CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — Over the years, the career path for geospatial engineering and land surveying has seen a decline in interest, but the Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Sciences at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi is looking to change that.
Seneca Holland, a geospatial analyst with the Conrad Bluchar Institue said recently, it's been hard to fill open positions.
"The average age of surveyors in the state of Texas is 59 years old. They're going to want to retire soon, so they're going to want to hire people that are highly trained," Holland said.
Several high paying jobs continue to go empty.
"Currently in the Coastal Bend, we have these high paying jobs that are going unfilled because we just don't have the workers for geospatial engineering and land surveying to fill these positions," she said.
The institute has a plan in place to help get younger people interested in this career path and it is all thanks to a $50,000 donation from the Port of Corpus Christi.
"We're looking at developing curriculum for the geospatial engineering and land surveying career technical education pathway, which is being taught at Texas independent school districts around the state," she said
There are only two school districts in Texas with geospatial engineering and land surveying programs — one of them is at Tuloso-Midway ISD where James Landin graduated this past school year.
"It's an amazing pathway and you're not really going to work, you're going to enjoy what you're doing and what you're making," Landin said.
Landin is a research assistant with the institute. He decided to further his career by getting into the program this fall and he hopes other students will follow.
With the donation, the goal is to have summer camps available for middle school students, STEM workshops for educators and help put together curriculum for the CTE pathway.
