USGS National Wetlands Research Center: Charles G. Groat, Director of the U.S. Geological Survey

USGS Director to Speak in Lafayette on How Technology Addresses
Urban, Health, Environmental Issues

Press Release 4/24/2003

Who: Dr. Charles G. Groat, Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Va., will be the keynote speaker at the 19th Annual Louisiana Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems Workshop.

When: Presentation, 9:20-10 a.m., Tuesday, April 29. Dr. Groat will be available from 10 a.m. until noon for interviews. The workshop runs from April 29 to May 1, 2003.

Where: Cajundome Conference Center, Lafayette, La., off West Congress Street. Click Here For Map

What: Dr. Groat will speak on “Monitoring and Understanding Change in Real Time.” His address will precede a host of speakers who will show how remote sensing and geographic information systems technology can be used for a wide range of topics, from tracking hurricanes and coastal land loss to providing homeland security. For full agenda, see http://www.rac.louisiana.edu/RSGIS/agenda2003.html.

Why: Dr. Groat will encourage the use of remote sensing and geographic information systems to aid government and civic decision makers in addressing urban, health and environmental issues.

His points will be illustrated by examples of USGS programs that show:
(1) How land-use and land-cover information from remote sensing technology can be combined with other information for historical and predictive studies of urban growth.
(2) How Landsat images are used to identify and map conditions associated with various diseases (including West Nile Virus). These maps can then be combined with other environmental, population, and clinical data to determine disease risk and occurrence.
(3) How remote sensing and GIS can be combined to monitor and model the potential for wildland fires.
(4) How various technologies (INSAR images and the maps generated from them, combined with geological maps, ground-water level maps, vegetation maps, etc.) are used to monitor changes in volcanoes.

Note 1: Dr. Groat, a distinguished professional in the earth science community, has a long association with Louisiana. From 1983 to 1988 he was assistant to the Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, where he administered the Coastal Zone Management Program and the Coastal Protection Program. From 1978 to 1990 he also held positions at Louisiana State University which included serving as professor in the Department of Geology and Geophysics, and he was Director and State Geologist for the Louisiana Geology Survey. For additional biography, see www.usgs.gov/groat/groat-bio.html.

Note 2: Other topics of interest during the workshop include using technology to map Louisiana’s wetlands, coastal change, and hurricanes; help in homeland security; recover human remains; study the West Nile Virus, forests, soils, climate, and blue crabs; manage the state’s public water; track mosquito populations in St. Tammany, Orleans and Jefferson parishes; assess risk of malaria in Eritrea; use LIDAR mapping; aid secondary education; help local governments (Gretna and Lafayette, La.; Nacogdoches, Texas; St. Mary, Lincoln, and Ouachita parishes); assist in wood product industry; manage tribal lands, etc.

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USGS Director to Speak in Lafayette on How Technology Addresses Urban, Health, Environmental Issues

USGS Director to Speak in Lafayette on How Technology Addresses
Urban, Health, Environmental Issues