Speakers from NASA and IISER delivered keynote talks at AMU #G20

Aligarh : Under the banner of University connect programme for celebrating the G20 Summit , the Interdisciplinary Department of Remote Sensing and GIS Applications, AMU, organised a workshop on 16 May on the theme “Geospatial Tools for Water Resources and Natural Hazards Monitoring” and a poster contest on the theme “India’s Space Program: Past, Present, and Future”.

In the inaugural session Dr Shahryar Khalique Ahmad, Research Scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA, delivered a keynote talk on “Monitoring Earth’s Water Cycle from the Compound Eye of Space”. Dr Shahyar discussed the links between forest fires and the hydrological cycle and the role of geospatial tools in unraveling these linkages in vulnerable regions. Dr Yunus Ali P, IISER, Mohali, Punjab, also delivered a keynote talk on “Cascading Chain of Geohazards: Understanding their Mechanism from a Remote Sensing Perspective”. He also demonstrated the use of open-source tools for the application of machine-learning techniques to geospatial datasets.

The Guest of honour Prof Qazi Mazhar Ali talked about the use of cutting-edge geospatial tools and techniques, especially drone-based mapping in agriculture. He also mentioned the significance of geospatial techniques in assisting and guiding the administration of AMU on critical issues, as well as developing the skills and resources in the department to provide services to the university as well as government agencies.

The convener of the workshop and the chairperson of the Interdisciplinary Department of Remote Sensing and GIS Applications, Dr Haris Hasan Khan, stressed the importance of geospatial tools and datasets available in the public domain in teaching, research, and entrepreneurship.

The co-patron of the workshop, Prof. Mohammed Ashraf, Dean, Faculty of Science, presided over the workshop and talked about the significance of geospatial technology in monitoring the earth’s resources.

Dignitaries, including the co-patron, and the guest of honour, distributed mementoes and certificates to the winners of the poster contest.

Dr Rizwan Ahmad, the organising secretary of the workshop, conducted the proceedings while Dr Tanzeel Khatoon proposed the vote of thanks. Dr Syed Mohd. Asghar
Rizvi, Dr Wasi Ahmad Zaidi and the student coordinator’s team coordinated various activities for the event.