Dr. Karl Staenz is a full professor in remote sensing at the Department of Geography of the University of Lethbridge and a senior scientific adviser at the Alberta Terrestrial Imaging Centre. Up to 2006, he was a senior research scientist in the Applications Division of the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing where he directed the Centre’s hyperspectral activities. He was also an adjunct professor in remote sensing at the Department of Geography, Universityof Ottawa up to 2006. Dr. Staenz received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Geography specializing in Remote Sensing from the University of Zurich, Switzerland in 1976 and 1978, respectively.

He has over 30 years experience in the area of spectral sensing research with special emphasis on imaging spectroscopy. He published over 150 journal and proceedings papers in this area. His current hyperspectral interests are focused on sensor development, the development of monitoring systems, removal of sensor and calibration artifacts, retrieval of surface reflectance, evaluation of sensor band characteristics and the development of quantitative information extraction methods and related applications products in geoscience, agriculture, forestry and the environment.

He was involved in major hyperspectral programs, such as ESA's/NASA's Multi-Aircraft Campaign (MAC) Europe'91, System of Experts for Intelligent Data Management (SEIDAM), Canadian Expert Support Laboratory (CESL) for MERIS, NASA’s Boreal Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study (BOREAS), and NASA’s Hyperion data exploitation program. He also played a leading role in the development of the hyperspectral Canadian spaceborne program. He is currently a PI in ESA’s CHRIS data exploitation program, serves on the advisory board for the German hyperspectral EnMAP satellite mission, is the co-chair of the International Spaceborne Imaging Spectroscopy Working Group (ISIS WG) of IEEE, and is a co-founder of the International Symposium on Spectral Sensing Research (ISSSR).Dr. Staenz was involved in major contracts to industry and universities with respect to conventional and artificial intelligence-based data processing systems and instrumentation for field spectroscopy. For example, he led the commercialization of hyperspectral image analysis systems with industry and set the standard for ground-based VNIR/SWIR spectroradiometers used in remote sensing today.