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Dr Alex Held

Mission Lead, AquaWatch Australia

https://people.csiro.au/H/A/Alex-Held

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Contact details:

GPO BOX 1700
CANBERRA ACT 2601 AUSTRALIA

Biography

Dr. Held is currently the AquaWatch Australia Mission Lead at the Centre for Earth Observation in the CSIRO Space and Astronomy Business Unit. Alex serves as the CSIRO Principal on the international Committee on Earth Observation Satellites . Previously, Alex served as a co-lead of the "Landscapes Assessment" facility of Australia’s “Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network” – TERN, which provides free and open access to various satellite-derived products for ecosystem science and land management. He also served as the Head of COSSA (the CSIRO Office of Space Science and Applications) from 2004 -December 2007, representing Australia at several space-related international committees, and served as member of the National Committee for Space Science of the Australian Academy of Science. He was part of the team which held the 2016 Chair of the international Committee on Earth Observation Satellites – CEOS. He is a plant physiologist from the University of California, Davis, and has been linking remote sensing and vegetation mapping at CSIRO since arriving in Australia 29 years ago.

Current Roles

  • Group on Earth Observation
    Member of Australian Delegation

  • Principal
    Committee on Earth Observation Satellites

  • Associate Professor
    Fenner School - Australian National University

Academic Qualifications

  • 1989

    PhD - Plant Physiology
    UC Davis

  • 1985

    MSc - Plant Physiology
    UC Davis

Professional Experiences

  • 1979-1982

    Research Assistant
    CIAT

  • 1989-1991

    Postdoc
    Stanford University

  • 1991-1996

    Research Scientist
    CSIRO Water Resources

  • 1996-2004

    Group Leader
    CSIRO Water Resources

  • 2004-2007

    Head
    CSIRO Office of Space Science and Applications

  • 2008-2014

    Team Leader
    CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research

Achievements and Awards

  • 2003

    CSIRO Look Out
    CSIRO

  • 2003-2003

    Outstanding Service
    Defence Intelligence and Geospatial Organisation (DIGO)

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