Two MSU Graduate Students Selected for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society International Student Prize Paper Competition

September 8, 2003

Starkville - The IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society held its annual International Student Prize Paper Competition and selected 9 finalists to orally present their papers in Toulouse, France. The final round of the competition was held on July 22, at the society's annual meeting, the 2003 IGARSS. Two graduate students from MSU's Electrical and Computer Engineering Department were selected as finalists in the competition. These students were Abhinav Mathur and Vinod Ramnath, advised by Dr. Lori Mann Bruce and Dr. Roger King, Associate Professor and Giles Distinguished Professor, respectively, in Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Both graduate students were funded on projects through the GeoResources Institute, where Dr. Bruce is a faculty member, and Dr. King is Associate Director for Research. The GeoResources Institute's objective is to maximize information utilized from remote sensing and other geospatial technologies for socio-economic benefits through a coordinated approach to research and educational project development. In addition to the two students in the Prize Paper Competition, the GeoResources Institute has several other students and faculty participate with regular papers.

Each student finalist in the competition was awarded a travel grant from the IEEE Society such that they could present their papers in France. Only 9 students were selected in the international competition, of which 4 were from the USA (2 students from MSU, 1 from University of Michigan, 1 from University of Massachusetts) and 5 were from other countries (England, Italy, Australia and China). Attendance at this year's IGARSS was approximately 1,500 people.