The Remote Sensing for Human Rights Advisory Panel was formed in 2012 by the Geospatial Technologies and Human Rights Project (GTHR). The purpose of the panel is to advise GTHR in relation to the Oak Foundation-funded project, Remote Sensing for Human Rights. The members of the advisory panel were chosen for their expertise and breadth of experience in fields related to the objectives of the RSHR Project. The expertise of the panel spans a range of project-related topics, including human rights, techniques of remote sensing, geography, and international human rights law.
Advisory Panel Members
Lars Bromley
Mark Friedl
Barry Haack
Matthew Hansen
John Hutson
Margaret Kalacska
Natalie Mahowald
Martin Pratt
Delissa Ridgway
William Schabas
Michael Scharf
Dan Sui
Patrick Vinck
Member Biographies
Lars Bromley
Geospatial Analyst
UNOSAT
Lars Bromley helps develop human security and rights monitoring at the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT). He was previously Project Director with the Science and Human Rights Program, leading the project on geospatial technologies and human rights. He has extensive experience managing projects that apply remote sensing, satellite imagery, GIS, and related tools to large scale human rights violations and threats to human security.
Mark Friedl
Professor, Department of Earth and Environment
Boston University
Mark Friedl’s research uses remote sensing to examine biogeophysical patterns and processes at the Earth’s surface. He is a member of the MODIS science team, and currently directs the Land Cover Surface Climate Group, which maps global land cover and land cover change using remote sensing at a variety of scales, monitoring and modeling dynamics in phenology and related ecosystem processes, and using remote sensing to characterize the distribution and dynamics of human dominated ecosystems.
Barry Haack
Professor, Department of Geography and GeoInformation Science
George Mason University
Barry Haack has expertise spanning the domains of physical geography, remote sensing, resource assessment, environmental studies, and research concerning developing countries. He is the author of numerous peer-reviewed publications on subjects ranging from the use of radar and optical data to map land use / land cover to crop rotation patterns, to urban growth and analysis modeling. In addition to his research activities, he teaches courses in physical geography, satellite image analysis, and remote sensing.
Matthew Hansen
Professor, Department of Geography
University of Maryland
Matt Hansen’s research is focused on developing improved algorithms, data inputs and thematic outputs which enable the mapping of land cover change at regional, continental and global scales. His work as an Associate Team Member of NASA’s MODIS Land Science Team included the algorithmic development and product delivery of the MODIS Vegetation Continuous Field land cover layers. His current research includes taking the global processing model for MODIS and applying it to the Landsat archive, as well as improving global cropland monitoring capabilities.
John Hutson
Director of Communications
ENOUGH Project
John Hutson is responsible for leading media relations and strategic communications efforts for the Enough Project. In 2010, Jonathan led successful negotiations to launch the Satellite Sentinel Project (SSP), which blends technology, human rights advocacy, and field research to deter full-scale war between Sudan and South Sudan, and to promote greater accountability for mass atrocities committed there by any party. Prior to joining Enough, Hutson served as Chief Communications Officer at Physicians for Human Rights.
Margaret Kalacska
Assistant Professor, Department of Geography
McGill University
Margaret Kalacska’s research interests include ecological and forensic applications of remote sensing, hyperspectral data analysis, machine learning, spatial modeling and tropical ecology. She is active in several projects, including work estimating of vegetation characteristics from hyperspectral data, detecting clandestine graves, using remote sensing for border security, applying remote sensing to ecosystem health analyzing long-wave infrared hyperspectral images, and developing high performance computing for remote sensing.
Natalie Mahowald
Professor, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
Cornell University
Natalie Mahowald’s research has focused on characterizing and understanding global and regional variability of desert dust (mineral aerosols) during the last 20,000 years and human impacts on desert dust and understanding how iron in the desert dust becomes bioavailable to ocean biota and may impact the ocean carbon cycle. In addition, she works on the variability and impact of other “natural ” aerosols and how humans may be impacted by these aerosols. Previously, Mahowald worked at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, CO.
Martin Pratt
Director of Research, IBRU (International Boundaries Research Unit), Department of Geography
Durham University
Martin Pratt studied Geography at Durham University and International Relations at the University of Chicago before joining the International Boundaries Research Unit in 1994. He specialises in the analysis of sovereignty and jurisdictional disputes and has advised governments, law firms, oil companies and publishers on more than fifty international boundary disputes. He is currently IBRU’s Director of Research and an adviser to the Task Force on International Boundaries of the United Nations Geographic Information Working Group.
Delissa Ridgway
Judge of the U.S. Court of International Trade
Delissa Ridgway served as Chair of the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the U.S., an independent quasi-judicial agency within the U.S. Department of Justice, serving as both the administrative head of the agency and the president of the three-member international tribunal. Prior to her appointment to the FCSC, she was a member of the International Practice Group at Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge in Washington, D.C. She is an authority in the areas of international commercial law, international transactions and international commercial arbitration/litigation.
William Schabas
Chairman of the Irish Centre for Human Rights, National University of Ireland, Galway
Associate Professor, University of Middlesex
William Schabas is the author of twenty-one books dealing in whole or in part with international human rights law, including The International Criminal Court: A Commentary on the Rome Statute, Introduction to the International Criminal Court, Genocide in International Law. He received the Certificate of Merit of the American Society of International Law at its 2007 Annual Meeting for his book The UN International Criminal Tribunals: Former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. He has also published some 300 articles in academic journals, principally in the field of international human rights law and international criminal law.
Michael Scharf
Professor of Law and Director of the Frederick K. Cox International Law Center
Case Western Reserve University
Michael Scharf served as a member of the international team of experts which provided training to the judges and prosecutors of the Iraqi Special Tribunal. Professor Scharf and the Public International Law and Policy Group were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 for their work in the prosecution of major war criminals. He is the author of over fifty scholarly articles and seven books, including Balkan Justice, which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 1998, The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Peace with Justice, and casebooks on The Law of International Organizations and International Criminal Law.
Dan Sui
Chair, Department of Geography
Ohio State University
Dan Sui’s current research focuses on four areas: 1. GIS-based spatial analysis and synthesis for urban, environmental, and public health applications; 2. Volunteered geographic information and the use of social media as a new data source for geographic research; 3. Legal and ethical issues of using geospatial technologies in society; 4. Coupling of human and natural systems and security implications of climate change. He recently co-edited the book Crowdsourcing Geographic Knowledge: Volunteered Geographic Information in Theory and Practice.
Patrick Vinck
Research Scientist, Harvard School of Public Health
Associate Faculty, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative
Patrick Vinck directed and co-founded the Initiative for Vulnerable Populations at UC Berkeley’s Human Rights Center, where he focused on managing and implementing empirical studies on the process of social reconstruction in countries affected by mass violence. Vinck also-cofounded KoBo, a digital data collection project to advance human rights research. He serves as a member on the AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility; an Adjunct Associate Professor at Tulane University’s Payson Center for International Development; and a regular consultant on vulnerability analysis to the United Nations World Food Programme.
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