Biography:

Prof.Dr. Aslan received BSC and MSc degrees from the Istanbul Technical University Department of Aeronautical Engineering. Then, he completed the Diploma Course of the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (Belgium) with a scholarship in 1986. He received his Ph.D. from the same institute (aeronautics and aerospace department) together with Universite Libre de Bruxelles in 1991. He worked as an adjunct professor in Old Dominion University, USA, from mid-2001 to mid-2002. Prof. Dr. A. Rüstem Aslan served as the head of the Department of Astronautical Engineering at Istanbul Technical University (ITU) from 2004 to end of 2013. He is currently the Manager (founder) of Space Systems Design and Test Lab. where many nanosatellites developed and tested since 2007, along with other duties.

Prof. Aslan is a dynamic and innovative leader in the space industry with nearly 23 years of experience with the end-to-end execution of space systems for numerous government and commercial programs. Prof. Aslan is the father of CubeSat in Turkey. He started CubeSat development in 2005 and so far, he has managed development and successful launch of 7 CubeSats in to orbit, including the first Turkish CubeSat ITUpSAT1 and first Turkish commercial CubeSat Connecta T1.1, and 2 CubeSats for the QB50 project under FP7-SPACE (with a total budget of over €12M, EU contribution of € 7 998 703,85). He has been actively involved (as PI for most of them) in many national/international space projects with budget shares of about €10M.

Prof.Dr. Alim Rustem ASLAN has been actively involved on the education on space technologies and development of low-cost, small satellite missions and enabling technologies with nearly 250 technical papers, invited talks, keynotes, and presentations/seminars/trainings/projects on the subject. Prof. Aslan has been extensively involved in the small satellite community through his active contributions as the Manager (founder) of Space Systems Design and Test Lab. where many nanosatellites developed and tested since 2007, the President of UZTED (Turkish Space Technology and Education Association) and steering committee member of UNISEC-GLOBAL and Member of International Academy of Astronautics (IAA).

Prof. Aslan, as a part of formal program, is teaching the undergraduate course “Spacecraft System Design” which is the Astronautical Engineering Departments’ last year capstone spacecraft design course. In this course, students learn to conceptually design a spacecraft with specified requirements and realistic constraints. He designed the course to be in line with the AIAA and ABET requirements, leading to full ABET accreditation of the department. He also delivers similar courses both in undergraduate and graduate level in the National Defence University.

Prof. Aslan has motivated students to form CanSat and Model Rocketry teams. The teams have participated in numerous international competitions with successful results including first place prizes. Prof. Aslan, regularly delivers hands on training courses on CanSat and CubeSats worldwide, and gives seminars and speeches on space technologies in different institutions such as elementary and high schools, clubs, universities, retirement houses, meetings, TV programs, newspapers etc. to increase ‘space awareness’ of the general public.

Prof.Dr. Rosa Lasaponara

Reserach Director at Consiglio Nazionale delle ricerche

Biography:

- More than 25 years of Expericence in Earth Observation for Natural and Cultural Heritage

Co-director of the ERATOSTHENES ECoE Cyprous Univerisity of Technology– CUT-( https://eratosthenes.org.cy/board-of-directors/)

Director of the International Centre of Excellence -ICoE - EO Big data for Cultural Heritage at CNR- Potenza (http://www.unesco-hist.org/index.php?r=en/article/info&id=1522).

Co-chair of the international Research group “Digital Belt and Road (http://www.unesco-hist.org/uploads/2017/26.pdf) http://www.bulletin.cas.cn/publish_article/2017/Z1/2017Z119.htm).

Prof.Dr. Igor Savin

Head of Department
V.V. Dokuchaev Soil Science Institute, Russia

Biography:

Igor Savin is a Professor at Agrarian-technological Institute of Peoples` Friendship University of Russia, and vice-director of V.V. Dokuchaev Soil Science Institute in Moscow, Russia. Prof. Savin has over 300 scientific papers and projects either presented or published. He is an internationally recognized expert in Soil Science, and Agronomy. He is a regularly sought after and requested lecturer at the majority of agricultural schools and Universities throughout Russia, and former USSR republics. Prof. Savin is the deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Dokuchaev Soil Bulletin, Member of Editorial board of Mountainous Agriculture Journal. Recent publications include papers on digital soil mapping, and land monitoring based on remote sensing data. Prof. Savin routinely lectures on various topics related to usage of remote sensing data and GIS for crop and soil monitoring. He has served as a member of various scientific societies and acted on a number of institutional committees. Prof. Savin is recognized by his peers as a Soil and Crop science expert that integrates new technologies into practice. He holds a specialist degree in Geography from Moscow State University, PhD degree, and Doctor of Science degree from V.V. Dokuchaev Soil Science Institute.

Prof.Dr. Asim Zia

Biography:

Dr. Asim Zia is currently serving as a Professor of Public Policy and Computer Science in the Department of Community Development and Applied Economics, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Computer Science, at the University of Vermont (UVM). He is Director of the Institute for Environmental Diplomacy and Security (IEDS) and Co-Director of the Social Ecological Gaming and Simulation (SEGS) lab at the UVM. Dr. Zia is undertaking National Science Foundation (NSF) funded research with a large interdisciplinary team as a science leader to develop computational integrated assessment models that project and quantify high-resolution impacts of global climate change and land-use land cover change on watershed scale hydrological systems and lake systems, and their feedbacks on social systems. Since joining UVM (fall 2008), his scholarship, research and public service activities have focused on advancing the interdisciplinary fields of Public Policy, Computational Sciences and Complex Systems. In this interdisciplinary context, he has developed and tested theoretically grounded applications in computational policy analysis, governance network analysis, coupled natural and human systems and social ecological systems. These activities have focused on understanding and modeling public policy and governance problems involving environment, water, air, climate, energy, food, and sustainable development issues across many regions of the world, spanning management of Lake Champlain basin in Vermont to conservation of tropical forests in Peru, Vietnam and Tanzania, and resilience in large river basins, such as Indus, Mekong and Amazon.