RappFLOW Person of the Month

Larry Oliver: RappFLOW Person of the Month
March 2006

By Beverly Hunter

Larry Oliver developed many of the maps you see on “My Watershed” on the RappFLOW web site. He prepared the “backyard watershed” maps that many people in our county have received from RappFLOW.  He has presented the latest watershed analysis maps at several RappFLOW meetings.

Larry is a Senior at Rappahannock County High School. He is planning to attend George Mason University next year. He was a student in the High School GIS course in the spring semester of 2005, from January to June.  He was the team leader for a project to map the nature trails at Bruce and Susan Jones’ nature center. In June, he joined Piedmont Research Institute as a summer intern, working 20 hours per week. He applied GIS tools to watershed mapping and spatial analysis for RappFLOW.  When the fall 2005 school year began, Larry continued to serve as an intern working 8 hours per week after school at the PRI office.  Now, he is serving as Teacher’s Assistant in this semester’s geospatial classes, assisting other students and helping to develop lessons.

Larry can analyze complex problems and find or develop solutions using available tools.  He now has a repertoire of advanced skills in statistical and geospatial analysis, cartography, and information management.  Sometimes he creatively applies skills from his math classes to solving problems involving spatial relationships among several variables – solutions that would not have occurred to me.  He has been able and willing to try out a variety of approaches to a problem until we come upon a satisfactory solution. For example, our analysis of the land cover on 100 foot riparian buffers took several attempts to create a good solution.

I have very much enjoyed having Larry Oliver as a learner and colleague.