Esri Young Scholar in Esri UC 2024

Doha, Qatar

After 8 hours of flying, we finally landed at Hamad International Airport in Doha. We had around 3 hours before our next flight so we decided to explore the airport a little bit and stumbled upon this iconic giant yellow teddy bear icon.

Welcome to the USA!

Finally, we headed to our destination, Los Angeles! After 16 hours of flight, we arrived in LA. "I hopped off the plane at LAX, with a dream and my cardigan", like the song you probably know.

We arrived at 3 PM (PDT), but the journey didn't end there. After the immigration check and baggage claim, we went straight to San Diego by car. The drive from Los Angeles to San Diego took about 2.5 hours.

San Diego, California

After nearly 1.5 days of travel, we finally arrived in San Diego. The city was relatively quiet, with not many people walking around the downtown area.

In San Diego, we stayed at the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel. The view from the hotel window was truly magnificent, offering a stunning panorama of the seaport on one side and the city on the other.

Day 1 of Education Summit

For the next two days, my schedule was to attend the education summit.  The education summit was like a pre-conference event with sessions (mostly about education) and social events. It was held in the Mariott Marquis Hotel, right next to our hotel.

I went to the education summit with my new friends who were also young scholars awardees, Diana and Melany. At the Marriott Marquis, we also met the other young scholars. It was great to finally see them in person. We chatted a bit while grabbing breakfast before heading to the sessions we had chosen before.

There were so many good sessions, but I landed my choice in "Empowering Communities: Collaborative GIS for Problem Solving" because I had a strong interest in social issues and attended the education summit plenary session.

San Ysidro

After lunch, I joined my Indonesian team for a train ride to San Ysidro, located right next to the USA-Mexico border. From there, we could see Tijuana, Mexico, with our own eyes. In San Ysidro, we visited Las Americas Premium Outlets, a famous shopping place in San Diego.

Day 2 of Education Summit

Just like the day before, I walked to Mariott Marquis and attended some sessions. On day 2, I chose a session about "Spatial Statistics & Machine Learning" which was related to my bachelor's thesis, and a session called "Making Your Facilities Inclusive and Accessible through GIS" which talked mostly about indoor mapping.

After the sessions ended, we had lunch together in the backyard of the hotel. The lunch view was mesmerizing as we could see the seaport under the sunny California sky. It was very sunny, though, so never forget your sunscreen!

Education Social Event

At 5 P.M, we had an education social event on the terrace. It was the time for us to gather, socialize, and of course, get free snacks.

In this session, I had a great time conversation about urban planning with my young scholar friends (Dohyuk & Alysha) and Dr. Rania Qutieshat (from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign). From this 30-minute talk, I gained a lot of insights into the differences in urban planning between our countries, particularly regarding the adequacy of green spaces, the accessibility of public transportation stops, and other factors.

Downtown San Diego

In the evening, after the social event ended, I joined my young scholar friends for a simple walk in the downtown area. It was really just a simple walk with a vibe of getting to know each other and strolling aimlessly from block to block, but it was fun anyway!

Day 1 of the Esri UC

I really appreciated my time in San Diego that living there for only 48 hours felt like forever when the main event wasn't even started yet.

Esri User Conference started with plenary session. In this session, we were gathered in a room together at SDCC. The vibe of the plenary session was truly magnificent, featuring large screens displaying media related to Geography and waving flags of the attendees from the visiting countries, symbolizing their representation at the conference.

The plenary opened with the opening speech from President of Esri, Jack Dangermond, and followed by many amazing speakers.

Poster Presentation

In the afternoon, the map gallery was opened. I quickly went there to check out my poster and I felt really grateful to see my pink poster standing alongside the posters from the other young scholars and also another hundreds posters from Esri's users. This session focused on showcasing the amazing projects that had been completed.

Whenever people came by to view my project, I felt excited and moved, as it was being recognized. I wholeheartedly explain it. But of course, I also took some time to check out another amazing project as well!

Day 2 of the Esri UC

On day 2, people finally attended their own sessions, which they had chosen from more than 800 options (it was indeed hard to choose!). I was in the mood for hands-on learning so the first thing I did was go to the hands-on learning lab (HOLL).

In the HOLL, Esri provided us with laptops with many short course options that we could choose to finish in around 45 minutes. There were also staff who were always available to help us. In this lab, I took a course about cluster mapping.

Science Summit

Several activities were highlighted at the conference, with some gaining attention year after year due to their popularity. One of these was the Science Summit.

I personally really looked forward to this session because the speaker was Dr. Dawn Wright, Esri's Chief Scientist. So at 4 P.M, I attended the session with my friend, Diana.

In this year's Science Summit, Dr. Wright told us about her story visiting the Challenger Deep, the deepest point on Earth. Challenger Deep is located in the western Pacific Ocean at the southern end of the Mariana Trench. It was truly incredible.

The session also came with book signing event. I love books, so I decided to get myself one copy of "Mapping the Deep" and took a picture with Dr. Dawn Wright. It was personally my favorite session of the conference!

Day 3 of the Esri UC

Day 3's main agenda was the awarding ceremony! But before that, I took some time to stroll around the expo and do activities such as connecting with GIS professionals and also did stamp-hunting with my friends to get a prize from Esri.

At 3 PM, we were gathered in the awarding room and received a heartfelt speech from Jack Dangermond about our accomplishments. After getting our trophies, we took a picture together with Jack! It was truly a core memory.

Day 4 of the Esri UC

On day 4, I attended some sessions about green spaces and geoprocessing in ArcGIS in the morning. After lunch, Alysha and I went to the expo to meet Dr. Joseph Kersky! I was excited as I had been following him on LinkedIn for years.

We then discussed careers in GIS and GIS education. It was particularly insightful for me as a fresh graduate who's eager to start my GIS career.

Party at Balboa Park

In the evening, we headed to Balboa Park to party! Esri reserved the whole place for UC guest. At Balboa Park, there were a lot of museums that we can visit and many delicious foods to choose from. What a nice way to end the day.

Last Day in San Diego

After the conference ended, we spent the last day in San Diego by going to Carlsbad in the afternoon. In Carlsbad, we bought some goods for ourselves and for our family.

One Last Evening Stroll

Then, we ended the day by strolling around the downtown area for one last time and eating ice cream.

I wasn't ready yet to end the experience, but seeing my friends leaving San Diego one by one reminded me that goodbye was inevitable.

See you again, California!

And, that's it. Time to pack our bags and go to LAX to catch our flight.

Spending an amazing week in California, meeting people from around the globe with similar interests, receiving a prestigious award, and gaining a deep understanding of GIS was truly a dream come true. I couldn't be more grateful.

Core memories unlocked—time to embark on another journey. I hope our paths cross again in the future!