Principal Scientist (Agro-Ecosystems)

Head-Geoinformatics Unit

c.biradar@cgiar.org

Dr. Chandrashekhar Biradar is a principal agro-ecosystems scientist who heads the Geospatial Science, Technology and Application (GeSTA) for integrated agro-ecosystems research towards ensuring global food and environmental security for better livelihoods in Dry Areas at the center and the CRP Dryland Systems.  Dr. Biradar received B.Sc. degree from University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, India, M.Sc. degree in Tree Improvement and Genetic Resources from the University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan, India and Ph.D. in Remote Sensing and Environmental Sciences from the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Department of Space, ISRO and University of Pune, India.  Then he was a post-doctoral fellow with International Water Management Institute, CGIAR Center and then as research scientist at the Institute for the Study of Earth, Ocean and Space (EOS) at the University of New Hampshire, USA. Thereafter to until February 2013, he served as a research professor, research scientist, senior research scientist and manager at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, USA while working on number of federal and bilateral funded projects. Over the last 15 years, he has played a key role, as one of the lead researchers, in producing the first satellite sensor based global croplands (irrigated and rainfed), developed number of remote sensing based innovative methods, algorithms, tools related to land use/land cover mapping, croplands, irrigated and rainfed system, biodiversity assessment, forest cover, water productivity, eco-epidemiology, climate change and ex-ante impact assessment. Dr. Biradar authored over 158 publications which include 40 refereed ISI journal articles, 18 books/chapters, over 100 other publications. Dr. Biradar has been recognized with number of international awards and honors such as the Young Scientist of the Year, Outstanding Young Scientist, Best Team Initiative, Outstanding Team Member, Board Member, Steering Committee Member, and Panel Member of Geoinformatics for Agriculture, Working Group on high resolution remote sensing, center representative and advisory member of WMO/GWP’s Integrated Drought management Program (IDMP), recently received AASIO’s Outstanding Young Scientist Award 2013, etc. His current research interest is towards developing geospatial mechanism for delivering better interventions and package of practices to reach out to smallholding farmers to improve food security and livelihood in the dry areas of the world.

Research Database Manager and Senior Analysist

k.el-shamaa@cgiar.org

Khaled Al-Shamaa is a Research Database Manager and Senior Analysist at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). Khaled received B. Sc. (1998) and diploma (2005) in Computer Engineering from Aleppo Univ. He earned many of the online continuing education certificates such as Data Science (Johns Hopkins Univ. 2017) and Statistics for Biosciences (Oxford Univ. 2009).

Since 2002 Khaled provides statistical and analytical support to ICARDA scientists, he also contributes to develop and implement several web & database systems. He joined Geoinformatics unit in 2016 to work on spatial and remote sensing analysis. Khaled has an extensive working experience in statistical designs, data validation, analysis, and reporting of agricultural research experiments and large-scale surveys.

Geospatial Research Specialist

rsgis.gkr@gmail.com

Mr. Gopal Krishna is a Geospatial Research Specialist. He has done MSc in Geoinformatics, PG Diploma in RS and GIS with highest rank from Center for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC), Noida. Recently submitted PhD thesis at Amity Institute of Geoinformatics and Remote Sensing, Amity University, Noida, NCR, India. Before joining ICARDA, Gopal Krishna worked as a researcher as at RMSI Noida, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) and ICAR- Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute (IASRI). He has published several peer-reviewed research articles including best paper awards for five of his research works. He has been extensively worked on agricultural research using Geoinformatics includes hyperspectral remote sensing of vegetation, crop acreage, health and yield potential mapping, crop disease monitoring and modelling, image classification using machine learning algorithms, automation of the image processing, LULC mapping, Big Data analytics, etc. He has also been actively involved in capacity building through national and international training programs for decision makers, researchers and students..

Consultant in Remote Sensing and Geographical Information Systems

fabian.loew@gmx.de

Dr. Fabian Löw is a research consultant at the Geoinformatics Unit of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). Dr. Löw received his Diploma degree from Heidelberg University, Germany, in Geography, Biology and Environmental Chemistry in 2009 and his Ph.D. in Remote Sensing from the Department of Remote Sensing of the Germany Aerospace Centre (DLR) in Würzburg, Germany in 2014. His PhD was funded by the German Academic Foundation and was about “Agricultural crop mapping from multi-scale remote sensing data - Concepts and applications in heterogeneous Middle Asian agricultural landscapes”. From 2014-2015 he was a post-doctoral fellow in Würzburg and started working as a consultant for ICARDA as of 2014. In 2015 his PhD was awarded by Würzburg Geographical Society. Since 2015 he works as a referent for the German Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK), Bonn, Germany. His work focusses on remote sensing and the European Copernicus earth observation program in the context of risk and disaster management. His research interest lies on satellite remote sensing for agricultural monitoring and environmental monitoring. His recent projects relate to irrigated cropland mapping, crop yield estimation, and land use intensity assessments. His recent work about locust monitoring in the Amudarya delta, Central Asia was awarded at the International Geoscience Union (IGU) conference in 2015. He has given several training courses on Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing, and has published several papers in peer-reviewed journals and frequently presents at international conferences and workshops.

Scientific Software Developer

j.omary@cgiar.org

Jalal Eddin is scientific Software Developer specialized in GIS, RS and Web Development, he has a B.Sc in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Computer Engineering.

Jalal Eddin is leading Geoinformatics technical process development, automation and parallelization, also managing the HPC and storage infrastructure, he is also responsible for Geoinformatics Agro-ecosystems portal development and maintenance, he participated in developing many GIS related applications cover: Suitability, Similarity, Climate Change, Downscaling and ArcGIS tools, Jalal Eddin led the development of Crop Register System, a system which took part in GPG2 project, and helped in solving problems related to accession duplications and distribution.

Before joining ICARDA, Jalal Eddin was web department manager at Alef Information Solutions, and he worked on 100+ online systems and portals.

Jalal Eddin has 25+ professional certificates in programming, web development, database management, data analysis and parallel computing from Google, BrainBench, Johns Hopkins University, University of Illinois, Rice University and The Pennsylvania State University.

Mr. Mohamed FawazTulaymat is a GIS analyst  atGeoinformatics Unit – ICARDA. Mr. TulaymatHas B.Sc. degree from Al-Baath University,Homs, Syria, He Worked as GIS Specialist at the Arab Center for the Studies of Arid zones and Dry lands - ACSAD, Damascus from 2001 until 2007the main tasks were to prepare the GIS layers inputs for the underground water mathematical models for several projects in Syria including Hasea industrial city in Homs, Palmyra underground water basin, Ras Al-Ain underground water basin and Yarmouk underground water basin. In 2007 he starts working at the International Centre for Agricultural Researches in the Dry Areas - ICARDA as GIS analyst, his responsibilities are: full implementation of GIS projects as assigned by the Unit Head, including data-entry, digitizing, scanning, map generation, custom-application building and reporting; Maintenance of the project's holdings of digital and papermaps; Reporting of ICARDA activities in GIS in national and regional symposia; Participation in ICARDA training activities related to GIS. He participated in mapping water harvesting systems projects In several counties like Syria, West Bank , Libya and Eritrea, Generated the Agro-Ecological map for CWANA countries,  also he worked in preparing many maps for CRP1.1 and CRP7 and many other projects.

Senior Secretary

l.barghout@cgiar.org

Ms. Lubna Barghout was appointed in Geoinformatics Unit as Senior Secretary in July 2013. She came to her current position with an extensive background having worked in Non-profit organization for three years, six years in engineering sector, and five years in regional and local companies.

In this capacity, she performs all administrative tasks for the daily business operation of the unit sustaining a highly productive and efficient workplace and timely completion of assignments. Her areas of expertise include travel arrangements, accounting, transcribing, word processing, and correspondence.

Ms. Barghout was educated at Amman Business Institute, where she received her advanced secretarial diploma in 1998.  Holding two certificates from London Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Word-Processing and Office Procedures, in addition to Microsoft Office User Specialist certificates (MOUS).

GIS Lab Manager

l.atassi@cgiar.org

Layal Atassi is Geoinformatics unit lab manager at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Layal plays a role in the spatial data infrastructure in the unit and in maintaining the spatial data and metadata on the unit storage, she conducted several courses in GIS analysis and modeling, she participated in mapping and characterization of non-tropical drylands for improving the strategic results framework requested by ICARDA Executive Committee, and several other projects in the unit , Layal received an Intermediate degree in Engineering Drafting from Aleppo University, Syria, after graduation she toke place in urban planning For Aleppo Old city rehabilitation plan project and Basra postal service master plan project. She started her work at ICARDA in preparing the meteorological data for Eurasia environmental data_net blotch resistance project, and then she participated in preparing the Climate and Drought Atlases for several countries.

Consultant (Remote Sensing & GIS)

p.patil@cgiar.org

Mr. Prashant Patil is working as a consultant in Remote Sensing & GIS in CRP Dry land Systems working on high resolution mapping of land use land cover maps, climate change, biomass and productivity estimation. Mr. Patil received B.Sc. (Forestry) degree from University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, India and M.Tech. (Remote Sensing & GIS) from Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Department of Space, ISRO, Dehradun, India. He has worked in Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun as a junior research fellow under ISRO-GBP, Nation Carbon Project. He has worked in vegetation carbon pool estimation (Non-destructive method) in different parts of country with his immense knowledge and hard work he has contributed for establishing methodology on national level and completed field work, data entry and biomass and carbon mapping of  16 study sites of different parts of country. He has worked in RMS, Hyderabad in FAO project and worked on land use land cover mapping, biomass and carbon estimation of Cambodia and Siberia (Russia) and generated block wise GIS data sets for entire forests of Siberia (Russia). He has worked in a short term project in ATREE and Academy of Forest and Environmental Sciences, Dehradun, India on LULC mapping of Van-Panchayats by using Remote Sensing & GIS and field survey and encouraged appropriate Van-Panchayat conservation practices in Himalayan state by the local community through restoration of deteriorated traditional water bodies, revitalization of degraded lands and protection of endangered species of trees in 22 select model villages of the Pauri Gahrwal, Almora and Nainital districts, Uttrakhand,  India. Mr. Patil has authored over 11 publications in International and National journals and presented papers in different conferences.

Consultant in Remote Sensing

raj.singh@cgiar.org

Mr. Raj Kumar Singh is working as a Consultant in Remote Sensing with the Geoinformatics unit, ICARDA. He has received his M.Sc. (Remote Sensing and GIS) from Jiwaji University, Gwalior, India followed by M.Tech. (Remote sensing and GIS) from Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), ISRO, Department of Space, Dehradun, India. He owns proven skill-set in LULC mapping, DEM generation, land suitability analysis and generation of spatial database. His expertise also includes Hyperspectral Remote Sensing data analysis (correction, processing and classification of crop types and varieties etc.). Mr. Singh has worked both in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi and Regional Remote Sensing Centre-East, ISRO, Kolkata, India as a Research Fellow. He is academically active as well and has published papers in three national-level conferences besides participating in two other.

Consultant (Remote Sensing & GIS)

g.mahboob@cgiar.org

Dr. Md. Golam Mahboob is a Research Scientist- Land Resources Mapping at the Geoinformatics Unit of International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), based in Amman, Jordan. He secured his Doctor of Engineering degree from the Gifu University, Japan in 2013 with support from the Japanese Government (MEXT) Scholarship. Title of his doctoral thesis was, “Modeling and evaluation of basin scale water balance by using airborne lidar and satellite remote sensing”. Dr. Mahboob also pursued the Gifu University Rearing Program for Basin Water Environment Leaders (BWEL) as a complementary course during his entire doctoral term, through which he received an additional certificate on International Environmental Leadership. In 2008, he attended a 10 months-long Post-Graduate Diploma in Remote Sensing and GIS with specialization in Agriculture and Soils from the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), Dehradun with a mutual support from The Academy of Science for the Developing World (TWAS) and Sharing of Experience in Space (SHARES) Fellowship. He achieved his BSc in Agriculture and MS in Agroforesry from Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh. Before his joining at ICARDA, he had been working as a scientist with Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) and an officer at Bayer CropScience Ltd., Bangladesh. He collaborated with scientists from a range disciplines and authored a good number of scientific articles on diverse topics in different local and international journals. Dr. Mahboob achieved the country’s highest medal in rover scouting movement, President’s Rover Scout (PRS) during his University life in the year of 2000. He is affiliated with several local and international professional and academic societies. Recently he discharged the duties of the Program Co-Chair in the 5th International Conference on Environmental Aspects of Bangladesh (ICEAB14) held at the University of Dhaka during 4-5 September 2014. His current research interest includes application of Remote Sensing and GIS in Natural Resources Management for sustainable agriculture in the dry areas of the world.

Meteorological Observer

a.hamade@cgiar.org

Abdul Karim Hamade is the GU Meteorological Observer, he is responsible for collecting and recording ICARDA's weather stations data, also he is responsible for maintaining and fixing all technical problems in observation instruments.

Surajit Ghosh

S.Ghosh@cgiar.org

Surajit Ghosh is a researcher in the field of spatial data science. He joined as Spatial Scientist at the Geoinformatics Unit of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). He did Masters in Computer Applications from West Bengal University of Technology, and MPhil in Oceanography and coastal management from Jadavpur University, India. Recently, he has submitted his doctoral thesis at Civil Engineering Department of National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, India.

Previously, he was engaged with Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, ISRO; Kolkata Port Trust; IORA Ecological Solutions and International Water Management Institute. He has published several peer-reviewed research papers and book chapters. Many of his works have been deeply intertwined with various aspects of spatial science applications to manage the natural resource management towards achieving the sustainable development goals. He has been mainly worked on multi-sensor integration techniques, radar altimetry derived water level, flood vulnerability mapping, algorithm development, Ecosystem services, climate risk adaptation strategies for agriculture practices, forest phenology and biomass assessment, Big Data analytics etc. He has been also actively involved in capacity building programme for decision makers, researchers and d students.

Geoinformatics Team

Chandrashekhar Biradar, PhD

Principal Scientist (Agro-Ecosystems)

Head-Geoinformatics Unit

c.biradar@cgiar.org

Khaled Al-Shamaa

Research Database Manager and Senior Analysist

k.el-shamaa@cgiar.org

Gopal Krishna

Geospatial Research Specialist

rsgis.gkr@gmail.com

Fabian Löw

Remote Sensing and Geographical Information Systems Scientist

fabian.loew@gmx.de

Surajit Ghosh

Spatial Scientist

s.ghosh@cgiar.org

Raj Kumar Singh

Remote Sensing Scientist

raj.singh@cgiar.org

Jalal Eddin Omary

Scientific Software Developer

j.omary@cgiar.org

Md. Golam Mahboob, PhD

Research Scientist- Land Resource Mapping

g.mahboob@cgiar.org

Abdul Karim Hamade

Meteorological Observer

a.hamade@cgiar.org

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