Welcome! My name is Margaret Lawrimore and I am a third-year PhD Student in Geospatial Analytics at North Carolina State University (NCSU).

Not everyone can describe the first time they saw a topographic map; but I remember it vividly. I was six years old, visiting my dad’s new office. When I turned to take in the whole room, it caught my eye instantly. I had always loved maps, but I had no idea they made ones like that. I examined it from all sides, eyed the little symbols, and gently ran my hand along the mountain ridges. It was amazing. It was not until my senior year of high school though, that I learned I could incorporate a love of maps into a career. I was meeting with a landscape ecologist regarding my senior project; when I asked him about his job responsibilities he mentioned GIS and mapping. While I continued with my plan to enroll at North Carolina State University (NCSU) majoring in Environmental Sciences, my interest in GIS grew. By the end of my sophomore year, I decided to create a concentration in Geospatial Information Science. Upon graduating in May, 2020, I followed this interest into a full-time Research Assistant position with NCSU's Center for Geospatial Analytics. Here, I worked on the development team for the Pest or Pathogen Spread (PoPS) model and tool development projects with the NC Department of Transporation. In Fall 2021, I transitioned from Research Assistant to Geospatial Analytics PhD Student. Since then, I have contributed to a national assessment of flood risk, computed spatial-temporal simulations of urban growth, and leveraged machine learning and HPC to predict gaps in zoning codes.