Prof. Dr. Dan Blumberg Ph.D. - Vice-President for Regional and Industrial Development - Ben-Gurion University of the Negev - Chair, Israel Space Agency - Planetary Science Innovation For All Humanity

Professor Dr. Dan Blumberg, Ph.D. is the Vice-President for Regional and Industrial Development at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev ( BGU - https://www.blumberg.bgu.ac.il/ ), an elected Member of the International Academy of Astronautics, and Chair of the Israel Space Agency ( https://www.space.gov.il/en ), a position he was appointed to by the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology ( https://www.gov.il/en/departments/ministry_of_science_and_technology/govil-landing-page ) in 2022.

Prior to these positions, Prof. Blumberg completed five years as Vice President and Dean for Research and Development at BGU and before that he fulfilled several positions including Deputy Vice President, Chairperson of the Department of Geography and Environmental Development and the founder of the Green Campus initiative at BGU which gained the University an international ranking of #18.

Prof. Blumberg earned a Ph.D. from Arizona State University (1993) where he studied and worked in the Planetary Geology Group and focused on aeolian processes and microwave radar remote sensing to study arid zone environments and planetary geology.  He was a Co-Investigator on the SRL (Spaceborne Radar Laboratory) mission, SRTM (Spaceborne Radar Topography) mission and other space missions. 

Prof. Blumberg has been working for the past 20 years on analysis of multi-parameter remote sensing data including radar, hyperspectral, multi-spectral and ground penetrating radar data. He has also published numerous papers in the areas of target and anomaly detection and combined field studies with the use of remote sensing data.  He also led the development and successful launch on February 15, 2017 of a Nanosatellite, BGUsat. 

Prof. Blumberg has also been a key leader in the development of the cyber eco-system in Beer-Sheva ( https://www.blumberg.bgu.ac.il/_files/ugd/d86da1_7750b399fc5843af9763fd4e1ffe59af.pdf ), which brought 39 multi-national companies and 70 startups to the advanced technologies park in Beer-Sheva. Additional roles include as Director of the Homeland Security Institute ( https://in.bgu.ac.il/en/hsi/Pages/Board.aspx ) and Simon Family Chair in Remote Sensing at BGU.

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