Paul Schneider is a curious man.
Growing up in State College, Pennsylvania, Paul trained as an Eagle Scout there before graduating high school and joining the military. He served three years active duty in the Army infantry in Colorado and five in the National Guard. After leaving the military, Paul studied at Penn State, where he entered as a Parks and Recreation Management student.
It was Paul’s first geography class that ignited his love for how people and places occupy space, and changed the course of his life. This life-altering fascination led him to specialize in Geographic Information System (GIS), putting him on the trajectory that led him to the Georgia Power Company as a specialist in the transmission department, and ultimately to leading our group of award-winning engineers.
Paul is a jack of all trades, and it’s one of his many areas of expertise that led him to our economic development team. In 2014, Paul’s idea to use drones to inspect transmission lines that had traditionally been viewed by helicopter won him a system-wide innovation prize, and the attention of Ricardo Palacios’ team at Georgia Power Economic Development. Despite his lack of a formal engineering degree, Palacios brought Paul alongside him and, as Paul says, “taught him everything he knows.” When Ricardo retired from Georgia Power after decades of service, Paul took up his mantle and today serves as the team’s engineering manager. In addition to providing traditional engineering and mapping services to partners and prospects, Paul and his team continue to build on his legacy of innovation and UAVs, utilizing fixed-wing drones to map and survey economic development sites, as well as deploying traditional rotorcraft drones to create beautiful photo and video projects that have helped bring thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in capital investment to the state of Georgia.
It’s not all work for Paul. He is a devoted hobbyist, and in his time outside the office can be found diving headfirst into one of his many passions, which he uses as a way to connect and spend time with family and friends, or create one-of-a-kind gifts for his loved ones.
As in his professional life, much of Paul’s offline passion is deeply rooted in maps. While Paul creates beautiful and functional custom maps for economic development projects across the state, at home he continues his map making in a much more tangible way. Many of Paul's colleagues and friends have received custom made laser-engraved wooden maps that ground a sense of place within a lovingly hand-made aesthetic. These maps are so striking that more than one person has asked to commission them, but Paul doesn’t want to be paid for this work, preferring to keep this activity as peaceful and stress-free as possible. You can, however, find the files from previous maps Paul has created on Etsy, if you’d like to make your own.
"In general, patience solves just about anything."
Paul’s woodworking doesn’t stop with maps. Years ago, he began what is now a serious carpentry habit almost by accident – picking up tools for various small jobs before realizing he had obtained an arsenal capable of building just about anything. Today, Paul’s home boasts multiple bespoke furniture items, including a custom entertainment center and an expandable dining room table made from walnut and zebrawood that can double in size around a mathematically engineered pivot point.
Another science turned to art that has captured Paul’s imagination is that of making wine. Favoring dry reds, Paul estimates that he produces 30 to 60 bottles per year, which he ages at home in an oak barrel.
Paul’s tendency toward innovation does sometimes get the best of him. Once, when attempting to produce his first batch of white wine, Paul attempted to remove some of the sediment in the liquid by forcing it through a filter with compressed air. Not realizing the air compressor was set to high power, his filtration attempt ended in a minor explosion, sending half the wine into his kitchen and the other half into the living room, with glass scattered throughout.
He hasn’t made white wine since, but the lesson he learned from that incident has proved invaluable.
“In general, patience solves just about anything,” he says. He also now doesn’t mind a little sediment in his wines.
The curiosity that helped Paul follow the thread of geography into an engineering role that has helped thousands of Georgians build better lives for themselves is constantly winding its way into his life away from the office. Lately that curiosity has led him to take up fly fishing, as well as brought him to within one open water dive of his SCUBA certification.
For Paul, the process of learning, growing, and perfecting a craft is just as important as the end result. It’s a way to connect with the world around you, to make something that wasn’t there before, and imbue a life with just a little more beauty.
For the rest of us, Paul’s dedication and curiosity are inspirations to see opportunity in every situation, and a finished piece in every block of wood.
