Monitoring the Earth: Valerie Thomas and Satellite Image Processing

With the increasing usage of monitoring of Earth resources due to climate change, data scientists today regularly use satellite imagery to answer questions about land use, atmospheric conditions, and ocean life among other things. One of the pioneers in this use of data was retired NASA researcher Valerie Thomas, who was instrumental in developing the processing of data from the Landsat satellite to usable forms for scientists to undertake research into farming practices. Additionally, she has strongly advocated for the education of Black students in the sciences and was a workplace DEI advocate long before the term was ever coined.