Faculty/Staff

Meet Your GIS Faculty

Erwin VilligerErwin Villiger
Program Director, GIS

Dr. Erwin Villiger is the President and CEO of Global View Inc., a GIS and Remote Sensing consulting firm. He began his career in geospatial technology with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as an Imagery Analyst and Remote Sensing Scientist. During his time with the CIA, he worked to introduce GIS to the analytical force. In 1997, he resigned from the CIA to pursue a Ph.D. in Environmental Science at George Mason University (GMU) where he managed the GIS and Remote Sensing computer labs for the Department of Geography and Earth System Science. While at GMU, he founded Global View Inc. to provide consulting services in the geospatial arena. In 1999, he accepted a position as a Senior Scientist with Earth Satellite Corporation in Rockville, MD where he managed the Center for National Security and Policy Support. In 2002, Dr. Villiger decided to pursue Global View Inc. full-time. Through Global View Inc., he has provided GIS and remote sensing services for a number of clients in local and federal government, commercial businesses, and academia.

Dr. Villiger has taught geography and GIS courses for Johns Hopkins University and George Mason University. In addition he has developed a number of GIS education programs for professionals and workforce development. Dr. Villiger earned his BA in Geography, MS in Geographic and Cartographic Sciences with specialties in remote sensing and geographic information systems, and his PhD in Environmental Science and Public Policy.

You can view Dr. Villiger’s public LinkedIn profile here.

Qassim AbdullahQassim A. Abdullah
Ph.D., PLS, CP, Lecturer

Dr. Qassim Abdullah, chief scientist at Fugro EarthData, Inc., is an accomplished scientist with more than 30 years of combined industrial, research and development, and academic experience in analytical photogrammetry, digital remote sensing, and civil and surveying engineering.  Over the course of his career, Dr. Abdullah has contributed significantly toward the advancement of digital aerial imagery and LiDAR acquisition, and production processes.  Among his accomplishments, Dr. Abdullah developed proprietary software applications for use in digital orthophotography and DEM production; he developed and integrated a metric digital aerial camera for rapid image acquisition; he integrated airborne GPS into conventional aerotriangulation adjustments; he refined the integration of Inertial Navigation Systems (INS) and GPS technology for sensor positioning and orientation; and he participated in the development of the first high altitude topographic LiDAR system.

A civil engineer, ASPRS certified photogrammetrist, and professional surveyor in four states, Dr. Abdullah currently serves as Fugro EarthData’s chief scientist responsible for designing and managing strategic programs to develop and implement new remote sensing technologies that allow Fugro EarthData to meet the evolving needs of geospatial users. He was instrumental in streamlining Fugro EarthData’s photogrammetric mapping processes, and most recently, has been leading the technology transfer and process integration of Fugro EarthData’s new panoramic mapping and Aerial Thermal Infrared Sensing systems. 

Dr. Abdullah obtained a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and master’s degree and doctorate degrees in Photogrammetry from the civil engineering department at the University of Washington in Seattle.  He is affiliated with a number of national and international professional societies, is a published author of over 50 technical papers and reports, and is a sought-after professional speaker and educator.  Besides publishing the monthly column “Mapping Matters”, which appears in the ASPRS journal PE&RS, he is involved in several national committees, and participates in discussions regarding the industry and technology forecast, future technologies, process improvement of LiDAR and digital photogrammetry, and accuracy standards.

You can view Dr. Abdullah’s public LinkedIn profile here.

Luis Bermudez
Ph.D., Lecturer

Dr. Bermudez has a Ph.D. and M.S. in Hydroinformatics from Drexel University and an M.S. in Industrial Engineering from the Andes University in Bogota, Colombia.  He has 15 years of experience in software development, GIS, knowledge representation, and international project management.  Dr. Bermudez manages the certification program at OGC, leads plug fest activities, and supports interoperability initiatives.


You can view Dr. Bermudez’s public LinkedIn profile here.


Lee De Cola
Ph.D., Lecturer

Dr. De Cola runs Data to Insight, a data visualization consulting and training enterprise. In 2010, he retired after 21 years as a research scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey in Reston VA where he used GIS and applied statistics to understand landscape dynamics and the health of regions and their inhabitants. He has published on such topics as the geography of public health, analysis of land processes, spatial forecasting in epidemiology, and urbanization in Africa. Lee currently teaches at various Washington DC universities and has had full-time appointments at the Universities of Ibadan, Nigeria and Vermont. He also volunteers teaching statistics at local elementary schools, plays the clarinet and enjoys sea kayaking. Dr. De Cola received his Ph.D., Geography in 1984 from University of Ibadan, Nigeria, his Master of City Planning in 1969 from University of California, Berkeley and a B.A., Mathematics in 1967 from University of California, Berkeley.

You can view Dr. De Cola’s public LinkedIn profile here.

Owen Evans
M.S. CE, Lecturer

Owen Evans is a Solution Engineer at Esri, the leading GIS technology provider. He has worked in support of federal, state, and local government agencies since 2004 and now manages Esri's DC Innovation and Collaboration Studio. Mr. Evans previously worked at Malcolm Pirnie, Inc., an environmental engineering consulting firm, in the water resources group.

Mr. Evans received his Bachelor of Science (1996) and Master of Engineering (1997) degrees in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. His professional interests and expertise are in the area of enterprise GIS technology - particularly in geodata management and spatial databases, systems architecture, and cloud computing. He has also earned several certifications from Esri's Technical Certification program, including Enterprise Geodatabase Management Professional, Enterprise System Design Associate, and Enterprise Administration Associate.

Mr. Evans began working as an instructor at UMBC in August 2008. He teaches GES 671, Spatial Database and System Design, and GES 771, Advanced Spatial Data Management, both of which are part of the Masters in Professional Studies (MPS) in GIS degree and certificate programs at UMBC's Shady Grove campus.


You can view Mr. Evans's public LinkedIn profile here.

Joshua Lieberman
Ph.D., Lecturer

Dr. Joshua Lieberman has worked with geospatial information systems for more than 25 years. This began with training, research, and consulting in solid earth and environmental sciences.  Later, as VP of information architecture at Syncline, Inc., he worked on the design of the company’s two major geospatial products, MapCiti and MapAccess, as well as leading a series of engagements with the Open Geospatial Consortium and other organizations.

These engagements included Open Web Services testbeds, specification development (e.g. Web Map Server, OGC Catalog, Styled Layer Descriptor), and several pilot projects. Presently, VP of Enterprise Architecture at Traverse Technologies, Inc., he has expanded his interests and work to the geospatial semantic web, spatial data infrastructure issues, GeoRSS, and W3C spatial ontologies. He has served as coordinating architect for a number of OGC initiatives
such as the OGC Geospatial Semantic Web Interoperability Experiment, CGDI Interoperability Pilot, GEOSS Architecture Implementation Pilot, and OGC Web Services Testbed. Josh chairs two OGC working groups, and participates in a variety of specification activities. Josh also manages to fill his day providing technology development, strategic, and architectural consulting services for a number of governmental and commercial clients interested in geospatialinteroperability and sound business practices.

Nora Csanyi May
PhD, CP, Lecturer

Dr. Nora Csanyi May is the Senior Mapping Technologist at Fugro EarthData, Inc. in Frederick, MD. Dr. May received an M.S. degree in Surveying and Geoinformatics Engineering from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary in 2001. She has also earned an M.S. degree and a Ph.D. from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Geodetic Science, The Ohio State University in 2007. Dr. May has over 10 years of experience working both within research as well as in a photogrammetric production environment. Her research interests include surface extraction and modeling, sensor fusion, calibration of multi-sensor systems, including LiDAR boresight calibration, and accuracy assessment for digital imagery and LiDAR. She has been awarded several prestigious awards for her research work, such as the 2005 BAE Systems Award for the best student paper, the 2005 Leica Geosystems Internship Award, the 2006 William A. Fischer Memorial Scholarship, and the 2007 Intergraph Scholarship, presented by ASPRS. Dr. May has an extensive list of publications in both scientific journals and conference proceedings.

Kevin Pomfret
J.D., Lecturer

Kevin Pomfret works with a broad-range of businesses, ranging from early-stage companies to public companies, in a variety of industries. He regularly counsels clients on significant business issues, including transactions, equity and debt financings, licensing agreements, joint ventures and employment agreements. He has negotiated numerous mergers and acquisitions involving both private and public companies. Pomfret also assists private equity funds and venture capital funds in making investments and acquisitions.

Pomfret represents a number of spatial technology companies, and works closely with leaders in the spatial community to identify solutions to the industry's unique legal issues. Prior to law school, he worked on developing the U.S. intelligence community's imagery collection and exploitation requirements.  He also served as a satellite imagery analyst and a Soviet analyst for the U.S. government, and regularly writes and speaks on spatial law.

Pomfret is a graduate of Washington & Lee School of Law and has served on a number of community boards since moving to Richmond in 1994. In 1996, he was selected by "Inside Business" as one of Richmond's "Top Forty Under Forty." Pomfret has been recognized as a Virginia "Super Lawyer" and a member of Virginia's "Legal Elite."

You can view Mr. Pomfret’s public LinkedIn profile here.

John Schlee
MPA, GISP, Lecturer

John Schlee has over 20 years experience in the public and private sectors in GIS development and operations.  Mr.  Schlee manages the GIS program for the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission, Montgomery County Planning Department, oversees GIS staff development and training, and is active in state and county geospatial projects.

Mr. Schlee began his career with Prince William County, Virginia, and subsequently worked for a private contracting firm, developing and implementing major GIS projects for the Environmental Protection Agency.  Mr. Schlee has taught GIS database seminars at Towson University and presented on a range of practical GIS applications and enterprise solutions.

Mr. Schlee received a B.A. in Geography from UMBC and an MPA from George Mason University.  He holds the GISP certification and is a member of the American Association of Geographers.


You can view Mr. Schlee’s public LinkedIn profile here.

Xiuzhu Yang
Ph.D. (ABA), Lecturer

Wells (Xiuzhu) was a PHD candidate at University of South Carolina with a focus on remote sensing and GIS. He received his M.S. and B.S. from the Department of Geography, East China Normal University. His interest in GIS & remote sensing started in his college years and his career path remains in this area for more than 24 years.
Wells is the chief GIS architect of Lockheed Martin’s ITS-ESE program. Before joining Lockheed, he served as senior GIS professionals for several GIS consulting firms. He has led technical teams to design, develop, and deliver multi-million GIS projects for both federal and local governments. His 19 years of GIS programming experience witnessed a variety of dynamics in the GIS world. 

Wells’ project once hit CNN Headlines and other main media. One of his web site designs featured the “Web Site of the Day” of Transportation Communications Newsletter. His another application was showcased at a government press conference. One public work GIS project won URISA Exemplary Systems In Government. Wells was acknowledged as an Alien of Extraordinary Ability by US government.

You can view Dr. Yang’s public LinkedIn profile here.

Paul Young
M.A., Lecturer

Paul M. Young  is currently the U.S. Geological (USGS) Survey Deputy Associate Director for Energy and Minerals, and Environmental Health where he helps to oversee energy and mineral research and resource assessments and environmental health studies including water and biological contamination.

While in college, he worked at the U.S. Bureau of the Census Geography Division where he compiled and  digitized maps and created digital geographic data. Since 1986 he has worked for the USGS. His early career at USGS included compiling topographic and geologic maps. He then worked for several years developing new computer systems used for map digitizing, image analysis, and geographic information systems (GIS). He served as the Director of the USGS Cartographic Technology Laboratory and then supervised the Applications Research Section where employees worked on a wide variety of natural resource and environmental applications and GIS projects. He served for 6 years in the USGS Office of the Director where he held a number of senior positions. From 2003 to 2010 he has held several positions in the USGS Eastern Region including Geography Program Officer where he led long term planning and integrated science activities. Paul also served as Regional Chief Scientist where he coordinated integrated science projects and USGS regional science with National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Land Management. The Department of the Interior awarded him its Superior Service Award in 1995.

Mr. Young graduated from the University of Akron with a Bachelor of Science degree in Geography/Cartography in 1986. In 1990, he graduated from the University of Maryland with a Masters of Arts degree in Geography. The American Congress on Surveying and Mapping and the National Geographic Society awarded him scholarships. Since 1997, he has taught continuing education and graduate level GIS courses at Northern Virginia Community College, the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, and George Mason University.