1. APCS Summer Interview Project
Mrs. Fox

2. Who I Interviewed
Dan Hellman
PhD Candidate IST
Penn State University

3. How I know Dan
Dan’s father, John, is the Dean of Graduate Students at the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences at Penn State University.
I have known Dr. Hellman since I was an undergraduate at Penn State.

4. Causes Dan cares about:
Civil Rights and Social Action
Disaster and Humanitarian Relief
Education
Environment
Health
Human Rights
Politics
Science and Technology

5. Why did dan choose it? Why a phd?
This can be explained best by exploring Dan’s career journey.
Part 1: Graduated from State College High School and enrolled immediately in Penn State’s Architectural Engineering program.
Did not enjoy it and did not do well.
Quit college, joined the Marines and then told his parents!

6. Career journey part 2 & 3
#2 While in the Marines, Dan was trained in Geo-mapping.
He spent a couple of tours in Afghanistan.
Corporal (E4), Flightline Mechanic/Plane Captain
United States Marine Corps
#3 After fulfilling his tour of duty Dan was ready to tackle college-now with an interest-Geography.
He graduated from Penn State with a BS in Geography (GIS)

7. Career journey part 4 & 5
#4 Dan got his first post-college job with NAVSEA, our underwater Naval Warfare Center.
Here he learned what additional training he needed to do more mapping.
#5 Dan attended George Mason University and earned a Geospatial Intelligence Graduate Certificate, Geoinformatics

8. Career journey part 6
#6 new job, Lead GIS Analyst - GEOFidelis Contract Support, Headquarters Marine Corps
Beginning to realize trends in seemingly unrelated data…
#7 new job, Geospatial Analyst - IWMDT EGIS data management, services, & documentation
Seeing more and more connections, wondering if this has been researched…
Beginning to ask what benefits to society by finding connections…

9. Career journey part 7 PHD Candidate
Pennsylvania State University - College of IST
• 2014 PhD Cohort Student • Teaching Assistant – IST452 • Contributing author and primary research assistant on NSF Award (Socio-technical systems and Big Data Analytics in the Ebola Response).

10. Thesis that has earned Dan two summer internships at MIT:
Collaborative Analytics and Brokering in Digital Humanitarian Response
ACM: Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW 2016)
Abstract: During large scale humanitarian crises, relief practitioners identify data used for decision making and coordination, as critical to their operations. Implicit in this need is the required capabilities for analyzing data. Given the rapidly evolving systems of collaborative data management and analysis in digital humanitarian efforts, information scientists and practitioners alike are keen to understand the role of data analytics in response operations. Through a case study of a digital humanitarian collaborative effort, we examine the processes for big and small data analytics, specifically focusing on data development, sharing, and collaborative analytics. Informed by theories of articulation work and collaborative analytics, we analyze data from in- depth interviews with digital humanitarians. Our findings identify key practices and processes for collaborative analytics in resource constrained environments, particularly the role of brokering, and in turn generate design recommendation for collaborative analytic platforms.

11. Career journey part 7.5
Summer Research Intern
MIT Lincoln Laboratory

12. Career journey: what’s next?
It will take around 18 months to complete his research at MIT and to complete his PhD dissertation at Penn State.
From there?
Continued research
Using his data skills to pursue his interests

13. Causes Dan cares about/is interested in:
Civil Rights and Social Action
Disaster and Humanitarian Relief
Education
Environment
Health
Human Rights
Politics
Science and Technology

14. Dan’s mom and me hiking the AT…
You will present a picture of you and your interviewee at the worksite.

15. Sample Thank You letter (email exchange will be good too)!
Thank You Letter After an Informational Interview
January 24, 20XX
Sandra Smith 336 West Broadway Cleveland, Ohio 67890
Mr. James Wood Manager Wood’s Lumber Ltd. 300 Main Boulevard Jonestown, Ohio 12345
Dear Mr. Wood:
It was a pleasure speaking with you on Wednesday, January 23rd. Thank you for taking the time from your busy schedule to answer my questions. Your answers were helpful and very informative, in furthering my understanding of what is involved in this type of work.
I appreciate the interest you have shown in helping me with my career search.
Sincerely yours,
[Signature Handwritten]      ←    Signature Handwritten
Sandra Smith     ←   Signature Typed
Sample Thank You letter ( exchange will be good too)!

16. A personal reflection “What I learned from this assignment”
About Computer Science
About career journeys
What I’d like to learn….