Dru Smith, NSRS Modernization Manager

Tell us about yourself and your work at NOS.

My name is Dru Smith and I am the National Spatial Reference System (NSRS) modernization manager with NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey (NGS). The NSRS is a consistent coordinate system that defines latitude, longitude, height, and other geospatial values throughout the U.S. It underpins activities like aviation, transportation, construction, emergency response, and conservation; and allows data sets to work interactively, consistently, and accurately. Through the NSRS, the public enjoys safer travel, safe coastal cities, and other benefits to life and property.

In my role, I oversee the ongoing modernization of the NSRS by managing projects, writing code, authoring papers based on the work, and occasionally getting out in the field to perform geodetic surveys — one of the best parts of the job. I have spent 18 years overseeing a complete revision of how the NGS provides accurate coordinates to the country. I’ve coordinated over 40 projects, ranging from small projects in data storage to larger projects like GRAV-D that collected airborne gravity over the country for 15 years. One of the most rewarding projects was the Geoid Slope Validation Survey of 2011, the first in a series of three such surveys, which greatly advanced the goals of our modernization efforts. I am proud to have won the Department of Commerce’s Gold Medal for this work.

How did you get to where you are now in your career?

I was recruited by NGS during my masters studies at The Ohio State University, and was hired after getting my Ph.D. in 1995. I began my career as a research scientist, but took an early policy rotation at what is now known as the National Executive Committee for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing which gave me experience to be hired as NGS’s Chief Geodesist in 2005. In this position, I oversaw numerous improvements to the NGS’s mission that ultimately led to our current modernization framework and my position — as the NSRS modernization manager where I have served since 2015.

When did you know you wanted to pursue your current career?

I knew I wanted to be a geodesist in my senior year of college. At the time I was finishing my degree in land surveying, and took the class “Elements of Geodesy.” I was instantly hooked. While I loved being out in the field surveying, I recognized that having a career as a surveyor often required owning one’s own surveying business and I knew I did not want to become a business owner. I pursued a Master’s degree in geodesy and enjoyed the research so much that I soon was working on my Ph.D. Around this time I was recruited by the National Geodetic Survey and I never looked back.