Lecturers

Armando Marino (Member, IEEE) received the M.Sc. degree in telecommunication engineering from the Universita’ di Napoli “Federico II,” Naples, Italy, in 2006, and the Ph.D. degree in polarimetric SAR interferometry from the School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, U.K., in 2011. In 2006, he joined High Frequency and Radar Systems Department, German Aerospace Centre, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, where he developed the M.Sc. thesis. From March 2011 to October 2011, he was with the University of Alicante, Institute of Computing Research, Spain. From 2011 to 2015, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher and a Lecturer with ETH Zurich, Institute of Environmental Engineering, Switzerland. Since 2015, he has been a Lecturer with the School of Engineering and Innovation, Open University, Milton Keynes, U.K. Since 2018, he has been an Associate Professor with the Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, U.K. 

Carlos Lopez-Martinez (Senior Member, IEEE) received an M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering and a Ph.D. from Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona, Spain, in 1999 and 2003, respectively. He is currently an Associate Professor in the area of remote sensing and microwave technology with the UPC. From October 2000 to March 2002, he was with the High Frequency and Radar Systems Department, HR, German Aerospace Center, DLR, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. From June 2003 to December 2005, he was with the Image and Remote Sensing Group SAPHIR Team, Institute of Electronics and Telecommunications of Rennes, Rennes, France and from May 2017 until September 2019, he was responsible for the Remote Sensing and Natural Resources Modelling Group, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg. His research interests include SAR, radar polarimetry, physical parameter inversion, digital signal processing, estimation theory, and harmonic analysis.

Dr. Dabboor earned his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in geomatics engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, in 2003 and 2005, and his Ph.D. in spaceborne SAR remote sensing from the University of Calgary, Canada, in 2010. He was an NSERC postdoctoral fellow at Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) until 2015, then a term research scientist at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center until August 2015. Since September 2015, he has been a research scientist at ECCC, focusing on advanced SAR image analysis and mission design. Dr. Dabboor served as a mission advisor for ESA’s SEASTAR EE11 candidate mission and is a member of science teams and working groups, including the CSA RADARSAT Constellation Mission, SWOT mission, and CSA’s Earth System Science Advisory Committee. His awards include the Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Award, Helmut Moritz Graduate Award, and the Canadian Geophysical Union Geodesy Section Best Student Paper Award.

Ash Richardson, whose interests include Polarimetric SAR and other RS technology, graduated from the M.Sc program in Applied Mathematics at U. Victoria and worked as a trainee scientist in remote sensing with the Canadian Forest Service, before eventually joining the Province of BC organization as Senior Data Scientist, gravitating towards BC Wildfire Service where he currently resides as a member of the Predictive Services Unit. 

Heather McNairn is a leading Canadian research scientist specializing in remote sensing for agriculture, based at the Ottawa Research and Development Centre, part of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. With over 25 years of experience, she has pioneered the use of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and other satellite technologies to monitor soil and crop conditions across Canada and beyond.

Dr. McNairn has led numerous national and international research initiatives, authored over 60 peer-reviewed publications, and developed operational methods for crop classification and soil moisture mapping. Her work directly supports applications in flood and drought forecasting, precision agriculture, and climate resilience.

She also collaborates with organizations like NASA and the Canadian Space Agency, and serves as an adjunct professor at Carleton University and the University of Manitoba.