Board Officer Bios
Current Officer Terms: March 26, 2013 - March 26, 2014
The Officers of ASPRS are:
PRESIDENT: Stephen D. DeGloria is Professor of Resource Inventory and Analysis, and Director, Institute for Resource Information Sciences, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in geographic information systems, environmental information science, GPS, and spatial modeling and analysis. His research focuses on improving the resource inventory process through the application of aerospace imagery, mapping land cover conditions and trends using digital imagery and geospatial databases, and integrating resource inventory data for use in spatially-explicit predictive models of agro-environmental processes in temperate and tropical landscapes.
Prior to his appointment at Cornell in 1986, he was a research associate with the Remote Sensing Research Program (RSRP) at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1971-1984, serving as Program Director from 1977-1984. In 1984, he and former RSRP colleagues co-founded the Resource Survey Institute, until 1989 a non-profit research and educational organization dedicated to advancing the application of remotely sensed data for the inventory of agricultural and environmental resources. He received a BS degree in Soils and Plant Nutrition, and MS and PhD degrees in Soil Science from the University of California, Berkeley.
He joined ASPRS in 1979. He became actively involved in the Society as a member of the Central New York Region, serving as Secretary-Treasurer ('87-'88), President ('98-'99), and National Director ('99-'02). He also served on the Membership Working Group ('04), and Chair, ASPRS Education and Professional Development Committee ('05-'07).
PRESIDENT-ELECT: Stewart Walker is Director, product initiatives for the Geospatial eXploitation Products business area of BAE Systems in San Diego, California. Walker has MA, MScE and PhD degrees in geography and geomatics from the universities of Glasgow, New Brunswick and Bristol and an MBA from Heriot-Watt. He has authored approximately 200 technical papers.
Walker joined ASPRS in 1973. He is an ASPRS Certified Photogrammetrist and a chartered land surveyor (U.K.). In 1977 he switched from academic life at the University of East London to the private sector, with Surveying and General Instrument Company, Kern, Leica, LH Systems, and Leica Geosystems, in sales, product management and business development, in England, Switzerland and the U.S. He became product manager for SOCET SET® in 1991, when Leica undertook worldwide distribution, joined BAE Systems in 2004 and is responsible for new directions in the development of SOCET GXP® and enterprise software products.
He has served ASPRS as President then National Director of the Southwest U.S. Region, Co-Chair of the Defense and Intelligence Committee, and Chair of the Conference Planning Committee for the ASPRS 2010 Annual Conference.
Walker lives in Poway, California, with his wife Sheila. His son, Anton, is a sophomore at Berkeley and his daughter, Sophie, is an analyst with Mission Measurement in Washington, D.C.
VICE PRESIDENT: E. Lynn Usery is a Research Physical Scientist and Director of the Center of Excellence for Geospatial Information Science (CEGIS) with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). He worked as a cartographer and geographer for the USGS (1977-1988) researching and developing automated cartographic and geographic information systems. He was a professor of geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Georgia, where he taught and conducted research in remote sensing, cartography, and geographic information systems (GIS) and led the establishment of undergraduate and graduate certificates in GIS. He returned to the USGS in 1999 and established a program of cartographic and geographic information science (GIScience) research that evolved into CEGIS. Usery also currently teaches remote sensing at the Missouri University of Science and Technology.
He has been active in societal governance and management chairing a Working Group for the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (1992-1996). He was Chair of the Research Committee (1999-2002), Board member (2003), and officer (2003-2005) including President in 2004 of the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS). He was President of the Cartography and Geographic Information Society (CaGIS) in 2002. He was editor of the journal Cartography and Geographic Information Science, 2003-2006.
Usery is currently the Chair of the U.S. National Committee to the International Cartographic Association. He also chairs the Local Organizing Committee and is the Conference Director for the 2017 International Cartographic Conference which will be held in Washington, D.C. He is a Fellow of CaGIS and the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping, and was elected to the first class of Fellows of UCGIS. He received the CaGIS Distinguished Career Award in 2012.
Usery received his BS in geography from the University of Alabama and MA and PhD degrees in geography from the University of Georgia. His current interests and research are in theoretical GIScience including geospatial ontologies and semantics, map projections, multidimensional data models for lidar, and high performance computing for spatial data. Usery has been a member of ASPRS since January 1, 1978.
IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT: Roberta E. (Bobbi) Lenczowski is an independent geospatial information-intelligence consultant. In addition, she is outside Board Director for TechniGraphics, GeoEye, Fugro EarthData Inc, and the non-profit Leonard Wood Institute, and supports the Academic Advisory Group of Sanborn.
Lenczowski retired, with 28 years of federal service, from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) in 2005, as executive director of the St. Louis operations. During her tenure in Washington, D.C., Lenczowski served three years as NGA's Technical Executive. Prior to that, she was director of Operations with the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) for over five years, serving as senior executive manager for the majority of NIMA's professional employees and all imagery collection, geospatial production and imagery analysis.
Lenczowski has served on several national advisory groups and study teams. In the 90s, she represented DOD on the Board of the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, a university consortium funded by NSF to build the national research agenda for geospatial studies. During the last five years of her federal career, she represented NGA on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing; the Department of Interior's National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive Advisory Committee; and, the Security Affairs Support Association.
Recognizing the importance of active participation in professional organizations, Lenczowski recently completed her second term in two decades as president of the ASPRS St. Louis Region. She is an Advisory Board member for the St. Louis Chapter of the National Defense Industrial Association, is an individual member of the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, and has belonged to the Open Geospatial Consortium.
Lenczowski holds degrees from Creighton University, St. Louis University, and Washington University. She and her husband, Jerry, are parents to six adult daughters.
TREASURER: Donald T. Lauer retired from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) on June 1, 2001 and is now a volunteer Scientist Emeritus. His last assignment with USGS was Chief of the Earth Resources Observation Systems (EROS) Data Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He was responsible for a workforce of over 600 employees (government and contractor) that preserves and safeguards the world's largest civilian archive of remotely sensed land data; ensures that scientists, businesses and the public have ready access to this archive of land information; and promotes new uses and new users of remotely sensed and other types of geospatial data.
Dr. Lauer came to the USGS's EROS Data Center in 1974. He led the remote sensing training program in his early years at EROS and then headed the science program until 1992. In December 1992, he was named Center Chief.
Prior to joining the USGS, he was a Research Scientist at the University of California, Berkeley where he specialized in developing and applying image analysis techniques for inventorying and monitoring Earth resources. In 1968, he was aninstructor in the Geography Department, University of California, Davis where he taught Basic Principles of Photo Interpretation and Photogrammetry, and in 1969 he worked on vegetation and terrain analysis at Lockheed Electronics, Co.
Dr. Lauer joined the Society as a graduate student in 1966. He presented in 1968 his first paper at the Annual Convention. That paper was titled "Multispectral sensing of forest vegetation" and was published in PE&RS (then PE) in April 1969. Dr. Lauer has subsequently authored or coauthored more than 100 technical reports and papers. In 1987, he received the ASPRS President's Award for Practical Papers (2nd prize) for his paper "Applications of Landsat data and the data base approach." He has served the Society as a contributing author to the Manual of Remote Sensing (1st and 2nd editions) and, for eight years, as correspondent to the ISPRS Commission VII: Interpretation of Data. He has been given three ASPRS President's Citations for meritorious service—for making education training films and organizing specialty conferences for the Society. Dr. Lauer chaired the Steering Committee for the 1999 Pecora 14/Land Satellite Information III Symposium.
Dr. Lauer received his B.S. (forestry) and M.S. (forestry and remote sensing) from the University of California, Berkeley and his Ph.D. (geography and remote sensing) from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He also received an Honorary Ph.D. (Doctor of Science) from South Dakota State University. He has received the Department of the Interior's Meritorious and Distinguished Service Awards and the Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Executive.
Dr. Lauer and his wife Carol reside in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and have two sons, Mike and Matt. He and his wife enjoy travel, hiking, bicycling, cross-country skiing and visits to Southern California to be with their sons.
SECRETARY and EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: James R. (Jim) Plasker joined the ASPRS staff in 1998 after retiring from the Federal Senior Executive Service, having spent 26 years in surveying and mapping with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). He served as the Associate Chief of the USGS National Mapping Division (NMD) from 1994-1996 and as the Associate Chief Geologist, from 1996-1998.
While serving with USGS, Mr. Plasker was responsible for the development of the National Aerial Photography Program and the National Digital Orthophotoquad Program, both collaborative efforts with colleagues from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He was also responsible for the development of the USGS Digital Raster Graphic Program through close cooperation with the private sector.
Jim holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering (1971) and M.S. in Engineering Surveys (1973) from Oregon State University (OSU), and was named to the OSU Academy of Distinguished Engineers in 1998. He is a registered professional engineer in Colorado and a Fellow Member of both the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM). He served as President of ACSM from 1996-1997.
Jim served as the Vice-Chair of the U.S. National Section of the Pan American Institute for Geography and History (PAIGH) from 1994-2004, and as Vice Chair of the PAIGH Cartography Commission from 1993-2001. He led the US delegation to the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG) from 1991-1996, and was the Secretary-General designate for FIG from 1995 until his retirement from USGS in 1998. He is the Past-Chair of the Applied Science Accreditation Commission (ASAC) of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) and served on the ABET Board of Directors from 2004-2010, the ABET Executive Committee and Chaired the ABET Audit Committee.
He was the recipient of the Department of the Interior's Meritorious Service Award in 1984 and its highest award, the Distinguished Service Award, in 1994. He chaired a landmark multi-organizational task force on the National Council of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors (NCEES) Model Law for Surveying from 1997 to 2005.
Jim is married, has one son and two stepdaughters, and just completed his 41st year officiating high school and college football.
