JACIE 2020 Session 1 Presenter Biographies

Greg Stensaas has extensive systems engineering and information systems experience; such as;  electro-optical and infrared systems exploitation, development, simulation, and test experience as an electronics engineer and operations research analyst for the U.S. Army and Air Force; principle engineer for the NASA Earth Observing System Distributed Active Archive Center, and was also systems engineer for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Landsat Data Continuity Mission at the Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. Greg has worked at USGS EROS in Sioux Falls, South Dakota for over 23 years and is currently working for the EROS Cal/Val Center of Excellence (ECCOE) and is also working as project manager for a new satellite system. Greg was previous project manager for ECCOE, Requirements Capabilities & Analysis for Earth Observation, and Remote Sensing Technologies projects. He is responsible for understanding user requirements, system and sensor capabilities, and is responsible for calibration and system/product characterization and continues to work many cross-calibration efforts. Greg established digital camera quality assurance process in USGS and American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) and lead the development of USGS and ASPRS Lidar Data Quality Guidelines. Greg is a co-chair of the Joint Agency Commercial Imagery Evaluation (JACIE) program.  He has previously served as the ASPRS Primary Data Acquisition Division Director (PDAD), the chair of the Federal Inter-Agency Digital Imagery Working Group (IADIWG), the Chair of the Committee on Earth Observation (CEOS) Working Group on Calibration and Validation (WGCV) and helped establish the Quality Assurance for Earth Observation Strategy for CEOS and the Group on Earth Observation (GEO). Greg is a member of the Technical Management Subcommittee of the National Digital Orthoimagery Program (NDOP).  Education:  Greg Stensaas has a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from South Dakota State University and has taken post graduate classes in Engineering and Information Technology at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and Dakota State University.

Mr. Avila is currently the Director of the Discovery and Assessments Office, leading the coordination and managing the discovery and assessment of commercial GEOINT solutions for the NSG. This Office is part of Source's Commercial and Business Operations Group. He previously served as the Senior Scientist for the Office of Sciences and Methodologies, Directorate of Analysis. He provided scientific and technical leadership in aspects of Imagery Science and led the Directorate's effort in developing its technical workforce to broaden and deepen analytic expertise. On April 2015 he was named the National GEOINT Officer (NGO) for Imagery Science, the principal subject matter expert to the NGA Director on all aspects of GEOINT collection and analysis related to areas of Imagery Science. In February 2012, Mr. Avila completed a Joint Duty Assignment with the National Measurement and Signature Intelligence (MASI NT) Office at DIA as the Vice Chairman of the National MASI NT Committee (MASCOM). He assisted the Chairman in executing the responsibilities assigned to the MASCOM in ICD 113 and was responsible for the day to day activities of the Committee. During his years with the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) and NGA he has led technical teams in Information Services and the Production Directorates, as well as serving as a Project Scientist in NIMA's Science and Technology Directorate managing research and development projects related to spectral technologies. Mr. Avila has been with the U.S. Government as an Image Scientist for most of the last thirty years. He began his career in the Intelligence Community with CIA's Career Training Program in 1987. In 1989 he joined the National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC) as an Image Scientist working on the processing and exploitation of spectral imagery. Currently, he is a member of the National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC), a Federal Committee sponsored by the Department of Interior and the Chairperson of the Landsat Advisory Group (LAG), an NGAC sub-committee. He is active within the Intelligence and Defense Communities related to spectral image science. He co-chairs an annual spectral conference, in addition to serving in the editorial board for the Geospatial Intelligence Review and GEO INT Science journals. He is a member of I EE E's Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society, as well as a graduate of the Department of Defense 34th APEX Senior Executive Orientation Program. Mr. Avila was promoted to the Senior Intelligence Service (SIS) on April 2010. He is a graduate of the Hunter College of the City University of New York with a bachelor's and master's degree in Physical Geography. He resides in Virginia, along with his wife and daughter.

Carolyn Vadnais is a contractor supporting the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Land Imaging Program.  She is employed by Centauri, a company headquartered in Chantilly, VA, as a Senior Principal System Engineer. She has over 35 years of experience in leading organizations and projects within USGS, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Department of Defense (DoD), and multiple interagency groups, specializing in the areas of Earth observing requirements development and observing systems, portfolio analysis, and strategic planning.  Carolyn’s background includes seven years in the international environment and thirteen years working within interagency processes to improve Federal coordination of requirements, observing capabilities, and environmental data. 

Dr. Mitch Goldberg is the NOAA-NESDIS Chief Scientist. Dr. Goldberg serves as an expert and lead representative of the NOAA-NESDIS science and user communities and coordinates NESDIS applied science.   He leads the NESDIS Satellite Proving Ground program to improve NOAA services by facilitating collaboration between users and product developers to optimize the use of satellite data.  Dr. Goldberg is involved in a number of international coordinating groups including the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites (CGMS), and the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS).  Dr. Goldberg is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society (AMS), and the current chair of the AMS Satellite Meteorological, Oceanography, and Climatology Committee. Dr. Goldberg has received three Gold Medals, one Silver Medal, and seven Bronze Medals from the Department of Commerce including the 2010 NOAA Administrator’s Award for leadership in developing the international Global Space-based Inter-Calibration System (GSICS).  He received the University of Maryland Most Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science in 2004. Dr. Goldberg earned his B.S. from Rutgers University, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Maryland.  His scientific expertise is in developing scientific algorithms to derive atmospheric soundings of temperature and water vapor from satellite platform microwave and infrared sounders.

Dr. Jeremy Banik is the Deputy Director of the National Reconnaissance Office's (NRO) Commercial Systems Program Office (CSPO) within the GEOINT Directorate, where he is helping to lead the NRO's strategy to fully integrate commercial imagery into the enterprise. Prior to joining the NRO, Dr. Banik was Chief Engineer on the Blackjack Program, a joint DARPA-Air Force initiative to leverage commercial broadband constellations for global collections and direct dissemination to US government users. Prior to his tenure with DARPA, Dr. Banik was Deputy Manager for the Space and Missile Systems Center Long Duration Propulsive ESPA program, a maneuverable platform designed to deliver payloads to GEO at a recurring cadence. Dr. Banik also developed and sustained the Large Deployable Structures Research and Development portfolio for the Air Force Research Laboratory, where he invented and led demonstrations and operational transitions of antenna, optic, solar sail, and solar array technologies including the Roll Out Solar Array (ROSA).