Dr. Lain Graham

Esri | NSF REU/RET Co-PI, Open Reef Co-Founder, and Research Associate

Dr. Lain Graham is a Senior Solution Engineer on the National Government Sciences team at Esri, and a Research Associate at the Smithsonian Institute National Museum of Natural History. Lain holds advanced degrees in Sociology, Anthropology, and GIS. Lain is a Registered Professional Archaeologist (RPA) and certified FAA part 107 UAV pilot. In her role as a Senior Solution Engineer at Esri, Dr. Graham assists federal agencies in the adoption and optimization of the ArcGIS system to develop meaningful solutions to address real-world problems. She primarily works with NASA, EPA, NOAA, the U.S. Census Bureau and Federally Recognized Tribes. Lain specializes in environmental protection and cultural resource management, community geography, remote sensing, field operations, and geospatial strategy development. Dr. Graham additionally engages in academic research and public scholarship in her appointed role as an Research Associate at the Smithsonian Institute National Museum of Natural History. In this capacity, she works with other archaeologists and interdisciplinary collaborators to support North American archaeological research projects. Dr. Graham has spent the past six years working in Belize with Citizen Science GIS on the NSF REU as the staff Senior Research Mentor and as a Graduate Research Assistant. Lain is a cofounder of Open Reef and the Maps, Apps and Drones K-12 STEAM program. Dr. Graham conducted her dissertation research in Hopkins Village, Belize studying sense of place and social and environmental landscape change.