Jeff Dozier, Founding Dean of UCSB's Bren School, Wins Top Research Award From NASA and Interior Department

Jeff Dozier, a professor and founding dean of the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is one of two winners of the William T. Pecora Award for 2005. Sponsored jointly by the U.S. Department of the Interior and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Pecora Award is presented annually to recognize outstanding contributions by individuals or groups toward understanding the earth by means of remote sensing.

Dozier, who served six years (1994-2000) as the first dean of UCSB's Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, was cited "For scientific excellence and leadership in snow hydrology, remote sensing, and information systems." The other Pecora Award winner for 2005 was John Townshend, a professor of geography at the University of Maryland.

The award was established in 1974 to honor the memory of William T. Pecora, former Director of the U.S. Geological Survey and Under Secretary, Department of the Interior. Pecora was a motivating force behind the establishment of a program for civil remote sensing of the earth from space. His early vision and support helped establish what is known today as the Landsat satellite program. The award consists of a citation and plaque, and the names of recipients are inscribed on permanent plaques displayed at the two sponsoring agencies.

Dozier is the third UCSB faculty member to have won the prestigious award, reflecting the campus's longtime strength in remote sensing. The late David Simonett won the award in 1991, and the late Jack Estes won it in 2001. The two professors helped develop at UCSB a Department of Geography that is today rated by the National Research Council as one of the finest programs of its kind in the United States.

"This is a wonderful honor not just for me, but for UCSB," said Dozier. "That I am the third Pecora Award winner from our campus, when no other university has had more than one, owes to the leadership of previous winners Dave Simonett and Jack Estes, starting in the 1970s. I have also benefited from the remarkable insights of my graduate students and younger colleagues."

Describing Dozier as "a leader on our campus and in the scientific community," UCSB Chancellor Henry T. Yang said: "Professor Dozier has compiled a career-long record of groundbreaking hydrological science and productive scholarship that have merited his reputation as an international leader in earth system science."

Dozier's research and teaching interests are in the fields of snow hydrology, earth system science, remote sensing, and information systems. He is an author of some 20 books and monographs and more than 200 articles in leading journals and conferences. He was the Senior Project Scientist for NASA's Earth Observing System in its formative stages. He also helped found the MEDEA group, which investigates the use of classified data for environmental research, monitoring, and assessment.

Dozier received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1973 and has been a faculty member at UC Santa Barbara since 1974. He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, an Honorary Professor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a recipient of the NASA Public Service Medal, and the 1997 Schneebaum Lecturer at the Goddard Space Flight Center.

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