Dr. K. Jon Ranson
Dr. K. Jon Ranson received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in Earth Resources from Colorado State University and Ph.D. from Purdue University. He has used remote sensing technology for studies of the Earth’s surface since the 1970’s using Skylab and Landsat 1 and 2 MSS data for geologic and forest cover mapping. Later his research was focused on bi-directional reflectance behavior of vegetation canopies and microwave backscatter characteristics of crops and trees. In 1986, Dr. Ranson joined the Biospheric Sciences Branch at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. While with the Biospheric Sciences Branch, Dr. Ranson continued with reflectance studies of forests and became more involved in forest radar research through NASA spaceborne (SIR-C/XSAR. ERS, JERS and Radarsat), airborne (AIRSAR) and field based (FED, BOREAS, Siberian Disturbance Mapping) projects to study North American and Eurasian boreal forests.Science Group Chair for BOREAS.
In addition to his research activities, he is currently the Project Scientist for NASA’s EOS Terra spacecraft. Recently he served as Acting Program Manager for Land Cover and Land Use Change at NASA HQ. Dr. Ranson has published over 130 scientific and technical papers and is a member of IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society and the American Geophysical Union.