Dr. Richard (Rick) Smith has a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Georgia and holds a Master of Science in Computer Science and a Bachelor of Science in Geographic Information Science from Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi. In March 2022, Rick took the role of Executive Director of the Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science at TAMU-CC. Between 2017 and 2022, Rick was at bp as a Staff Geospatial Data Manager leading the bp Global Geospatial Foundations Team. During his tenure at bp, he designed and implemented several high value and wide-reaching products and services such as: reinventing the method in which the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) team reports their production performance; automating the production of GoM Marine Vessel Operations Charts and Application for Permit to Drill Plats; creating a comprehensive CoVID-19 Data System that is used by the GoM Medical Team to collect, store, and analyze medical data for over 6,000 employees; and developing a safety critical real-time passing and attending marine vessel collision monitoring system.
Between 2009 and 2017, Rick was at TAMU-CC where he served as an Assistant Professor of Geographic Information Science (GISc) and Geospatial Surveying Engineering (GSEN). He was Program Coordinator for the GISc and GSEN programs and a CBI Research Scientist. His academic expertise is in systems integration, cartography, and the use of geospatial technology for disaster response. He founded the Spatial {Query} Lab at CBI which employed an average of fifteen undergraduate and graduate students where the primary project was digitizing the historic land surveying records, such as the Conrad Blucher Surveying Collection. Additionally, Rick founded CartoFusion Technologies, the first commercial company spun out of TAMU-CC. Rick served on several industry and academic boards and committees while growing the GISc program enrollment to its highest level ever in 2017.
