Alyssa K. Whitcraft Ph.D.

Geographer. Researcher. Integrator. Communicator.

I am a geographer with a passion for food, agriculture, resilience, sustainability - and the power of satellite data to support them.

I see the world as a series of things connected in space, time, and meaning. If I had to describe my work in a nutshell, I would say that I work to make it easier for people and organizations to use satellite data to improve agriculture, from farm-to-global scales.

I lead a wonderful life as the mother to two darling children and as a wife, daughter, sister, friend, and colleague. But I feel heavy with the weight of the world, and I see the impacts of the anxiety of an uncertain future carried on the shoulders of my contemporaries and those who will have to live with our decisions. I am driven to leave the world in better shape - repaired - to the way my ancestors passed it to me.

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About

Mission

To help feed the world with good stuff, sustainably;
To empower agriculture to heal the soil and contribute to full ecosystem functioning;
To bring satellite data and geospatial tools to the masses;
To reduce barriers to STEM participation for people from marginalized backgrounds;
To increase access to knowledge about land and Earth to all.



Bio

Alyssa Whitcraft, Ph.D., is the Deputy Director and Program Manager for NASA Harvest, a diverse Consortium of more than 50 institutions focused on advancing the use of satellite data by agricultural and food security decision makers. She is an Associate Research Professor in the Department of Geographical Sciences at the University of Maryland, and since 2015, she has served as Program Scientist for G20’s Group on Earth Observations Global Agricultural Monitoring (GEOGLAM). She serves as Agriculture Point of Contact to the world's space agencies (through the intergovernmental Committee on Earth Observation Satellites), wherein she helps guide new satellite mission development and satellite data acquisition strategies for agriculture monitoring. She co-leads GEOGLAM’s Capacity Development Team and is Founder and Director of the Agricultural Monitoring in the Americas Initiative. She is an expert in organizational change with respect to integrating new satellite technologies into workflows. She’s developed collaborations and partnership models with the public and private sectors, emphasizing sustainable business models and value to all actors. Dr. Whitcraft, having grown up working in her family winery, also understands well the challenges of high-quality agricultural production in the context of climate change, extreme weather events, and land mismanagement.



Interests

Cooking, bread baking, wine, singing, music, snowboarding, hiking, anti-racist feminism, deeply knowing myself and others



Experience

Associate Research Professor

Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland

Center for Global Agriculture Monitoring Research

April 2014 - Present

Co-Founder, Deputy Director, & Program Manager

NASA Harvest

NASA Applied Sciences' Food Security and Agriculture Program

October 2017 - Present

Programme Scientist

GEOGLAM Secretariat

Satellite Earth Observations Data Coordination lead - requirements for new missions, data acquisitions, data access, and data utilization.

Capacity Development Team Co-Lead; Agricultural Monitoring in the Americas Regional Group founder and lead

May 2015 - Present

Owner Consultant

Mad World Geographics, LLC

Scientific, multidisciplinary, integrative consulting to quickly bring research to action.

January 2015 - Present

Education

University of Maryland, College Park

Doctor of Philosophy
Geographical Sciences

Dissertation: "Developing Earth Observation Requirements for Global Agricultural Monitoring: Toward a Multi-Mission Data Acquisition Strategy"

2014

University of California, Los Angeles

Bachelor of Arts

Geography/Environmental Studies; International Development Studies (Double Major)

Summa cum Laude, Honors College

2007

Specializations

Thematic
  • Remote Sensing and Geospatial Analysis
  • Agriculture Productivity, Land Use, and Sustainability
  • Climate Change, Mitigation, and Adaptation
  • Satellite Mission and Data Requirements
  • Capacity Development and Technology Transfer
  • English (Native); Spanish (Full Fluency); Italian (Intermediate)


Skills
  • Scientific Communication
  • User Needs Assessments
  • Program Vision & Development
  • End-to-End Solutions Engineering
  • (Dis)ability, Neurodivergence, Equity, Inclusion, and Access
  • International, Interdisciplinary, and Intersectoral Collaboration

Selected Works

Papers

Videos

    Amazon Web Services re:Invent Innovation Day, Dec 2021

    A brief video from AWS' largest conference, where I outline how our work with satellite data can help address climate change and agricultural sustainability.


    Women in Agriculture and Food Tech Salon, Oct 2021

    A keynote-length presentation on remote sensing of agriculture and how being a woman influences my work and lived reality.


    (En Español) Foro sobre Aplicaciones de la Observación de la Tierra, Oct 2020

    Una exposición sobre el grupo del G20 GEOGLAM, y nuestros trabajos en la América Látina a través del grupo Agricultura Monitoreada en las Américas.


    Panel Moderation: NASA Deep Space Solving for Earth Webinar, Apr 2021

    Me, 8 months pregnant, moderating a NASA-CSA webinar for their co-sponsored Deep Space Food Challenge.




In the Media