January 12, 2010 — Budhendra Bhaduri of Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been selected to serve a three-year term on the Mapping Science Committee of the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council.
The Mapping Science Committee organizes and oversees National Research Council studies that provide independent advice to society and to government at all levels on geospatial science, technology and policy. Committee members also address aspects of geographic information science that deal with the acquisition, integration, storage, distribution and use of spatial data. Through its studies, the committee promotes the informed and responsible development and use of spatial data for the benefit of society.
To conduct its task, and recognizing that the mapping sciences are highly interdisciplinary, the committee draws upon the experience and knowledge of its members in a wide variety of mapping science-related disciplines, including cartography, geography, environmental science, engineering, computer science, geodesy, surveying, remote sensing, photogrammetry, cognitive psychology, mathematics, information science and other disciplines.
Bhaduri is the leader of the Geographic Information Science & Technology Group at ORNL and a founding member of the Department of Energy's Geospatial Sciences Steering Committee. He is internationally recognized for his leadership role in conceiving, designing and implementing innovative geocomputational methods and algorithms to solve a wide variety of national and global problems.
He is a principal member of the LandScan global population modeling programs at ORNL, which in 2006 won an R&D 100 Award for being among the top 100 technological innovations of the year. In addition to his contributions in human settlement studies, he has extensive experience of novel implementation of geospatial science and technology in other areas of sustainable development research. Bhaduri, who is involved with academic institutions for scientific collaborations and student engagement for research in geospatial science, is also a recipient of the Department of Energy's Outstanding Mentor Award. This honor recognizes his service to DOE for helping to develop the nation's workforce of tomorrow.
UT-Battelle manages Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the Department of Energy.