Conflict Ecology Lab

Our next guest is has appeared on CNN:

…twice.

BBC:

Democracy Now:

…and with Amnesty International:

As such he is possibly the remote sensing field’s most successful and prolific media personality. This is Jamon Van Den Hoek, lead of Oregon State University’s Conflict Ecology Lab. Not only has he made these TV appearances, his lab has also driven high profile newspaper coverage of well known disasters such as the LA Fires at the beginning of the year in The Financial Times and The Guardian:

Los Angeles fires: the damage in maps, video and images (The Guardian).

So it was absolutely amazing to have an hour of his time to understand how an academic lab does remote sensing for war and disaster monitoring. There is so much to say here. We can look at the recognition Jamon has achieved personally with media organisations. He is an example of a possible future for anyone in the industry. We need more with that aspiration. Then there is what Jamon has achieved in terms of inserting technical detail about the capabilities of radar satellites into news broadcasting. Having TV presenters dutifully trying not to stumble through introducing him and these complex concepts is somehow delightful.

We need more of the might and power of news media aimed at the public understanding of spatial science.

Jamon also spoke about the emotional toll. Spending months at a time constantly monitoring satellite imagery for warzone building damage, or evidence of tank tracks, can be difficult. I was glad to have the chance to cover the personal side of this kind of work with him.

At this point I can say we have made great progress getting episodes with several of the heroes of my post in January:

We have done:

Direct Relief on the LA Fires

Development Seed on the LA Fires

Iceye

Lucius on the Humanitarian Satellite Data Problem

Nearmap

Q&A with Ursa Space CEO Adam Maher

Believe it or not, though, there is one more. I was not aware of the great work done by Blackshark.ai on the LA Fires until I interviewed them. So stay tuned for the next episode to finally close out our coverage of this disaster.

Once again, similar to the episode with Nelson Roque, Jamon Van Den Hoek is demonstrating what a good university professor does - public outreach to inspire us all with a focus on benefiting the vulnerable. Thanks Jamon.