About Elizabeth City State University: Elizabeth City State University is a public university offering degree programs in the basic arts and sciences and in selected professional and pre-professional areas, and the master's degree in elementary education. Through its Graduate Center, the university provides additional master's programs for advanced professional study in conjunction with other constituent institutions.

Originally an institution serving African-Americans, the university's heritage provides a rich background for serving its increasingly multicultural student body. The university provides a challenging and supportive environment that prepares its students for knowledgeable, responsible participation and leadership in an ever-changing, technologically advanced society.

Elizabeth City State University continues to promote excellence in teaching as its primary responsibility to meet the needs of the students and citizens of the state. Through its teaching, research, and community outreach, the university seeks to identify and address the needs of northeastern North Carolina, with particular attention to supporting its environmentally sensitive economic development.

Principle Investigator: Dr. Linda Hayden is the Director of ECSU’s Center for Excellence for Remote Sensing Education and Research (CERSER). CERSER’s goal is to establish innovative and relevant research collaboration focused on coastal, ocean, and marine research. The Center is a joint effort with contributions by: a) The Office of Naval Research (ONR), b) Elizabeth City State University (ECSU), c) The MU-SPIN Office of Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), d) NOAA, e) Pixoneer Corporation, f) SeaSpace, Inc., and f) NOAA's Wakefield Office of the National Weather Service (NWS). Dr. Hayden serves on the Education Committee for IEEE- Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society. She was instrumental in implementing the first IEEE-GRSS Distinguished Lecture Series on an HBCU campus. She has made several interactive presentations at the International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society Annual Conference related to the issue of nurturing minority student remote sensing investigations. Her work with the Minority Travel Award Selection Committee has supported the involvement of over 20 student presentations during the 2002 IGARSS Conference in Toronto Canada, the 2001 IGARSS Conference in Australia and the upcoming 2003 conference in Toulouse, France.

She serves on NOAA’s Expanding Opportunities in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Board and sponsored several student research poster presentations at the fourth Expanding Opportunities Conference in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Conference in Tallahassee, Florida. Dr. Hayden is the Principal Investigator for the project entitled “ Correlation of AVHRR Sea Surface Temperature with the Presence of Sea Turtles” funded by the Office of Naval Research.

Dr. Hayden will serve as mentor for the academic year remote sensing projects involving protected species and will be work with the program manager on logistical and reporting issues related to the proposed Conservation and Biology of Protected Species Using Remote Sensing Capabilities at Elizabeth City State University project. Dr. Hayden holds PhD in Mathematics Education and a MS degree in computer science.

Co-Principle Investigator: Dr. William Porter. William A. Porter Jr. is a professor in the Department of Geology, Environment and Marine Sciences at Elizabeth City State University. His research focuses on the study of environmental problems in urban and rural areas, such as acid rain and nuclear waste disposal. He studies the physical environment at the surface of the earth and the forces that shape that environment such as water, climate, vegetation, soil, oceans, and rivers, using quantitative methods with a focus on multivariate statistical analysis and geographical analysis (Geographical Information Systems). His research emphasizes the effect of running water on pollution initiated by industrial and agricultural sources, and the political ramifications there from. He received the Ph.D. in Urban Geography and Social Geography from the University of Maryland College Park.

At ECSU, Dr. Porter helped develop a Minor in GIS and Remote Sensing. For the past 26 years, he has been teaching courses in geography and environmental science. Since 1994, Dr. Porter has been teaching GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and remote sensing courses. He has been part of a joint research project with the U.S. Geological Survey and The North Carolina Geological Surveys in the study of heavy mineral deposits in the Cretaceous sediments of North Carolina. He was also a part of another research project, funded by the University of North Carolina Water Resources Research Institute, involving the characterization of uranium isotopes in ground and surface waters. Dr. Porter's other interests include construction of maps which are desperately needed to help examine issues relating to flooding, and other natural disasters and the effect on local populations in a cost effective manner. The goal of the imagery data obtained is to examine the spatial distribution of areas that may be prone to flooding and the potential impact to current highway routes by using GIS. In addition to overseeing this project, Dr. Porter will provide on-site mentoring of students during the summer program and on-line mentoring of students during the academic year. Dr. Porter will serve as an academic year mentor for the proposed Conservation and Biology of Protected Species Using Remote Sensing Capabilities at Elizabeth City State University project.

Co-Principle Investigator: Dr. Kevin Chu is a research associate with the Center of Excellence in Remote Sensing Education and Research. He is a marine mammal expert with a Ph.D. in Marine Biology from Boston University. Dr. Chu will work with the program manager in coordinating the NOAA internships. He has served as the Special Assistant to the Regional Administrator for NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service on marine mammal issues.

Partnering organizations: This proposal is supported by offices of four NOAA line offices: the National Ocean Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, and the National Weather Service.

The primary partnering organization is the NOS Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research, 101 Pivers Island Road, Beaufort NC 28516. NOAA’s Beaufort Laboratory has agreed to provide guest lecturers in remote sensing uses and techniques and to host ECSU students for a two-day shadowing opportunity. It endorses the concept of the internship program and is willing to take on interns for the summer, and to help locate housing for them, provided it is feasible to do so.

We will also partner with the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, NC. The NCDC has provided internships for ECSU students in the past and are willing to do so again, provided of course, that funds are available and students are qualified.

If appropriate, we may also send interns in this program to the National Marine Fisheries Service Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, MA, or to other laboratories in the NEFSC.

We plan to invite a meteorologist from the National Weather Service office in Wakefield, VA to give a guest lecture on remote sensing techniques.