Continuing Education with Remote Sensing

In my role as the Academic Program Manager at Exelis VIS, I have the privilege of working with educators from different types of academic institutions.  In any given week I will work with large public universities, private colleges and community colleges.  Recently, I have observed a big increase in continuing education for professionals in the workforce.  Public universities and community colleges are adding remote sensing or image analysis components to their certificate programs.  Additionally more people working on master’s programs for geospatial degrees are taking remote sensing courses.  This is encouraging as it points to a greater interest in what remote sensing can add to organizations that are already using GIS.

The instruction typically takes one of two forms.  An evening course located on campus where the hands on instruction of remote sensing is done in a lab, or an online course where the technical work is done at home using student licenses.  With many of my clients, they are reporting increased enrollment and many have reached capacity and begun wait lists.  Penn State University is one such institution that has been making geospatial education available online.  Since 1999 PSU has been enabling busy professionals to learn new skills and thought processes surrounding GIS and Image Analysis.  As more programs are created, it will only increase the revolution in geospatial technology that is happening all around us.

Are you a geospatial professional adding remote sensing to your skill set?  How has remote sensing or image analysis aided your job?