Dr. Curtis Woodcock

Ph.D. 1986, Geography; University of California, Santa Barbara
Professor, Department of Geography and Center for Energy and Environmental Studies, Boston University

Dr. Curtis Woodcock is a Professor in the Department of Geography and Environment at Boston University. He earned his PhD in Geography from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1986. His primary area of research is remote sensing, particularly the use of optical imagery for mapping forest resources and monitoring environmental change. He has published over 70 peer reviewed journal articles and authored over 15 book chapters. His recent work has focused on monitoring land use and land cover change and has included projects in a number of locations: Egypt to monitor agricultural expansion, urbanization, and agricultural productivity; China to monitor urban growth; Turkey to monitor expansion of agriculture and its impacts on hydrology; California to monitor forest mortality due to drought. His current research involves efforts to understand how land use change in the countries surrounding the Black Sea (Georgia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Turkey) influences the terrestrial carbon budget. He served on the NASA Landsat Science Team from 1996-2001; is a member of the GOFC/GOLD Forest Characteristics and Chance Implementation Team; the NASA Land Cover and Land Use Science Team and the Northern Eurasia Earth Science Information Partnership (NEESPI) Science Team. He has taught at Boston University for 22 years, helped establish its Center for Remote Sensing, and served as Chair of the Department of Geography for 9 years.

Title of Talk: Monitoring Environmental Change Using Remote Sensing

Summary: Satellite imagery provides an unprecedented record of the conditions at the surface of Earth. Using satellite imagery it is possible to monitor changes in forests, urban growth, expansion of agriculture and many other kinds of changes. My presentation will focus on how I have used remote sensing to improve natural resource management and improve our understanding of how humans are changing Earth's surface. I'll include examples from inside the USA, China, Egypt and Turkey. Additionally, I'll address some of the basic ideas of remote sensing and discuss some of the primary satellite sensors being used to study Earth. One dimension of my work involves use of data analysis methods, and I'll discuss briefly my efforts to integrate new analysis methods like artificial neural networks into remote sensing.