2004 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium
Danielle Graves, October 26, 2004, ONR-NRTS
September 19-26,2004, Anchorage, Alaska

On Sunday, September 19, 2004, I, along with several other Minority Student Travel Program (MSTP) participants traveled to Anchorage, Alaska to attend the 2004 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS). MSTP participants were from several institutions from all over the world including Virginia State University, Norfolk State University, Hampton University, Clark Atlanta University, the University of Arizona, Morgan State, the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, and Southern University. Our travel and participation in this symposium was supported and made possible by the efforts of Mr. Charles Luther of the Office of Naval Research, Dr. Linda Hayden, Principal Investigator-ECSU ONR/NRTS Program, and Dr. Mohamed Mohamed of Lockheed Martin.

This year's theme was "Science for Society: Exploring and Managing a Changing Planet" On Sunday I attended the Opening Reception which was held in the Anchorage Museum of History and Art. The reception was a "meet and greet" event where we were able to mingle with other conference participants and affiliates. I also had the opportunity to tour the museum and learn about Alaska's history.

On Monday morning, I attended the plenary session entitled "Exploring and Managing a Changing Planet" Here, conference attendees were welcomed by Lt - Governor Loren Leman and Dr. Albin Gasiewski, President of the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society. Of one-thousand plus conference attendees, fifty-one percent were international and forty-nine percent were from North America. Lt. Governor Leman gave us a brief history of Alaska and told us about some of its natural wonders including Mount McKinley (which is North America's highest peak) and glaciers. He also informed us that Alaska is "world renowned for its ample water, fish and game resources." Following Dr. Gasiewski, Gov. Leman made a presentation on "Remote Sensing in Service for Alaska." He said that "Remote sensing has been used in Alaska for about the last thirty-five years." Some of the uses that Alaska gets out of remote sensing include "detecting smoke from fires as far away as Greenland, ice edge monitoring where near real time imagery is used to advise "skippers" on boats." Remote sensing is also used to "manage fisheries by tracking king salmon as well as determining stock composition and type."

Following the plenary session, began an entire week's worth of oral and poster presentations on topics relative to remote sensing including: Disasters and Hazards, Cryosphere Sensing, Land Cover Classification, Soil Moisture, Hyperspectral Sensing Missions, Environmental Degradation and Pollution, Water Management, Policy Society and Education, and Clouds and Aerosols.

In order to fulfill requirements of being an MSTP participant, I made a poster presentation on a research project from the summer of 2003 entitled "Science, Settlement, and Remote Sensing: Locating the Remains of the Lost Colony of Northeastern North Carolina." This was a grand opportunity in that I, as a minority and a student, was able to present my efforts to the remote sensing realm to individuals from all over the world. The directors of the MSTP program are to be commended for their efforts in exposing minority students to an environment where, they may have been unaware of or easily overlooked.