Nick Santos is a programmer, geographic information system (GIS) specialist, instructor, web developer and environmentalist specializing in decision support applications. At CITRIS at UC Merced, he develops models, software, databases and applications to help analyze and understand California agriculture as well as environmental impacts and indicators. Santos is also the instructor for Coursera’s five-course specialization in GIS. He is an administrator of The Spatial Community, an open Slack workspace for spatial professionals of all types to solve problems, share knowledge and socialize.
In the recent past, he worked at the Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California, Davis and supported the University of Oregon’s McMurdo Oceanographic Observatory in Antarctica. He was the founder and executive director of Environmental Consumer, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that developed actionable information and resources for consumers looking to take the next step to reduce their impact.
Santos has held fellowships for research with the John Muir Institute, science communication with COMPASS and climate change action with Roosevelt Institute: Pipeline. He has worked with the UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SAREP), as a Policy Fellow at climate campaign 1Sky (now merged with 350.org), and as an member of the Regional Climate Change Program at the Sierra Nevada Alliance.