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Woolpert Wins Big at Geo Week!

Woolpert Wins Big at Geo Week!

Geospatial leaders, teams, and projects are honored at international conference in Denver.

DENVER (Feb. 15, 2023) — Woolpert was a huge winner at the annual Geo Week conference in Denver last night, taking home multiple top awards. Geo Week combines the International Lidar Mapping Forum, SPAR 3D Expo & Conference, and AEC Next conferences to provide the geospatial industry’s keystone event.

Literally chief among those honored was Woolpert Vice President and Chief Scientist Qassim Abdullah, who received the Lidar Leader Outstanding Personal Achievement Award. In addition to helping write standards upon which the industry is based, Abdullah serves as an advisor for agencies like NOAA and the Transportation Research Board, teaches graduate students at Penn State University and the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and writes a monthly mapping column for the PE&RS journal. Through these and countless other efforts, Abdullah continues to advance the lidar industry. He has been an immensely valued leader at Woolpert for more than 10 years.

Woolpert also received the Lidar Leader Outstanding Innovation in Lidar Award. The award was for the firm’s Bathymetric Unmanned Littoral LiDar for Operational GEOINT technologies and sensor, also known as BULLDOG. Woolpert was granted a U.S. patent for its “Airborne Topo-Bathy Lidar System and Methods Thereof,” and a lidar sensor system was developed by a multidisciplinary research and development team incorporating these technologies. These technologies enable the collection of high-resolution topographic and bathymetric data at a higher altitude, resulting in a broader swath than previously developed lidar systems. The Joint Airborne Lidar Bathymetry Technical Center of Expertise (JALBTCX) contracted with Woolpert to develop BULLDOG.

“Commercially available airborne lidar bathymetry systems currently operate at low altitudes, which are far below the altitudes of topographic lidar systems,” Woolpert Vice President Nathan Hopper said. “Increasing the operational altitude of airborne lidar bathymetry systems to 10,000 feet presented several challenges that required novel approaches. This patent covers the proprietary technology developed to overcome the many challenges associated with high-altitude topography and bathymetry.”

Hopper, Woolpert Senior Vice President and Geospatial Leader Joseph Seppi, Woolpert Vice President Mark Smits, and Chris Macon, a geophysical scientist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, were instrumental to this technology and were on hand to accept the award. Collaboration with JALBTCX was key to this groundbreaking technology.

Woolpert also was honored with the MAPPS Membership Choice Award for a project that involved mission-critical data delivery for geohazard defense in Barry Arm, Alaska. The award recognized the work of eTrac, a Woolpert Company, and its immediate response to emergency request from U. S. Geological Survey and the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys.

The team acquired and expedited the delivery of bathymetric survey data to support accurate modeling of the seafloor and the region’s steep continental slope, which was at risk for tsunami-generating submarine landslides that could lead to catastrophic loss of life and property. Woolpert Senior Vice President Jeff Lovin accepted the award on behalf of Woolpert Market Director and Certified Hydrographer Dave Neff.

Finally, Woolpert Vice President and Survey Discipline Leader David Kuxhausen received the ASPRS Outstanding Service Award. Kuxhausen’s experience in photogrammetric and geodetic surveys, UAS data collection and analysis, and mobile lidar applications is unparalleled. He has been an outstanding leader and mentor at Woolpert for 24 years.

Congratulations to all!! And thank you to Geo Week, Lidar Magazine, and MAPPS!

About Woolpert
Woolpert is the premier architecture, engineering, geospatial (AEG) and strategic consulting firm, with a vision to become one of the best companies in the world. We innovate within and across markets to effectively serve public, private and government clients worldwide. Woolpert is a top 100 ENR Global Design firm, earned six straight Great Place to Work certifications, and actively nurtures a culture of growth, inclusion, diversity and respect. Founded in 1911 in Dayton, Ohio, Woolpert has been America’s fastest-growing AEG firm since 2015. Woolpert has over 2,000 employees and more than 60 offices on five continents. For more, visit woolpert.com.

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