"I have always had great respect for our earth and its inhabitants," says Charles (Chuck) Croner, a geographer and survey statistician with theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville and native of Baltimore, MD. "I guess it was only natural I turned to geography as a profession." "I didn't know as an undergraduate that I would be a geographer, but I admired those who were." "I believe my post-undergraduate military experience as a Marine Corps Infantry Officer and Aerial Observer, with assignments in Cuba and the Caribbean, opened my eyes to the geographic diversity aroundme." "The perspective and appreciation gained from learning about othercultures and lands really drew me towards geography."

"I was fortunate to have had graduate school professors along theway who exuded great excitement for other places.” “ As a result of field workexperience in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador andParaguay, I bonded with geography." Chuck is especially grateful to hisgraduate school advisor, Clarence (Bud) Minkel, now Associate ViceChancellor and Dean of the Graduate School, University of Tennessee..."whochallenged me both academically and professionally. He was a true mentorand, we have remained friends for more than 30 years."

Chuck holds memberships in the AAG, the American Congress onSurveying and Mapping (ACSM), the American Statistical Association (ASA),and the Population Association of America (PAA). He has completed BS(Towson State University), MA and Ph.D. (Michigan State University) degrees ingeography, and post-doctoral work in statistics (Harvard University). "Geography had a very different face in the early 1960's when I wasan undergraduate student.” “Geography then was just beginning to expand onquantitative approaches and computerized skills we find common today." Soonafter graduate school, Chuck created the AAG's popular 'Washington D.C. Metropolitan Geographer Contact List' (circa 1976). Chuck uses his student contact opportunities to advise all 1990's and next millennium undergraduates to develop strengths in supplemental specialties such as statistics, computer programming, GIS, foreign language and related social and behavioral science skills. For the past two decades, Chuck had it written into his job responsibilities that he would serve as a "national employment advisor for graduate geographers."As remarkable as it seems, Chuck may be the only Ph.D. geographer atCDC- an institution of about 7,500 employees. "The reason is that'geographer' is not included ostensibly in job descriptions although more interest through time is being directed to GIS and spatial analytic skills.” “CDC mostly hires statisticians, mathematicians, computer programmers, and epidemiologists.” “There are new efforts to employ social and behavioral scientists.”

"For the past 27 years, I have pushed hard at CDC, and otherpublic health agencies, to open the doors to geography.” “I hope I've createda variety of institutional mechanisms that have promoted the cause ofgeographers” “For example, in 1988, I initiated 'The NCHS (National Centerfor Health Statistics) Cartography and GIS Guest Lecture Series.' Topicspresented are timely and important to all scientists such as how to protectconfidentiality and privacy of individuals in spatial data bases, improvemap interpretation through cognitive testing, and apply exploratory spatialdata analysis techniques for map analysis and hypothesis generation.” Today,nearly 80 lectures comprise a valuable videotape library resource for NCHSstaff. In November 1999, Chuck's "Geography Awareness Week" lecture series(a subset of the above) will celebrate its 13th year of continuous operationat CDC. "These activities have helped to raise the geographic consciousnessof our staff scientists."

The new interest in public health for analyzing disease etiologieswith GIS led Chuck to develop a GIS users group for 27 interested staff in1994. The user group today serves not only CDC and ATSDR (Agency for ToxicSubstances and Disease Registry) staff but has become international andtotals more than 1,000 online subscribers, including academicians, state andlocal health practitioners, and geographers. Since 1994, Chuck has servedas Editor of "Public Health GIS News and Information," a bimonthlynewsletter that is the reporting mechanism for the CDC/ATSDR GIS UsersGroup. "I find it very rewarding to stimulate timely communication acrossthe globe on issues involving GIS and public health." Chuck also serves as the CDC representative to the Federal Geographic Data Committee's (FGDC) Subcommittee on Cultural and Demographic Data (SCDD). The SCDD is one of the many subcommittees helping the FGDC develop the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). "We are working on a Governmental Unit Boundary Data Content Standard to provide consistency in the collection, exchange and analysis of these data. We also are looking at developing an address content standard that can be used by the entire GIScommunity."

One of Chuck's most challenging assignments of nearly seven yearswas the development of the NCHS U.S. Atlas of Mortality (1996). "We builtan interdisciplinary team e.g., statisticians, epidemiologist, computerprogrammer, psychologist and geographer, and confronted a range ofmethodological issues from the selection of geographic study units to thespatial representation of statistical reliability for mapped values to thecognitive testing of map reading skills associated with many design andpresentation considerations."

"In the end, I hope my efforts will have furthered CDC cognizance ofthe need to include geographers in the work place.” Chuck's contributions to GIS and public health at the Department of Health and Human Services are varied and he is the recipient of many awards. Perhaps the two that characterize him most are the 1996 CDC/ATSDR Honor Award that reads "for helping CDC/ATSDR establish a leadership role in understanding and facilitating the application of Geographic InformationSystem technology in public health, through enhanced communication andcollaboration" and the 1999 NCHS Director's Award "For services dedicated tothe advancement of scientific excellence throughout the CDC, GeographicInformation System (GIS) and public health surveillance communities.""I think it would be fair and personally satisfying to be rememberedas one who worked tirelessly to open Public Health's doors to Geography.” “I look forward to my future life of retirement with my family, 5-string banjo,vegetable gardening, foreign languages, physical conditioning, and travel."

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