ISPRS Foundation Trustees

Dr Stewart Walker

(Chair)
Director, Product Initiatives
Geospatial eXploitation Products, BAE Systems, USA
 

MA (Glasgow, 1973), MScE (New Brunswick, 1975), PhD (Bristol, 1982), MBA (Heriot-Watt, 2004), FBCartS, FRGS, FRICS, FRSPSoc, Certified Photogrammetrist (ASPRS)

Director, Product Initiatives, Geospatial eXploitation Products, BAE Systems

• 2004-present: marketing, product management, BAE Systems, USA
• 1987-2004: sales, product management, marketing, Leica Geosystems and predecessor companies, UK, Switzerland, USA
• 1977-1987: lecturer (= assistant professor), senior lecturer (= associate professor), photogrammetry, North East London Polytechnic (now University of East London)
• 1985-86: sabbatical year, Ordnance Survey, Southampton, England
• 1957-85: education
• 1952: born, Glasgow, Scotland
• About 200 publications, mainly not peer-reviewed; numerous conference presentations
• ISPRS: Secretary, Commission IV, 1984-88; member of Working Party to rewrite Strategic Plan, 2009-10; member of the ISPRS International Science Advisory Committee (ISAC), 2012-2016
• ASPRS: President, Southwest US Region, 2005-06; Immediate Past President, Southwest US Region, 2006-07; National Director, Southwest US Region, 2007-12; Vice President, 2012-13, President-Elect 2013-14, President 2014-15; Immediate Past President 2015-16; chair of Task Force on Streamlining the Governance 2014-16
• Editorial Advisory Board, ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 1998-2003
• Honorary Secretary, Photogrammetric Society, 1981-89
• Industrial Advisor, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Newcastle University, 2006-13

ISPRS Foundation Trustees

Prof Emeritus John C. Trinder

(Operations Officer)
University of New South Wales, Australia
 

John Trinder is a BSurv and PhD graduate of the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney Australia and also gained an MSc degree at ITC in The Netherlands. He has worked at the University of NSW since 1965, progressing to the position of Professor in 1991 and Head of the School in the School of Geomatic Engineering, now School of Surveying and SIS. He is currently Emeritus Professor at UNSW. John has undertaken teaching and research at UNSW for about 40 years, specializing in Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, and has published more than 150 scientific papers in journals and conference proceedings. He has held a number of positions in the Council of the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS), including Treasurer from 1992-1996, Secretary General from 1996-2000, President from 2000-2004, and First Vice President 2004-2008.

ISPRS Foundation Trustees

Prof Dr Marguerite Madden

(Finance Officer)
Center for Remote Sensing and Mapping Science (CRMS)
University of Georgia, USA
 

Dr. Marguerite Madden is the Director of the Center for Remote Sensing and Mapping Science (CRMS) and Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Georgia (UGA). She received her B.A. (1979) and M.A. (1984) degrees in Biology from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh and her Ph.D. (1990) in Ecology from The University of Georgia. Her research over the past 27 years at UGA has focused on geographic information science (GIScience) and landscape analysis of vegetation, landscape-level human impacts on natural environments, and more recently, collaborative research in animal behavior, wildlife disease, human geography and environmental design. Dr. Madden is a Past President and Fellow of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS), Editor of the 2009 ASPRS Manual of GIS and current International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) Technical Commission President of Commission IV "Geodatabases and Digital Mapping". She has three grown children and lives in Athens, Georgia with four dogs, three cats and numerous bicycles.

ISPRS Foundation Trustees

Ronald Bisio

Vice President
Geospatial at Trimble, USA
 

Ronald Bisio is Vice President, Geospatial at Trimble. He joined the company in 1996 and has held several marketing, sales and general management positions prior to taking over worldwide responsibility for Trimble's Surveying and Geospatial Division in 2015. He had previously held technical and marketing roles at Esri and Autodesk. He earned a master's degree in business administration from the University of Denver, a master's in regional planning from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and an undergraduate degree in cartography from Salem State University in Salem, Mass.

ISPRS Foundation Trustees

Prof Dr Sandra Maria Fonseca da Costa

Adjunct Professor
University of Vale do Paraíba (UNIVAP), São José dos Campos, Brazil
 

Sandra Maria Fonseca da Costa earned a BS in geography from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (1985), a MS in remote sensing from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE, also in São José dos Campos) (1989), and a PhD in spatial information from University of São Paulo (1996), with a sandwich internship at the University of New South Wales (1995). After a postdoctoral year at Indiana University (2007-2008), she specialized in urban and regional planning, working mainly in the areas of urban space, urban planning, geotechnologies, environmental degradation and urban growth. For more than 10 years, she has been focused on the study of small towns in the Amazon delta. She was vice-rector of UNIVAP during the period 2012-19.

ISPRS Foundation Trustees

Dr Michael Gruber

Chief Scientist Photogrammetry
Vexcel Imaging Austria GmbH, Austria
 

Michael Gruber studied surveying and photogrammetry at Graz University of Technology (Technische Universität Graz). From 1990-1992 he was on the staff of the Department of Remote Sensing, Image Processing and Cartography of the University. After a short period in a private mapping company he joined the University’s Institute for Computer Graphics to lead the working group for 3D Object Reconstruction and in 1997 received his PhD from the University.

Since October 1999 Michael Gruber has been a full-time staff member of Vexcel Imaging Austria GmbH and is now Chief Scientist Photogrammetry. From May 2006 until March 2016 Vexcel Imaging Austria operated under the ownership of Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington, USA.

Michael Gruber holds several US patents for developments in digital photogrammetry, among them the basic concept of the digital aerial camera family UltraCam.

ISPRS Foundation Trustees

Prof Dr Christian Heipke

President ISPRS
Leibniz University Hannover, Germany
 

Christian Heipke is a professor of photogrammetry and remote sensing at Leibniz Universität Hannover, where he currently leads a group of about 25 researchers. His professional interests comprise all aspects of photogrammetry, remote sensing, image understanding and their connection to computer vision and GIS. He has authored or co-authored more than 300 scientific papers, more than 70 of which appeared in peer-reviewed international journals. He is the recipient of the 1992 Otto von Gruber Award, the 2012 Fred Doyle Award, both from the International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS), and the 2013 Photogrammetric (Fairchild) Award from ASPRS.

From 2004 to 2009, he served as vice president of EuroSDR (European Spatial Data Research, formerly known as OEEPE). From 2011-2014 he was chair of the German Geodetic Commission (DGK), from 2012-2016 ISPRS Secretary General. Currently he serves as ISPRS President.

ISPRS Foundation Trustees

Lawrie Jordan

Director of Imagery for Esri, USA
 

Lawrie Jordan is Director of Imagery for Esri, as well as Special Assistant to Jack Dangermond, President of Esri. In this capacity, he serves as an advocate for successful applications of all forms of imagery within the GIS enterprise, including environmental, civil, defense and intelligence community solutions.

Mr. Jordan has over 30 years of experience as a leader in the field of image processing and remote sensing, including a long standing strategic partnership with Esri. He has been an advisor to numerous government organizations on current and future trends involving imagery and satellite programs. His background education is in Landscape Architecture, with degrees from The University of Georgia and Harvard University.

ISPRS Foundation Trustees

Prof Dr Songnian Li

ISPRS Treasurer
Ryerson University, Canada
 

Dr. Songnian Li is Professor and Associate Chair for Graduate Studies in the Department of Civil Engineering at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. He received his B.Eng. degree (1983) in Surveying Engineering from Wuhan Technical University of Surveying and Mapping, China and his Ph.D. (2002) in Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering from the University of New Brunswick, Canada. After joining Ryerson University in 2001, he has undertaken teaching and research in the areas of geographical information sciences and GIS systems and applications, and has published over 100 scientific papers. Songnian has been involved in the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) since 2004 as the Chair of ISPRS Working Group IV/5 on “Web-based Add to dictionary Services and Applications” (2004-2012), the President of ISPRS Technical Commission II (2012-2016) and currently the Treasurer (council member). As a member of the Canadian Institute of Geomatics (CIG), he has served the Institute in a number of capacities including Associate Editor of Geomatica, Treasure and Interim Chair of the Toronto Branch, Chair of the Canadian National Committee for ISPRS, and council member.

ISPRS Foundation Trustees

Dr Shailesh Nayak

Director, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Indian Institute of Science Campus, India
 

Dr. Shailesh Nayak is currently the Director, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru. He obtained his PhD degree in Geology from the M.S University of Baroda in 1980. He was 'Distinguished Scientist' during 2015-18, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, during August 2007-2015 and provided leadership for programs related to earth system sciences. His current research interest includes building strategy for blue economy and sustainable development.

He set up the state-of-the-art tsunami warning system for the Indian Ocean in 2007 and provided tsunami advisories to the Indian Ocean rim countries. He has pioneered the development of algorithms and methodologies for the application of remote sensing to the coastal and marine environment, and generated the baseline database of the Indian coast, and developed services for fishery and ocean state forecast. This coastal database has formed basis for managing the Indian coast. He was instrumental in creating database of the glaciers of the Indian Himalaya.

He is Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bengaluru, the National Academy of Sciences, India, Allahabad, Fellow of the International Society of Photogrammetry & Remote Sensing (ISPRS) and Academician of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA). Currently, he is Regional Representative, Asia for ISPRS, Chancellor, TERI School of Advanced Studies, New Delhi and President, Federation of Indian Geoscientists Association. He was President, ISPRS Technical Commission IV on Geodata and Digital Mapping during 2004-2008 and President, International Geological Congress during 2015-17. He was conferred the prestigious ISC Vikram Sarabhai Memorial Award 2012 as well as Bhaskara Award for 2009, for his outstanding contributions in remote sensing and GIS. He has published about 150 papers in peer-reviewed journals.

ISPRS Foundation Trustees

Prof Dr Qihao Weng

Chair Professor of Geomatics and Artificial Intelligence
Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics
Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
 

Dr. Qihao Weng has been a Chair Professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University since July 2021. He worked as the Director of the Center for Urban and Environmental Change (July 2004-2021) and a Full Professor at Indiana State University, 2001-21, and was a Senior Fellow at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center from December, 2008-09. He received his Ph.D. in geography from the University of Georgia in 1999.

He is currently the Lead of the Group on Earth Observation’s (GEO) Global Urban Observation and Information Initiative, and serves as an Editor-in-Chief of the ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing.

Additionally, he works as the Series Editor of the Taylor & Francis Series in Remote Sensing Applications and Taylor & Francis Series in Imaging Science.

Weng has been the Organizer and Program Committee Chair of the biennial IEEE International Workshop on Earth Observation and Remote Sensing Applications conference series since 2008, a National Director of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) from 2007 to 2010, and a panelist of U.S. DOE’s Cool Roofs Roadmap and Strategy committee in 2010. His research focuses on remote sensing applications to urban environmental and ecological systems, land-use and land-cover changes, urbanization impacts, urban sustainability, environmental modeling, and human-environment interactions.