Jacob Heck is a geodesist, serving as the National Geodetic Survey’s Regional Geodetic Advisor for the Great Lakes, where he supports users of the National Spatial Reference System throughout Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and elsewhere. As part of this position, he is active in the Vertical Control – Water Levels Subcommittee of the Coordinating Committee on Great Lakes Basic Hydraulic and Hydrologic Data, the binational group that maintains the International Great Lakes Datum. He has worked for NGS since 2016, previously as GNSS Researcher in the Geosciences Research Division. Prior to that, he carried out GNSS and gravity fieldwork throughout Bolivia, Chile, and Antarctica as a graduate research associate at Ohio State.
Jacob has a B.S. in Surveying Engineering from Michigan Technological University, where he currently serves on the professional advisory board, and a Ph.D. in Geodetic Science from The Ohio State University. He is a licensed Professional Surveyor in Michigan. Jacob serves as President of the National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS) Young Surveyors Network, is a liaison between NSPS and the American Association for Geodetic Surveying (AAGS), and is active within the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG). In 2020, he was profiled as one of xyHt’s 40 Under 40.
