IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - March 2020 - 161

this domain, and today many industries are encouraged
to use the tools in their businesses. The government uses
a variety of these technologies for agriculture, forest cover
analysis, irrigation, building planning, transportation,
and many other applications [2], [3].
The main thrust toward research on remote sensing in
India was inaugurated in Kolkata by the late Prof. Sisir Kumar Mitra [4]. In 1925, when Kolkata was called Calcutta
and India was under British rule, a wireless laboratory was
set up at the physics department of Calcutta University. For
this reason, Kolkata has been a historically significant place
in India in terms of carrying out the activities of geoscience
and remote sensing.
GEOGRAPHICAL SPREAD
The Chapter headquarters is situated at Kolkata, West Bengal; however, the region that this Chapter includes is vast
(Figure 2). It encompasses 13 Indian provinces: Arunachal
Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Manipur,
Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Sikkim, Tripura,
and West Bengal. This geographical spread is reflected in
the diversity of members of the Chapter. Although it initially started with only 15 members, the membership base
has since increased fourfold. Presently, there are 69 members in total, with 10 senior members, 32 members, and 27
student members.
STUDENT CHAPTERS
The Chapter not only promotes research across the region
but also aims to bring together interested young researchers. Recently, the Chapter aided in the creation of two Student Branch Chapters, located at the Netaji Subhash Engineering College, Kolkata, and the Sikkim Manipal Institute
of Technology, Sikkim.
We were fortunate to attract more than 12 IEEE GRSS
members, senior members, or fellows to these Student
Chapter, which are making dynamic investments in each
GRSS field. Student Chapters like these aim at providing novel opportunities to share knowledge by tutoring
and holding conferences and meetings revolving around
common research interests. They offer help both inside
the student network and to nearby networks outside academia, such as industries and the government.
ACHIEVEMENTS
The GRSS Kolkata Chapter was quite successful during 2017-
2018. We received monetary support of US$8,200 in 2017
and US$15,000 in 2018 for our activities. Also, the Sikkim
Manipal Institute of Technology Student Chapter claimed
the GRSS Student Grand Challenge Award in 2018 with a
financial prize of US$6,000.
In addition, the GRSS Kolkata Chapter was selected as
the nodal Chapter for the International Workshop on Advanced Machine Learning Techniques for Climate Informatics (CHAPNET) for both 2018 and 2019. This is an international collaboration among several Chapters from different
MARCH 2020

IEEE GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING MAGAZINE

countries. The theme of CHAPNET 2018 was Remotely
Sensed Big Data Analytics and Mining. The Kolkata Chapter was the leader among others who participated in this
event, including the Benelux,
Western New York, Bombay,
Hyderabad, and Brazil ChapINDIA LAUNCHED ITS FIRST
ters. CHAPNET 2019 was also
REMOTE SENSING
led by the Kolkata Chapter
SATELLITE, IRS-1A, AT
and hosted by the Indian StaBAIKONUR ON 17 MARCH
tistical Institute, Kolkata. The
1988, AND, FROM THEN
other participants were the
ONWARD, THERE WAS NO
Benelux, Western New York,
TURNING BACK.
Bombay, Hyderabad, and Singapore Chapters.
The biggest achievement
for the GRSS Kolkata Chapter was to receive the Chapter
Excellence Award and a Regional Leader Award in 2019
(Figures 3 and 4). These special awards given to advance
and mark noteworthy success for the growth of a Chapter were presented to Prof. Ghosh during the GRSS International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium
(IGARSS) held at Yokohama, Japan, 28 July-2 August
2019 (Figure 5). Prof. Ghosh also received an award for
his significant contributions and service toward the advancement of the IEEE and the engineering professions.
CHAPTER ACTIVITIES
The Chapter has conducted numerous outreach programs
over different parts of its geographical area to promote
the GRSS. We organized seminars and hosted workshops

Kolkata

FIGURE 2. The geographical spread of the GRSS Kolkata Chapter.

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IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - March 2020

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