Mapping it out: Senior Puts Skills to Good Use in Public & Private Sectors
In her final semester at Rutgers, Jamie Donatiello (Class of 2014) is taking geography beyond the university as an intern with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. In her second internship in as many years, Jamie is refining her skills in geographic techniques, applying her knowledge in significant real world situations, and creating new sources of public information.
In her work with the DEP and with Vertices (a New Brunswick-based company specializing in geographic information systems, where she served as an intern in the summer and fall of 2013), Jamie has worked on creating and refining data sets and conducting analyses using software and techniques she learned through coursework in Geography as well as at Rutgers’s Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy (where she is studying for a minor in public health).
For Vertices, Jamie was able to work on a project mapping the incidence and clean-up of graffiti in New York City, probing especially for differences in municipal responses based on socio-economic disparities across neighborhoods.
A current project at the DEP has her mapping public access points to ocean waters along the New Jersey coastline, producing what may prove an especially significant set of public data for years to come.
“I love the geography department because it’s kind of intimate, it’s smaller, and you really get to know the professors.”
Jamie is completing her degree in geography by following the ‘geographical techniques’ track, which includes courses in geographic information systems and cartography. She has also taken coursework focusing on world cultures, political economy, and the environment. A native of New Jersey interested in travel, Jamie chose to major in geography because it offered her training in practical skills and the opportunity to explore the broader world. “The professors are really nice and helpful”, she reports, “and it’s a very welcoming community”.
As she prepares to graduate, Jamie shares the following advice with fellow Rutgers students:
- “Do something you like; if you’re happy in your major and you’re happy in your career, you’ll be happy in your life overall”
- “You’re here for four years, so take advantage of every opportunity, learn as much as you can, and do everything you can to make yourself marketable”
