The
Director's Cut
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Robin
Buchannon
Director, EIGS |
One of the primary ways EIGS strives to support the continued growth of the geospatial cluster in Mississippi is to assist in addressing the research and development needs of the industry. Many of our member companies are start-ups and do not have the resources and time to commit to this important aspect of product development. This is where EIGS plays a key role. The purpose of the EIGS research activities is to conduct research to support the needs of industry in meeting the demands of commercial markets and government requirements for remote sensing technologies and related information products and services. Through relationships with NASA and other federal agencies, EIGS strives to support a company-oriented, market-driven research program that results in EIGS industry members being more competitive and ultimately results in viable products and/or services.
Additionally, through collaborations among commercial entities, government, and academia, EIGS is fostering innovative approaches for the use of Earth science information that can result in practical products that are saving lives, improving quality of life, enhancing the efficiency of resources, improving predictive capabilities, and increasing accuracy and cost savings.
Joint application research projects, funded through EIGS with collaboration among researchers from the universities of the Mississippi Research Consortium (MRC) and industry help EIGS address the geospatial cluster’s R&D needs. The commercial partners play the primary role in identifying and defining the research needs and the applications to be developed from geospatial science, information, and technology. The university researchers work with the commercial businesses to conduct the applications research that will address the identified needs. The result of these joint applications research projects are useful and practical decision support products that the companies can use to assist customers including NASA, other federal agencies, and state agencies to address policymaking and resource management issues.
In the past, EIGS’ goals were aligned with NASA’s Earth Science Enterprise and the Stennis Space Center’s Earth Science Applications Directorate who have been key supporters of our research efforts. With NASA’s recent reorganization, EIGS will continue to work with NASA’s new Science Mission. Ultimately, EIGS expects that the relationships we continue to foster in the public and private sector will result in better addressing the R&D needs of the entire geospatial community including private industry, academia, and federal and state government.
NASA Space Grant Assisting Mississippi’s Geospatial Companies with Workforce Needs
The Mississippi Space Grant Consortium (MSSGC), one of six EIGS university programs working to support the geospatial industry in Mississippi, is a statewide network of colleges, universities, industries and public service institutions providing opportunities for Mississippians, especially those from underrepresented groups, to understand and participate in NASA's aeronautics and space programs. The Consortium's mission is to enhance and support aerospace science and technology efforts and activities in Mississippi as well as promote a strong science, mathematics, and technology base at pre-college, undergraduate, and graduate levels in the region's educational institutions. Space Grant is a national program with 52 state consortia with funding provided by NASA. Mississippi’s Space Grant, which was established in 1991, today consists of 16 educational institutions including 8 universities and 8 community colleges.
Space Grant sponsors a variety of information programs and conferences, summer instruction for teachers, and opportunities for fellowships and scholarships for graduate and undergraduate students in space-related fields. A key component supporting the growing geospatial industry in Mississippi is Space Grant’s Summer Internship Program. Now in its second year, this program sponsors university students for ten-week internships at aerospace-related industries in Mississippi. For this summer, Space Grant placed a total of twelve interns including six interns with the following EIGS company members: NVision
Solutions, Radiance Technologies, InTime, PixSell, and Planning Systems
Incorporated. The students are from universities around the state including Mississippi State University, the University of Mississippi, and the University of Southern Mississippi.
The student internship program allows participating students to gain valuable hands-on experience, addresses industry needs for a better trained workforce, strengthens ties between academia and business, and helps promote the economic growth of Mississippi’s aerospace-related industries. In the words of Patrick Jackson, Director of Information Systems for InTime: “The Mississippi Space Grant summer internship program is an ideal example of the effective use of public resources in promoting the educational needs of its students, the resource needs of its industries, and the general economic stability and growth of its region.”
Read more about the individual intern
experiences.
For more information about the Mississippi Space Grant Consortium, visit
www.olemiss.edu/programs/nasa
or contact Dr. Peter Sukanek, Director, at cmpcs@olemiss.edu, 662-915-1187.
Graduate Fellow Feature
Derek Emerine, originally from Benton, Missouri, is a second year EIGS/NASA Fellow at Mississippi State University pursuing a Master’s Degree in Agronomy with an emphasis on soils, remote sensing, and precision agriculture. Derek graduated Magna Cum Laude from MSU in 2001 with a B.S. degree in Agronomy. Derek is a member of Golden Key National Honor Society, American Society of Agronomy, and Mississippi State Agronomy Club. Derek will graduate this month and will be operating his own business, Ag-One Inc., which does agricultural consulting, soil sampling, GPS soil sampling, and assists their clients with the use of products provided by EIGS company member InTime, Inc.
Under the direction of Dr. Jac Varco, Derek’s research project, “Predicting Field Scale Nitrogen Status of Cotton Using Remote Sensing and Geostatistics” focuses on a rapid technique for evaluating in-season nitrogen status of cotton needed to improve fertilization efficiency. The primary objective of the study is to determine the accuracy in predicting field scale cotton nitrogen status using remote sensing and geostatistics. Ultimately, resulting maps could be used by a producer to manage a side dress or foliar application of fertilizer N. The project areas focuses on a 60-acre field in Holmes County, MS, managed by Gum Grove Planting Company. Much of the multispectral imagery for this project was provided by EIGS member company GeoData Airborne Mapping and Measurement Inc.
(www.maptheland.com).
MSU’s Science and Technology Research Center Director Retires
The Enterprise for Innovative Geospatial Solutions would like to thank Dr. Roy A. Crochet for his many years of service to Mississippi’s research community and congratulate him on his recent retirement from his position as the director of the MSU Science and Technology Research Center (STRC) located the John C. Stennis Space Center. Dr. Crochet joined MSU in 1985 and was instrumental in establishing the Mississippi Research Consortium, which transformed the way Mississippi’s research universities do business with NASA by creating a funding mechanism to obtain federal dollars to support research, teaching, and service programs at SSC. As the director of STRC, Dr. Crochet built a solid research program with in-house expertise in statistics, forestry, electrical engineering, computer engineering, propulsion engineering, software development, oceanography, marine chemistry, and propellant chemistry.
News from the National Remote Sensing and Space Law Center
CALL FOR PAPERS:
Journal of Space Law
Fall, 2004
Volume 30, Number 2
Due on or before August 20, 2004.
(submissions accepted and reviewed on an on-going basis)
The National Remote Sensing and Space Law Center at the University of Mississippi School of Law is pleased to announce a “call for papers” for the Journal of Space Law, Volume 30, No. 2, to be published in late Fall, 2004.
Along with submissions from the general space law community, we also encourage submissions of manuscripts whose topics involve cross-over legal issues of the relationship between air and space law.
Interested authors are invited to submit manuscripts, and accompanying abstracts, for consideration and possible publication in Volume 30, No. 2 of the Journal of Space Law. The Journal of Space Law encourages submission of manuscripts and abstracts via email.
Please email manuscripts and accompanying abstracts (in Microsoft Word or WordPerfect) to
jsl@olemiss.edu.
Or, you may mail a hardcopy of the manuscript and abstract, along with a computer diskette containing the article in Microsoft Word or WordPerfect format to:
Journal of Space Law
National Remote Sensing and Space Law Center
University of Mississippi School of Law
P.O. Box 1848
University, MS 38677-1848
USA
+1-662-915-6857 (office)
+1-662-915-6921 (fax)
JOURNAL OF SPACE LAW 30th Anniversary Issue Now Available
University Of Mississippi School Of Law
A Journal Devoted To Space Law And The Legal Problems Arising
Out Of Human Activities In Outer Space.
Volume 30 Spring 2004 Number 1
Visit www.spacelaw.olemiss.edu
to learn how to obtain a copy.
SEEN
AND HEARD
Excerpted from a special focus article on Industry of the Future from the
Oxford Eagle, July 1, 2004, entitled, “Ole Miss-based EIGS positions Mississippi for high-tech jobs”:
“As we are getting further away from the manufacturing industry, we need to develop high-tech industries,” EIGS director Robin C. Buchannon said. “We need to offer our students the opportunity for these high-tech jobs so we can keep them in state. I know this (geospatial) technology is going to get bigger and better. The state really needs to pay attention to it.”
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Company
Spotlight
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Radiance Technologies was founded in 1999 by three engineers with a vision for developing and applying advanced technologies. Today, with over 200 employees, Radiance is successfully achieving their goal of applying emerging technologies to improve military capabilities and matching technology solutions to meet their customers’ needs.
Radiance addresses a variety of needs for their customers including all aspects of geospatial research, development, system integration, operations, and analysis – from developing advanced sensors for space, air, and ground intelligence to providing high resolution imagery analysis. They place special emphasis on converting knowledge/data into useful information for the decision makers. An example of their highly successful projects is the development of a geospatial decision support system called Environmental Emergency Response Tool (EERT). This system was developed for the NASA Stennis Space Center Environmental Office to help their first responders react to emergencies with a quick and coordinated effort resulting in reduced risk to property and life. Threats such as hazardous material spills can be mitigated using this tool by plotting the hazard plume, establishing a security perimeter and identifying critical resources within that perimeter, controlling points of traffic flow, and ensuring proper mobilization of critical resources. Generally within the first few minutes of a disaster, a security perimeter must be established to prevent unauthorized access to the disaster site. EERT addresses this need by effectively establishing the location of the security perimeter and its check points based on the extent of the hazard area as well as the likely locations for unauthorized entry. EERT is a GIS Decision Support System and it requires minimal to no GIS experience to use. This project has garnered a lot of attention and Radiance has been asked to install it at other NASA centers including Marshall, Johnson, White Sands, and the Jet Propulsion Lab. Radiance has developed two other GIS Decision Support Systems working with the Trent Lott Geospatial Center at Jackson State University. The Shellfish Management Tool is helping MS DMR manage the State’s oyster resources and the Storm Surge Tool is helping the Harrison County Civil Defense office better manage during a hurricane event.
A member of Mississippi’s geospatial technology cluster since 2002,
Radiance Technologies is an employee-owned, corporation based in Huntsville, Alabama with offices in Oxford, Jackson, Hattiesburg, and Stennis Space Center, Mississippi; Mobile and Auburn Alabama; McLean, Virginia; and Dayton, Ohio, as well as working contracts around the globe. For more information, visit
www.radiancetech.com or contact Tom Strange, Director Geospatial Systems, at
tstrange@radiancetech.com, 228-688-2569.
If
you have suggestions for future SPOTLIGHTS, please send an e-mail
to lstone@olemiss.edu.
IMAGE
OF THE MONTH
Construction site of the Olympic Sports
Complex in Athens, Greece
Imagery collected July 5, 2004
by DigitalGlobe
This
is a natural color, 60-centimeter (2-foot) high-resolution QuickBird
satellite image. Additional Athens
Olympics media imagery can be found in DigitalGlobe's Athens
Media Gallery.
Are
You Looking For Data?
EIGS Data Catalog
EIGS announces its new, user-friendly Data Catalog website. The EIGS
image
search tool enables users to quickly and easily determine what imagery
is
available within the EIGS archive for a given area. The tool, currently
available at http://eigsdata.nvs-inc.com/
was developed and is hosted by
Nvision Solutions, Inc., an EIGS member. Once a user determines what
data is
available for an area of interest, users may request that data through
EIGS
channels. The LandSat data are license free and may be available free or
for
a nominal duplication fee. The Digital Globe data is available per
license
agreements to EIGS members. Specific attention should be paid to the end
user license agreement because fees may apply.
LandSat Data Available Through NASA
The Earth Science Applications Directorate at Stennis Space Center has
added a new group of data sets that are available through a public
website,
http://zulu.ssc.nasa.gov/mrsid/.
The images are free to the public and
include nearly any spot on the globe taken by the LandSat satellite. The
website includes higher resolution images from 2000. This means that
details
such as streets and structures are visible.
Be
sure to visit the EIGS website at
www.eigs.olemiss.edu
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UPCOMING
EVENTS
August 5,
2004
EIGS 1st Thursday Meeting
11:30, Via Access Grid
For more information, contact lstone@olemiss.edu
August 9-13, 2004
ESRI International User Conference
San Diego, CA
August 17-19, 2004
Army Corp of Engineers' Geospatial Technology Symposium and Exposition
San Antonio, TX
Sept. 13-14, 2004
2nd Commerical Remote Sensing Conference
Denver, CO
Sept. 16-17, 2004
MRC-MTA
Intellectual Property Forum & Technology Expo
Jackson, MS
Sept. 19-21, 2004
Defense & Aerospace Investor & Corporate Development Conference
San Diego, CA
Sept. 26-29, 2004
2nd Annual Symposium & Expo of the Spatial Technologies Industry Association
Walt Disney World, Orlando, FL
October 17-20, 2004
Mississippi 911 Coordinators Association Annual Training Conference.
Tunica Resorts, MS. For more information: Phone (662)363-4012
**Stay posted for the release date of the EIGS Annual Meeting.
**If you have any upcoming events that need to be posted, please
email them to Johnna@pfidc.com.
DID YOU KNOW???
The U.S. Department of Labor identified the geospatial technology industry as one of 12 sectors that will have significant effects on the U.S. economy. The 12 sectors identified included information technology (IT), biotechnology, energy and health care among others. Each sector is projected to be transformed by technology and innovation, requiring new skill sets for workers as new jobs are created and new businesses emerge. Careers in geospatial technology disciplines are available in many segments of commercial, public, government and academic communities. O*NET
(http://online.onetcenter.org), the Department of Labor's Occupational Information Network, identified several occupations that may require geospatial competencies. The Department of Labor is poised to invest significant funds for technology education in each of the high-growth job sectors identified. To learn more details regarding this job-training initiative, visit the Department of Labor's Career Voyages Web site at
http://www.careervoyages.gov/
focusonthefuture_geospatial.cfm.
EIGS
PRESS RELEASES
Wisconsin
Looks to 3001, Inc. for Images
July 14, 2004, Stennis Space Center, MS -- 3001, Inc. was recently announced
as a subcontractor for Ayres Wisconsin Regional in a project for the East
Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission that will capture imagery of
over 20,000 square miles of Wisconsin. The aerial imagery of 28 Wisconsin
counties will soon be available to the public. The project area includes
glacial topography, national forest lands, river basins, and shore lands
across the state….::MORE::
Digital Quest’s GIS Certification Recommended in Job Corps Report to
the Department of Labor
July 12, 2004, Jackson, MS -- The Enterprise for Innovative Geospatial
Solutions (EIGS) announced that member company Digital Quest, Inc., was
recently recognized by Management & Training Corporation in a published
report for addressing the geospatial industry's need for a well-trained
workforce nationwide. With this recognition, the geospatial certification
STARS (Spatial Technology and Remote Sensing) is setting the standard for
geospatial technology training. The STARS certification is a product created
by SPACESTARS, LLC, a partnership between DQI and the Berkley Geo-Research
Group. The STARS certification is designed to provide skill training in the
new and ever more vital field of geospatial technology…::MORE::
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