Hyperspectral and Thermal Remote Sensing for Environmental Justice
Are you interested in ecology, natural resource management, environmental justice, and understanding our changing planet? Join NASA and ESIIL in Boulder, Colorado this summer for HYR-SENSE: Hyperspectral and Thermal Remote Sensing for Environmental Justice. You will gain hands-on experience with hyperspectral and thermal imaging remote sensing technology and its applications for environmental justice issues. Apply HERE by March 24th, 2024.
Why HYR-SENSE?
Recent advances in remote sensing, as well as the upcoming NASA Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) mission, are providing transformative opportunities to solve a range of challenges related to environmental justice. ESIIL (NSF’s Environmental Data Science and Innovation and Inclusion Lab) holds inclusion as a core principle and method for diversifying environmental data science at a time when society needs all perspectives, and science needs to serve all. Participants in the HYR-SENSE (‘higher-sense’) summer program will gain the analytical, coding, and cloud-computing skills necessary to use groundbreaking hyperspectral and thermal imaging remote sensing to solve environmental issues impacting indigenous and underrepresented communities.
Data from NASA’s pathfinder satellite missions, such as EMIT and ECOSTRESS, will be used as the basis for jointly developing the technical skills needed to address a series of use cases related to environmental justice in areas such as water quality monitoring, fire detection, plant water stress and early disease detection, and invasive and culturally-relevant species mapping.
- Who should apply?: Undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and early career scientists currently attending or affiliated with a Tribal College or University or affiliates of Native American Tribes. Invited participants will have experience and interests in relevant disciplines, which may include ecology, environmental science, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), remote sensing, natural resource management, or similar.
- When: June 10th-13th, 2024 with additional pre-training sessions
- Where: University of Colorado, Boulder
- Cost: This training is funded by NASA and ESIIL at no cost to the participant. Participants' travel costs, lodging, and meals will be fully covered.
- This program will be tailored to the interests and needs of the participants while being led by experts in the field from NASA and ESIIL.
Apply HERE by March 24th, 2024. Applicants will be informed about the status of their application by April 5th.
Tentative Agenda
Virtual Pre-training Events
This training program includes virtual pre-training sessions that build the basis for the HYR-SENSE in-person, four-day collaborative event at the University of Colorado Boulder in June. The virtual pre-training includes sessions on cultural intelligence and ethical space, cyberinfrastructure, and open data science.
In-person Events
Each day will include a lecture and a lab for participants to gain hands-on technical experience with the skills needed to address issues related to environmental justice. Potential topics include invasive species and mineral mapping, plant water stress, fire detection, and water quality. The final agenda will be developed based on the interests and needs of the accepted participants.
Day 1
- Meet and greet
- Lecture: Theory introduction to hyperspectral remote sensing
- Lunch
- Field Activity: Collect data with handheld spectrometers
- Welcome dinner
Day 2
- Lecture: EMIT
- Lunch
- Lab: Accessing EMIT data, making maps, project focus
Day 3
- Lecture: Ecostress
- Lunch
- Lab: Using surface temperature to study drought stress and fire
Day 4
- Lecture: Aquatic Remote Sensing
- Lunch
- Lab: Aquatics, PACE/PRISMA data, water pollution, phytoplankton
This training is funded by the NASA award #8ONSSC24KO328, and is subject to the NSF's and NASA's terms and conditions.