Grit May | GIS
Project Manager
Ingenious, Courageous,
Kindhearted
Grit joined the International Water Institute in 2006 and currently
works as the GIS Project Manager. During the last decade she has performed
numerous spatial terrain analyses, primarily in hydrology and water quality
applications. She was the GIS lead in the Red River Basin Mapping Initiative
generating Digital Elevation Models and 2-foot contour lines. Other projects
include identifying potential water-related storage areas for flood damage
reduction projects and delineating formerly drained wetland basins for wetland
and habitat restoration. Lately she models water quality in a GIS environment
by calculating the amount of surface water runoff, determining areas of erosion
and estimating pollutant loads. This information is being used to identify
places suitable for the implementation of Best Management Practices to improve
surface water quality.
Grit has organized GIS-related workshops and training
sessions, built the former web site for the Fargo-Moorhead Feasibility Study
and developed outreach material in STEM education.
She holds Master’s of Science degrees in Environmental
Sciences and in Analytical Chemistry from Friedrich-Schiller University in
Jena, Germany. During and after her graduate studies she traveled the world
before joining an environmental consulting firm in Germany, where she worked on
brownfield site decontamination and environmental impact assessments. Since
2005, Grit has resided in Fargo, ND. In
her free time, she enjoys outdoor activities, such as hiking and cross-country
skiing. She still loves traveling to remote places of natural beauty and
meeting people from other cultures.
Contact Grit: (701)
261-0330 | grit@iwinst.org