Perrygeo

Matthew T. Perry - Curriculum Vitae

DRAFT. This is a work in progress. Please contact me at my gmail address (perrygeo) or on twitter (@perrygeo) for more information.

I have dedicated my career to deriving value from data and supporting science-based decision making with software and technology. I have 12 years of experience in geospatial data analysis and software development applied to natural resource management. Throughout my career, I’ve worked in consulting, academic and non-profit settings. My professional and research interests include software development, web mapping, spatial analysis, climate impact modeling, bayesian statistics, machine learning, reproducible methods and data workflows for spatial modeling, forest growth and yield modeling, and discrete optimization.

Education

Humboldt State University. Arcata, CA. M.S., Natural Resource Planning and Interpretation, 2005. Thesis topic: Design and Evaluation of a Web Mapping Service for the Klamath River Basin.

Humboldt State University. Arcata, CA. Certificate of Study, Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing. 2004.

Virginia Tech. Blacksburg, VA. B.S., Psychology/Statistics, 2000. Emphasis: Survey research design in industrial/organization psychology

Professional Experience

Ecotrust, Portland, OR. Senior Applications Developer. Apr 2011 – Present. Lead software developer for Ecotrust. Responsible for developing software tools for data-driven decisions and solutions for environmental and economic prosperity.

  • Managed a team of four programmers and served as technical lead on over a dozen projects including:
  • Madrona: our signature framework for collaborative geospatial decision support tools
  • Forest Scenario Planner: a public tool to analyze economic and environmental impacts of alternative timber management strategies.
  • Prioritization Tool: a framework using simulated annealing for optimizing conservation resources
  • Worked closely with our GIS team to build ArcPy scripting, C# .NET and ArcGIS Server capacity
  • Streamlined release procedures through devops automation, test-driven development, virtual machines and continuous integration.
  • Worked with current and prospective clients to develop specifications, timelines and project budgets

MarineMap Consortium, Santa Barbara, CA. Geospatial Web Application Developer. Oct 2009 – Mar 2011. Responsible for developing web-based spatial decision support tools for collaborative, science-based marine planning.

  • Developed new software features for 3-dimensional browser-based maps
  • Created full-coverage automated testing suite.
  • Worked in Python using the Django web framework for server side features.
  • Worked with Javascript and Google Earth API for client side user interface.
  • Maintained documentation (technical and end-user).
  • Integrated spatially-explicit models into common interface and data model.

Geosyntec Consultants, Santa Barbara, CA. GIS Analyst/Manager. Jan 2007 – Oct 2009. Responsible for managing the GIS and Data Management department of an environmental consulting firm. Primary duties involve coordinating the management, visualization and analysis of environmental data.

  • Managed and trained a team of three technical staff members.
  • Served on the company-wide GIS and Database Action Group Steering Committee.
  • Created Advanced GIS Workshop materials for internal training.
  • Developed cartographic products using ArcMap.
  • Web-based application development with MapServer.
  • Automated procedures for data management/processing with VB, C#, Python, GDAL.
  • Databases design and implementation with SQLServer and MS Access.
  • LIDAR terrain analysis for hydrologic modeling with GRASS and ArcGIS Spatial Analyst.
  • Remote sensing to derive land use and hydrologic model inputs.
  • Geostatistical evaluation of soil and water sample data.
  • Statistical summaries of analytical chemical data.

National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, Santa Barbara, CA. GIS Analyst and Software Engineer. Dec 2005 – Jan 2007. Primary duties included developing spatial models for evaluating land-based threats to marine ecosystems and developing metadata software.

  • Lead developer of metadata software providing spatial functionality to an ecological data repository.
  • Developed GIS models to estimate sedimentation, nutrient and pesticide loading for major river basins.
  • Organized and processed global datasets in support of marine ecology study.
  • Optimized raster processing algorithms in various software packages.

HostGIS, Arcata, CA. GIS Developer/Consultant. Mar 2003 – Dec 2005. Lead GIS developer for web GIS hosting and consulting company.

  • Programmed PHP, Python, Mapserver and Javascript applications for web-based data processing, collaborative editing and visualization.
  • Developed MWW, a reusable web-based javascript library for interactive web mapping.
  • Integrated spatial functionality into existing software systems.
  • Processed legacy datasets from a variety of sources into usable GIS formats.
  • Geospatial database design and implementation with PostGIS.

Humboldt State University, Santa Barbara, CA. Graduate Research/Teaching Assistant. Jan 2002 – May 2005. As a graduate student at HSU, assisted with various research projects and taught four semesters of GIS lab courses.

  • Designed system for real-time data, web-based query and visualization of water quality sensors in Humboldt Bay.
  • Taught and developed materials for GIS lab courses for skill levels ranging from introductory to advanced.
  • Created an extensive, web-based spatial data library for the Klamath River Basin.
  • Vegetation mapping using field surveys, remote sensing and aerial photo analysis.
  • Digitized historical data from hardcopy maps and aerial photographs.

National Institute for Personal Finance Employee Education, Blacksburg, VA. Research Assistant. Jan 1999 – July 2000.

Our survey research team studied the detrimental impacts of financial stress in the workplace and quantified return on investment for educating employees on financial matters.

  • Managed survey databases, performed statistical analysis using SPSS and SAS.
  • Edited newsletter articles, designed grant proposals, and drafted surveys for research projects.

Technical Skills

  • GIS: ArcMap (3D/Spatial Analyst), ArcPy, ModelBuilder, Mapserver, Mapnik, GRASS, GDAL/OGR, QGIS, PostGIS, TileMill
  • Statistics: R, Machine Learning, SALib, Bayesian inference, Discrete Optimization
  • Programming: Python, Javascript, C/C++, Bash, C#, SQL, Java, Git
  • Modeling: SciPy, Scikit-Learn, Numpy, EVS/MVS, FVS, Marxan
  • Database: MS Access, Postgresql/PostGIS, Redis, SQLite
  • Web: Nginx, GeoDjango, D3, AngularJS, Leaflet, OpenLayers, ArcGIS Server
  • IT: Puppet, Ansible, Linux, Windows, Mac OSX, VirtualBox, VMWare, Vagrant, Amazon AWS
  • Domain Knowldege: Forestry (optimization, growth and yield), Geomorphometry, Ecology, Climate

Software Projects (Lead Developer)

  • simanneal
  • harvestscheduler
  • growth-yield-batch
  • pyimpute
  • rasterstats
  • madrona
  • python-mbtiles
  • leaflet-simple-csv

Software Projects (Contributor)

  • geopandas: Spatial joins and intersections in python data frames.
  • GDAL: Original author of gdaldem.
  • Openlayers: UTFGrid support for web mapping client.
  • Tilestache: Redis caching backend.

Public Applications

  • Gravel Mine Restoration DST: Site evaluation using bayseian belief networks.
  • Forest Planner: Visualize alternative forest management strategies.
  • Priorities Tool: Optimization of multi-objective spatial planning.
  • Madrona: Framework for building web based spatial decision support tools.
  • MarineMap: Collaborative tools for marine spatial planning.
  • Global marine threats: research project quantifying the human threats to marine ecosystems.

Presentations

Matthew T. Perry. Spatial-Temporal Prediction of Climate Change Impacts. Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial Conference, 2014, Portland, OR.

Matthew T. Perry. Spatial-Temporal Prediction of Climate Change Impacts. Scientific Python Conference. 2014, Austin, TX.

Matthew T. Perry. Introduction to Open Source GIS. Western Forestry and Conservation Association, 2012 Annual Field Technology Conference. Portland, OR, Sept 2012.

Matthew T. Perry, Tim Welch. Introducing the Madrona framework. Oregon Central Coast Web Mapping Meeting. Newport, OR, May 2012.

Matthew T. Perry, Doug Renwick. Online GIS, Internet Mapping: Where it is and where it’s going next. CalGIS Conference, Santa Barbara, CA, 2006.

Matthew T. Perry, Gregor Mosheh. Web-assisted GIS hosting services. FOSS GIS Conference, Minneapolis, MN, 2005.

Matthew T. Perry, Doug Renwick. Integrating Mapserver with Online Data Services. Open-Source GIS Conference, Ottawa, ON, 2004.

Matthew T. Perry, Steven J. Steinberg. Trinity River Information Network. Mapserver Conference, Minneapolis, MN, 2003.

Publications

David Diaz, Matthew Perry, Jocelyn Tutak, Ryan Hodges, Mike Mertens. (2014). Potential climate change impacts on management outcomes for western Oregon BLM forestlands simulated using Climate-FVS. Report to Bureau of Land Management. Ecotrust, Portland, OR.

David Diaz, Matthew Perry, Ryan Hodges, Mike Mertens, Jocelyn Tutak. (2014). Projected Changes in Habitat Suitability for Tree Species in Western Oregon due to Climate Change. Report to Bureau of Land Management. Ecotrust, Portland, OR.

Benjamin S. Halpern, Colin M. Ebert, Carrie V. Kappel, Elizabeth M.P. Madin, Fiorenza Micheli, Matthew Perry, Kimberly A. Selkoe, Shaun Walbridge (2009). Global priority areas for incorporating land-sea connections in marine conservation. Conservation Letters, vol. 2, issue 4.

Benjamin S. Halpern, Shaun Walbridge, Kimberly A. Selkoe, Carrie V. Kappel, Fiorenza Micheli, Caterina DAgrosa, John F. Bruno, Kenneth S. Casey, Colin Ebert, Helen E. Fox, Rod Fujita, Dennis Heinemann, Hunter S. Lenihan, Elizabeth M.P. Madin, Matthew T. Perry, Elizabeth R. Selig, Mark Spalding, Robert Steneck, Reg Watson (2008). A global map of human impact on marine ecosystems. Science, vol. 319

Matthew T. Perry. Design and Evaluation of a Web Mapping Service for the Klamath River Basin. Master’s Thesis, Humboldt State University, August 2005.

Awards

Other Experience

  • Writer for perrygeo.net - a blog about open source GIS and data science.
  • Expert (Category 1) mountain bike racer in the Oregon Bicycle Racing Association.
  • Assistant cycling coach for Portland-Vancouver area high school league mountain bike team (Team CRC)