Shimon Wdowinski - University of Miami

Candidacy Statement

UNAVCO is a very successful organization that has generated an enormous contribution to geodetic research. It started as a small support facility for GPS campaign operation and had successfully transformed into a large organization that manages two very large projects, PBO and GeoEarthScope. In order to deploy hundreds permanent GPS stations, tiltmeters and seismic stations, UNAVCO expended fast within a relatively short time. Now that the geodetic equipment deployment stage is almost over, UNAVCO need to re-adjust itself and re-define its role as the leading organization supporting geodetic research in the US. The obvious future role of UNAVCO is operation and maintenance of the PBO field equipment and the data processing centers. However, should UNAVCO limit itself only to this role, or should it expand in other directions? The GeoEarthScope project, which supports other geodetic technologies, provides interesting avenues for possible expansion of UNAVCO and overall geodetic research. Thus, the upcoming two years are critical in defining the long-term role of UNAVCO and securing the funding for that.

As an active geodetic researcher for almost two decades with experience in both GPS and InSAR, I would like to contribute to UNAVCO by serving on its Board of Directors. My GPS experience includes building and maintaining a permanent GPS network (in Israel), data archiving, as well as data processing and interpretation. This experience can be very useful supervising PBO field operation and the data archiving and processing centers. My InSAR research is mainly devoted to non-tectonic applications of land subsidence and to the development of the “wetland InSAR” application. This experience can be useful supervising the GeoEarthScope project and developing possible new geodetic activities for UNAVCO. Another area that I see myself contributing to UNAVCO is Education & Outreach. I think geodesy is underrepresented in the general Earth science colloquium (undergraduate level) and would like to change this. I also think that our excellent geodetic research should be exposed, recognized, and acknowledged well beyond our small geodetic community.  In summary, my knowledge and experience as researcher and educator can contribute UNAVCO in supervising current research activities (PBO), developing new geodetic activities (GeoEarthScope), and exposing our state-of-the-art research to larger audiences (E&O).

Education

Appointments

Research Interests

Space Geodesy (GPS and InSAR), Remote sensing, Global tectonics, Regional tectonics (Southern California, Eastern Mediterranean, and Andes), Earthquakes, Crustal deformation, GPS time series, Land subsidence, Space-based hydrology, Wetland hydrology, Sea level changes, Finite Element Modeling.

Scientific Committees

Last modified Friday, 09-Nov-07 15:07:47

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