LIDAR Magazine

ASPRS Announces 2013 Award Winners

Christian Heipke Winner of Photogrammetric (Fairchild) Award

The 2013 Photogrammetric Award (Fairchild) was awarded to Prof. Dr. Christian Heipke at the 2013 Annual ASPRS Conference in Baltimore on March 26. Heipke was awarded the Photogrammetric (Fairchild) Award for his contributions including advancing the transition from analytical to digital photogrammetry, significant achievements in object extraction from digital imagery and image matching, progressing the introduction of softcopy systems, and, more recently, helping to reinforce the essential connection between photogrammetry and computer vision. Heipke has been Professor Habilitation (the highest academic qualification given overseas) since 1994, and has been a Full Professor and the head of the Institute of Photogrammetry and GeoInformation at the Leibniz University Hannover since 1998.

This award, the essence of which is practicability, is designed to stimulate the development of the art of aerial photogrammetry in the United States. The selection committee makes its choice based on an outstanding invention or design involving any type of equipment that applies to the art of aerial photogrammetry; any outstanding method developed for the general use of aerial photographs and/or imagery; outstanding research for study along aerial photogrammetric lines and outstanding effort for the general advancement of the art of photogrammetry. Lockheed Martin donates funding for the award, which consists of a silver presentation plaque.


Clive Fraser Winner of Outstanding Technical Achievement Award

This years recipient of the Outstanding Technical Achievement Award is Dr. Clive Fraser, for his development and production of the digital camera calibration program "Australis." The Australis automatic camera calibration system was developed to accommodate contemporary calibration requirements and is a software system for digital camera self-calibration that incorporates an innovative workflow for improved efficiency and effectiveness. The significant features of Australis are efficiency, flexibility, automation, and calibration to the highest metric standards. Fraser serves as Honorary Professor of Infrastructure Engineering, Program Science Director, Cooperative Research Center for Spatial Information, and Professional Fellow, Department of Infrastructure Engineering, University of Melbourne, Australia.

This award was introduced for the first time in 2012 and is given to a developer of a specific breakthrough technology which causes quantum advances in the practice of photogrammetry, remote sensing or geographic information systems in the United States. Dr. Fraser received the award in March at the ASPRS 2013 Annual Conference in Baltimore.

In 2011, ASPRS and the ASPRS Foundation received a very generous individual donation to endow a new Outstanding Technical Achievement Award. In accordance with the wishes of the donor, a long time ASPRS member, this donation was made anonymously. ASPRS has agreed to match the donation, in accordance with its current matching policy, resulting in and ensuring this annual Award will be fully endowed.

Additional awards made during the ASPRS 79th Annual Conference and administered by the ASPRS Foundation were:

Outstanding Paper Awards

BAE Systems Award for Best Student Paper

Winner: Min Chen for Robust Affine-invariant Lines Matching for High Resolution Remote Sensing Image, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, China


Boeing Award for Best Paper in Image Analysis and Interpretation

Winners: Jan Svejkovsky, W. Lehr, Judd Muskat, George Graettinger and Joseph Mullin for Operational Utilization of Aerial Multispectral Remote Sensing during Oil Spill Response: Lessons Learned During the Deepwater Horizon (MC-252) Spill, PE&RS, 78 (10), 1089-1102.

John I. Davidson Presidents Award for Practical Papers

First Place Winners: Mark R. Shortis and G. Burgess for Photogrammetric Monitoring of the Construction of a Solar Energy Dish Concentrator, PE&RS, 78 (5) 519-527.

ERDAS Award for Best Scientific Paper in Remote Sensing

First Place Winners: Caiyun Zhang and Fang Qiu for Mapping Individual Tree Species in an Urban Forest Using Airborne Lidar Data and Hyperspectral Imagery, PE&RS, 78 (10), 1079-1087.

ESRI Award for Best Scientific Paper in GIS

First Place Winners: Yurai Nunez-Rodriguez, Michael A. Johnson, Igor Raskin, and Jesse L. Th for "Computing Non-Crossing Smooth Contours on Triangulated Meshes," PE&RS, 78 (7), 703-714.

Talbert Abrams Award

Grand Award Winners: Craig Glennie for "Calibration and Kinematic Analysis of the Velodyne HDL-64E S2 LiDAR Sensor," PE&RS, 78 (4), 339-347.

Scholarship & Academic Awards

Robert E. Altenhofen Memorial Scholarship

Winner: Hui Ju, doctoral candidate at the Ohio State University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Geodetic Science, with a specialization in photogrammetry.


Abraham Anson Memorial Scholarship

Winner: Colin Axel, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), Rochester, New York

John O. Behrens Institute for Land Information Memorial Scholarship

Winner: Benjamin Adams, Ferris State University, Big Rapids, Michigan

Robert N. Colwell Memorial Fellowship

Winner: Xaiolin Zhu, PhD candidate in the Department of Geography at The Ohio State University

William A. Fischer Memorial Scholarship

Winner: Matthew D. Cross, PhD student, College of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Denver, Denver, Colorado

GeoEye Foundation Award

Winner: Sergey Reid, student in the Geographic Information Science program, Texas A&M, Corpus-Christi, Texas

Francis H. Moffitt Memorial Scholarship

Winner: Andreas Torsvik, student in Geomatics Engineering, California State (Fresno), Fresno, California


Kenneth J. Osborn Memorial Scholarship

Winner: Kerri J. Crowder, student in Geography (geographic information systems emphasis), University of Alaska at Fairbanks (UAF), Fairbanks, Alaska


Ta Liang Memorial Award

Winner: Nishan Bhattarai, PhD student, State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Albany, New York

Z/I Imaging Award

Winner: Sergio Bernardes, PhD student in Geography, Certification in Geographic Information Systems, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia


International Educational Literature Award (IELA)

Winner: Kyrgyz State University of Construction, Transport and Architecture (KSUCTA), Department of Geodesy and Geoinformatics, Kyrgyzstan

Conference Management Awards

Recipients: Conference Co-Directors, John S. Iiames, Jr. and David L. Szymanski and Conference Technical Program Co-Directors David M. Johnson and Claire G. Boryan

Presidential Citations

Recipients: Gary Florence, Eric Andelin, Adam R. Benjamin, Steve DeGloria, Don Lauer, Carolyn Merry, Kim Tilley and Billie Plasker

Complete information on all of the above awards can be found at: http://www.asprs.org/a/Baltimore2013/Baltimore_Final_FINAL.pdf

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Founded in 1934, ASPRS is an international professional organization of 6,000 geospatial data professionals. ASPRS is devoted to advancing knowledge and improving understanding of the mapping sciences to promote responsible application of photogrammetry, remote sensing, geographic information systems and supporting technologies.

Founded in 1979, The ASPRS Foundation, Inc. is an independent 501 (c) 3 organization established to provide grants, scholarships, loans and other forms of aid to individuals or organizations pursuing knowledge of imaging and geospatial information science and technology, and their applications across the scientific, governmental, and commercial sectors. The Foundation is the primary funding source for all non-sponsored awards and scholarships recognized by the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing.

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