PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
July 2016
483
AWARDS AND SCHOLARSHIPS
T
he following awards and scholarships were presented at IGTF 2016 — the
ASPRS Annual Conference in Fort Worth, Texas. Awards for Outstanding
Papers, Professional Achievement, Service and Region activities are
determined by committee selection; scholarships and academic awards are
also determined by committee selection but are chosen from among current
applications. For details on the Awards and Scholarships Program, visit http://
.
Awards & Scholarships
ASPRS Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award
Roy A. Welch
Dr. Roy A. Welch was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin. In 1961,
Welch received his B.S. degree in Geography and Biology from
Carroll College, Waukesha, Wisconsin. In 1962, he conducted
glacial geomorphological and ecological studies in southeast
Alaska for The Ohio State University Institute of Polar Stud-
ies From 1962 to 1964, he was a photo-analyst with the U.S.
Government. In 1965, he received his M.A. degree in Physi-
cal Geography from the University of Oklahoma and in 1968,
his Ph.D. in photogrammetry, remote sensing and physical
geography from the University of Glasgow. His doctoral re-
search involved the development and application of aerial
photographic methods for studying glacial areas in southeast
Iceland and Britain. This work resulted in several publica-
tions in
The Photogrammetric Record
and
Photogrammetric
Engineering
.
Following his graduation, 1968 to 1969, Welch worked
as a manager in the Earth Science Department and Senior
Photogrammetric Engineer for the Iteck Corporation and in
1969-1971, as a National Academy of Sciences Postdoctoral
Research Associate for the National Research Council eval-
uating factors influencing image quality of air and space
photographs. He also taught photogrammetry at the U.S. De-
partment of Agriculture Graduate School. In 1971, he joined
the faculty of The University of Georgia (UGA) Department
of Geography where he was responsible for undergraduate
and graduate courses in field methods, photo-interpretation,
photogrammetry, remote sensing and geographic information
systems. He reached the highest faculty rank of Distinguished
Research Professor in the UGA Franklin College of Arts and
Science and retired in 2003 as Emeritus Distinguished Re-
search Professor.
Welch’s early professional activities include service as
a Remote Sensing Specialist for the U.S. Geological Survey
(USGS). He participated in USGS and the Agency for Inter-
national Development (AID) Landsat remote sensing proj-
ects and conducted research on the cartographic potential of
SIR-B, SPOT, Landsat and Skylab image data In the 1970s,
he also worked as a consultant or advisor to several groups,
including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA), SPOT Image Corporation, and the California Insti-
tute of Technology’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory In 1980, he
received a four-month appointment from Japan’s Ministry of
Education to study the space program and remote sensing ac-
tivities of Japan. In 1981, Welch was appointed to the Space
Program Advisory Panel of the Office of Technology Assess-
ment, U.S. Congress.
In 1984, Welch founded the Laboratory for Remote Sens-
ing and Mapping Science (LRMS), a research laboratory, and
served as its Director until his retirement in 2003 His exter-
nally-funded contracts and grants focused on research involv-
ing cartographic evaluation of remote sensing imagery, soil
erosion processes, hydrologic modeling and assessment of in-
vasive aquatic vegetation using photogrammetry, surveying,
remote sensing and GIS. In 1989, LRMS was elevated to the
status of a Center and renamed the Center for Remote Sens-
ing and Mapping Science (CRMS) In 1998, CRMS was named
a National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA)
Center of Excellence and his leadership resulted in over $5M
of externally funded grants from agencies including NASA,
USGS, National Science Foundation, National Park Service,
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, U.S. National Geospatial Intel-
ligence Agency, and the US Army Corps of Engineers, along
with numerous state agencies, non-profit organizations and
private companies.
Welch founded and was President of R-WEL, Inc., a compa-
ny that developed and marketed mapping software for small
computers. Dr. Welch was President of ASPRS in 1984 and
between 1992-1996 he served as President of Commission IV,
Mapping and Geographic Information Systems, International
Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS).
Welch is the author of more than 170 refereed publications
on sensor performance, image quality, mapping from satel-
lite image data, remote sensing and geographic information
system (GIS) applications He is a member of ASPRS, the
American Congress on Surveying and Mapping, Association
of American Geographers, British Photogrammetric Society,
and Society of Sigma Xi He has the distinction of being a
Fellow of both ASPRS (1995) and ISPRS (2010) and he re-
