Ron Saporita (Advance Graduate Certificate, 2025)

Ron Saporita is a retired Mechanical Engineer who has always been interested in how things work. As a private pilot, there were many instruments which fed his curiosity. The most perplexing instrument was the Garmin 430 Navigation Aide, which was GPS based with technology he had never encountered. After retirement, Ron decided to see if he could learn about other geospatial information systems (GIS) and began a journey in the Stony Brook University Geospatial Sciences Center's Advanced Graduate Certificate Program. He has completed the programs and reflected on the journey.

"At first, being retired with a non-electronics background, to me, meant that my computer skills were not current. Was I really too old to do this? What was my motivation, other than knowledge?

Having accepted potential technical and age limitations, and satisfied with my motivation, I enrolled at SBU as a non-matriculated student. I realized that being retired and having the ability to spread out the courses were big advantages.

As I began, I had many elementary computer related questions. Professor Butchart responded promptly and was encouraging, as well as an excellent instructor. I soon began to realize that I could complete this initial course and the required core courses. With this realization, I matriculated. I must admit, basic computer skills were my biggest obstacles, and being intimidated by ArcGIS compounded my trepidation. With the help of both professors throughout the program, I began to feel more comfortable. The most challenging course was Geodatabase and Design. This tested my progress to this point but with the excellent support of Professor Jang, I was able to meet the challenge.

Looking back on the experience, I was actually able to have fun in the choice of projects. Being concerned with environmental issues I enjoyed doing research and applying GIS to several topics important to me, such as the Scallop Die-off in Peconic Bay, Ongoing Risks of Flooding of Subway Stations (below), Risk of Contamination of Water Wells from Storm basins in my Village, and a methodology to investigate further risk of storm flooding of critical infrastructure of a town on LI.. Because time for research was limited, none of the output was conclusive but, never-the-less, satisfying to me. After all, I am the customer. I am more than satisfied with the education "product" I purchased.”