IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - September 2022 - 327

(a)
(b)
FIGURE 14. GRSS Fawaz Ulaby Distinguished Achievement Award recipient Dr. William Emery. (a) A prerecorded video presented at the
awards ceremony. (b) The award at Dr. Emery's home.
Award from the National Audubon Society. She received a
bachelor's degree in AI with honors from Brown University
and a master's degree from Stanford University.
GRSS DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
The Distinguished Achievement Award was established to
recognize an individual who has made significant technical
contributions within the scope of GRSS, usually over a
sustained period. In selecting the winners, the factors including
the quality, significance, and impact of nominees'
contributions; contribution quantity; activity duration;
papers published in archival journals; papers presented at
conferences and symposia; patents; and advancement of
the profession are considered. IEEE membership is preferable,
but not required. The award is considered annually and
presented only if a suitable candidate is identified. Awardees
receive a plaque and a certificate.
The 2022 GRSS Distinguished Achievement Award was
presented to Prof. William J. Emery with the citation, " For
contributions to the remote sensing of sea surface temperature,
sea ice, and vegetation and remote sensing education "
(Figure 14). Emery received his Ph.D. degree in physical
oceanography from the University of Hawaii, Honolulu,
HI, USA, in 1975. After working at Texas A&M University,
College Station, TX, USA, he moved to the University of
British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, in 1978, where
he created a satellite oceanography facility/education/research
program. In 1987, he was appointed professor of
aerospace engineering sciences with the University of Colorado,
Boulder, CO, USA. He is an adjunct professor of informatics
with Tor Vergata University, Rome, Italy.
Emery is the author of more than 210 refereed publications
on both ocean and land remote sensing and six textbooks.
He is the vice president for publications of the GRSS
and a member of the IEEE Periodicals Committee. He
received the GRSS Educational Award in 2004 and GRSS
Outstanding Service Award in 2009. He is a Fellow of the
American Meteorological Society (2010), the American Astronautical
Society (2011), and the American Geophysical
Union (2012). He received the GRSS Fawaz Ulaby Distinguished
Achievement Award for 2022 and was elected to
the IEEE Technical Activities Board Hall of Honor in 2021.
SEPTEMBER 2022 IEEE GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING MAGAZINE
WELCOME ADDRESSES AT THE
OPENING CEREMONY
The opening ceremony of IGARSS 2022 was held on
18 July 2022, with the national anthem of Malaysia and a ceremonial
Doa recital, which blessed the event. During the welcome
address, Ir. Academician Emeritus Prof. Tan Sri Dato'
Dr. Chuah Hean Teik, IGARSS 2022 general chair, expressed
his joy for being able to hold a physical symposium after winning
the bid in 2018 in Valencia, now with more than 580 attendants
in person and more than 2,500 virtual participants
[Figure 16(a)]. He encouraged participants to not only attend
the technical sessions but also to visit heritage sites of Malaysia.
These are closely related to remote sensing, as they need
protection to be preserved for future generations.
Prof. Hean Teik drew the attention to the impacts of
climate change visible and known to everyone. To tackle
these global challenges, the IEEE Board of Directors set up
an IEEE Climate Change Committee, which will benefit
significantly from the inputs of GRSS on topics such as EO,
natural resources, disaster monitoring, and risk assessment.
IGARSS 2022, with its theme " Preserving Our Heritage,
Enabling Our Future Through Remote Sensing, " included a
variety of programs highly related to global climate change
while focusing on the observation and modeling of the
FIGURE 15. A group photo at the end of the major awards ceremony:
(from left) Dr. David Kunkee, GRSS president; Dr. Rebecca
Moore; Prof. Akira Hirose; Dr. Shiv Mohan; and Prof. Alberto
Moreira, GRSS major awards chair.
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