Alan R. Stevens and Jack Dangermond have been selected as the next Honorary Members of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS). Their nominations were recently approved by the ASPRS Board of Directors. This is the highest award bestowed by ASPRS and there can be only 25 living Honorary Members of the Society at any given time.
Initiated in 1937 this life-time award is given for professional excellence in recognition of individuals who have rendered distinguished service to ASPRS and/or who have attained distinction in advancing the science and use of the geospatial information sciences. Stevens and Dangermond will receive their awards at the ASPRS 2011 Annual Conference in Milwaukee Wisconsin
Stevens is the International Program Manager (Retired) for the U.S. Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) and the USGS Geospatial Information Office. He currently works as a Scientist Emeritus for the FGDC. He also works as a part of the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) Secretariat. Current efforts recently focused on managing the logistics and technical program aspects of the 12th Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) meeting in Singapore October 2010. He also initiated and manages the GSDI Small Grants Program and monthly GSDI electronic newsletters for the four regions of the globe: Africa Asia/Pacific Latin America and Europe.
Prior to his current position he held several responsible positions within the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Mapping Division. These include but are not limited to the International Manager for the National Mapping Division and the Deputy Director the CEO and the Operations Manager (three different offices) for the National Mapping Division’s Eastern Region. Part of this responsibility included developing cooperative production applications and research agreements with the 26 states and territories east of the Mississippi River.
His first assignment with the USGS was the Chief of the Mapping Division’s Information distribution offices. Before coming to the USGS he managed the photogrammetry and remote sensing research activities for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). He received his Bachelor (’65) master’s (’69) and PhD (’72) degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Wisconsin. While a graduate student at the University he coordinated all remote sensing research projects on campus and throughout the state of Wisconsin.
Stevens an ASPRS Emeritus and Fellow has been a member since 1968. He has served as ASPRS President (1986-87) is chair of the ASPRS Awards and Scholarships Committee and the Fellow Award Selection Committee and was a contributing author to the ASPRS Manual of Remote Sensing First Edition. He is currently a Trustee of the ASPRS Foundation. Stevens served two terms as National Director of the ASPRS Potomac Region Past President of the Mid-South Region and Remote Sensing Division Director. He has received numerous ASPRS awards including the Claude F. Birdseye Award – 1987 three Presidential Citations two Meritorious Service Citations and the Outstanding Service Award (‘93).
Other awards Stevens has received include the naming of Stevens Cliff Antarctica 78Degrees 50’ S; 162 Degrees 40’ W named for his contributions to the U.S. Antarctic Programs and presented at retirement (2008) the Department of the Interior Meritorious Service Award (1996) and Point of Light Award (1991) the Kodak Information Technology Award (1985) and the Army Accommodation Medal (1967).
Jack Dangermond is the founder and president of ESRI the world’s fourth largest privately held software company. Founded in 1969 and headquartered in Redlands California ESRI is widely recognized as the technical and market leader in geographic information system (GIS) software pioneering innovative solutions for working with spatial data on the desktop across the enterprise in the field and on the Web. ESRI has the largest GIS software install base in the world with more than one million users in more than 100,000 organizations representing government NGOs academia and industries such as utilities health care transportation telecommunications homeland security retail and agriculture. He fostered the growth of ESRI from a small research group to an organization of 2,700 employees known internationally for GIS software development training and services. ESRI now has 16 subsidiaries as well as more than 72 distributors worldwide. ESRI also has 11 regional offices throughout the United States and continues to grow at a rapid rate.
Dangermond is recognized not only as a pioneer in spatial analysis methods but also as one of the most influential people in GIS. Over the last 30 years Dangermond has delivered keynote addresses at numerous international conferences published hundreds of papers on GIS and given thousands of presentations on GIS around the world.
He is the recipient of a number of awards honorary degrees lectureships and medals including the 2000 LaGasse Medal of the American Society of Landscape Architects the Brock Gold Medal of the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing the Cullum Geographical Medal of the American Geographical Society the EDUCAUSE Medal of EDUCAUSE the Horwood Award of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association the Anderson Medal of the Association of American Geographers and the John Wesley Powell Award of the U.S. Geological Survey. He is a member of many professional organizations and has served on advisory committees for U.S. agencies including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Science and Technology Advisory Committee the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency the National Academy of Sciences the National Science Foundation and the National Center for
Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA).
Dangermond graduated with a bachelor of science in environmental science from California State Polytechnic University in Pomona California. He holds a master of science degree in urban planning from the Institute of Technology at the University of Minnesota and a master of science degree in landscape architecture from the Graduate School of Design Harvard University where he worked in the Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Design. He holds honorary doctorates from The City University of London University of Redlands and Ferris State University.
Founded in 1934 ASPRS is an international professional organization of 6,000 geospatial data professionals. ASPRS is devoted to advancing knowledge and improving understanding of the mapping sciences to promote responsible application of photogrammetry remote sensing geographic information systems and supporting technologies.