Dr. Darrel L. Williams

 
Education

PhD  Physical Geography, University of Maryland College Park, 1989
MS   Forest Science, Pennsylvania State University, 1974
BS   Forest Science, Pennsylvania State University, 1973

Background & Research Interests

Darrel L. Williams currently serves as the Associate Chief for Science in the Laboratory for Terrestrial Physics, within the Earth Sciences Directorate, at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. He continues to serve as the Landsat Project Scientist, a position he has held since 1992. In this position he was responsible for ensuring the scientific integrity of the highly successful Landsat 7 mission currently in orbit. Prior to his selection as Associate Chief, Dr. Williams served as Head of the Biospheric Sciences Branch from 1991 through September 2001. He began his NASA service in 1975 as a Research Scientist in that same organization.

Throughout his NASA career Dr. Williams has been actively involved in remote sensing research. The majority of his work has involved the development of enhanced techniques for assessing forest ecosystems. Landsat imagery depicting some of these techniques were on display for several years in the "Looking at Earth from Space" room at the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum, with acknowledgement to Dr. Williams. Geographical areas of study have included numerous sites throughout the U.S., as well as sites in Canada, Russia (Siberia), China and the Dominican Republic. During his tenure as Head of the Biospheric Sciences Branch, that organization successfully completed the FIFE project in the prairie grasslands of Kansas, and they initiated and successfully completed the BOREAS project in the boreal forest biome of Canada. Dr. Williams serves as the Project Manager for the current LBA-ECO project in Brazil.

Dr. Williams served as Assistant Project Scientist for Landsat 4 and 5 during the late 1970's and early 1980's, and as the EOS Deputy Project Scientist during 1989 -'90. Dr. Williams has authored and/or co-authored over 70 publications in the field of quantitative remote sensing in such categories as refereed journal articles, book chapters, and/or proceedings articles. In 1991 he was named an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland, Department of Geography. He served as a member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Remote Sensing from 1990 through 1998, and currently serves on the Editorial Board of International Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS).

During his 27 year NASA career, Dr. Williams has received well over two-dozen NASA awards in a variety of categories. Foremost among these is the NASA Medal for Outstanding Leadership, one of NASA's highest honors, which he received in 1997, as well as NASA's Exceptional Service Medal, which was conferred in 2000. Dr. Williams has also received awards from external organizations, such as the US Department of Agriculture and the American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. In 1999, he was selected as a recipient of the "Aviation Week and Space Technology 1999 Laurels Award" for outstanding achievement in the field of Space in recognition of his science leadership role for the highly successful Landsat 7 mission currently in orbit.