The American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) appointed Amar Nayegandhi, CP, CMS, GISP, as director of the lidar division. He was previously elected to the role of assistant director in 2016.

"Being appointed to this position is an honor and a responsibility I don't take lightly," says Nayegandhi. "As I step into this position, I'm looking forward to serving the lidar remote sensing industry by working with other ASPRS member volunteers to develop new standards and specifications, and enable the use of this technology in a myriad of applications."

Nayegandhi is vice president and director of remote sensing at Dewberry, a privately held professional services firm, where he manages the geospatial and technology services business unit. An expert in topographic and bathymetric lidar data acquisition and processing, he has extensive experience in coastal remote sensing. Nayegandhi has led scores of lidar projects for federal clients, including serving as the project manager for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's supplemental Sandy Topobathy Lidar and Imagery project to map the national shoreline, following Hurricane Sandy, which received the 2015 LCDR Peter Johnson Best Practices Award from the Join Airborne Lidar Bathymetry Technical Center of Expertise (JALBTCX).

"We're extremely proud of Amar's commitment to this profession and doing what he can to better the practices and standards under which we operate," says Dewberry Senior Vice President Phil Thiel.

Nayegandhi earned a master's in computer science from the University of South Florida (2001) and a bachelor's in electrical engineering from the University of Mumbai (1998). His research and expertise has been featured in more than 65 publications, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' EM 1110-1-1000 manual on Photogrammetric and LiDAR Mapping.