Thomas M. Lillesand: ASPRS Honorary Member

I used his books when I was still doing my Masters degree. Thomas M. Lillesand is deserving of this recognition from ASPRS.

Thomas M. Lillesand will be the next Honorary Member of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS). His nomination was approved by the ASPRS Board of Directors at their recent meeting in Denver, Colorado. The highest award an ASPRS member can receive, there are only 25 living Honorary Members of the Society at any given time. Candidates are chosen by a Nominating Committee made up of the past five recipients of the award and chaired by the most recent recipient. Roger Hoffer served as chair of the current committee.

Initiated in 1937, this life-time award is given in recognition of individuals who have rendered distinguished service to ASPRS and/or who have attained distinction in advancing the science and use of the geospatial information sciences. It is awarded for professional excellence and for at least 20 years of service to ASPRS. Lillesand, who has been a member of ASPRS since 1969, will receive the award in 2009.

Thomas M. Lillesand is a Professor Emeritus of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, the Department of Forest Ecology and Management, and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison. He obtained his formal education in Civil Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (BS, 1969; MS, 1970; PhD, 1973). He began his career as a remote sensing educator in 1973 as a faculty member at the State University of New York (SUNY/Syracuse) College of Environmental Science and Forestry. From 1978-1982, he taught at the University of Minnesota and directed that university’s Remote Sensing Laboratory. He joined the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1982 and was the director of Wisconsin’s Environmental Remote Sensing Center (ERSC). For many years he chaired UW-Madison’s Environmental Monitoring Graduate Program.