Megan O'Brien

Megan O’Brien

EDUCATION

Master of Arts, Geography, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax NS (Expected graduation 2026)
Diploma, Geographic Information Systems – Cartography & Geovisualization, NSCC Centre of Geographic Sciences, Halifax, NS
Bachelor of Science, Marine Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS

SKILLS

  • Geospatial: ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online, QGIS, Summit Evolution, MapBox, Survey123
  • Data Visualization: Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Premiere Pro), Blender, Tableau
  • Programming: Python (arcpy, pandas, osgeo), R (lidR, terra, randomForest), SQL (PostgreSQL), JavaScript (Google Earth Engine)

EXPERIENCE

Graduate Thesis Student, Saint Mary’s University
September 2024 – Present | Halifax, NS

  • Conceptualized and developed a workflow to improve the prediction of old-growth forest presence in Nova Scotia by 50%.
  • Processed Sentinel-2 imagery in Google Earth Engine and Python (arcpy, osgeo, pandas) to extract information on forest health.
  • Extracted forest structure information from LiDAR data using R (lidR).
  • Modelled old-growth forest predictions in R (randomForest, terra).
  • Designed science communication products using Blender and Adobe Creative Suite to share results with government and academic partners.

Graduate Student Researcher, Wicked Problems Lab, Saint Mary’s University
September 2024 – Present | Halifax, NS

  • Managed and streamlined data from 8 databases to update and verify maps of forest disturbances in ArcGIS Pro.
  • Developed and applied tools using R and Julia to measure landscape connectivity and identify conservation priority areas in Prince Edward Island.
  • Assessed geospatial methods for estimating forest age in a systematic literature review.
  • Communicated with clients to discuss key project outcomes and delivered user-friendly GIS products to be applied in conservation work.

Teaching Assistant, Saint Mary’s University
September 2024 – Present | Halifax, NS

  • Facilitated an intermediate GIS lab session once weekly for 15 undergraduate students.
  • Evaluated weekly lab reports and provided individualized feedback in-line with curriculum expectations.
  • Collaborated with head instructor to improve lab delivery.
  • Conducted office hours to provide one on one support for students.

Geographic Information Systems Intern, GeoNet Technologies
April 2024 – August 2024 | Summerside, PEI

  • Utilized Summit Evolution, QGIS, and photogrammetry hardware to perform 3D topographic mapping.
  • Performed quality control on completed topographic map sheets using Python (arcpy); rectified issues in ArcGIS Pro.
  • Streamlined compilation and quality control processes by developing and testing new Python scripts (arcpy, pandas) and workflows.

Program Assistant, Shad Canada
July 2022, July 2023 | Vancouver, BC

  • Managed daily operation of a residential STEM program for 50+ high school students at the University of British Columbia.
  • Scheduled and executed daily activities for students, ensuring transportation, catering, and communication needs were met.
  • Facilitated daily internal communication on Slack to ensure programming was delivered seamlessly to students.

Teaching Assistant, Dalhousie University
September 2022 – December 2022 | Halifax, NS

  • Facilitated an introductory biology lab session once weekly for 30 undergraduate students.
  • Evaluated weekly lab reports and provided individualized feedback in-line with curriculum expectations.
  • Attended course meetings and collaborated with head instructor to improve lab delivery.
  • Maintained and recorded student grades.

EXTRACURRICULAR

Graduate Student Representative, Nominating Committee for Chairperson and Graduate Coordinator in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Saint Mary’s University
February 2025 – April 2025 | Halifax, NS

  • Served as a representative (selected by the Dean) for fellow undergraduate and graduate students in the selection process for the Chairperson and Graduate Coordinator for the department.
  • Attended nomination committee meetings and provided input on selected candidates.

Volunteer Student Notetaker, NSCC Centre of Geographic Sciences (COGS)
September 2023 – May 2024 | Halifax, NS

  • Created class notes for 5 daily classes at the Centre of Geographic Sciences to assist classmates with learning differences in engaging with the course content.
  • Communicated with classmates for feedback to produce notes most applicable to their needs.

Vice President, Communications, NSCC COGS Student Association
September 2023 – May 2024 | Halifax, NS

  • Published a weekly newsletter to 600+ students, publicizing weekly events and activities offered by the Student Association.
  • Designed publicity materials including posters, social media posts, and flyers.
  • Managed recruitment for up to 10 program representatives from each program at the college.

PROJECTS

Nova Scotia Road Index Update (Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources and Renewables) | ArcGIS Pro, Python
December, 2024

  • Developed updated Python scripts to calculate a dynamic measure of the impact of road construction and traffic on the natural environment, for varying road classes in Nova Scotia.
  • Created a new program to allow users to calculate road index values for specific species at risk, incorporating user-generated road avoidance values.
  • Applied previous assessments of the road index to incorporate new measures of road influence and species-specific assessments.

Public Transport Analysis of London, UK | ArcGIS Pro, Adobe Illustrator, Microsoft Excel, Python
April 2024

  • Utilized spatial mapping analysis to analyze trends in public transport accessibility to London’s boroughs.
  • Automated geoprocessing tasks with ArcGIS Pro ModelBuilder to rasterize polygons, save new files, and utilize cell statistics.
  • Performed statistical analysis to determine boroughs that were least/most accessible via public transport and translated findings to data visualizations.

Violent Crime Spatial Analysis | QGIS
April 2024

  • Gathered and processed data from an open-source repository, focusing the dataset on violent crime.
  • Produced visualizations of crime statistics in Surrey, UK using heatmap, hotspot, and hexbin techniques.
  • Wrote a clear and concise technical report to communicate the background behind these QGIS techniques and step-by-step instructions to allow users to reproduce results.
  • Analyzed resulting map products and identified spatial patterns and trends.

AWARDS

  • Second Place, Best Student Presentation – Atlantic Division of the Canadian Association of Geographers (ACAG) (2025)
  • Nova Scotia Graduate Scholarship ($10,000) (2025)
  • Best Student Poster – Canadian Association of Geographers (CAG) (2025)
  • Honourable Mention, Arthur Robinson Print Map Award – Cartography and Geographic Information Society (CaGIS) (2025)
  • Best Student Lightning Talk Award – Atlantic Division of the Canadian Association of Geographers (ACAG) (2024)
  • President’s Prize – Canadian Cartographic Association (CCA) (2024)
  • CANMAP Award (2024)
    • The CANMAP Award is given to a graduating student from the Geovisualization and Cartography program at the Centre of Geographic Sciences (COGS) who demonstrates exceptional skills in the fields of GIS and mapmaking. More importantly, the winner has shown innovativeness in project work. The winner has been a resource to fellow students and faculty.

PUBLICATIONS

  • O’Brien, M., Bush, P. G., Binney, L., Gould, A., & Matsumoto, P. (2025). Landscape connectivity in Prince Edward Island (Updated for 2025). Saint Mary’s University. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.18998.36165.

CONFERENCES

Paper Presentation – ‘Improving the classification of old-growth forest with GIS and remote sensing techniques in Nova Scotia‘, Canadian Association of Geographers, Atlantic Division Annual Meeting
November 21 – 22, 2025 | Online, hosted by Saint Mary’s University

Poster Presentation – ‘ Improving the classification of old-growth forest with GIS and remote sensing techniques in Nova Scotia‘, Canadian Association of Geographers, Ontario Division Annual Meeting
November 14 – 15, 2025 | Toronto, ON

Poster Presentation – ‘ A New Old Growth Potential Index for Nova Scotia’, Canadian Association of Geographers Annual Meeting
May 20 – 23, 2025 | Ottawa, ON

Lightning Round Presentation – ‘ A New Old Growth Potential Index for Nova Scotia’, Canadian Association of Geographers, Atlantic Division Annual Meeting
November 2 – 3, 2024 | Online, hosted by Memorial University

CERTIFICATES

I am always learning and updating my skillset. My current certificates can be viewed on the following page.