MAY 15, 2015 -- Matt Dorsey is a GIS Specialist for the Spatial Data Branch of NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R) Assessment and Restoration Division (ARD). Matt is based out of Long Beach, California, and has worked in the GIS field for over 15 years.

Before coming to NOAA, Matt received his Masters of Urban Planning from the State University of New York at Buffalo and worked for the Seneca Nation of Indians in western New York. While working for the Seneca Nation, Matt completed a number of GIS data management projects highlighted by the creation of a centralized spatial database system that connected and housed their three territories' GIS data.

Some of his most rewarding time was spent getting to know the people and assisting with the coordination of several Pow Wows that celebrated their Native culture.

Upon joining NOAA in 2008, Matt worked for the National Marine Fisheries Service for two years, creating and managing GIS data for various programs, including Essential Fish Habitat and Critical Habitat initiatives. He then moved over to OR&R in 2010 to work on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill response and damage assessment, managing and loading data into the Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA).

Matt is currently the Southwest ERMA regional co-lead and the Spatial Data Branch Liaison to the ARD Southwest Branch, working to help improve natural resource damage assessment field data collection techniques using unmanned aircraft systems and electronic data capture methods.

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Matt feels very fortunate to work for NOAA. He enjoys the multidisciplinary aspect of the job, saying the amount and wide-ranging types of data NOAA collects and manages is noteworthy and as a team we get to bring it all together for a great purpose.

In his spare time, Matt enjoys hanging out with friends and family, attempting to snowboard, and cooking. His favorite dish to make is Chicken Riggies, which is a Syracuse staple where he is originally from.