UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Todd Bacastow, teaching professor in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences at Penn State, has been appointed to the board of directors of the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) for a three-year term.
USGIF is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting geospatial intelligence training and education and building a stronger community of interest across industry, academia, government, professional organizations and individual stakeholders. Since 2007, Bacastow has also served as a member of USGIF’s Academic Planning Committee.
“I am extremely honored and humbled to be appointed to the USGIF board of directors at this critical time,” Bacastow said. “COVID-19 has created an evolving situation that impacts on all nonprofits, including the USGIF. I am privileged to be serving on a board of exceptional business and government professionals all working together at the highest level to make the best use of their collective experience.”
While at Penn State, Bacastow has served as the lead faculty for the geospatial intelligence options in both the Master Geographic Information Systems (MGIS) and the intercollege Master of Professional Studies in Homeland Security (iMPS-HLS) programs. He also is the lead faculty for the graduate certificate programs: Geospatial Intelligence Analytics and Geospatial Intelligence Applications. All programs are offered online by the Department of Geography through Penn World Campus in partnership with the college’s John A. Dutton e-Education Institute.
Bacastow focuses on educating analysts serving with the U.S. intelligence and business communities and has an active research program focused on the education of the geospatial analyst. He has worked with businesses and federal and state government on geospatial technology policy issues and has served on state and regional planning committees, preparing studies, providing expert testimony and organizing numerous workshops.
Bacastow authored the massive open online course (MOOC), "The Geospatial Revolution and Geospatial Intelligence," which was delivered to more than 25,000 students in 190 countries.
Before joining Penn State in 1994, Bacastow served in the U.S. Army in a variety of civil-military, leadership and technical positions in the United States and Europe. He served an associate professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering at the United States Military Academy.