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Lundahl-Finnie Lifetime Achievement Award

Press Release
USGIF Names Roberta “Bobbi” Lenczowski as the 2013 Arthur C. Lundahl - Thomas C. Finnie Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient
Thursday, April 17th 2014 | Tampa, FL
Read More About: geoint, usgif
USGIF Announces Renaming of Award

This morning, the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) announced Roberta “Bobbi” Lenczowski as the recipient of the USGIF Arthur C. Lundahl–Thomas C. Finnie Lifetime Achievement Award. She received her award this morning during the GEOINT 2013* Symposium general session. Lenczowski is the 10th and first female recipient of the award.

“Any lifetime achievement award evokes reflections, and there are many upfront and background facilitators to thank for their support,” said Lenczowski. “Such an important award could simply be a memorable way to conclude decades of endeavor. However, for me, this award is a reminder that we must continue to pay it forward as mentors and advocates, following the example of both Art Lundahl and Tom Finnie.”

Lenczowski is an independent geospatial information-intelligence consultant who spent 28 years in the public sector. She retired in 2005 from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), where she finished her NGA career as executive director of NGA Campus West in St. Louis. During her tenure in Washington, D.C., Lenczowski served three years as NGA’s technical executive, and was also director of operations with the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) for more than five years. She also served as president of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Currently, Lenczowski is serving her second appointment representing NGA on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing. Previously, she represented NGA on the Department of the Interior’s National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive Advisory Committee, and the Security Affairs Support Association.

The Lundahl-Finnie award recipient is nominated and voted on by the USGIF Board of Directors. Board members chose Lenczowski for inspiring the Global Geospatial Integrated Data Environment concept, which ultimately led to the standup of the Global Geospatial Integrated Product Team and creation of NIMA Production Cells—the first use of commercial-off-the-shelf workstations for the GEOINT mission. This accomplishment led to the Integrated Exploitation Capability. USGIF’s Board of Directors said Lenczowski continues to show dedication to the GEOINT Community and the furtherance of research and development around geospatial data management.

During the award presentation, former USGIF Chairman of the Board Stu Shea also announced the award’s renaming to include recognition of Thomas C. Finnie. This distinguished award now recognizes contributions made by both Arthur C. Lundahl and Thomas C. Finnie, and celebrates their accomplishments—in imagery analysis and mapping, respectively—and their legacy within the GEOINT Community.

“Geospatial intelligence was borne, not out of whole cloth, but by combining extant disciplines of imagery, imagery intelligence, and mapping, charting, and geodesy (MC&G) into a single, unified intelligence discipline,” Shea said. “Art Lundahl and Tom Finnie were both luminaries

Bill Finnie comments on his father being recognized in renaming of award.

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SkyTruth: Your Opportunity to Identify and Monitor Environmental Problems

NGAA’s board of directors has learned of a small nonprofit organization called SkyTruth that is using geospatial analysis techniques to identify and monitor environmental problems, both domestic and international. It uses crowd-sourcing to mobilize volunteer analysts to undertake specific projects. SkyTruth’s president, John Amos, selects projects that will help educate the public about the importance of energy efficiency and environmental protection. Projects undertaken have included drilling, mining, and other natural resource exploitation efforts such as monitoring for illegal fishing in internationally protected areas. SkyTruth provides small datasets of imagery and other geospatial information to participants and reviews and incorporates the results, which are made available to officials and the public.

SkyTruth was recently the subject of a very favorable article in the Washington Post Magazine. Amos and his small staff are located in Shepherdstown, WV.

This important effort may be a good opportunity for some of our members to volunteer their skills from home, as their time and schedule permit. John Amos says that SkyTruth needs experienced analysts who can manage projects as well as volunteer imagery analysts. You can learn more by visiting http://skytruth.org. 

Members who are interested may join the SkyTruth effort directly, using their website for contact information. Please identify yourselves as NGAA members and let the NGAA Board of Directors know about your decision; send an e-mail to the chairman at: robertedwards4098@charter.net