MHS graduate Jacob Heck gives back to community as regional geodetic advisor

Many Monroe High graduates have created successful lives for themselves with their post-secondary education and careers. One MHS alumna, Jacob Heck, graduated in 2006 and now works for the Federal Government as the Great Lakes regional geodetic advisor for the National Geodetic Survey within the Department of Commerce/NOAA. 

After graduating from MHS, Heck attended Michigan Tech where he earned his Surveying Engineering degree. He said he enjoyed his time at Michigan Tech.

“I’ve had a lot of great experiences in my career, working on six continents so far,” Heck said.

After Michigan Tech, he furthered his education at Ohio State where he earned his Phd. While he studied geodetic science there, he gained great work experiences and also traveled a lot. He has worked on field projects in Antarctica, Chile, and Bolivia. Heck said that in Bolivia he spent a lot of time working with their military. 

“I spent about a year’s worth of time in Bolivia working with their military to perform gravity surveys and maintain their GPS control network throughout the country,” Heck said. “My dissertation used the GPS data to study crustal motion on the eastern flank of the Altiplano.”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) headquarters is located in Silver Spring, Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C. which is where Heck worked from 2016-2020. Heck said he got to work with people all across the country.

“I worked with international groups on the infrastructure of GPS positioning world-wide,” Heck said. “I also had opportunities to collect field data in different parts of the US.”

Heck said he really enjoys his field of work and wants others to know that the surveying field is in need of more surveyors. 

“There is a great need for surveyors these days, since the workforce, on average, is reaching retirement age and geospatial data is part of so many more things than it was just a few years ago. It’s a great career field with a lot of opportunity,” said Heck. He encourages those who are good at creative problem solving to consider geospatial and geomatic programs.

Just like many Monroe High graduates, Heck has already made a successful life for himself by the age of 33. With moving back to his hometown, he is giving back to the community.