George W. Goddard Award 2015

SPIE Senior Member Grady Tuell, associate director of the Electro-Optical Systems Lab (EOSL) at Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), was presented with the 2015 SPIE George W. Goddard Award at SPIE DSS in April.

SPIE presents the George W. Goddard Award annually in recognition of exceptional achievement in optical or photonic instrumentation for aerospace, atmospheric science, or astronomy.

The award recognizes Tuell’s foundational research and development in bathymetric lidar and data fusion, and his work in further advancing airborne lidar remote sensing in other ways, including real-time calculation of total propagated positioning error. His contributions span from algorithms to commercial airborne systems.

Before coming to Georgia Tech, Tuell cofounded Optech International, a subsidiary of Toronto-based Optech Inc., and oversaw the evolution of Optech’s bathymetric lidar technologies. At Optech, he transformed airborne bathymetric lidar from a depth-measuring technique to true environmental mapping and imaging of the sea floor.

In the course of that work, he pioneered the technique of fusing hyperspectral-image data with lidar data to yield a whole new suite of data products. His visionary work resulted in a commercial instrument, the Coastal Zone Mapping and Imaging Lidar, which is now being manufactured and flown.

Tuell previously served 20 years as a commissioned officer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) where he managed all R&D efforts associated with the adoption of new technologies into NOAA’s coastal-mapping efforts.

He was recognized with the US Department of Commerce Gold Medal for introducing imaging spectroscopy, lidar, and synthetic aperture radar into NOAA’s nautical charting program.

Tuell has served on the organizing committee for the SPIE conference on algorithms and technologies for multispectral, hyperspectral, and ultraspectral imagery.

SPIE presents several annual awards that recognize individual and team technical accomplishments in optics and photonics and for service to the Society.

Nominations for 2016 may be submitted to SPIE through 1 July 2015 for the Britton Chance Biomedical Optics Award and the Biophotonics Technology Innovator Award and by 1 October 2015 for all other SPIE awards.

Nominations remain active for three years from the submission date, except for the SPIE Early Career Achievement Award and the Joseph W. Goodman Book Writing Award.

Nomination forms must be accompanied by:

• Citation stating the accomplishments of nominee
• Description of the significant aspects of nominee’s career
• Candidate’s curriculum vitae listing educational background, positions held, publications, awards, honors, activities, and offices held within SPIE
• At least two letters of reference, not from the nominator

Learn more about SPIE awards.

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