Vetting Circle Members

Ghassan A. Abdelhamid, Jordan: Thirty years experience in geological mapping and mineral exploration, using aerial photographs and satellite imagery. Currently responsible for training users in the military and civilian sectors in the use of remote sensing and image processing. Has had several papers published in the International Journal of Remote Sensing, a publication he has been a referee to since 1990.

Eltayeb Osman Adam Abdalla, Sudan: Mr. Abdalla is an expert in remote sensing and GIS. As a National Data Analyst and GIS Officer of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, he uses geospatial technologies in environmental projects and research and in precision farming. He has also designed and taught several courses in the uses of geospatial technologies.

Dr. Ghazi F. Alfayyadh, Iraq: Dr. Alfayyadh is the Chairman of Atlas for GIS and Surveying Systems Co Ltd. This organization is a strategic part of Iraq's redevelopment and revitalization having recently helped to establish GIS and Remote Sensing Centers for the Ministries of Education and Industry.

Manal Alshamlan, Dubai: Head of GIS Development at the Dubai GIS Center.

Dra. Lucilene Antunes, Brazil: Doctor Antunes is a professor at the Federal University of Pernambuco in Brazil. She is an expert in cartography and Geographic Information Systems. Her areas of interest include data acquisition, spatial analysis, new technologies implementation and GIS in education.

Matt Ball, USA: Mr. Ball is the Associate Publisher of GeoTec Media as well as the Editor of GeoWorld magazine. He is the Show manager for the GeoTec Event being held in Ottawa, Canada this coming June.

Scott J. Cameron, USA: Deputy Assistant Secretary for Performance, Accountability, and Human Resources at the Department of the Interior. He serves as Chief Human Capital Officer, E-Government Executive, and serves on the Executive Committee of the interagency Chief Acquisition Officers Council. His responsibilities include implementing President Bush’s Management Agenda.

Prof. Tuan-chih Chen, Taiwan: President of the Chinese-Taipei Geoinformatics Society. Associate Member of ISPRS. ISPRS Events Calendar Editor. Director of the Geoinformatics Group at the China Institute of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan.

Ivan Cheung, USA: Director of Geographic Information Science Programs for the American Association of Geographers.

Tomislav Ciceli, Croatia: Mr. Ciceli is assistant at the Faculty of Geodesy, Zagreb, Croatia. An expert in the field of terrestrial photogrammetry, he has spent the last few years involved in teaching exercises in GIS. Currently he is Secretary of the Croatian Section of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Geoinformations.

Gladys Conaway, USA: A Supervisory Cartographer with the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) and a Project Manager at the U. S. Geological Survey, National Geospatial Technical Operations Center in Rolla, Mo. Gladys has over 26 years experience with geospatial mapping operations, producing topographic maps in photogrammetry, managing data generation and maintenance of NHD, and providing NHD software development, training, and technical support to partners and contractors.

Kevin Cook, USA: Director of Space Awareness Programs at Space Foundation. Responsible for development of the Space Foundation's mission critical Space Technology Hall of Fame and Space Certification programs, Cook also shares responsibility for overall organizational marketing and communications.

George Dailey, USA: K-12 Education Program Manager for ESRI working with teachers to help improve students’ academic, workplace and citizenship skills through training in GIS.

John R. Grizz Deal, USA: President and CEO of Geo360. He was the founder and CEO of LizardTech, Inc., a Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) spin-out that commercialized several geospatial image and document technologies. Mr. Deal is a contributor and member of the editorial board for GeoWorld magazine, and is considered a thought leader in the geospatial industries.

Amadou Moctar Dieye, Senegal: Mr. Dieye has served as an Environmental Information Systems Analyst and an Engineer Geographer. His work includes delivering trainings in land use to examine consequences of future land management and climate scenarios. He has also acted as a Senior Consultant in designing and implementing GIS projects and activities in various African Institutions. 

Ibrahima Diop, Chad: An expert in using GIS and remote sensing in a variety of environmental settings. Currently, Mr. Diop acts as a f ood security specialist with wide experience in food security and vulnerability assessments using statistical and GIS analysis for the World Food Program.

Farouk El-Baz, USA: Research Professor and Director of the Center for Remote Sensing at Boston University. He is Adjunct Professor of Geology at the Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. He is also a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Geological Society of America Foundation. Dr. El-Baz was Secretary of the Landing Site Selection Committee for the Apollo missions to the Moon, Principal Investigator of Visual Observations and Photography, and Chairman of the Astronaut Training Group.

Dr. Allan Falconer, USA: Dr. Falconer is currently a professor and Chair of the Department of Geography at George Mason University. Previously, he was the executive director of the Mississippi Space Commerce Program at Stennis Space Center. He has served on numerous campuses directing research programs in the application of remote sensing and GIS. He has also served as director of an international remote sensing and GIS center in developing, training, and implementing environmental projects for multiple African nations.

Charlie Fitzpatrick, USA: Manager of K-12 Education programs for ESRI, in Redlands, CA. From 1977 to 1992, before becoming a GIS educator, he was a full-time teacher of secondary level social studies for St. Paul Academy and Summit School, in St. Paul, MN, where he received the National Council for Geographic Education Distinguished Teaching Award.

John van Genderen, The Netherlands: Obtained BA (hons) in Geography from University of Queensland Australia, then M.Sc. from ITC, followed by Ph.D. from University of Sheffield, U.K. in 1972. Since then involved in education and research in Remote Sensing/ GIS in many developing countries. Developing educational programs, distance learning, and multi-media are main interests, together with quality control aspects.

Lena Halounova, Czech Republic: Dr. Halounova is an Associate Professor at Czech Technical University in Prague as well as the Head of the Remote Sensing Laboratory in the Department of Mapping and Cartography, Faculty of Civil Engineering at CTU. She teaches remote sensing, image data processing, and GIS and uses these technologies in a variety of environmental assessment projects.

Dr. Wansoo Im, USA: The president of VERTICES and adjunct faculty at Rutgers University and University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. His research interest is in supporting multi-party participation decision support (or public participation) by using internet/intranet mapping technology. He initiated GIS4Kids.com which promotes GIS in K-12 Education.

Ann Johnson, USA: Higher Education Solutions Manager for ESRI with 8 years experience helping colleges and universities develop GIS courses and programs, and designing and teaching GIS workshops to instructors and students. Speaks in support of GIS across the United States and around the world. Currently working on an NSF grant called GIS Tech to develop curriculums for GIS applications for the workforce.

Prof. Dibungi T. Kalenda, DR Congo: A pharmacist working on medicinal plants and traditional knowledge from the DR Congo. Since 1999, Prof. Kalenda has used GIS as a tool to manage medicinal plants, traditional knowledge and health organizations. He speaks in support of teaching and learning with geospatial tools and methods in the DR Congo.

Ed Kennedy, Canada: Managing Director of the Canadian GeoProject Centre. CGPC is an export business network hub that was established to seek and secure large spatial data infrastructure and spatial information application projects worldwide. He has also worked extensively in surveys and mapping and as a land surveyor. Other positions he has held include the Assistant Deputy Minister of Land Information Services and president of the Geomatics Industry Association of Canada.

Joseph Kerski, USA: Serves as geographer at the US Geological Survey and instructor in several online and face-to-face university courses in GIS. His focus is on fostering educational partnerships in GIS, remote sensing, geography, and science, conducting 40 workshops annually in geospatial tools for educators, scientists, and the general public, conducting research in the implementation and effectiveness of GIS in education, and creating curriculum to support teaching and learning with geospatial tools and methods.

Alexander Koh, United Kingdom: The Director of Geotechnologies and Principal Lecturer in Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems at Bath Spa University . He established Geotechnologies in 1991, and developed the vocationally oriented specialized degree program in Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems in 1992. He has fifteen years of worldwide commercial experience, and has project managed over fifty commercial contracts in digital aerial image acquisition, map production, systems design, integration, testing, training and support.

John Kuglin, USA: John is the Vice President of Education and Training Programs for Comchoice Inc. Prior to joining Comchoice Inc., John retired as Associate Dean of Continuing Education from the University of Montana where he initiated the first complete online course environment and served as Executive Director for a multi-million dollar NASA research grant at UM which targeted classroom teachers.

Robert Lewis Leh, Ghana: Through the National Framework of Geospatial Information in Ghana, Mr. Leh contributes to SEMSOC, Spatially Explicit Modeling of Soil Organic Carbon. He assists with creating and analyzing detailed maps of soil structure in Ghana.

Bryson Morebodi, Botswana: Mr. Bryson Morebodi is the Director of Botswana’s Department of Survey and Mapping. He is leading the charge to develop national geo-information development programming in his country.

Allan David Mulando, Zambia: Mr. Mulando works as a Remotes Sensing and GIS Officer using satellite imagery in carrying out vulnerability analysis and targeting for the World Food Program. He also has extensive experience in using GIS and Remote Sensing in meteorology and training others in the use of geospatial technologies.

Dr. Hiroshi Ota, Japan: Dr. Ota teaches at Ferris University and Keio University. He has been active in Japanese GIS Education for a long time. He is knowledgeable about K-12 systems in Japan and the US, combining extensive field experience with a strong academic background. Recently he was involved in the production of GIS Class on the NHK (National Broadcasting Corporation of Japan) program.

Dra. Carmen Reyes, Mexico: Doctor Reyes is a specialist in Geographic Information Systems, Cybercartography, and Geomatics with over thirty years experience in the field. She is a founding member and former President of the Mexican Association of Geographic Information Systems and Statistics (AMESIGE). She also founded the Center for Research on Geography and Geomatics and is the Center’s current General Director.

Spencer Roylance, USA: Remote Sensing Specialist and Geospatial Analyst for Booz Allen Hamilton. Before joining Booz Allen, Spencer worked as a cartographer at the Defense Mapping Agency.

Jostein Sageie, Norway: Chief Engineer at Telemark University College in Norway teaching GIS and Project Management. Active as a GIS expert consulting around the world in places such as Norway, Croatia, Kosovo, Lithuania, and most recently as a part of establishing Mapping Agency Palestine Support in Ramallah, Palestine.

Prof. Dr. Muhammed Sahin, Turkey: Professor in Surveying at Istanbul Technical University. Former Director of the ITU College of Foreign Languages. International experience working with universities in Germany, Austria and the UK with over 17 years of research and teaching experience at the Post-Graduate level. Awarded for Administrative success from the ITU President.

Robert M. Samborski, USA: The Executive Director of the Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA) with a background encompassing association management and private sector consulting experience. GITA-North America includes over 140 of the industry's leading providers of AM/FM/ GIS and Geospatial Information Technology products and services as corporate sponsors and contributors. In addition, GITA counts 130 utilities, government agencies and other user organizations as user affiliate members. GITA has also become an internationally recognized and respected professional educational organization with worldwide membership and affiliates in several foreign countries, including Australia/New Zealand, Peru, the Netherlands, Hungary, Japan and Korea.

Karen L. Schuckman, USA: President, American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS). Senior manager and technical director with extensive experience in strategic planning, program development and implementation. Highly skilled in the use of advanced remote sensing and geographic information technologies. Currently working with URS Corporation as a Geospatial Technology Leader.

Thomas G. Tate, USA: National Program Leader for Information Technology Education at the United States Department of Agriculture. Provides national leadership to geospatial education and outreach programs nation-wide. Works with 200 youth serving organizations in 44 states. Founded the National 4-H Youth Tech Team which has engaged thousands of youth in carrying out service projects providing them with information technology learning opportunities. Will manage USDA's geospatial outreach efforts in 2006, growing the understanding and use of geospatial technology.

Silika Tuivanuavou, Fiji: Ms. Tuivanuavou works as the Spatial Information Coordinator in the Reserve Department of the Native Land Trust Board. She is responsible for the development, implementation and monitoring of GIS, RS and GPS software applications architecture that is used for mapping of all land owning units of native landowners comprising approximately 90% of the total lands in Fiji, land use and cultural heritage sites for the board.

United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation Members: USGIF’s Aimee Correnti is coordinating a widespread review of the Geospatial21 curriculum with the Foundation’s members.

Rich Wong, USA: Director of Special Programs-Geospatial Educational Services with Rancho Santiago Community College District. Rancho Santiago Community College District received a DOL High Growth Job Training Initiative grant to create a model for connecting the Geospatial Technology Industry to Community College Workforce Development.

Sonja Vorster, South Africa: Marketing/Admin Manager for EIS-AFRICA.

Dr. Tsehaie Woldai, The Netherlands: Dr. Woldai has more than 25 years experience in the application of remote sensing and GIS. He serves as the President of the African Association of Remote Sensing of the Environment (AARSE). He is also an Associate Professor of Geological Remote Sensing in the Department of Earth Systems Analysis at the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), Enschede, The Netherlands.

Chief Edwin Wood, USA: Director of GIS for Burlington County Institute of Technology in Camden, New Jersey. Previously, Chief Wood served 31 years as Police Chief/Director of Public Safety in Medford, NJ, implementing GIS/RS technology into Police, Fire, EMS and Emergency Management.

Mjema Zainabu, Tanzania: Ms. Zainabu is the Senior Physical Planner of the Ministry of Lands and Human Settlements Development. She is responsible for preparation of urban strategic development plans involving data collection, data analysis, report writing, map production and plan presentation. Her use of GIS includes community based mapping and conservation as well as spatial mangagement of protected areas.

Issa Zboun, Palestine: Issa Zboun is the Unit Coordinator for the GIS and Remote Sensing Unit of the Applied Research Institute in Jerusalem. ARIJ uses data and mapping technology for analysis and planning of land use and modeling of sustainable development in Palestine.