On Dec. 18, 2023, the International Center for Innovation in Geospatial Analytics and Earth Observation (Geo Center), on behalf of the Department of Geographical Sciences (GEOG), hosted a delegation from the Vietnam National University of Engineering and Technology (VNUET) to strengthen their ongoing collaboration in education and research.

As part of the USAID CARPE program and with the support of the World Bank, the Global Land Analysis and Discovery

Associate Professor Sergii Skakun and faculty specialist Erik Duncan recently visited the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) to participate in GICHD Innovation Conference 2023, November 14 -16 2023. The GIHCD "works towards reducing risk to commu­nities caused by explosive ordnance, with a focus on landmines, cluster munitions and ammunition stockpiles."

GEO Week Ministerial Summit 2023, held from November 6-10 in Cape Town, South Africa, was a pivotal gathering for 115 member governments, and 152 participating organizations including participants from the International GEO Center. The summit highlighted the collaborative ethos that defines the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), uniting more than 100 national governments and numerous organizations.

The Global Land Programme (GLP) will hold their 5th Open Science Meeting (OSM) in Oaxaca, Mexico in November 2024. The GLP is a global interdisciplinary network of science and practice, working to foster understanding of land systems and the next generation of science-based solutions for local- to global-scale challenges.

OSM5 Call for Sessions is now OPEN and the deadline for session submissions is December, 10 2023.

International GEO Innovation Center participants, Prof. Chris Justice and Adjunct Prof. Krishna Vadrevu, are helping with the organization of an international open meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam, to facilitate discussions on Land Cover Land Use Change (LCLUC) and its impacts, focusing regionally on Southeast Asian countries and develop international cooperation. 

In recognition of her extensive research leveraging Earth observation data and machine learning to improve food security and agricultural livelihoods across regions of Africa, Assistant Professor Catherine Nakalembe of the Department of Geographical Sciences was awarded the 2022 Al-Sumait Prize for African Development.

The award was established in 2013 by the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences. 

A delegation of five visitors from the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, Agricultural Research Center and the Climate Change Information Center met with Chris Justice, Xiaopeng Song and graduate students Walid Ouaret and Sheila Baber to exchange information on the NASA Harvest, GLAD  and the NASA Acres Programs.

Xiangjie Chen, a Ph.D.

The International Geo-Innovation Center hosted a Joint Workshop to Develop Community Good Practices for Validating Cropland and Crop Type Maps in Beltsville, MD from Sep 12-14, 2023.