As SLU’s inaugural Associate Vice President for Geospatial Science in the Office of the Vice President for Research, I will work with University and faculty leaders to advance SLU’s institutional geospatial priorities, including faculty and staff recruitment, educational programs, research infrastructure, and faculty grant support. This assignment solidifies SLU’s commitment to advanced geospatial science as a key University priority.

Professor of Geospatial ScienceProfessor of Computer Science (secondary appointment)

Dr. Sagan is an Associate Professor with the Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences at Saint Louis University (SLU). He directs IAS PhD Program, M.S. in Geographic Information Science (GIScience) degree and graduate and undergraduate Certificate programs in GIScience. He teaches an array of courses in GIS, remote sensing, geospatial methods, and GIS programming. His research focuses on developing state-of-the-art remote sensing and GIS tools, machine learning algorithms, sensor/information fusion, and geospatial methods to study food and water security, bioenergy, and power grid sustainability from regional to global scales.

As TGI’s Deputy Director, Sagan will work hand in hand with TGI’s Executive Director, focusing on shaping TGI’s scientific agenda, building research collaborations, growing geospatial computing and data infrastructure, engaging consortium partners, and recruiting talent.

Sagan collaboratively shaped TGI’s vision, mission, and scientific priorities through convening dozens of faculty and stakeholders including leaders from academia, government, and industry. Sagan has served as TGI’s Founding/Acting Director since its April 2022 launch, leading TGI’s efforts to harness the power of partnership with industry, government agencies, and research entities to address some of the world’s greatest challenges. In its inaugural year, Sagan has led TGI and build it into a world-class research consortium, created a robust geospatial data infrastructure that empowers consortium faculty, and established numerous incentive programs. In TGI’s first year, Sagan assisted in recruiting dozens of geospatial leaders to TGI’s partner institutions and secured nearly $20 million in external grants. Sagan helped launch and then led TGI with 3 full-time staff in its inaugural year. His accomplishments as Acting Director during TGI’s first year are enumerated here https://yearinreview.taylorgeospatial.org

The National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC) is a Federal Advisory Committee sponsored by the Department of the Interior, and reports to the Secretary. The scope and objectives of the NGAC are to provide advice and recommendations related to management of Federal and national geospatial programs and the development of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure. The Committee will review and comment upon geospatial policy and management issues and will provide a forum to convey views representative of non-federal stakeholders in the geospatial community.

The lab focuses on environmental impacts of land cover and land use (LCLU) and climate change, with particular attention to water resources and agriculture. We develop algorithms to characterize the changes to Earth's land cover and integrate remote sensing observations with model-based approaches to understand the impacts of climate and land use changes on the water and energy cycles and ecosystems from local to global scales. The lab is interested in developing new methods that improve the information content of satellite data for improved LCLU mapping. To this end, we use multispectral, hyperspectral, and active microwave (SAR/PolInSAR/InSAR) and field observations to map crops, invasive plants, minerals and InSAR data to monitor land subsidence from anthropogenic activities, which are unified by a central theme: monitoring the impacts of climate and land-use changes on the environment using remote sensing and GIS as the primary tool.

Dr. Sagan served as the founding Director of the Geospatial Institute (GeoSLU), SLU’s campus-wide geospatial Big Idea, from 2018-2022. In this role, Dr. Sagan directed SLU’s campus-wide geospatial research and training programs, and under his leadership, GeoSLU secured over $10 million in external grants and contracts, created three new faculty lines, and established new certificate and degree programs at undergraduate and graduate level including B.S. and Ph.D. programs in Geoinforamtics and Geospatial Analytics, professional master degree in Geographic Information Science, and GEOIN certificate, etc. These accomplishments positioned SLU as a regional geospatial leader and were instrumental in laying the foundation for the launch of the Taylor Geospatial Institute. Dr. Sagan also spearheaded the development of TGI’s foundational documents, convening dozens of faculty and stakeholders to collaboratively shape the vision, mission, and scientific priorities for TGI, where he has served as Acting Director since its April 2022 launch.The Geospatial Institute at SLU brought together faculty and students from various disciplines to support and accelerate research, training and innovation in geospatial science and technology. GeoSLU's vision was to build a regional hub and internationally recognized center of excellence in multidisciplinary geospatial science through impactful and innovative research, education, partnerships, and services, across domains and aligned with SLU's Jesuit tradition. Under his leadership that 20-year vision was accomplished in 4 years with the launch of Taylor Geospatial Institute.