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Meet the Team

The HERO MAP team is composed of (from left to right):

Albert Decatur, Clark University undergraduate, '09:

After years as a successful children's book illustrator, Albert found the courage to return to the Taklamakan desert over which he had lost his first copy of The Little Prince while skydiving to celebrate the 100th birthday of Nikola Tesla.   Upon sighting the edge of the desert, he covered his eyes to protect them from the copious dust which was kicked up in all directions by the camels and jeeps.  In the distance there was a high tower which loomed above the landscape, casting a thousand foot shadow.  Dropping a piece of paper and watching it drift by, Albert noted the wind speed and direction and thought of Enrico Fermi.  "It can't be far now," he said.  At the base of the tower lay a small hole, through which the members of his expedition dropped themselves one by one into a magical paradise of cooling shadow and flowing underground springs.  "This is the place," Albert said, and thought of Brigham Young.  He stooped down to pick up a worn 50 franc note.  "We are too late," he said, and reflected on how the times were a changin.  Convinced by this experience that we must capture the present before it becomes the past, we sought the path of the geographer set out in the lost book. 
    Albert's greatest contribution to the HERO MAP team thus far is the creation of the HERO MAP logo.  He writes the text of this website, contributes to the automated models, and is expected to remember every step of the HERO MAP methodology at once, including parts of the process that don't exist anymore or don't exist yet.  He updates the Clark University HERO wiki, and sends 150 emails a day to all the HERO MAP team members.

Rahul Rakshit, Graduate '09:

Tired of his life on tour across the capitals of Europe, Rahul couldn't have quit Norway's popular heavy metal band Lutefisk Dawn at a better time.  According to his team of highly skilled doctors, he would be deaf within the year if he did not leave the stage.  So he chose to travel the world as an itinerant troubadour, skulking from village to village, playing the fiddle, mandolin, and most popularly the saw.   Had he kept to the main road he would have been instantly trampled by throngs of adoring fans, and would have no doubt gotten carpal tunnel from repeated rounds of forced autograph signing.  After living three years of the quiet life in the rolling hills of County Galway tending sheep, chopping wood, and drawing well water, Rahul felt a change of pace was in order and settled in Worcester Massachusetts to join the Clark University Graduate School of Geography. 
    Rahul is well versed in a number of GIS softwares, such as ArcGIS and Erdas Imagine, and he also knows Visual Basic for Applications (VBA).  He contributes to the automated models and teaches the team how to avoid work while producing the same result.  He is the resident internet expert freeware advisor.  Rahul's work on the applications of virtual globes has led to virtual field work as performed by the HERO MAP team.

Jenner Alpern, Clark University undergraduate, '09:

Amid scandal after being booted from Saskatoon's second most popular football team, Jenner found himself out of work and out of luck.  It was later decreed in a 12-0 ruling of the US Supreme Court that it is unconstitutional to charge someone with animal cruelty for popping a marshmallow peep in a microwave, but the managers of the Saskatoon team were too embarrassed by their error to admit their fault, and refused to allow him to rejoin.  It was found out even later that it is unconstitutional for the US Supreme Court to make a decision regarding Canadian law, but this was overlooked at the time.  The Queen of England could not help but be delighted at the boy's tale, and she offered Jenner a lifelong stipend of tuppence a year in exchange for an annual festival in which 100,000 peeps would be microwaved in Trafalgar Square to the cheers of the crowd.  But Jenner had put his old ways behind him, and after finding penance in the arms of GIS, withdrew to the monastery complex that is Clark university's geography department computer labs. 
    Jenner makes most of the HERO MAP team's excellent graphics and power points, though other team members are known to try their hand at them.  He is also the resident expert on Definiens, which is the object-oriented classification software the team uses.  Jenner slogs through most of the towns doing the manual labor that the other team members won't touch.

Nick Giner, Graduate '12:

Once an intrepid whale hunter off the shores of Botany Bay, Nick was hit by hard times when a freak storm left him shipwrecked on the perilous shores of Boston Harbor.  After months spent wandering the landing strips of Logan Airport with little more than his horse and canteen, he struck out into the wild west that is Central Massachusetts.  It was not long before he came to the bountiful oasis that is Worcester, Massachusetts.  Gazing upon its resplendent beauty, he could not help but shed a single tear, and so he decided to settle there.  Hitching his horse to the nearest signpost, he walked into town with a spring in his step.  Soon he earned his home at Clark University's Graduate School of Geography through a show of strength when he carried the Freud Statue across campus and back to the cheers of many onlookers, flags, and much bunting. 
    Nick may be new to the HERO MAP team but his outsider perspective has improved the team's ability to think outside of the box that is the computer lab.  In time he will have to assume the heavy responsibility of training the team's new members.  But he is currently charged with hard manual labor in edgematching, tracking down data, and contacting the outside world.











Previous members of the HERO MAP team include:

James Wilson, Clark University undergraduate '09

James Wilson pioneered the HERO MAP methodology by creating our classification hierarchy and classifying the town of Ipswich, MA.  He introduced the current HERO MAP team to Definiens in such a comprehensive way that they were able to make good progress right from the start.


and is advised by:
Assistant Professor at Clark University Graduate School of Geography, Colin Polsky
Associate Professor at Clark University IDCE and Geography,  Robert Gilmore Pontius, Jr.

and funded by the NSF:
The United States’ National Science Foundation (NSF) supported this work via two of its programs: (1) Long Term Ecological Research via grant OCE-0423565, and (2) Coupled Natural Human Systems via grant BCS-0709685. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendation expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the NSF.

Thanks to the BES LTER for the inspiration they provided for our methodology.

HERO MAP is distinct from MaFoMP, which is another of Clark University HERO's fine programs.