Geo

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Annual Report2004

Table of Contents 3 Message from the Director

4 Institute Objectives

5 Impoundments for Rural Economic Development

7 Improving Transportation Planning and Development

9 Spatial Technologies in Agriculture and Natural Resources

11 Developing Visualization Systems for Forestry

13 Enhanced Water Development

15 Invasive Species Detection and Managemnent

17 Awards and Recognition

20 Refereed Publications and Book Chapters

27 Non-Refereed Publications and Reports

34 Book Reviews and Editorials

“By administratively reorganizing into the GeoResources Institute, we will have more resources to address some pressing issues, including water quantity and quality, efficiency of agricultural production, and invasive species monitoring and

management.

Bringing these four centers together at MSU allows us to further develop our common goals, as well as pool our talents and resources on research and educational projects. It allows us to enhance already strong relationships with various academic and research departments and colleges throughout the university and to pull teams of faculty together for multidisciplinary projects that develop solutions to meet the needs of society and our stakeholders.”

David Shaw, Director

GeoResources Institute

Our mission is to understand Earth’s natural and managed

systems and provide

comprehensive solutions for

socioeconomic and

environmental requirements, leading to an

improved quality of life.

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• Remote Sensing Technologies Center• Water Resources Research Institute • Computational Geospatial Technologies Center• Visualization Analysis and Imaging Laboratory

Institute objectives include:

• IncreasethefundamentalunderstandingofEarth’snaturalresourcessystems• Developnaturalresourcesmanagementcapabilitieswhichengagecomputer-based

Decision Support Systems that protect and enhance land and water resourcesthroughapplicationsofscience-basedknowledge

• Enhance the productivity and profitability of agricultural and forestry systemsthroughscienceandadvancedtechnologies

• Optimize land-use management practices by converging technologies andcapabilities

• Developwatershedmanagementstrategiesandknowledgetopromotesustainableeconomicdevelopment,communityviabilityandnaturalresourceconservation

• Maximizeinformationthatcanbederivedandutilizedfromremotesensingandothergeospatialtechnologiesforsocio-economicbenefits

• Helpmaintainaninformedandreceptivepublic

Untilrecently,MississippiStateUniversityhadseveralcentersandinstitutesconductingandcoordinatingresearchandeducationalactivitiesingeospatialtechnologiesandnaturalresourcemanagement(agriculture,forestry,andwaterresources).However,MSUdeterminedthatclosercoordinationoftheactivitiesbetweentheseunitswouldprovidetremendousbenefitsthrough:

•Synergyofactivitiesbetweensubjectareas(e.g.computation,agriculture,waterresources)•Developmentandimplementationofcommongoals•Synergyofmanagement•Avoidanceofduplicationofeffort•Highlycoordinatedapproachtoresearchandeducationalprojectdevelopment•Serviceastheprimarypoint-of-contactinthegeospatialandwaterresourcemanagement•Moreeffectiveleveragingofresourcesandactivitiesintoextramuralfunding

Therefore,theGeoResourcesInstitutewascreatedatMSUinJuly2002.

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Researchers areinvolvedinruraleconomicdevelopmentprojectswheretheGRIiswork-ingwithcountygovernments,countyeconomicdevelopmentfoundationsandprivateindustrytoplanandbuildsurfacewaterimpoundmentsinthestateofMississippi.TheGRIisprovidingcriticalgrantsandprojectmanagementskillstotheseprojects.

TheBienvilleResourcesandDevelopmentCouncilisaformalinter-localagreementbetweenSmith,Covington,Simpson,RankinandJaspercountiesofMississippithatisplanningawaterimpoundmentprojectinSouthMississippi.TheGRIhasadministeredanEconomicFeasibilityStudywiththeas-sistanceoftheMSUDepartmentofForestry,developedaMasterPlanwiththeMSUDepartmentofLandscapeArchitecture,andisnowheadingupdevelopmentofaSiteEvaluation/SelectionMatrixfortheCouncil.

TheGRIisalsoassistingtheChoctawCountyEconomicDevelopmentFoundationandcountyofficialsbyparticipatinginthesiteevaluationandselectionprocessofanimpoundmentprojectforthatcounty.Fundinghasbeenprovidedby theNaturalResourceConservationService throughcountysupervi-sors.

In Madison County, the GRIis working with county su-pervisors and the MadisonCounty Economic Develop-ment Foundation on strategicplanning. The GRI has beenaskedtoplayarolesimilartothat taken with the BienvilleResources and DevelopmentCouncil with a potential Fis-cal Year 2005 earmark. Theeconomic impact from theseGRI projects will include anincreased property tax base,secure new industrial pros-pectsandcreatemorejobsforMississippi.

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Impoundmentsfor Rural Economic Development

Bienville Forest Lake ProjectPrimary Master Plan

Choctaw CountyRecreational Lake Project

The GRI works closely with Economic Development and government officials 6

Transportation Corridor Planning and Management

Improving

TheGulfCoastincludesdenseurbanareasintermixedwithdesignatednaturalareas,whichinfluenceorconstraindevelop-mentwithinthearea.

Landsat Image Data for the Mississippi Coastal Corridor

Gulf Coast Assessment

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Researchers at the GRI are exploring ways wherebyremotesensingandspatial technologiescanbeused toassistcor-ridorplanningintheSoutheastUnitedStates.ThroughajointeffortbyNASAandtheU.S.DepartmentofTransportation,theGRIman-agestheEnvironmentalConsortium(oneoffivememberconsortia)of theNationalConsortiumforRemoteSensinginTransportation(NCRST-E) thatdevelops innovativeways to improve transporta-tionplanningandmanagementbyapplyingremotesensingdataandspatialinformationtechnologies.TheoverallgoaloftheNCRST-Eistoincreasethespeedandefficiencywithwhichstatutoryenviron-mentalassessmentsareconducted.FacultyinCivilandElectricalEngineering from theBagleyCollegeofEngineeringhaveplayedstrongleadershiprolesinthiseffort.

Previousprojectshavedemonstratedthatthemostcost-andtime-consuming project tasks involve assimilating relevant geospatialdata.Thedataoftenareavailable,butacquisitioncanbetime-con-sumingduetothefactthatthedataareownedbymultipleagenciesinmultipleformats,andeachdataownermayhaveadifferentdistri-butionpolicy.TheNCRST-Eiscreatingaregionaldatabasewhichwillprovidecriticalresourcestotransportationprojectsbyintegrat-ingimageryandgeospatialdatafortheregionandreadilyprovidesuchinformationtoinvolvedagencies.

Each transportation corridor projecttypically lasts10 to20years,andeachproject possesses unique principle is-sues.TheNCRST-Ehasselectedactualon-the-groundactiveprojectsforitsre-searchthatareofvariousscopesandatdifferent stages in their project life cy-cles.Forexample,theGRI-administeredenvironmental consortium is assistingthe U.S. Highway 98 Coastal Corri-dor project with issues such as coastaltopographic constraints, sensitive envi-ronmental elements, and vulnerabilityto natural disasters such as hurricanes- issues which characteristically addcomplexitytocoastaltransportationcor-ridorplanningprocesses.

As part of our NCRST-E research, the GRI conducted an assessment of land use and land cover change in the Mississippi coastal corridor

to identify land cover and land use changes, as well as associated transportation and land development, to better understand how these

factors might impact environmentally sensitive areas.

MS Gulf Coast Land Cover and Land Use Change Assessment

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GeospatialtechnologiesdevelopedbyresearchersatMSU’sGeoResourcesInstitutearebeingappliedtodetermineandmanageis-suesassociatedwithagriculturalcropsandearth’snatural resources.NewcapabilitiesareemergingfromresearchanddevelopmentwithintheGRI thatcanprovideaconsultantorgrowerwithveryeffectivemanagement tools. MAFES, FWRC, MSU Extension Service, andEngineeringfacultyhaveworkedcollaborativelyindevelopingthesereal-worldapplications.ActiveprojectsincludethosesuchascatfishpondmanagementwhereresearchersattheGRIareusingwirelesssensors,geographicinforma-tion systems (GIS) and communication technologies tomonitor andanalyzeenvironmentalandphysicalconditionsofcatfishponds.Geo-spatialtechnologiesarebeingusedtoassesscropconditionsandlocateinsectinfestationsinthefield.ResearchersattheGRIareusingimagingtechniquestotakeadvantageofthesubtleeffectsofreniformnematodes–microscopicanimalsthatliveinthesoilandfeedintherootsofthecottonplant.Sweetpotato producers have been searching for an innovative approach to increase U.S. No.1 grade sweetpotatoyields,andGRIresearchintheareaofgeospatialtechnologieshasbeenwelcomed.

Oneexampleofnewsite-specifictechnologybeingdevelopedintheagriculturalarenaistheintroductionofnewwaystoidentifyandcontrolproblemssuchasweedinfestations.Weedstypicallyoccurinpatchesacrossagriculturefields.Toaddtothecomplication,theremaybeamyriadofpatches–eachdifferentinsize,location,andweedspeciescom-position.Applyingthecorrectherbicideandachievingcontrolhasbeenvirtuallyimpossibleuntilnow.ResearchersatMSU’sGeoResourcesInstitutearedevelopingnewusesforasuiteofgeospatialtechnologiesincludingglobalpo-sitioningsystems,computerizedsprayers,remotesensingimagery,andmappingsoftwaretopreciselytreatonlythespecificareasofthefieldsthatareinfested.Thetechnologies,mergedintoageospatial-basedinformationsystem,identifyweedpatchesandrecommendcontrolmethods.Resultshavebeensopromisingthatnewcommercialprod-uctsareemergingandofferinggrowersarevolutionarywaytocontrolweeds–onethatiseconomicalwhileproviding

tremendousenvironmentalbenefits.

High-resolutionimageryalsoaddsanewdimensiontomanagingwildlifehabitat.Nat-ural resource managers are challenged with the task of effectively allocating limitedconservationresourcesinamannerthatoptimizeswildlifehabitatbenefits.Thisises-peciallyimportantforthoseinvolvedinmanagingdecliningspeciessuchasthenorthernbobwhitequail.High-resolutionsatelliteimageryprovidesnecessarytoolsforidentify-inghabitatdeficienciesatthe“operational”or“on-the-farm”level,wheremosthabitatmanagementdecisionsareusuallymade.

GRI researchers measuring cotton plant canopy reflectance

Spatial Technologies In Agriculture & Natural Resources

Tarnished plant bug - a major cotton pest

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Typical weed infestation map

Spectral image depicting catfish ponds in blue

Spatial Technologies In Agriculture & Natural Resources

Multi-spectral image of cotton field depicting weed infestation

Spectral image of sweetpotato field

Reniform Nematode feeding on root of cotton plant

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Among the areas of expertise withinthe GRI is the visualization of computeddatasets for optimal human understanding.Through collaborations between Forestryand Engineering faculty, a visualizationsystem for timber management has beendeveloped to aid in stand improvements,pre-commercial or commercial thinnings,andtheharvestateconomicmaturityofthestand. Management information can nowgenerallybetiedtolocationwithinstandsbyuseofspatialtechnologies.

Field surveys for timbermanagement iden-tify the approximate distribution of woodinastandbutfallfarshortofindicatingthepositionsofindividualtrees.Landscapevisualizationtechniquesarelargelydrivenbythedesiretoproviderealisticdepictionsofhowterrainfeatureslookatvariouspointsintimeorunderdifferentlandalterationscenarios.TheGRIhasdevelopedvisualizationtoolswhichgenerategraphicmodelsofforeststandsbasedonmeasurementoflocationandsizeoftreesfromremotelysenseddata.

Anoperationalscenarioforuseofsuchalandscapemodelmightsomedaybeanalogoustotechnologyassociatedwithsciencefictionsuchasthetelevisionseries“StarTrek:TheNextGeneration.”Inthisseries,astarshipsurveysaplanetwithhighlysophisticatedsensorspriortosendingalandingpartytotheplanet’ssurface.Thesensorsrecordindetailrelevantinformationonallobjectsontheplanet.Nowimaginethattheremotelysensedinformationwere

Pine forest

Developing

Visualization Systems

for Forestry

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tobetransferredtothestarship’s“Holodeck”(a3-Dvirtualrealityenvironmentinaroom)sothatthelandingpartycoulduseavirtualmodeloftheplanettoplantheirexplorationanddatacollectionalongthemostmeaningful,ef-ficientandsafepathways.

AttheGRI,astandvisualizationsystembasedontreesidentifiedandmeasuredwithLiDARdata(LiDARutilizeslaser-rangingtechnologytodeterminedistances)hasbeendevelopedwithinanimmersivevirtualenvironmentdo-main.High-densityLiDARdatasetsareusedtogeneratecanopysurfacesfromwhichtreelocationsareextracted.Totalheightandothercrownmeasurementsbasedonrelationshipstoheightareusedtoconstructgraphicrepresen-tationsofallidentifiedtreesintheirpropergeospatialpositions.ThetreegraphicsareaggregatedintostandsforviewinginanimmersivevirtualenvironmentcalledaCAVE-a4-surface(threewallsandfloor)10x10footroomthatutilizesstereoprojectiontechnologytoprovideuserswiththeabilitytointeractwith3-dimensionalinforma-tion.ThisprovidestheforesterwithapowerfulmeansofunderstandingthecapabilitiesoftheLIDARsystemandinterpretingtheremotelysenseddata.Theresultsofthisprojectwillbeusedtorefineandeventuallyimplementthistechnologyontheofficedesktop.

Virtual height measurement pole with geographic coordinate readout and virtual compass superimposed on surfaced LiDAR data of a forested area Examples of tree graphic models

Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE)

LiDAR and spectral imagery merged to show 3-D effect

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Water isperhapsthemostpreciousofournaturalresourcesanddirectlyaffectseveryoneonadailybasis.Increasingly,waterqualityandquantityconcernsarebecomingcontentiousissueseveninwater-richareassuchasMississippi.Remotesensingplaysamajorroleinmonitoringthestatusofournation’swaterresources.Mapsarederivedfromremotelysensedimageryandusedasinputsforpredictivewaterqualityrunoffmodels.Remotesensingcanalsodetectchlorophyllandsedimentconcentrationsinoceansandlakes.Remotesensingcanhelpafarmerdecidewhichfieldsshouldbeirrigatedorwhatriversandstreamsneedmoreconservationpractices.

GRIresearchprojectsincludecorrelatingchanginglanduse/landcoverpatternswithwaterqualityconditions in Mississippi’s Upper Pearl River Basin. In addition, the GRI is assisting the Pearl

Enhanced Water Development And ManagementEnhanced Water Development And ManagementAerial image of Ross Barnett Reservoir

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Water isperhapsthemostpreciousofournaturalresourcesanddirectlyaffectseveryoneonadailybasis.Increasingly,waterqualityandquantityconcernsarebecomingcontentiousissueseveninwater-richareassuchasMississippi.Remotesensingplaysamajorroleinmonitoringthestatusofournation’swaterresources.Mapsarederivedfromremotelysensedimageryandusedasinputsforpredictivewaterqualityrunoffmodels.Remotesensingcanalsodetectchlorophyllandsedimentconcentrationsinoceansandlakes.Remotesensingcanhelpafarmerdecidewhichfieldsshouldbeirrigatedorwhatriversandstreamsneedmoreconservationpractices.

GRIresearchprojectsincludecorrelatingchanginglanduse/landcoverpatternswithwaterqualityconditions in Mississippi’s Upper Pearl River Basin. In addition, the GRI is assisting the Pearl

Enhanced Water Development And ManagementEnhanced Water Development And Management

Proposed water impoundment project

River Valley Water Supply District to incorporate geospatialtechnologyintotheirday-to-dayoperationsandlongtermplanning.Specifically,theGRIisusingremotelysensedimageryandGIStomapfirehydrants,waterlines,sewerlinesandmanholecoversinthePRVWSD’sproperties.TheGRIisalsoworkinginpublic/privatepartnerships with several Mississippi counties to plan multi-use/multi-purposewater impoundments. Theseeffortshave involvedthe Departments of Civil Engineering, Electrical and ComputerEngineering,andLandscapeArchitecture,aswellas internalGRIfacultyandstaff.

The GRI works closely with Mississippi’s state, regional andlocal governments and agencies to develop and apply geospatialtechnology to increase the efficiency and accuracy of waterdevelopment and management decision-making to promoteMississippi’seconomicdevelopment.Thiswillhelpensurethatournationandstate’swatersareusedfor themaximumbenefitofalltheirinhabitants-fromtadpolestohumans.

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State andfederalagencylandmanagersareexcitedaboutsite-specificinvasivespeciesresearchbeingconductedwithintheGeoResourcesInstitute.RemotesensingtechnologiesbeingdevelopedatMSUofferlandmanagersthetoolstoidentifyandmonitorMississippiinvasiveweeds,suchascogongrassandkudzu.

An automated image and analysis-based system is under development to detect populations of invasive weeds,and will provide an accurate location and estimate of total acres infested. This information can then be used todevelopprecisetreatmentmapsforherbicideapplicationonlytotheinfestedareasusinggroundoraerialapplicationequipment.Imagestakenovertimewillprovideanevaluationofthesuccessineliminatingweedinfestations.Theresultisaccuratedetection,efficientplanning,andeffectivecontrolofinvasiveweedpopulations.

Cogongrass invading young pine plantation Water hyacinth

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Kudzu infestation

TheGRIhasthecapacitytobringtogethermultidisciplinaryresearchteamscomprisedofuniversityandgovern-mentresearcherstoaddressdiversequestionsonthemanagementofinvasivespecies.FacultyfromPlantandSoilSciences,BiologicalSciences,EmtomologyandPlantPathology,Forestry,WildlifeandFisheries,ElectricalEngi-neering,andGeoSciencesatMSUareworkingtogether.Anumberofstateandfederalagencies,aswellasprivateandnon-profitorganizations,arecollaboratingintheseprograms.Initsroleasaregionalcoordinator,theGRIisfacilitatingtheformationofInvasiveSpeciesAlliancesinMississippiandotherMid-Southstates,toenhancetheexchangeofinformation,databasenetworking,andcoordinationofmanagementeffortsbetweenpublicandprivateentitiesacrosstheMid-SouthRegion.

Water hyacinth

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Valentine Anantharaj• NASA/MSCIGraduateResearchFellowship2003-2004

Jeffery A. Ballweber, JD• MississippiWaterResourcesAssociation(MWRA)-VicePresident• MississippiWaterResourcesAssociation-BoardMember• MSDepartmentofEnvironmentalQuality’sState-wideBasinApproach-Member• ResourceAgencyPartnersForum-Member• PearlRiverandSouthIndependentStreamsBasinTeam-Member• TMDLsandCWA303(d)List-TeamLeader• LiaisonbetweenGround/DrinkingWaterandSurfaceWaterQualityTeams• ProposalReviewerforU.S.GeologicalSurvey,WaterResourcesResearchNationalCompetitiveGrants Program• NamedSeniorFellow,RadvanyiChairinInternationalSecurityStudies• InternationalAdvisoryCommitteeforannualInternationalConferenceonSafeDrinkingWater (Boreholes,Inc.)• Reviewer-MidwestTechnologyAssistanceCenter,IllinoisStateWaterSurvey,CompetitiveGrantpro posals(reviewed4proposals-2003)

Lora Ballweber, PhD• AmericanAsociationofVeterinaryParasitologistsYoungInvestigatorTravelGrantAwardtoKelsey McNallytoattend49thAnnualMeetingtopresentthepaper“HabitatsuitabilityestimatesforAmblyoma

maculatuminMississippi”.

Alan Blaine, PhD• NationalAssociationofCountyAgriculturalAgentsAchievementAwardfor“Excellenceinthe

RemoteSensingandPrecisionAgricultureProgram”

Lori M. Bruce, PhD• 2003JamesW.BagleyCollegeofEngineeringOutstandingEngineeringEducator• FacultyResearchAdvisoryCommittee(FRAC)(July04–Aug.07)

John Byrd, PhD• 2003MississippiStateUniversityAlumniAssociationFacultyRecognitionAwardforService• $500GrantsAwardedtoBryanPeytonandKeithBurnelltoattendInternationalConferenceonthe EcologyandManagementofAlienPlantInvasions,Ft.Lauderdale,FL

William H. Cooke, PhD• ‘MSUResearcherStudyingEnvironmentalCausesofDeadlyWestNileVirus,UniversityRelationsNews

Bureau’,May10,2004• ‘MSUResearcherUsesGIStoExamineDangersofWestNileVirus’,GISDevelopmentTHE ASIAN

GIS MONTHLY,05/12/2004• ‘MSUResearcherExaminingDangersofWestNileVirus’,Times Picayune,Tuesday,May11,2004

Awards & Recognition

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James E. Fowler, PhD• MSUBagleyCollegeofEngineeringOutstandingResearchPaper,2003

F. A. Harris, PhD• Mississippi Entomological Association Merit Award for Service

W. Daryl Jones, PhD• ElectedtotheGulfofMexicoFisheryManagementCouncil-EssentialFishHabitatTechnicalReview Committee

Roger L. King, PhD•W.L.GilesDistinguishedProfessor,2003• NASA advisory committee – Earth Science Information Systems and Services• Scientific Committee - ESA-EUSC 2004: Theory and Applications of Knowledge Driven Image Information Mining, with focus on Earth Observation, Madrid, Spain• Technical Program Committee, 30th International Symposium on Remote Sensing of the Environment, Honolulu, HI• Technical Program Committee, IEEE Workshop on Advances in Techniques for Analysis of Remotely Sensed Data, Washington, DC• Technical Program Committee, IGARSS 2003, Toulouse, France• Scientific Committee, Second International Workshop on the Analysis of Multitemporal Remote Sensing Images, Ispra, Italy

Gary W. Lawrence, PhD• MSCIResearchFellow2002-2003,AmberT.Kelley

Joseph H. Massey, PhD• W.G.Powell,2003.FirstPlaceGraduateStudentPosterAward.56thAnnualmeeting

oftheSouthernWeedScienceSocietyofAmerica,Houston,TX.

Robert J. Moorhead, PhD• GuestEditor,IEEETransactionsonVisualizationandComputerGraphics,2003• Co-Guest Editor, IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, May-June 2004

T. Evan Nebeker, PhD• 2003RalphE.PoweResearchExcellenceAwardatMississippiStateUniversity

K. Raja Reddy, PhD• Career Professional Research Award, Southern Branch of the American Society of Agronomy• 2002AwardedScienceAwardforMostOutstandingJournalPublication.MississippiAgriculturaland ForestryExperimentStation• Session Chair - Agro-climatology and Agronomic modeling (A-3) division of American Society of Agronomy• Onsite Proposal Peer Review Panel Member for NASA - Biomass Production Panel, Washington, DC• Offsite Proposal Peer Review Panel Member for National Institute for Global Environmental Change, Department of Energy - NIGEC-Southeaster Center, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Awards & Recognition

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Daniel B. Reynolds, PhD• 2003-MSCIFellowship-NathanBuehring

David R. Shaw, PhD • Fellow,WeedScienceSocietyofAmerica• ResearchAward,WeedScienceSocietyofAmerica,2003• NewsletterEditor(since1993),WeedScienceSocietyofAmerica• Director-at-Large(since1998),WeedScienceSocietyofAmerica• VicePresident,SouthernWeedScienceSociety• President,MississippiWeedScienceSociety• SearchCommitteeforMSUVicePresidentforResearch• SearchCommitteeforMSUDirectorofInstitutionalResearch• Chair,ResearchCommittee,SACSReaccredidation,MSU• Co-chair,TechnicalSteeringCommittee,MississippiManagementSystemsEvaluationArea(MS- MSEA)Project,MSU• Member,Governor’sAdvisoryCommissiononRemoteSensingTechnologyWritingChair,Work GroupIII• MississippiCoordinatingCouncilforRemoteSensingandGeographicInformationSystems- IHLRepresentative• Chair,Education/WorkforceDevelopmentCommittee• Member,SelectionPanel,EngineeringTechnicalSupportFirm

James S. Thomas, PhD• NationalAssociationofCountyAgriculturalAgentsAchievementAwardfor“Excellenceinthe

RemoteSensingandPrecisionAgricultureProgram”

Mary Love Tagert• MSCIStudentFellowship2002-2003• SumnerGrant:Fall2002-Summer2004• CivilRightsGraduateStudentAuditCommittee-Plant&SoilSciences

J. Alex Thomasson, PhD• FeaturearticleinQueensland Country Lifenewspaper,June4,2003,QueenslandAustralia• 2003ResearchImpactAwardforpaperjudgedmostimportanttoMississippiAgriculture

Nick H. Younan• HearinEminentScholarforOutstandingResearchandScholarlyContributions,JamesWorthBagley CollegeofEngineering,MississippiStateUniversity

Awards & Recognition Awards & Recognition

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The GeoResources Institute brings together faculty from 22 departments within 6 colleges/

units at Mississippi State University. The GRI also collaborates with many other universities, community colleges, and agencies. At present there are over 150 scientists involved in active

research projects focusing on agriculture, water resources, state and local government, and

economic development.

Mississippi State University does not discriminate on the basic of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, or veteran status.

GeoResources InstituteMississippi State University

Box 9652Mississippi State, MS 39762-9652

Ph: 662.325.8278Fax: 662.325.7692www.gri.msstate.edu

An ERC Affiliate