IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - March 2021 - 14

program in space-based and airborne remote sensing. Her
research interests focus on advanced methods for image
analysis, including dimensionality reduction, active learning, deep learning for classification and prediction, and
the applications of these methods to hyperspectral and
lidar data. She is currently coleading joint initiatives be-

FIGURE 9. Melba M. Crawford, recipient of the 2020 GRSS Out-

standing Service Award.

FIGURE 10. Yu Okada, recipient of the 2020 GRSS Industry Leader

Award.
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tween the Purdue Colleges of Agriculture and Engineering
in the development of advanced sensing technologies, data
acquisition and analysis, and predictive modeling for plantbreeding pipelines and for forest health.
Crawford is a Fellow of IEEE, past president of the
GRSS, a past IEEE GRSS Distinguished Lecturer, and the
current treasurer of the IEEE Technical Activities Board.
She was a member of the NASA EO-1 Science Validation
team and served on the NASA Earth System Science and
Applications Advisory Committee and on the advisory
committee to the NASA Socioeconomic Applications and
Data Center.
GRSS INDUSTRY LEADER AWARD
The GRSS Industry Leader Award was established to recognize an individual who has made significant contributions
to the industrial and/or commercial remote sensing discipline over a sustained period. Individuals are considered if
they 1) are a GRSS member, 2) contribute to remote sensing
system engineering, science, and/or technology, 3) contribute to the dissemination and commercialization of remote
sensing products, and 4) demonstrate leadership to promote remote sensing science and technology. The selection
criteria are significance, quality and impact of activities and
contributions, and achievements. The award is presented
annually if a qualified candidate can be identified.
The 2020 GRSS Industry Leader Award was presented to
Dr. Yu Okada (Figure 10) from Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Japan, with the citation " in recognition of contributions
to the hardware design of PALSAR-2 onboard and ALOS-2. "
Okada received his B.S. degree in physics from Kyoto University, Japan, in 2000 and his master's degree in physics and
Ph.D. degree in observational study of astrophysics from the
University of Tokyo, Japan, in 2002 and 2005, respectively.
He joined Mitsubishi Electric Corporation in 2005 and developed Ku-/X-band airborne and spaceborne SAR systems,
such as ALOS-2, ASNARO-2, and ALOS-4.
Okada has contributed to the system design of SAR,
hardware developments, algorithm development of SAR
data compression, and signal processing for SAR raw
and image data. His expertise in SAR system design has
contributed significantly toward implementing Japanese
SARs: the ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 X-band SAR mission system
onboard ASNARO-2. He also contributed to the design of
a basic concept and system architecture of the ALOS-4 in
carrying the PALSAR-3 with highly improved sensor systems performances.
For ALOS-2/PALSAR-2, Okada supported the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) from the early conceptstudy phase-up to the final in-orbit calibration. As the development leader of PALSAR-2, he introduced state-of-the-art
technologies, such as the first gallium nitride high-power
amplifier in space, an SAR antenna with excellent polarimetric isolation (>30 dB), a novel algorithm for SAR raw
data compression, and the dual-receiving channel system
for wide swath (>50 km) with high resolution (<3 m). Okada
IEEE GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING MAGAZINE

MARCH 2021

IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - March 2021

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