The recent Appalachian Remote Sensing Conference, sponsored by the West Virginia View remote sensing consortium, was a great success. A total of 80 people attended, including remote sensing scientists, applications professionals, and students, from West Virginia, North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Washington DC. Participants in the conference came from federal, state and local agencies, as well as the neighboring colleges and businesses. 27 papers were presented, including 6 poster presentations and 21 oral presentations. Dr. Kam Lulla, of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, gave the keynote address on “Remote Sensing and geospatial sciences in service of society.” Presentations by participants focused on remote sensing research, applications and education, with papers covering topics ranging from change detection to high resolution imaging and lidar.

Kamlesh Lulla, Chief Scientist for Earth Observations at NASA Johnson Space Center presented a miniature State of West Virginia Flag to M. Duane Nellis, Dean of WVU's Eberly College of Arts and Sciences in recognition of WVU's dedication to excellence in education, at the Appalachian Remote Sensing Conference. The Flag was carried onboard the Space Shuttle Endeavors space flight (STS 113), which was the last mission prior to the Space Shuttle disaster. WVU is recognized nationally for its outstanding program in geographic information science and remote sensing.