Source: Anna Marie Kinerney, ASPRS

Thomas R. Loveland and Ray Helmering have been named the 2009 American Society for Photogrammetry & Remote Sensing (ASPRS) Fellow Award winners. The ASPRS designation of Fellow is conferred on active Society members who have performed exceptional service in advancing the science and use of the mapping sciences (photogrammetry, remote sensing, surveying, geographic information systems, and related disciplines). This year’s awards will be given in March at the ASPRS 2009 Annual Conference in Baltimore, Maryland.

Thomas R. Loveland is currently the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Landsat Project Scientist. He has worked at the USGS EROS Data Center (now USGS National Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science) since 1979, engaged in research on methods to map and monitor land cover and land use via satellite remote sensing. Loveland holds BS and MS degrees in Geography from South Dakota State University, and received his PhD in Geography, under the tutelage of Dr. Jack Estes, from the University of California-Santa Barbara.
During the 1990s, Loveland designed and led research that resulted in the first high resolution (1-km) validated global land cover characteristics database (based on analysis of multi-temporal 1-km AVHRR imagery). This unique dataset is now widely used in studies of global change, in climate and weather modeling, biodiversity assessment, fire hazard and other issues. He currently leads a national assessment of the rates, causes, and consequences of contemporary U.S. land cover change (“Land Cover Trends” project). In this effort, he directs a team of USGS and academic research scientists providing comprehensive, objective analysis of U.S. regional land cover trends, the driving forces of regional change, and an assessment of the local, regional, and global consequences of such change. During the past two years, Loveland has also devoted much effort to establishment of the USGS-South Dakota State University Geographic Information Science Center of Excellence. The Center, of which he is co-director, is a model program that demonstrates the synergy that can result when world-class remote sensing and GIS scientists from government and academia are brought together to address earth science issues.
Just since 2001, he has been Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator on grants and contracts valued at over $4 million from USGS, EPA, NASA, NOAA and others.
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