Company: United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF)
Industry: Education K-12, GIS Jobs / Career
Location: Oak Hill, Virginia, United States of America

OAK HILL, Va., May 24, 2005 - The United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) today announced it has formed an accreditation panel that will ultimately establish the USGIF Academy.

The foundation's vision is to build an accredited institution to support the professional education needs of the geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) tradecraft and thereby assure its continuance as a critical part of our country's homeland and national security.The goal of the panel is to establish curriculum guidelines, and accreditation standards and processes for geospatial intelligence academic courses and certificate programs.

"GEOINT is fortunate to have such a group of distinguished experts looking after the tradecraft's long-term vitality," said K.Stuart Shea, chairman of the board of directors, USGIF."Their participation is commendable as it reflects vision, commitment, and an honorable desire to serve."

The USGIF Academy Panel comprises representatives from Academia, Industry, and Government.The panelists are:

Academia:

Todd Bacastow, Penn State University and University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS) representative for USGIF Academy Panel

Curt H.Davis, University of Missouri

George F.Hepner, University of Utah

Steven D.Prager, University of Wyoming

Bruce A.Ralston, University of Tennessee

Industry:

Sue Kalweit, Booz Allen Hamilton and USGIF Academy Panel Lead

Steve Irish, Digital Globe, Inc.

Sonya Morton, Lockheed Martin

Mark Scott, Digital Globe, Inc.

Matt Tate, Intergraph Corporation

Government:

Terry Meehan, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and U.S.government coordinator for USGIF Academy Panel

Donald Ball, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

Kim Fite, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

Col Brian Cullis, USAF, Office of the Secretary of Defense, Installations and Environment (Business Transformation)

John Goolgasian, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

Carl Stuekerjuergen, Central Intelligence Agency

The United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation is a Virginia-based nonstock, not-for-profit corporation.The Foundation is dedicated to promoting the geospatial intelligence tradecraft and developing a stronger community of interest between government, industry, academic and professional organizations and individuals who share a mission focus around the development and application of geospatial intelligence data and geo-processing resources to address national security objectives.For more information on the Foundation, visit www.usgif.org.

Matthew Langan (matthew.langan@eurorscg.com)
Phone: 1.202.448.5309