IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - September 2019 - 133

CHAPTERS
EMMETT IENTILUCCI

GRSS Western New York Chapter
Status and Activities 2017-2019

he Western New York (WNY) Chapter of the IEEE
Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS) has
hosted a number of important activities since 2017. Following are a brief history of our Chapter and descriptions of some of our more recent functions.
GRSS WNY CHAPTER HISTORY
The GRSS WNY Chapter was officially inaugurated
on 27 May 2007 by Dr. John Kerekes of the Rochester
Institute of Technology (RIT), New York. The Chapter spans the five Sections of IEEE Region 1, Area D,
including Binghamton, Buffalo, Ithaca, Rochester,
and Syracuse, with Rochester ser ving as the parent Section.
Formed in response to growing remote sensing activity in both industry and academia, the Chapter's goals
include providing opportunities for networking and
information sharing through technical presentations at
Chapter meetings, as well as raising the visibility of the
GRSS within the our local community. In the 11 years
since the Chapter's inception, we have held numerous
technical meetings, including our latest annual endeavor-a workshop on unmanned aerial systems (UASs),
which is discussed later in this column.
2017-2019 OFFICERS
The WNY Chapter officers for 2017-2019 are as follows:
◗ Chapter chair: Emmett Ientilucci, RIT
◗ Chapter vice chair: Sildomar Monteiro, RIT
◗ Chapter secretary: John Kerekes, RIT
◗ Buffalo Section coordinator: Bea Csatho, University
of Buffalo
◗ Ithaca Section coordinator: Bill Philpot, Cornell University

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MGRS.2019.2928931
Date of publication: 23 September 2019

SEPTEMBER 2019

IEEE GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING MAGAZINE

◗ Syracuse Section coordinator: Jay Kyoon Lee, Syra-

cuse University
◗ Binghamton Section coordinator: open.
The Chapter chair is elected by the membership, while Section coordinator positions are appointed by the chair. Due to the large geographic
distance covered by the Chapter, we have found
the Section coordinator positions to be helpful in
staying in touch with local members and arranging meeting logistics.
2017-2018 MEMBERSHIP AND
MEETING PROMOTION
During 2017-2018, the Chapter had 21 members: four
students, 10 regular members, five IEEE Senior Members, and two IEEE Life Members. We regularly promote
activities through the IEEE Rochester Section Newsletter,
Rochester Engineer (published by the Rochester Engineering Society) and the GRSS WNY website.
2017-2019 TECHNICAL MEETINGS
Nine formal GRSS WNY Chapter meetings were held
during 2017-2019. The Chapter hosted the speakers for
dinner afterward; funds for these expenses were provided by the IEEE Rochester Section. Following are details
of each meeting.
◗ 25-27 February 2019: "2019 Systems and Technologies for Remote Sensing Applications Through Unmanned Aerial Systems (STRATUS) Workshop,"
Dr. Emmett Ientilucci, general workshop chair. The
workshop addressed many emerging topics in the
field of remote sensing and UASs and was attended
by 10 IEEE Members and 110 guests.
◗ 14 November 2018: "All-Sky Imaging of Skylight Polarization," by Dr. Joe Shaw, professor and director of
the Optical Technology Center, Montana State University, Bozeman. The meeting was held on the RIT
campus, in conjunction with the Center for Imaging
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IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - September 2019

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