People

A month after South Africa succesfully launched it’s second Earth observation satellite, Sumbandila, Earthzine contributor Peter Fairley talks with Dr. Philemon Mjwara, Director General of South Africa’s Department of Science and Technology, about the launch, the benefits South Africa expects to reap from the satellite, and what’s in store for the future of developing countries’ involvement in Earth observation and sustainability.

Peter Fairley, posted on January 11th, 2010
Articles, Earth Observation, People, Technology | No Comments »

SSIT President Janet Rochester Observes Earth and the Implications of Technology

Janet Rochester is a senior member of the IEEE leadership and president of the Society on Social Implications of Technology. In this interview she shines a spotlight on the range of SSIT members’ interests, and on her own intellectual considerations and concerns.

Maeve Hickok, posted on November 9th, 2009
Climate, Earth Observation, Featured Person, People, Politics, Technology | No Comments »

Kuruom vidyalaya: the Power of One in a Billion

In Korown, an Uttar Pradesh India farming village where little has changed for hundreds of years, a 21^st century school opened its doors for the first time in July to 100 girls and boys in grades 1-4, 6, and 7. Kuruom vidyalaya is the bricks-and-mortar embodiment of the Hindu goddess Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge, and testimony to one man’s spirit and commitment. That man is Bal Ram Singh, Ph.D., 51, once a child of the village and now a successful biophysical chemist at a U.S. university (University of Massachusetts Dartmouth) and director of its Center for Indic Studies, who built the school himself without government assistance. Deeply engaged as a Hindu, a family man, a professor, research scientist, and a U.S. citizen, he is also determined to prove that “one little man” can change the status-quo in India for the better.

Maeve Hickok, posted on August 26th, 2009
Economy, Education, Featured Person, Millennium Development Goals, People | 14 Comments »

La Vie de Josiane Zerubia: A Very Modern Woman of Science

Josiane Zerubia is a director of research, first class, at INRIA, the premiere French public research institute in applied mathematics and computer science. Her contributions to Markovian modeling in image processing and remote sensing were recognized by IEEE with her elevation to Fellow in 2003. But her story really begins in Cannes, France where she was taught at an early age by her mother Jeanne and grandmother Louise that she could do whatever she wanted if she worked hard enough. La Vie de Josiane Zerubia: A Modern Woman of Science begins here.

Maeve Hickok, posted on July 27th, 2009
Earth Observation, Education, Featured Person, People, Technology | 1 Comment »

Forest Watch science and education strive to halt climate change

As the international remote sensing community readies the 2009 IGARSS in Cape Town, South Africa this July, Earthzine recalls last summer’s conference in Boston, Massachusetts with this Featured Person interview with Dr. Barrett N. “Barry” Rock, professor of forestry, botany and remote sensing in the Complex Systems Research Center and the Department of Natural Resources at the University of New Hampshire. Barry Rock exemplifies IEEE’s mission to put science and technology to work for the benefit of humanity and Earth. He has “grown” a network of hundreds of students and teachers in Forest Watch, the outreach program he founded in 1991 in order to scientifically track the effects of U.S. efforts to diminish the damage of air pollution on human health and vegetation. In Boston, he demonstrated the Forest Watch model of university/K-12 partnership and IEEE scientific/community outreach at the 2008 IEEE International Geosciences and Remote Sensing Symposium.

Maeve Hickok, posted on May 7th, 2009
Biodiversity, Ecosystems, Education, Energy, Featured Person, People, Politics, Would You Believe? | 1 Comment »

Climate Change in Africa: Personal Observations and Second Hand Narrations from a Returned US Peace Corps Volunteer

In 2005, Stephen Andersen took a leave of absence from IBM and traveled to Africa on a Peace Corps mission. Here he shares several of his personal experiences related to climate in Mali and Kenya and how it is changing the way of life for friends he made during his mission.

Stephen Andersen, posted on April 8th, 2009
Articles, Climate, Disasters, People | 1 Comment »

Indigenous Perspectives in GEOSS: An Interview with Dr. Gregory Cajete

Earthzine’s Editor-In-Chief Paul Racette speaks with Dr. Gregory Cajete – a Tewa Indian from Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico and author of five books on Native American education, history and philosophy – about Native American science and the role Indigenous perspectives have in realizing an integrated Earth observing system.

Paul Racette, posted on April 6th, 2009
Earth Observation, Education, Featured Person, People, Technology | No Comments »

The IEEE President’s Sustainability Initiative

Most readers of Earthzine are well aware of the concept of sustainability and its two major themes, environmental protection and social equity. Within the engineering community, the idea of sustainability as an element of modern engineering is also gaining in acceptance.

Brad Allenby, posted on April 6th, 2009
Articles, People, Sustainability, Technology | No Comments »

European Union Research Framework Moves GEOSS Forward

In Part 2 of Earthzine’s interview with Dr. Zoran Stančič, Earthzine probes how Europe’s current research initiatives support GEOSS. Dr. Stančič, Deputy Director General for research in the European Commission, shares his knowledge, experience and insight of EC’s support for GEOSS.

Jay Pearlman, posted on February 16th, 2009
Earth Observation, Featured Person, GEOSS/ICEO News, People | No Comments »

An Earthzine interview with Zoran Stančič, Deputy Director General of the European Commission Directorate-General for Research

Earthzine presents Part 1 of an exclusive interview with Dr. Zoran Stančič. Dr. Stančič, Deputy Director General for research in the European Commission since 2004, brings a wealth of experience and insight into the EC’s support for GEOSS. Earthzine asks Dr. Stančič about the EC’s contribution to GEOSS and the benefits it brings to Europe.