Jackson Cothren Appointed New Director of the Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – William Schwab, interim dean of the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, has appointed Jackson Cothren as the next director of the Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies at the University of Arkansas.

“Professor Cothren comes from a strong background in spatial technologies and so he understands fully their many applications, from the work he has done with national researchers to the projects he has undertaken at the center, such as helping both high school and college students integrate the technologies into the community projects they create,” said Schwab. “I know he will bring a multitude of talents to his new position.”

Cothren graduated from the United States Air Force Academy with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1989. After earning both his master’s and doctoral degrees in geodetic science and surveying from Ohio State University, he came to the university in 2004. He is an assistant professor in the department of geosciences in the Fulbright College.

A veteran of the U.S. Air Force and the Air Force Reserve, Cothren has also served as a photogrammetric engineer for the National Air Intelligence Center in Dayton, Ohio, where he developed proposals, helped oversee a multimillion dollar research budget and directed photogrammatic research for a division of more than 100 imagery analysts and engineers.

Cothren, who is a past member of the national board of directors of the American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, has also served as an editorial board member of the Earth Imaging Journal and is currently a consultant for various photogrammetry, surveying and engineering firms. He has won grant funding, either as principal or co-principal investigator, of more than $3.4 million from the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities and NASA. His appointment becomes effective July 1, 2009.

Cothren will replace Fred Limp, the Leica Geosystems Chair in Geospatial Imaging. For more than 10 years, Limp was the assistant director of the Arkansas Archeological Survey, where he developed substantial expertise in the management of archeological and historic properties. In 1991, he used this experience to start the Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies, which has since become a world recognized center for geospatial research.

Articles on Limp’s work have been featured in USA Today, Omni, New Scientist and ComputerWorld, as well as in National Geographic books and on U.S. National Public Radio. He has served as treasurer of the Society of American Archaeology and as a member of the board of the Foundation for American Archaeology.

He plans to return to his research and teaching in the department of anthropology.

For more information on the center, go to http://www.cast.uark.edu/