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David R. Thompson
Principal Technologist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Adjunct Faculty, Arizona State University
Visiting Research Scholar, California Institute of Technology

David R. Thompson is a Technical Group Lead of the JPL Imaging Spectroscopy Group, Instrument Scientist for NASA’s EMIT and Lunar Trailblazer missions, and Investigation Scientist for NASA’s Airborne Visible Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) project. His research advances the practice of imaging spectroscopy for characterizing Earth and other planetary bodies.

David’s methods have been fielded to four continents, three oceans, airborne campaigns on multiple continents, multiple Earth-orbiting spacecraft, and the surface of Mars. He has received the NASA Exceptional Technology Achievement Medal, the Lew Allen Award for Excellence, and the NASA Early Career Achievement Medal.

Interests

  • Imaging Spectroscopy
  • Remote Sensing
  • Statistical Machine Learning
  • Real Time Science

Academia

The Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University
- 2008
Ph.D. Robotics
The University of Edinburgh
- 2002
M.Sc. Informatics
Degree first class
Carleton College
- 2001
B.A. Computer Science
magna cum laude

Publications

Selected recent articles. See google scholar for the latest list
Scene Invariants for Quantifying Radiative Transfer Uncertainty, 2021, Remote Sensing of Environment
David R. Thompson , et al.
Spectral Fidelity of Earth's Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecosystems, 2021, JGR - Biogeosciences
David R. Thompson , et al.
Spectroscopic imaging of sub-kilometer spatial structure in lower-tropospheric water vapor, 2021, Atmospheric Measurement Techniques
David R. Thompson , et al.
Realizing Machine Learning’s Promise in Geoscience Remote Sensing, 2021, Eos
David R. Thompson , Philip G. Brodrick

Projects

Selected recent projects
AVIRIS-NG: The Next Generation Airborne Visible Infrared Imaging Spectrometer
Delta-X: Understanding River Delta Response to Relative Sea Level Rise
EMIT: The Earth Mineral Dust Source Investigation
Lunar Trailblazer: Exploring the Form and Distribution of Lunar Water
SMODE: The Sub-Mesoscale Ocean Dynamics Experiment
The Surface Biology and Geology Investigation