GovCon Wire
Your Direct Source for Government Contracting News
Recorded on Wednesday, June 22, 2022 1:00pm-2:15pm EST Virtual, ON24
Esri, Environmental Systems Research Institute, has been around the scientific community for over 50 years. Jack Dangermond and his wife Laura founded Esri in 1969, a land-use consulting firm with a vision that "applying computer-based mapping and spatial analysis in landscape design and environmental science will help us design a better future." That vision continues to guide Esri in creating cutting-edge GIS and Geodesign technologies that address nearly every challenge globally and even on other planets. As the global market leader in GIS and location intelligence, Esri is geared for the most challenging work to understand the impacts of climate change.
We welcome Dr. Lorraine Tighe, Director of Earth Sciences Solutions at Esri as our Fireside Chat guest. Dr. Tighe oversees expanding the use of Esri software and technologies across Earth sciences disciplines, to include geoscience, environmental, climate, weather, and marine sciences. GIS helps absorb the immense amount of Earth observation data about what's occurring on our planet and helps make sense of its meaning. GIS in Earth Sciences enables users to advance science-driven understanding of climate change, resources management, and environmental challenges to help decision-makers create sustainable solutions that positively impact the world. This chat with Lorraine Tighe will discuss her role, where Esri is advancing Earth sciences, and what we can expect in the future as Esri continues to evolve their mission to help organizations gain guidance, insight, and information from geospatial data to ensure a more sustainable Earth.
Stephen D. Ambrose has been a meteorologist, physical scientist, and program manager in his long federal and private sector career. He has directed teams and groups in the development of science and technology research and reapplications in Earth Science. He now serves as Chief Climate Scientist at SAIC. His research and application interests include: natural disaster reduction; climate data and information, and implications of a changing climate on people, ecosystems, and the planet. From 1978 to 2014 he worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service and antecedent agencies. After years of work related to meteorology, climatology, and oceanography at the National Ocean Service, National Weather Service, and the National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service, he joined the Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service as Director of the National Wetlands Inventory Center, from there he joined NASA as Program Executive for Disasters in the Science Mission Directorate encouraging applications of NASA’s cadre of satellite and airborne missions towards decision support systems for government and private industry. In 2008 he was awarded NASA’s Exceptional Achievement Medal for efforts responding to the nation’s weather and wildfire disasters. He retired from civil service in 2014 as NOAA’s Data Operations Manager in the development of their geostationary satellite ground system supporting satellite ingest and product generation. From 2014 to now, he worked in private industry as Program Manager and Director supporting NOAA, NASA, and the EPA missions in operations, research and development. This included working at NASA’s Center for Climate Simulation developing services to access downscaled climate information and working to utilize NASA’s supercomputer cloud services to support Arctic climate research. At NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, he led a program of over 50 specialists, analysts and scientists supporting the Climate Program Office, Sea Grant, the Weather Program Office, and the Uncrewed Systems Research office. In 2018, joining Woolpert, a geospatial and architecture firm, as Program Director for Government Solutions, he supported the firm’s work with critical infrastructure, natural disasters, GIS, and information systems. Lastly, joining General Dynamics Information Technology in late 2019, he led a group of scientists and engineers at the EPA supporting research and development in geographic information, environmental protection, chemical analysis, and disaster resilience. Now at SAIC he leads the growth of a climate program office supporting federal, industry, state, and local customers as well as utilizing SAIC’s deep experience in science and technology for solutions to benefit society. He received a B.S. in General Physical Sciences that included meteorology, geology, and astronomy from the University of Maryland in 1977, and did graduate studies in geography and climatology at the University of Maryland, Geography Department from 1981 to 1985.
Dr. Lorraine Tighe, Esri's Director of Earth Sciences Solutions, leads the strategy and messaging for the Earth Sciences Industry. She is a geospatial thought leader amplifying how Earth observations, GIS, and geospatial solutions provide a means to make our planet a thriving one. With 20+ years in topographic, geologic, natural resource, and Earth science applications, she loves how geospatial thinking can help us transform our society to enhance sustainability and prosperity for ALL of humankind. Dr. Tighe has a Ph.D. degree in Earth Sciences (Physics), a graduate diploma in Remote Sensing, and a B.Sc. degree in Physics and Geology. Her career has granted her the opportunity to engage with fellow remote sensing professionals across the globe to help implement geospatial solutions that help better understand and preserve Earth. At Esri, she continues to pursue her passion for applying geospatial solutions for a better tomorrow by now supporting others on the same mission.
