Scholarship Winners 2022

1st Place Winner: Chad Ramos

Chad is a GIS Analyst for the City of Kyle and a first year graduate student in the department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Texas State University. He is interested in data analysis and cartography and hopes to advance his career into the fields of hazards or emergency management, while still making use of his skills in GIS.

Chad will start his second year as a graduate student in the fall and he has tentatively chosen to study neighborhood evacuation in the face of urban wildfire as his Master’s research. He spends much of his free time hiking and hopes to one day complete the Pacific Crest Trail.

Hospital Beds in the US.pdf

2nd Place Winner: Terrence Kiser

Terrence Kiser is an aspiring GIS professional currently enrolled in ACC’s GIS certification program, with a B.A in Geography from the University of Texas at Austin. He is committed to expanding his understanding of GIS as an ever-evolving technology, as its diverse range of applications continually inspire him. He is riveted by the tools at an analyst’s disposal in developing a deeper understanding of how the world’s spatial components connect, interrelate, and form a heterogenous portrait of meaning. He finds it truly fascinating how the interpretation of analytic GIS results can affect real people, and alter the scope of a map’s real-world application. Terrence hopes to incite positive change in the world by harnessing GIS software as a powerful visual and analytic tool.

Reforesting The Blanco River in Hays County.pdf

3rd Place Winner & Crowd Favorite Winner: Ronney Phillips

Born in Winnie, Texas, Ronney Phillips is a 1993 graduate of East Chambers High School. After graduation, Ronney served 13 years as a United States Marine as a field radio operator and a combat correspondent. After his service, Ronney worked as a graphic designer and production artist, where he dabbled in cartography and GIS analysis working for an aerial photography company in Dallas, Texas. Later, he enrolled at Tarrant County College and received an Associate of Applied Science in Geographic Information Systems. Seeking to further his knowledge, Ronney enrolled at the University of North Texas, and will graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Geography in May 2022. Ronney was chosen as the geography department’s Undergraduate of the Year and received the F.A. Schoolmaster Outstanding Undergraduate Award for his work at UNT. He was accepted into UNT’s Toulouse Graduate School as a geography student and plans to study spatiotemporal qualities of vaccine hesitance in Texas and potential socioeconomic factors of air quality in Denton County, Texas. Upon completion of a master's degree, he plans to earn a certification to teach social studies in Texas, and hopes to teach 7th-12th grade geography. He is married to Jess Phillips and has two children, Allison and Jonathan. In his spare time, he enjoys hiking, geocaching and playing classical guitar.

Vaccinations, Income, and Education.pdf