A Suffolk native has been spending his summer working with mapping technology in the Spatial Analysis Lab in the University of Richmond Department of Geography and the Environment.

Jared Goldbach Ehmer, a Nansemond-Suffolk Academy graduate and the son of Kristen Goldbach and Larry Ehmer, worked with a team of faculty and other students on a variety of projects during the Summer Fellowship program.

“I wanted to hone and broaden my skills overall, and this internship at UR has allowed me to do that and then some,” said Goldbach Ehmer, a geography and environmental studies double major. “I have made connections to have a base of contacts in the GIS field, and I know I’m the learning the skills I will need to showcase during job interviews.”

The projects on which Goldbach Ehmer worked included everything from conservation planning with the Chesapeake Conservancy to panoramic trail mapping with a Richmond-based organization.

“The University of Richmond Summer Fellowships program is a great idea to enable students to be more financially able to have and hold an internship,” Goldbach Ehmer said. “Having participated in the program, it effectively nullified the cost of living on campus for the summer.”

Goldbach Ehmer plans to pursue a career in a GIS-related field and says this internship has given him invaluable experience.

The Spatial Analysis Lab features the latest geographic information systems, global positioning systems and remote sensing software programs.

This summer, hundreds of University of Richmond students are completing summer fellowships through The Richmond Guarantee, a university promise to provide access to fellowship funding for one summer research or internship experience for all traditional undergraduate students.