Professional Member Spotlight: Dr. Emanuele Santi

Dr. Emanuele Santi is an accomplished Electronic engineer whose career thus far has been defined by curiosity, precision, and a deep commitment to advancing microwave remote sensing for Earth observation. He earned his Master’s degree in Electronic Engineering with specialization in Telecommunications and completed his PhD in microwave remote sensing techniques for Earth observation in 2005. A brief industry experience led him to the National Research Council Institute of Applied Physics (CNR – IFAC) in Italy, where he began his long-standing research career and secured a permanent staff position in 2009. Recently, in 2023 he became a Senior Researcher and member of IFAC’s institute advisory board.

For more than 25 years, Dr. Santi has advanced remote sensing through the development and validation of models and inversion algorithms based on machine learning to estimate soil, vegetation, and snow geophysical parameters. His work is mainly framed in projects funded by Italian, European and Japanese space agencies and it has included field experiments from the Black Sea to Morocco and collaborations with colleagues across the world. Dr. Santi is currently an external scientist in the NASA’s CyGNSS mission and in the mission team of ESA’s HydroGNSS that is going to be launched these days.

Can you introduce yourself and share a brief background about who you are and what you do?

I had a very brief experience in industry. I was engaged in the validation software department of a firm developing the machinery for gas stations. During the stage, my master’s thesis professor informed me that the microwave research group at the Institute of Applied Physics (IFAC) was looking for a collaborator. IFAC is part of the National Research Council (CNR), which is the largest government organization for research in Italy. Then, I started my adventure with the world of research. I completed first my PhD and then I obtained some post doc grants. At the end in 2009 I got a stable permanent position and became a senior researcher in a couple of years ago. In CNR it is not so straightforward that you get some staff position, since you must pass a public selection. Yes, it was quite hard but at the end we succeeded.

The focus of my research involves microwave applications for remote sensing including active and passive sensors such as SAR, radiometers, and GNSS-R. In particular I am focused on the development and validation of models and algorithms based on machine learning and artificial intelligence for estimating the geophysical parameters of soil, vegetation, and snow. I had a very short experience in sea observation too. It was in 2000 where I had two weeks experimenting in the Black Sea with a team from the Russian Academy of Space. It was nice, especially because it was one of my first experiences. In the same year, I also participated in another experiment in Morocco, and I been almost everywhere in my 25 years of activity. Among the others, I had a very nice experience when I was involved for a short period of time with the SMAP mission to discuss about the possibility of developing an algorithm for their radar. For a couple of weeks I had an office at MIT, and it was exciting!

How long have you been a member? Tell us about your GRSS journey.

I joined as a student for the first time in 2004 by suggestion of my tutor, Professor Paolo Pampaloni. I supported GRSS as a reviewer of the journals Transactions of Geoscience and Remote Sensing (TGRS) and later JSTARS. Also, I was a reviewer for IGARSS since 2004/2005. Then, I was part of the local organizing committee of MicroRAD, which is a GRSS sponsored conference in 2008. In regards to the chapter, I have been involved since 2016. I started as a secretary and now I am chair.

The most exciting event was in 2018 when I got the IEEE GRSS JSTARS for the best paper published in the JSTARS journal. That was the main acknowledgement about my research. Additionally, I was chair of MicroRAD in 2021, which was quite challenging because it was the only edition online because of covid restrictions. We started to prepare to have it in person, but at the end we had to revert it to online and it was very challenging to change the plans last minute.

I successfully applied to become a senior member in 2021, and for the past five years I contributed to IGARSS with a community contributed session. It is a multi-frequency microwave applications to study soil and vegetation. My dream now is to reach the IEEE fellow degree, hope I will succeed.

What inspired you to join GRSS?

At the very beginning, I was not fully aware of the importance of becoming a member. I only had some feelings about IEEE mainly because of the journals I had to look at for my research and from IGARSS where my team participated in each year. Now, I am fully convinced about the professional and human return of being part of the GRSS community.

How has GRSS contributed to your professional growth?

IGARSS is, in my view, the main contact point for the community working on remote sensing and the geosciences. My team and I did not miss any edition of IGARSS for as far as I remember. One of the first editions in 1995 was organized by my boss in Florence and my first IGARSS was in 2005 in Korea, which was an exciting experience.

What advice would you give to individuals considering joining the GRSS community?

I would say do it to people that are considering because it is not only a matter of saving costs for attending IGARSS or other advantages, but the society offers the possibility to connect with people involved in your same field doing the same research as you. You can exchange opinions, and considerations and this of course opens almost infinite opportunities for cooperation and professional growth.

What has your experience been like leading a GRSS chapter? Any challenges and how have you addressed them?

I began my experience leading a GRSS as secretary of GRS-29 – CNI in 2016. In 2018 I was vice chair and then chair in 2022 after acting as chair for a few months before the former chair, Frank Marzano, suddenly passed away in 2021. I would say that the biggest challenge was to keep the chapter alive after Frank’s death and not lose the level of excellence that Frank obtained. That drive for excellence helped us to win the “most improved chapter” away in 2019.

Why do you think establishing a chapter in your region is important, and how do you maintain cadence in membership?

The chapter is or should be the main and closest point of contact for the GRSS members in the region. Of course, we are targeting the world of research, including universities and research centres. For this reason our leading initiative is the “Marzano” thesis award that is intended to recognize the 3 Master and 3 PhD best theses in remote sensing. We also promote other initiatives such as technical seminars and support conferences, summer schools, and workshops. This year we support the summer school on AI applications to remote sensing.

Lastly, the increasing membership from 176 in 2024 to over 200 this year are comforting about the way we are stimulating new initiatives.

What has been achieved in your chapter that you are proud of?

Besides our previously mentioned achievement of the most improved chapter, and our increasing membership, the feeling of doing something important for the community makes me proud about any successful initiative we have undertaken.

What is your vision for the future of your chapter?

This is maybe the most difficult question to answer. My plan is of course to push the chapter level by multiplying the technical initiatives, but the dream is to improve the involvement of young people and reinforce the connection with industry, which is one of the weaker aspects, given the research-oriented nature of most chapter members. Also, I would like to see a younger and full of initiative new chapter chair replacing me at the end of my mandate.