My Semester at YCGS: From Event Planning to Honoring Dr. Tomlin

At the Yale Center for Geospatial Solutions, there is much more than meets the eye. Behind the scenes, students and faculty are working throughout the semester on projects from wildfire mapping to crime reporting, creating descriptive maps and reports about their findings shared with the team week-to-week. As the Events Coordinator for the Center, I have played a different role compared to many of my peers. While I am not analyzing imaging trends or mapping data, I can usually be found in the back of the room working away on posters, social media content, event logistics, and many, many spreadsheets.  

I was very fortunate to work on this event as Dr. Tomlin is a titan in the industry of geospatial analysis. Though I did not have the pleasure of working with Dr. Tomlin one-on-one or sitting in on his classes at Yale, in my research I found out just how much his contributions have shaped imaging and mapping techniques. Often referred to as the “Father of ArcGIS”, Dr. Tomlin humbly prefers the term uncle. He created MAP—the Map Analysis Package—which became one of the most widely used spatial analysis programs of its time, living on in many different forms and programs. Furthermore, his work as a Professor Emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania and Adjunct Professor at Yale University inspired countless generations of students, colleagues, and geospatial professionals. 

For the event, I wanted to focus on Dr. Tomlin’s impact on students and colleagues because the geospatial community at Yale is certainly aware of his influence on ArcGIS. My plan was to collect testimonies from students, friends, peers, and mentees about how Dr. Tomlin impacted their academic and professional careers. I reached out to former students who have achieved excellence in the geospatial world, bringing the lessons they learned from Dr. Tomlin into their everyday lives. Holding positions at national laboratories, universities, and prominent research organizations worldwide, their lives are busy, yet they still took the time out of their day to honor Dr. Tomlin. These students were eager to share stories of Dr. Tomlin from class and give their appreciation for just how much Dr. Tomlin impacted their lives. 

Tirthankar “TC” Chakraborty, a former student with a PhD from the Yale School of the Environment and now working as an Earth scientist at a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory, commented on Dr. Tomlin’s teaching: “Dana was the best professor I have had in my more than 10 years of education. This was both in terms of how much support he provided students who needed it to how much freedom he would allow others who wanted to learn at their own pace. The extremely intuitive and practical way in which he taught GIS and geospatial analysis made it very easy to learn and retain information.” 

Molly Burhans, a former student and mentee from the Conway School who collaborated with a number of his students from Yale is now using her geospatial knowledge in sustainability and stewardship efforts, shared a memory with Dr. Tomlin: “Not long after, came another one of the best days of my life: the day I met Dana Tomlin. Dana gave me the language I needed to speak to GIS. As anyone who’s learned from him knows, Dana had an unmistakable sparkle in his eye. The day I met him he lit up the room as he pointed and exclaimed, ‘You are a feature!’ and then, to me, ‘And you are an attribute!’ It was an honor.” 

Lindsi Seegmiller, a former Yale student and current climate adaptation researcher, humorously depicted Dr. Tomlin’s teaching style through a creative and fitting visual. 

Robert Cheetham, former student, entrepreneur, and mentee of Dr. Tomlin’s currently creating geospatial software, explained Dr. Tomlin’s impact on his professional and academic life: “My first encounter with Dana was as a landscape architecture student at Penn. It was a two-week introduction to GIS, and it was a revelation. His approach to teaching captured my imagination and ended up inspiring me to pursue a technology career. As my career evolved, and I later started my own geospatial software business, Dana has always been there for me with encouragement, intellectual curiosity, and a perspective rooted in kindness and generosity.” 

Henry Glick, a former student with a PhD from the Yale School of the Environment in Spatial Ecology now working as a spatial data scientist, touched on Dr. Tomlin’s impact on his students and academia: “With his retirement, Dana will leave behind a legacy – a legacy in optimism, altruism, and magnanimity. Where academia can be driven by a scarcity mentality, largely born of competitive dynamics, a sense of urgency, and perceived resource limitation, Dana has shown his students, time and again, that there is another way. Returning to the roots of science for the common good, Dana has shown that we need not play into the fear – into that “publish or perish” mentality. Instead, we can be generous; we can take a systems approach. We can offer our work, our ideas, and our counsel, ultimately producing a wide and deep network of students, colleagues, and friends who not only want to reciprocate, but who can help to stand us up through mutual respect and admiration, an earnest desire to collaborate, and a vision for something more nourishing.” 

Sabrina Szeto, former Yale School of the Environment student and current CEO of a volunteer-run geospatial professional network, thanked Dr. Tomlin for herself and all students: “Thank you, Dana, from all of us, past and present students. I am grateful to have you and Sam as mentors and role models in life. What I’ve learned from you both goes far beyond the classroom. Thank you for investing in us and inspiring us to lead lives of meaning that are rich with curiosity, wonder and community.” 

After hearing all these testimonies, I decided they would be the cornerstone of my speech, focusing on the legacy Dr. Tomlin left behind and the life-changing impacts on many students. As part of our event planning, we distributed posters throughout campus, published graphics on social media, and emailed colleagues and friends to attend. We organized the catering of coffee and pastries for all attendees, after Dr. Tomlin’s final class at Yale.  Dr. Tomlin preferred a modest retirement event, and throughout our planning conversations, we aimed to strike a balance—keeping it simple to respect his wishes while ensuring it was meaningful enough to honor his career and tenure at Yale.  

When the day of the celebration rolled around, I was ironing out final details, making sure my speech did justice to Dr. Tomlin and the countless students who submitted quotes, and preparing a brief presentation of Dr. Tomlin’s work. I ran around printing out speech copies, submitting presentation drafts, and making sure all attendees could find the lecture hall. But finally, as we assembled at Bowers Auditorium in Sage Hall following Dr. Tomlin’s lecture, I knew all of the work had been worthwhile.