Keynote Speaker Biography
Timothy Trainor, Chief Geographer, U.S. Census Bureau
Collecting Quality Data About the Nation’s People and Economy
Timothy Trainor was selected as the new chief of the Geography Division of the U.S. Census Bureau in December 2008. As the bureau’s chief geographer, he's responsible for directing all aspects of division work related to geographic and cartographic development and implementation activities necessary to support bureau data collection, processing, tabulation, and dissemination programs for the U.S. Many of the bureau’s responsibilities, such as collecting, tabulating, and disseminating statistical data, has some core relationship to geography—thus, GIS is relied on to help manage this essential data that is used to make decisions which impact the lives of millions. The Census Bureau predicts that more than 44 million unique maps of data will be produced during the 2010 census.
Trainor began his federal government career as a cartographer with the Defense Mapping Agency (now the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency). He joined the bureau's Geography Division in 1980. He's been actively involved in the bureau's cartographic operations and its TIGER system (Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing), an automated geographic database. He's served as chief of the cartographic products branch and the National Geographic Partnership Team.
Trainor has a post-graduate diploma in cartography from Glasgow University, Scotland, where he studied under John S. Keates. He also holds a B.A. in history from Rutgers University. He's a member of the Association of American Geographers, International Cartographic Association (ICA), Cartography and Geographic Information Society, National States Geographic Information Council, Urban Regional Information Systems Association, and the Senior Executive Association. Trainor is vice president of the ICA and chairs the Census Cartography Working Group, among other responsibilities. He's also an adjunct faculty member in computer cartography and GIS at the University of Maryland.
