Moderator: Michael J. Olsen, College of Engineering Dean's Professor, Geomatics, School of Civil and Construction Engineering, Joint Appointment, College of Forestry, Oregon State University

Michael J. Olsen, Ph.D. is the College of Engineering Dean’s Professor in the School of Civil and Construction Engineering at Oregon State University. He obtained BS and MS degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Utah and a PhD in Structural Engineering from the University of California, San Diego. At OSU he teaches innovative courses in geomatics topics such as 3D laser scanning and imaging, digital terrain modeling, and geographic information systems. He is also the Editor in Chief for the ASCE Journal of Surveying Engineering as well as the President of the Surveying and Geomatics Educators Society (SaGES). He was the Principal Investigator for the TRB project developing guidelines for the use of mobile lidar in transportation application (NCHRP Report #748). His current areas of research include geomatics technologies, algorithm development, 3D visualization, rapid reconnaissance, and geospatial hazard mapping, monitoring, and analysis.

Dr. Olsen has extensive experience collecting and analyzing high quality geospatial data from terrestrial laser scanning and UAS platforms for monitoring, mapping, and post-disaster reconnaissance of damages for a variety of hazards including earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, rockfalls, and coastal erosion. He serves as the Technical Director for the NSF Natural Hazards Research Infrastructure (NHERI) RAPID facility, which provides investigators with equipment, software, and support services needed to collect, process, and analyze perishable data from natural hazards events.

He is also the Director of the Cascadia Lifelines Program (CLiP), which conducts research that allows Oregon’s lifeline providers to implement value- and cost-informed decisions to mitigate damage to Pacific Northwest infrastructure as the result of Cascadia subduction zone earthquakes. He is also a co-developer of the Oregon Hazards Explorer for Lifelines Program (O-Help), which is a powerful webGIS platform designed for the engineering community and hosts a wide range of hazard maps for Cascadia Subduction Zone Earthquakes including ground acceleration, liquefaction, landslides, and more.

Carlos Velazquez, Strategic Partnerships, StockPile Reports

Carlos G. Velazquez is a ground based LiDAR professional.  After graduating from Oregon State University in 1999 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering he began working with the first commercially available LiDAR system from Cyra Technologies later acquired by Leica Geosystems.  This lead to creating Epic Scan, a global leader in professional LiDAR services.

During the commercial development of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality technologies Carlos realized that Virtual Reality had created a canvas for his “3D Photographs.”  This lead to a 2 year exploration into the beautiful visualization of “3D Photographs” via point clouds (see: airvr.studio, instagram.com/air.xr, search AiR Listen on Apple App store).

After the extreme commercialization and democratization of LiDAR services Carlos decided to apply his experience to the business use cases of photogrammetry with Stockpile Reports. Stockpile Reports uses a custom-built photogrammetry engine that has been built over the last 2 decades. As we move into the future photogrammetry provides infinite possibilities as every person on the planet carries a smartphone ready to capture “3D Photographs.”

Chris Glantz, Oregon DOT

Chris currently works as the Deputy State Surveyor, Lead Remote Sensing Surveyor, and UAS Program Coordinator in the Geometronics Unit of the Oregon Department of Transportation. He attended California State University, Fresno, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Geomatics Engineering. Chris is licensed in six western states, and is active in the Young Surveyors Network and the Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon. He enjoys mentoring, professional human development, and coaching.

Dan Gillins, NOAA, NGS

Dan Gillins is a geodesist and licensed land surveyor at the National Geodetic Survey where he serves as the manager of two projects for modernizing the National Spatial Reference System. First, Dan is leading the development of online software to enable surveyors to conduct and publish highly efficient real-time kinematic GNSS surveys. Second, he is writing new federal specifications for establishing geodetic control with GNSS. Dan holds a PhD in civil engineering from the University of Utah.

Gene Roe, MPN Components\lidarnews.com

Gene V. Roe PH.D., P.E., PLS is the founder of MPN Components, Inc., a 20+ year old geomatics consulting firm specializing in 3D data acquisition research and evolving technologies, such as mobile and UAV lidar for the Built Environment. He has been active in promoting innovation and standards for survey engineering and 3D mapping for 50 years. Dr. Roe is the current Chair of the ASTM E57 3D Imaging Systems Committee which developed a widely adopted laser scanning data exchange format. During his career he has focused on the research, development and introduction of disruptive technologies such as CAD, GIS, GPS and most recently 3D laser scanning, primarily for the AEC industry. His 10+ year old blog LiDAR News is one of the leading online laser scanning websites worldwide.

Debra Laefer, New York University

With degrees from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, NYU, and Columbia University, Prof. Debra Laefer has a wide-ranging background spanning from geotechnical and structural engineering to art history and historic preservation. Not surprisingly, Prof. Laefer’s work often stands at the cross-roads of technology creation and community values such as devising technical solutions for protecting architecturally significant buildings from sub-surface construction.

As the density of her aerial remote sensing datasets continues to grow exponentially with time, Prof. Laefer and her Urban Modeling Group must help pioneer computationally efficient storage, querying, and visualization strategies that both harness distributed computing-based solutions and bridge the gap between data availability and its usability for the engineering community. Her current research interests focus on subsurface data integration with high density laser scanning, hyperspectral imagery and historical data about the built environment and its forgotten remnants as a way to both understand urban spaces and to manage them.