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REMOTE SENSING INSTRUCTION 
Remote sensing instruction is centered in the Environmental Monitoring Program, an interdisciplinary 
graduate program in remote sensing and geographic information systems administered by the Institute 
lor Environmental Studies (IES). Students in other departments (e.g., Civil and Environmental 
Engineering and Forestry) can also emphasize remote sensing in their graduate programs. Courses 
offered range from introductory photogrammetry, photo interpretation, and remote sensing courses to 
hands-on digital image processing courses and courses dealing with computer algorithms for digital image 
processing. Graduate students conduct remote sensing research through individual departments and the 
Environmental Remote Sensing Center, an IES research center. 
IES was established on our campus in 1970 as an interdisciplinary unit that combines environmental 
instruction with a comprehensive research program. The teaching staff of more than 60 faculty has ties 
with about 25 departments on campus. Research participants, both faculty and students, come from most 
of the major academic units on campus. IES offers an undergraduate certificate program in environmen 
tal studies (with an enrollment of more than 100 students) and administers graduate programs in 
Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development (M.S.), Environmental Monitoring (M.S. and Ph.D.), 
Land Resources (M.S. and Ph.D.), V/ater Resources Management (M.S.), and a master’s-level curriculum 
in Energy Analysis and Policy. More than 200 students are enrolled in the IES graduate programs. 
The Environmental Monitoring Program, initiated in 1977, has a typical enrollment of 20 graduate 
students (both M.S. and Ph.D. candidates). The program focuses on the use of remote sensing 
technology to expedite the continuous inventory and monitoring of natural resources and environmental 
conditions. Data collection from airborne and satellite platforms is emphasized, as is data analysis in the 
form of both computer-assisted image interpretation and visual interpretation. Also of concern is the 
organization, presentation, and communication of these data in a meaningful form to a wide variety of 
users. This involves consideration of the characteristics of applicable technology including physical, 
organizational, and economic limitations; characteristics of the desired data including definition, 
resolution, and distribution; and characteristics of the institutional and individual users. The program 
is based on the premise that the development of efficient and integrative monitoring systems is crucial 
if society is to have effective methods for resource management and environmental protection 
throughout the local to global continuum. 
The university enhances the program by offering many high-quality instructional and research resources 
in fields supporting remote sensing. For example, photogrammetry and geopositioning courses are 
offered by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, cartography courses are taught in 
the Department of Geography, and GIS courses are taught in IES and the Departments of Civil and 
Environmental Engineering, Geography, Landscape Architecture, and Soil Science. In addition to a 
substantial amount of instruction on technique, the university offers an array of courses dealing with the 
natural resources observed by remote sensing and/or concerned with the institutional structures within 
which remote sensing data are used. Our campus also offers various courses dealing with earth system 
science, landscape ecology, and global change. Students are encouraged to draw on this broad spectrum 
of instructional resources in the design of their individual programs. 
The program emphasizes the application of remote sensing technology to natural resource management 
problems and environmental monitoring. Though the program is broadly based, it is not our objective 
to educate remote sensing "generalists." We require that our students demonstrate competence in a 
discipline first, and remote sensing second. We perceive remote sensing as an increasingly sophisticated 
and powerful tool, but as a means to an end, not an end in itself. Accordingly, students enter this 
interdisciplinary program with depth in a discipline. Normally, this is in one of the natural science or 
engineering fields, but physical planning and/or design fields such as landscape architecture or urban and 
regional planning also provide an appropriate disciplinary background.