In this episode Shannon speaks with Women in GIS incoming President Elect, Courtney Dobbertin for our annual season kickoff and State of Women in GIS. We discuss what WiGIS has accomplished last year and the big plans we have for this year, as well as all the benefits of being a member of WiGIS. Check out the episode to find out what you can get for joining!

Mentor Brandi Rank and Mentee Tarah Rhine discuss their experience with the Women in GIS Mentorship Program. Applications open now until July 18th at Womeningis.org!

Brandi Rank, PMP, is a geospatial technology leader with more than 20 years of experience delivering GIS solutions that align with business objectives and create measurable organizational value. As a Principal Product Engineer at Esri, she helps organizations leverage location intelligence to improve decision-making, efficiency, and strategic outcomes.Her leadership experience includes serving as GIS Manager for the City of Thornton and Business Solutions Manager for Adams County, where she drove process improvements that significantly reduced timelines and enhanced transparency. A certified PMP and Six Sigma Yellow Belt, Brandi is passionateabout helping organizations position GIS as a strategic asset that drives innovation, reduces risk, and enables lasting change.

Tarah Rhine is a GIS professional with 15 years of experience and currently is in the role of GIS Coordinator at Mendocino County. She leads the development of the County’s enterprise GIS architecture, facilitates modernization of GIS foundations, and shapes the long‑term strategy for geographic information systems across departments. With an academic foundation in environmental studies, Tarah approaches her work through a multidisciplinary lens. She uses spatial technologies to improve workflows, support organizationalchange, and strengthen collaboration. Her career experience spans transportation development, cannabis licensing, and land management—where she has consistently helped emerging governance environments build structure andcome together through the effective use of GIS.

Shannon earned her BS in Geology from Michigan Technological University and her PhD from the University at Buffalo, with a focus in physical volcanology. She’s a professor and department chair in the Department of Geosciences at Idaho State University, where she likes to claim that her research is like professional grade “the floor is lava” thanks to her work on volcanic analogs. She brags that career highlights include riding a horse, up a volcano, through the rainforest, with a machete, and serving as a faux astronaut for a simulated mission to Mars run by NASA. One of her favoriteclasses to teach is Programming for GIS, where she helps students with no coding background learn how to step up their game in geospatial analyses.