Kenneth Ranson

Dr. Kenneth (Jon) Ranson received the B.S. in Watershed Sciences and M.S in Earth Resources from Colorado State University. His graduate research involved use of Skylab and Landsat MSS data for geologic and forest cover mapping. He later attended Purdue University and earned the Ph. D. degree in Agronomy. His Doctoral research quantified bidirectional reflectance characteristics of agricultural crops. He then spent three years as a Research Associate for Purdue’s Laboratory for Applications of Remote Sensing. During this time his research was focused on reflectance of vegetation canopies and microwave backscatter characteristics of crops and forests. Later, Dr. Ranson joined the Biospheric Sciences Branch at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center as a physical scientist. While with NASA, Dr. Ranson has developed remote sensing linkages to forest ecosystem models and conducted optical and radar research through several peer reviewed projects. In addition to his research activities he served as the Chief of the Biospheric Sciences Laboratory for 11 years, was the Terra Project Scientist and twice served as an Acting Program Manager for the Earth Science Division at NASA Headquarters.