Staff Profile: Doug Curl

Doug Curl is a geologist and information technology leader with more than 25 years of experience at the Kentucky Geological Survey (KGS), University of Kentucky, where he serves as Director of the Information Management Division. His career spans an unusual arc from field and digital geologic mapping to senior leadership over KGS web infrastructure, GIS services, database systems, and IT operations.

Doug holds an M.S. in Geological Science from the University of Tennessee and a B.A. in Geology from Guilford College. Over his career at KGS he became the primary architect of web-based GIS applications that deliver geological data — oil and gas wells, water wells, geologic maps, core samples, and more — to researchers, government agencies, and the public. He works across a wide technical stack, from legacy systems like Classic ASP, PHP, and SQL Server to modern frameworks including ArcGIS JS API 4.x, Python, PostgreSQL, and Astro.

As a researcher, he has contributed to peer-reviewed publications and presented at GSA, AGU, and ESRI's International Users Conference on topics ranging from geologic data delivery to radon potential mapping. Outside of KGS, he serves on the Kentucky River Watershed Watch Board and the Versailles-Midway-Woodford Planning Commission.