Welcome, welcome! My name is Lauren Olivier Makuch and I am a geospatial enthusiast, aspiring geospatial professional, and an out-of-practice circus performer, which may not be relevant to this portfolio but perhaps just intriguing enough to make you keep reading until the end…

A brief introduction of myself is as follows: I have completed my Bachelor of Honours in Environmental Science with distinction, at Concordia University as well as a Graduate Certificate in Remote Sensing at the Centre Of Geographic Sciences (COGS), one of the Esri Canada GIS Centres of Excellence (ECCE). While attending Concordia University, I received notable academic recognition, having made the Dean’s List (2019 – 2020). I was also a finalist for the Geography Planning and Environment Department Geospatial prize (2020) and received a Sustainability Action Fund (SAF) research award (2020), as well as the Experiential Learning Grant (2021). I also took great pride in being involved in the community. I ran as a candidate for Concordia Student Union (CSU) elections in 2019 and later was elected and maintained the position of VP Academic for the Geography Undergraduate Student Society (GUSS) for three consecutive years (2019 – 2021). At COGS, I was a Student Associate for the ECCE, which required me to post independent projects on the ECCE blogs as well as participate in the Esri App Challenge, which I did as the ArcITECTS. During my undergraduate degree, I enrolled in several Geomatics courses, including a range of programming courses for Geospatial Technologies and Environmental Sciences (Python & R), and GIS Systems courses (ArcMap & TerrSet). While developing my thesis, I rapidly learned JavaScript to apply it to the Google Earth Engine (GEE), a cloud-based remote sensing platform. During my time at COGS, I continued to deepen my understanding of GIS systems (ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS JavaScript API, MicroStation & Catalyst), vegetation health assessment using remote sensing systems (multi/hyperspectral), LiDAR applications, and the automation of raster imagery workflows (ArcPy).

If you are interested in learning more about what I have accomplished to date, please consult my CV. This website's focus is on presenting some of the work that I have created that reflects interests more personal and exciting to me.