Jack Estes, Ph.D.

Dr. Jack Estes (1939-2001) was a Professor of Geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1969. His areas of specialization included: interpretation and analysis of remotely sensed data, use of geographic information systems (GISs), land use/land cover mapping and regional resource base determination and evaluation. Jack worked in both government, as an intelligence analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency, and industry, for the Science Services Division of Texas Instruments Incorporated. He also has served as Senior Visiting Scientist for the Universities Space Research Association working with the National Mapping Division of the USGS and the NASA Office of Mission to Planet Earth.

Dr. Estes conducted contract and grant research on both the fundamental and applied aspects of the use of remote sensing and GIS. This work included studies for NASA on land use/land cover identification, change detection, validation of land cover products, protected-areas mapping, crop identification, water demand modeling, and others. He worked with the U.S. Forest Service on fire fuels monitoring and modeling; the National Biological Survey on biodiversity protection and GAP analysis; and, the USGS and NOAA on the detection of marine oil pollution. Work conducted for other federal agencies such as the EPA, DOE, and DOD had emphasized hazard/pollution detection and resources management; while his work for NSF had emphasized GIS and Spatial Analysis. Dr. Estes lead the development of an agricultural information system for the Regione del Veneto, Italy.

Until his untimely death, Dr. Estes had been involved in global mapping issues. Jack was Chair of the International Steering Committee for Global Mapping (ISCGM). ISCGM members are drawn from major national mapping organization, international academic organizations and non governmental organizations around the world. Dr. Estes worked with the United Nations Environment Programme, United Nations Development Programme and United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization on improving the use of advance information systems technologies.

Dr. Estes served on a wide variety of national/international committees, including:

• Space Station Science Utilization Advisory Committee (NASA)
• Earth System Science and Applications Advisory Committee (NASA)
• Earth System Science and Applications Steering Committee (NASA)
• International Forum on Core Data Needs for Poverty Assessment in the Asia Pacific Region (UNDP)
• Socio-economic Distributed Active Archive of the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (CIESIN)
• Space Applications Board (NASA/NRC)
• Mapping Science Committee (NASA/NRC)
• Committee on Data Management and Computation (NASA/NRC)
• Committee on Planetary Biology and Chemical Evolution (NSF)
• Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics and Applications, National Research Council (NRC)

Jack consulted for a wide variety of organizations on remote sensing and geographic information systems topics. He had also served as an expert witness in litigation involving the analysis and interpretation of remotely sensed data. Organizations with which he consulted included: Texaco Incorporated, McDonnell Douglas-Aeronautics Division, Earth Satellite Corporation, National Geographic Society, NASA-Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Oceanographic Services Incorporated, General Electric, Goodyear Aerospace Corporation, Science Applications International Corporation, World Bank, US Justice Department, and Environmental Research Institute of Michigan.

Numerous honors and awards were bestowed on Jack because of his major contributions to geography, academia, and science. These included:

1. The Remote Sensing Medal (AAG)
2. National Merit Teachers Award (NCGE)
3. ASPRS Fellow (ASPRS)
4. Presidential Citation for Meritorious Service (ASPRS)
5. Ford Bartlett Award (ASPRS)
6. Certificate of Appreciation for Outstanding Service (NRC)
7. Commendation for Contributions to Mission to Planet Earth (NASA)
8. Rotary International Stellar Achievement Award (NASA)

All of us at the AAG-RSSG miss Jack deeply. Besides his family, his loss is deeply felt by his colleagues, friends, and students. He will be remembered as a great leader of the remote sensing discipline and as a friend.