Ohio State’s Innovation and Public Administration Experts to Lead National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s Academic Consortium

The Geomatics Emerging Scientist Consortium for Education, Research, and Capabilities Enhancement (GEO-ESCON) contract establishes a cost-effective and efficient administrative mechanism to spend federal monies in academia for mission-aligned activities and innovation. 

GEO-ESCON will ensure that the United States and NGA have the most advanced geomatics tradecraft and a sustainable pipeline of critical geomatics skillsets.  NGA provides timely, relevant, and accurate geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) to U.S. national security organizations. 

The task order indefinite deliverable indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract is funded initially with a ceiling of $28.5 million for a three-year base period with an option for an additional four years.

GEO-ESCON will create a geographically distributed, multi-disciplinary network of universities to educate the federal geomatics workforce at advanced levels and provide opportunities for applied research and technology development.  Higher education institutions will be invited to participate in the new consortium based on their capabilities.

Ohio State is an obvious leader for creating the academic consortium thanks to its collegiate geodetic program, which is the oldest in the US and offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in both Geodetic Engineering and Geodetic Science. Ohio State has been recognized as an Academic Center of Excellence in Geospatial Sciences and is home to over 80 researchers in six colleges who focus on core research and development aspects of geospatial science and technology including geodesy, remote sensing, photogrammetry, GIS, positioning, navigation and timing (PNT), computer vision, mobility, smart cities, data analytics, autonomous systems (UAS, UUS and UGV), medical imaging, and precision agriculture.

“Ohio State has a long tradition of educating the geospatial workforce and conducting cutting-edge research for NGA, other government agencies, and industrial sectors like defense, navigation, and autonomous mobility, just to name a few. I am thrilled that GEO-ESCON is headquartered at Ohio State.  Dr. Newton’s leadership and expertise will be foundational to the success of this Consortium,” said Dr. Dorota Grejner-Brzezinska, Ohio State’s Vice President for Knowledge Enterprise, a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and a current member of the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Advisory Board.

Dr. Elizabeth Newton, the Executive Director and Principal Investigator for GEO-ESCON, said, “This consortium accelerates NGA’s access to innovation and talent.  We’re excited to develop and implement state-of-the-art practices that build scientific-technical capacity in the public interest.”   Dr. Newton leads Ohio State’s Battelle Center for Science, Engineering, and Public Policy which specializes in government policy, management, and funding for technology innovation and which develops the STEM talent pipeline for public service opportunities.  She has been recognized for her innovations developing the future workforce with the American Astronautical Society’s Sally Ride Excellence in Education Award.  “The U.S. will be quite a geomatics powerhouse by coalescing talent around a strong, existing hub which can cost-effectively and efficiently manage value-creation in a distributed network.  GEO-ESCON is the optimal federal means for investing in and shaping the ecosystem,” observed Dr. Newton.

Dr. Trevor Brown, Dean of the John Glenn College of Public Affairs to which Battelle Center belongs, said, “Serving NGA and the federal government as the research management organization is a core competency of the Glenn College.  We strive to be tip-of-the-spear for the University in connecting science, technology, and public policy to advance research and the public sector workforce.”  For its public administration expertise, the Glenn College ranks #3 among U.S. universities and #7 among global universities according to the Shanghai rankings by Academic Ranking of World Universities.