PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
June 2017
403
ronment at the
University of New
Hampshire. He
is responsible for
teaching courses
in
Photogram-
metry and Photo
Interpretation,
Remote Sensing,
Digital
Image
Processing, and
Geographic
In-
formation Systems. Congalton conducts basic research in-
volving spatial data uncertainty, accuracy assessment, and
validation and applied research in using remotely sensed and
other geospatial information to solve natural resource issues
including forest management, wildlife habitat assessment,
endangered species evaluation, change detection, and ecosys-
tem analysis.
Congalton joined the faculty at the University of New
Hampshire in 1991 as an assistant professor. He was pro-
moted to associate professor in 1994 and to full professor in
1999. Prior to joining the faculty at UNH, he was an assis-
tant professor of remote sensing at the University of Califor-
nia, Berkeley from 1985 – 1991. From 1991-1993, Congalton
held a Visiting Remote Sensing Scientist Position with the
US EPA Environmental Sciences Lab in Las Vegas, NV. Oth-
er significant remote sensing experience includes a post-doc-
torate research scientist position at the US Army Corps of
Engineers Waterways Experiment Station for all of 1984,
an internship at the USGS EROS Data Center in 1981, and
membership on the SPOT Image Academic Advisory Coun-
cil from 1995 - 2001. In addition, Congalton has served as
Chief Scientist of Pacific Meridian Resources, Space Imaging
Solutions, and the Sanborn Map Company. He chaired the
Sanborn Academic Advisory Council from 2007 - 2011.
Congalton received a B.S. (Natural Resource Manage-
ment) from Rutgers University in 1979. He earned an M.S
(1981) and a Ph.D. (1984) in remote sensing and forest bio-
metrics from Virginia Tech. He has been an extremely ac-
tive member of ASPRS since 1979. He has been awarded five
ASPRS Presidential Citations for Meritorious Service (1987,
1989, 1990, 1992, 2016) and two ASPRS Outstanding Service
Awards (2000 and 2009). He served on the Board and as an
Officer for both the Northern California Region and the New
England Region. From 1997 - 2008, Congalton was the Na-
tional Workshop Coordinator responsible for organizing and
overseeing all Educational Workshops at APSRS Spring and
Fall conferences. In addition, he served as Vice President of
ASPRS (2002 –2003, President-elect (2003-2004), President
(2004-2005) and Past President (2005-2006). He was elect-
ed Fellow of ASPRS in 2007. In January of 2008, he was
named the Editor-in-Chief of
Photogrammetric Engineering
and Remote Sensing
, the journal of ASPRS and served in this
capacity until March of 2016. In 2010, he was awarded the
ASPRS Outstanding Workshop Instructor Award. In 2012,
he was awarded the SAIC Estes Memorial Teaching Award
in recognition of his outstanding teaching at the university,
professional, and secondary education levels.
Congalton has authored or coauthored more than 150 pa-
pers and conference proceedings. He is the author of twelve
book chapters, is co-editor of a book on spatial uncertainty in
natural resource databases entitled
, Quantifying Spatial Un-
certainty in Natural Resources: Theory and Applications for
GIS and Remote Sensing
, and is the co-author of the book enti-
tled,
Assessing the Accuracy of Remotely Sensed Data: Princi-
ples and Practices (1
st
and 2
nd
editions)
. His papers have won
awards seven times including: the ASPRS John I. Davidson
Award for Practical Papers (1994, 2
nd
Prize; 1998, 1
st
Prize),
ESRI Award for Best Scientific Paper in Geographic Informa-
tion Systems (1996, 3
rd
Prize; 1998 2
nd
Prize), ERDAS Award
for Best Scientific Paper in Remote Sensing (2014, 3
rd
Prize;
2016 1
st
Prize). In 2005, Congalton was awarded the inaugu-
ral Graduate Faculty Mentor Award from the University of
New Hampshire for his dedication to graduate education and
his graduate students. He has mentored and advised almost
60 graduate students during his career.
Congalton was the Remote Sensing/Land Cover Principal
Investigator of the NSF GLOBE Program, a scientist-teach-
er-student environmental education and research partner-
ship involving over 100 countries and 15,000 schools from
1995 - 2007. Much of the work in this project focused on de-
veloping scientific protocols and learning activities for stu-
dent understanding of land cover mapping and remote sens-
ing. Currently, he is the director of New Hampshire View – a
part of the AmericaView Consortium dedicated to promoting
the use of remote sensing and other geospatial technologies
throughout the US. He has served on the Board of Ameri-
caView since March of 2012; serving as vice-chair fromMarch
2013- March 2014, chair from March 2014 to March 2016,
and currently as secretary
The Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award (formerly the
Honorary Member Award) is the highest award an ASPRS
member can receive, and there are only 25 living Honorary
Lifetime Achievement Awardees of the Society at any given
time. Candidates are chosen by a Nominating Committee
made up of the past five Recipients of the award and chaired
by the most recent recipient.
Purpose
: Initiated in 1937, this life-time award is given 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. It is awarded for professional excellence and for at
least 20 years of service to ASPRS and consists of a plaque
and a certificate.
Donor
: The ASPRS Foundation
(L-r) Russell Congalton and Charles Toth.
Yearbook
Awards & Scholarships
