank canvas to come up with a new solution or even a new program.
What you enjoy most about working in government IT: The knowledge that I am directly contributing to the safety of our personnel working in dangerous environments.
Favorite job-related bookmarks/apps: OpenStreetMap.org, Garmin.OpenStreetMap.nl, TerraGo Technologies
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